Ear Pricks/Anemia

Any one person I have asked has said no to this. But i thought I might bring it out to a larger group...
can a cat who may already be borderline anemic become fully anemic from hometesting/ear pricks? Ive been doing A LOT lately for data purposes and because I have the time right now. Its been super helpful. But Im worried I may have set Latte over the edge.

Im taking her in for blood work Saturday.

Symptoms incl:

• 1. eating litter around the box (a.m. only from what I can tell)
  2. more reflux/acid than usual, possibly contributing to more water consumption
  3. The choking/ gagging could be from more reflux/acid tummy (?!?!)
  4. Back leg weakness has been ongoing for a while...hard to determine which illness it may be coming from
  5. Sleeping more than usual
  6. The strange breathing sounds the vet heard and I heard (wheezing on inhale). I hear lots of wierd noises these days at home.

She was considered slightly anemic by the university labs back in may. Before then and since then I have never seen anything to suggest that in her lab work. Either the regular vets labs are not as accurate, or it was a one time incident.

Thoughts on the ear pricks/anemia?

Thoughts on the symptoms Ive described and how they may be related to anemia?

Not like we need ANOTHER problem to juggle. *sigh*

 

I really can't imagine the small amount of blood from a prick (or even several pricks a day) would contribute to anemia. Anemia has to do with loosing hemoglobin anyway, rather then blood loss. Latte has multiple issues and I would suspect it would be tied to that. I still wonder what is up with the throat thing. Were you ever able to get an xray?

 

No, I can't see how that's possible. Charlie was slightly to moderately anemic for several years (he had many concurrent illnesses), but the least of my worries was the blood pricks for hometesting. I did question whether the blood draws performed by the vet would have an impact on his anemia and was told most likely not (although after being hospitalized with frequent draws one time, they did admit that it had affected him). But the blood draws were taking cc's of blood, not single drops.

I always said that the last few years with Charlie were like walking along the rim of the Grand Canyon ... and that one small gust of wind would blow him over the edge. As fragile as Charlie was, the blood he lost from ear pricks did not adversely affect him, not at all.

 

I know, it could be one or many things contributing *if* she is anemic. And I knew that large or multiple blood draws at the vet could be harmful, so I was thinking too many pricks could add up and maybe do the same thing.

I wont likely be able to do xrays until the end of Jan, IF I get enough work to save up for it.

Im sure there has been some damage done to her throat with all these years of vomiting and reflux. I feel so bad. We have tried so hard to keep it under control.

But I do also wonder if it is triggered by reflux after drinking and then laying down.

I have some video of it, though I usually only get the tail end of it where she is mostly licking her lips (nausea). I will try to post it at some point. I attempted to use photobucket, but it seems to slow my old computer down to a frozen popsicle. Might need to try a different site.

Thanks for asking. I will definately keep you updated.

 

Could it? heck, I would never rule out the weird and strange, as I've seen a lot of weird and strange, but is it likely, I would guess not. There is a reason your kitty was slightly anemic prior to testing, I would thinkk if there is a problem it is that original cause and not the tiny drops you are taking for testing.

have you talked to your dr about pepcid or something else to help settle your kitty's stomach to reduce the reflux?

Connie

 

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I thought it might help to get additional thoughts on some of the symptoms you describe.

I read on the old board something about cats eating litter that they are not getting enough of a certain mineral or something like that. It's like when dogs eat poo. Not sure what that term is, but there is something missing in the diet (or they aren't utilitizing it correctly).

Regarding the leg weakness, that could be due to neuropathy. And if you aren't already giving her Methyl B12, then you may want to add that to her diet. It does help reverse the neuropathy, if that is what she has and can't hurt if you give it to her.

There are lots of B12 on the market, you want the one that contains Methylcobalamin. After researching options that were available I purchased mine from here: http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-B12-Methylc ... 0-Capsules

My reasons:
1 - contains no sugars of any kind
2 - comes in capsule form - makes it easy to mix into food

I gave one capsule per day.