I have never heard a transfusion recommended at PCV of 21. That is considered moderate anemia, not severe, and transfusions are usually reserved for severe (under 15 or even 13). Part of the reason is that cats can have allergic or auto-immune reactions to transfusions so they normally only give them when needed to preserve life, and part of the reason is the limited availability of blood.
I have gotten transfusions for 2 cats in the past, both when their PCV was below 13. In both cases they helped for a very short time. In the first case, it helped keep a cat alive (who was FeLV+) long enough for chemo to kick in at which point his count went up for a while until the chemo stopped working. The second cat was Bear, who I lost recently, who was FIV+ and had hemolytic anemia, where he was killing off his red blood cells. He got 2 transfusions on one day and another a 5 days later. In both cases the transfusions raised his PCV a little for a couple days and then he started killing of the transfused blood too, and he died 3 days after the last transfusion. If the anemia is from something less serious or slower moving, a transfusion can last longer. But because of the associated risks, vets normally wait longer to do it. At 21.7, her anemia could be from some systemic issue like an infection or cancer. They get anemia when they are very sick from something else and if that thing is resolved the anemia resolves. So it may not get worse if you can solve whatever else is going on or treat it at least temporarily. Or she could have nonregenerative anemia and it will slowly get worse. But in that case she should adjust to the lower count after a few day and not be floored by it until it gets much lower. So I think I would go another route other than transfusion at first, and see if you can determine and treat whatever else is going on. 101 is not a fever for a cat, it's in the middle of normal, so she is not feverish. What is her white blood cell count? But if you do not do the transfusion, I would get her blood count rechecked soon to make sure it is not going down very fast, in which case you may need to soon. Is she really only 4 weeks old? You said 1 months, so I don't know if the 1 is the typo or the plural months. If she is 4 weeks old, it's possible that this changes things and vets would transfuse faster. But I also never heard of a kitten that young getting a transfusion. Michelle -----Original Message----- From: Avaykn <ava...@gmail.com> To: FeLVPositiveCats <felvpositivec...@yahoogroups.com>; felvtalk <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Sent: Thu, Feb 27, 2014 6:45 pm Subject: [Felvtalk] Blood transfusion Hello, Took Kitty, 1 months old FeLV positive cat to the vet a few hours ago because she was not eating very much. She had lost a little weigh, her temperature was at 101, we did a blood panel and her PCV is at 21.7 and her red blood cell at 5.28. Her holistic vet is recommending a remedy to help and her regular vet is recommending a blood transfusion. What are your experiences with these routes ? __._,_.___ _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
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