Wave chicken, expect results.

[bzarcher]

OK! Saw the vet.

His diagnosis is "Well, it's a bit of a mystery, but..."

Obviously his red blood cell count is still down, because he's only had a day on the medicine. So he'd like to see us back in about 2 weeks unless he seems to get worse.

Good news:

A) Very responsive. He was getting pettins from the vet and his tech and was pretty shameless about getting cuddled. They said that was a very good sign.

B) The vet gave him some kitten and digestive care food to see how he'd react, and Onyx went right after them each time. So now I have a few (free!) bags of each for him, and if he keeps eating it I'll buy a larger bag of each.

C) The mass in his bowel appears to just be stool. He thinks if Onyx keeps eating and pooping normally, we don't have to worry about it.

D) According to the digital scale at the vet's, Only weighs 5.5 pounds. Still underweight, but not "Oh god!" like the ER's said.

The vet seemed pretty confident that if we keep giving him the medicine, and Onyx keeps eating, he's going to be fine - most likely just a viral infection from fleas or ticks caused the anemia. Frontline killed the parasites, but it didn't kill their germs. So we treat him, we care for him, and he'll be OK. If his red cell count is up in 2 weeks, we just need to make sure his weight comes back up too.

Comments

[tattermuffin.livejournal.com]

Oh man, do I ever know the "medicate for two weeks and hope his red blood cell count comes up" thing. I hope your retest is as positive as the Bean's was!

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I didn't think of what the Bean went through until you mentioned it. I hope so, too!

[buschap.livejournal.com]

Go, kitty, go!

[las.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, that's a relief. Fingers crossed that he continues to improve.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

*smiles* Thank you. I really think he will.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

I still can't get over the idea of a cat that weighs less than 10 pounds. I don't think I've ever had a cat so light.

The 12 pounder just insisted on getting picked up, which did *wonders* for my back. OWOWOWOW. At least it wasn't Mr. I eat everything in sight, aka 17 lbs of lardmuscle.

I'm hoping he keeps improving. *HUG*

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thanks!

He has always been a small kitty. At his heaviest he was no more than 8 pounds. Probably more like 7 and a half.

OTOH, Patches is the entire catloaf and a half. :D

So far, so good - he's eating more of the kitten food as we speak!

[flying-landon.livejournal.com]

Never underestimate the healing power of pooping on schedule.

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

Glad he's feeling better, and it sounds quite treatable. I think.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I think so to!

While It may be in part wishful thinking, Alex swears that he feels a little heavier this morning when we gave him the AM medicine.

Hopefully he is right!

3.8 to 5.5 lbs?

[felislachesis.livejournal.com]

how did he gain 1.7 lbs in 17 hours?

Granted, for a human, 1.7 lbs isn't much, but in Onyx's case, that's 45% of his first measured body weight over again.

Re: 3.8 to 5.5 lbs?

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming someone's scale is off. Probably the ER's, honestly, since we didn't see what they used, while the vet had a digital scale that I saw the measurement on right in front of me.