Expert: Jessica - 5/26/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hello Jessica,

Thank you for providing such a wonderful service. Im very worried and I would appreciate your help.

I have an indoor male cat 12-13 years old. He has always been on hard food but I started to add I can of wet food daily about 8 weeks ago. After a few days he stopped eating the dry food in favor of the canned. He started to lose weight but I didn't get concerned until this weekend. He seemed to be moving slower.

No vomit or diarrhea or blood in stool or fever .He has been drinking lots of water and using the little box. He makes an effort to eat but is down to licking only the juice from cat food or people tuna. I have tried every type of food on the market to entice him.

Yesterday the vet did a urinalysis and blood work. The vet ruled out diabetes and kidney issues . He said the red blood count and white blood count was very low. Today he did a radiograph of his body And  saw no blockage or obvious sign of tumor.

The vet says not to bother to do an ultrasound because he feels the radiograph would have shown anything to be concerned about. He feels it's some sort of cancer.

My cat is back home...has made an effort to eat (mostly juice) he's using the litter box to pee and sleeping a lot next to water. The vet says to go back to run more blood work in 10 days... But he's down to 8lbs and I don't want him to suffer. He seems weak in his hind quarters and is not jumping up or down onto furniture like he used to.

Are we missing anything here? I can't find info on what the vet is telling me. I don't want to have him put to sleep if the vet is wrong.

Thank you so much for any insight you can offer .

ANSWER: Hi Zulema,

I'm sorry to hear your kitty is going through this. Unfortunately, your vet's guess is a good one. His symptoms and his blood work results are both consistent with cancer, especially leukemia or lymphoma, which often go hand-in-hand. With leukemia, the bone marrow is attacked, and instead of producing normal red blood cells, it produces cancer cells. With lymphoma, the same thing occurs with white blood cells. Blood tests detect normal cells, and the cat will have a below average count of these types of cells. Sometimes when cancer is present, a high neutrophil count is found. This is a type of white blood cell that is found when the body is mounting a response to a foreign invader, such as cancer. You might ask your vet what the neutrophil count was, specifically.

Another possibility could be a virus. Sometimes cats suffering viruses will have low white cell counts, although they are not usually dramatically low. And most viruses don't cause very low red blood cell counts. Feline distemper causes very low white blood cell counts and it can cause anemia in some cases. It will also cause lack of appetite, but if your kitty is up-to-date on vaccines, this is almost impossible. It is less common in indoor cats, as well. If your vet feels feline distemper could be a possibility, a test called a PCR can be used to determine if this is the cause of his illness. Distemper is treated with supportive care, but it is life-threatening, mostly in kittens.

I wish I could paint a brighter picture, but in my experience, when these two counts are low, cancer has, indeed, been the correct diagnosis. I would recommend placing your kitty on some prednisone as a palliative treatment just to see if he perks up, provided your vet agrees. Many of my cats have responded dramatically to this treatment. Although it is not a cure, it helps some cats feel better for a time. While not typical whatsoever, one of my cats came down with lymphoma last year. Because he is feline leukemia positive, we chose to place him on prednisone only, rather than many chemotherapeutic agents. He has been going strong for 14 months now. I can't help but feel that any little extra time is worth giving a little pill each day.

Good luck!

Jessica


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Jessica....
Reading lab work now. If "neut seg" is neutrophil....then it is high at 86% ....says normal range is 35-75 percent. I will ask vet in the morning to be sure.

Answer
Hello again,

I suspect you may have talked to the vet again. The reports may be labeled differently when coming from different labs. I have always seen it written out as "neutrophils," but the reference range is right on, 35-75%. So I'm sure this is one and the same. With a high neutrophil count, I would fear the worst. I hope he'll feel better with the prednisone.

Jessica