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Most people would regard a 7 year old cat as being in their
prime. Thus, when 7 year old Harvey started to lose weight
and become lethargic, his owner's were very concerned.
In a relatively short space of time, Harvey turned from
a healthy, lively cat to a very sick one. He lost weight
alarmingly quickly, and was extremely anaemic when we saw
him. His anaemia, combined with a palpable mass in the front
of his abdomen, sparked fears of a haemorrhaging tumour.
Blood tests, x-rays and an ultrasound examination added
weight to this suspicion, and it was decided that Harvey
needed a biopsy to determine once and for all what was going
on.
Because of his weak state and severe anaemia, we decided
we would like to give him a blood transfusion to help him
through his operation.
In dogs, this would be straightforward, as a dog can receive
the blood from any other dog provided it is their first
transfusion, as they do not have antibodies against other
blood groups which will destroy the donor red blood cells.
In cats, this is not the case! If a type B cat receives
type A blood, it will suffer a serious transfusion reaction
which may prove fatal. Type A is by far the commonest in
cats. My own cats are type A and are used as our regular
blood donors (the pitfall of being a vet's cat!). So far,
we have been lucky - every cat we have needed to transfuse
has also been type A. Harvey, however, proved to be Type
B.
We had no available type B donor, so unfortunately had
to bite the bullet and proceed without a transfusion. Fortunately
for Harvey, things went well. He made a good recovery, and
we discovered that the cancer in his stomach was one called
lymphoma, which can be treated with chemotherapy.
Harvey has tolerated his chemo very well, with no adverse
effects whatsoever. He has regained 2 pounds in weight,
and is back to his usual self which - in his case - means
grumbling and hissing at our nurses when he comes in! Trust
Harvey to be difficult! But we are happy to see him like
this - when he starts to be more co-operative, we'll be
worried that he is poorly again!
If any of our clients would consider volunteering to have
their cat's blood typed in order to see if we can find a
type B donor for future emergencies, we would be very grateful.
Please phone the Fairfield vets and ask to speak to me personally.
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