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Anemia in Cat

juliewaite

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Hello Everyone! My rescue kitty Poppy struggles with anemia. His heart pounds hard along with his juggular. He's been on homeopathic remedies, supplements and natural cortisone when he has a relpase. But every relapse he has that prior homeopathic remedy won't help him so we always have to go with a new one. I've FINALLY figured out now that the natural cortisone he takes is the "life saver". I'd LOVE to finally be able to balance his body so he doesn't have anymore relapses of the anemia. Last night I didn't think he was going to make it! BUT my tough little cookie made it thru the night and ate a little bit in the morning! YAY!
 

Dr. Christina

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wonderful, Julie, that he ate a little this morning.

do you know what is causing the anemia? How old was he when it started? Does it recur at specific times (moon, every 2 weeks, after stress, etc) or are the recurrences random?

Is a veterinary homeopath doing the prescribing, or are these medicines you have been choosing?
How old is Poppy?
What is his diet? When were his last vaccines? Flea and tick stuff?
Dr. Christina
 

Dr. Jeff

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Hi Julie-

I'm so sorry for Poppy's health challenge with anemia!

In addition to what Dr. Christina asked, here's a few questions.

When did his anemia start? Were there any potential stressors that you can think of? Vaccines, other toxins

Do you know his previous and current hematocrits??

If I may ask, who is the vet homeopath?

Exactly what and how do you feed?

Does he eat all of his food quickly?

We look forward to your responses.
 

juliewaite

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wonderful, Julie, that he ate a little this morning.

do you know what is causing the anemia? How old was he when it started? Does it recur at specific times (moon, every 2 weeks, after stress, etc) or are the recurrences random?

Is a veterinary homeopath doing the prescribing, or are these medicines you have been choosing?
How old is Poppy?
What is his diet? When were his last vaccines? Flea and tick stuff?
Dr. Christina
Hi Dr. Christina-

Unfortunetly, Poppy isn't doing so well today. :( He was breathing very hard yesterday and wouldn't eat. I had to resort to giving him some kitten formula last night with a dropper. He drank about 2 tiny plastic tylenol measuring cups of the formula. Today his breathing seems less 'hard' and more stable. But he still has no energy or appetite--he wouldn't let me put much kitten formula in his mouth today.

When I saw him last summer, I saw how sick he was--he was skinny, his jugular was pounding hard along with his heart and he wasn't eating. I convinced his previous owner to let me take him to the vet and then convinced her to let me keep him. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and anemia. I don't know how he got it. He was like this when I found him. The vet put him on a blood thinner and blood pressure med for a short time which did help him recover. I fed him a raw chicken diet that I mix in with Honest Kitchen and he LOVED it! His previous diet was a hard dry food diet. I did take him to a heart specialist who did an ultra sound of his heart when he got well and they said there wasn't anything wrong with his heart. So he we weaned him off the meds and he did fine for a couple months.

Then he relapsed with the anemia again a couple months later. It keeps happening every 2-3 months. He'll do well than I take him off remedies and natural cortisone and a couple months later it happens again.

The vet said he was about a year old based on his teeth. So he's not quite 2 yrs old yet. A veterinary Homeopath is doing the prescribing. I have never gotten him any vaccinations and I don't know if the previous owner ever got him any--prob not though. He isn't neutered. I've never treated him for ticks or fleas either. No poisons. The people I got him from were into drugs, etc... so I don't know what he was exposed to. :(
 

Dr. Christina

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Sorry he has slipped again, Julie.

Some journeys of health are more challenging than others.

Who is your homeopathic vet and how often between episodes do you speak? My question is if you are treating"poppy" as a whole, or merely each anemic episode?

He may have been born with a congenital problem - this does happen.

Dr. Christina
 

juliewaite

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Hi Julie-

I'm so sorry for Poppy's health challenge with anemia!

In addition to what Dr. Christina asked, here's a few questions.

When did his anemia start? Were there any potential stressors that you can think of? Vaccines, other toxins

Do you know his previous and current hematocrits??

If I may ask, who is the vet homeopath?

Exactly what and how do you feed?

Does he eat all of his food quickly?

We look forward to your responses.
Hi Dr. Jeff-

It has been a very mysterious struggle for Poppy that's for sure. The anemia was happening when I first got him--so that was on 5/14/18. The people I got him from had moved recently and Poppy and his sister where living in an old gymnasium of the apt. building. So he did go through a change of moving. When I first saw Poppy he wasn't sickly looking. I don't know if he got into something bad in that gymnasium or what. God only knows how much yuck was in there. I attached his last bloodwork we had done in Dec 2018 which was when his last relapse was until now. The vet Homeopath is Dr. Don M. Heinert, Natural Animal Veterinary Clinic, 42 Waterford St., Union City, PA. I feed him raw ground up chicken thighs mixed with Honest Kitchen. I also give him wild caught Sockeye Salmon when I can afford it. Right now though, I've been feeding him whatever I can get him to eat--ground beef(cooked), wet canned cat food, salmon. He's not eating anything right now. I feed all my cats(6 total) all at once 2 times a day. He doesn't eat quickly--just normal. He is drinking alot of water right now only because of the natural cortisone he's on.
 

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juliewaite

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Sorry he has slipped again, Julie.

Some journeys of health are more challenging than others.

Who is your homeopathic vet and how often between episodes do you speak? My question is if you are treating"poppy" as a whole, or merely each anemic episode?

He may have been born with a congenital problem - this does happen.

Dr. Christina
Indeed a journey. I feel we're just treating the anemia and the heart pounding that comes with the anemia for each episode. Not the whole.

I'm also feeling like him and my other cats aren't getting all the nutrition that they are supposed to. I don't use the whole recommended feeding guidelines of the Honest Kitchen because honestly I can't afford it. I started giving my other cats some wet food "Chicken Soup for the Soul" and they began getting more active. They seemed so excited to eat wet canned food. LOL.
 

Dr. Jeff

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Julie, has Poppy had any other bloodwork such as tests for feline leukemia or feline AIDs?

For his body to get used to a moderate-severe anemia like his (8.6 on 12/11/18) usually takes quite awhile.

Perhaps an early onset leukemia infection. His prior heart problems were secondary to overwork from the anemia.

Immune-boosting and blood-building are key.

Liquid Immuno from Rx Vitamins is great for immune boosting and their AminoBlex and Liquid B12 will also be very helpful.

Raw chicken hearts will both help his anemia as well as reduce any secondary heart problems.

If he won't eat them, then try the Bravo freeze-dried turkey hearts.

For now though just let him eat whatever fresh meats (or meat-based canned food) you have in the house to try build him up.
 

juliewaite

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Julie, has Poppy had any other bloodwork such as tests for feline leukemia or feline AIDs?

For his body to get used to a moderate-severe anemia like his (8.6 on 12/11/18) usually takes quite awhile.

Perhaps an early onset leukemia infection. His prior heart problems were secondary to overwork from the anemia.

Immune-boosting and blood-building are key.

Liquid Immuno from Rx Vitamins is great for immune boosting and their AminoBlex and Liquid B12 will also be very helpful.

Raw chicken hearts will both help his anemia as well as reduce any secondary heart problems.

If he won't eat them, then try the Bravo freeze-dried turkey hearts.

For now though just let him eat whatever fresh meats (or meat-based canned food) you have in the house to try build him up.
Dr. Jeff-

Yes, he was tested for both back in May 2018 when we got him and they were both negative. I give him Vimergy liquid B-12. How many drops do you recommend? I don't know if that's enough or not. How much is a good dose for a 10 pound cat? Thank you for the tips--I will order the recommendations. I'm praying he makes it through this round. Thank you again, it means the world to me that you care and want to help Poppy <3
 

Dr. Jeff

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How much of the Vimergy do you give him now?

You may need to double the amount!

Also, do you feed any raw organic liver?
 

juliewaite

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How much of the Vimergy do you give him now?

You may need to double the amount!

Also, do you feed any raw organic liver?
I give him 3 drops in the am & pm. No, I don't feed any organic liver. Ive gotten conventional liver before when we first got him but he wasn't a fan of it.
 

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