anemia in cats: an overview

Pet Health Article

• Anemia in Cats: An Overview

Anemia in cats is a serious blood condition that can cause any number of effects. This condition can occur for a variety of reasons, and while anemia is a serious condition it can be treated with the proper medications. If your cat has been diagnosed with anemia, it is important to find out why the anemia developed and how it can be prevented in the future.

Anemia in cats is a condition of having less than the normal number of red blood cells, or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. In cats, vets rarely see low hemoglobin as an issue as their diets have plenty of iron in them. Instead, when animals are anemic, it is because they have low red blood cell numbers. These are measured as either a red blood cell count (RBC) or a packed cell volume (PCV), which is also called a hematocrit (HCT). If this is low, the cat is anemic.

Red blood cells are important to a cat because they carry carry oxygen to the tissues. If they are low, not enough oxygen is carried to the tissues. As a result, the body is experiencing oxygen starvation; symptoms such as lethargy, pale gums, confusion, rapid breathing, and difficulty walking may occur. If left untreated, severe anemia can result in heart murmurs and even death.

There are two types of anemia that can occur in cats: regenerative anemia and non-regenerative anemia. Regenerative anemia is a term used when the bone marrow is functioning normally and is working to regenerate the lost red blood cells. Non-regenerative anemia is a term used when the bone marrow is not responding.

Some factors which can lead to regenerative anemia in cats include: high loads of intestinal parasites, high loads of parasites such as fleas and ticks, a traumatic injury which caused large amounts of blood loss, the body attacking its own red blood cells due to immune mediated disease, or bleeding from ulcers in the stomach and small intestine. Regenerative anemia can be treated by addressing the cause of the blood loss.

Non-regenerative anemia is a more serious condition which is often a side effect of an underlying disease. Some conditions which can cause non-regenerative anemia include cancer, kidney failure, and feline leukemia. In these cases the anemia cannot be cured unless the underlying condition is treated, and sometimes cannot be cured at all, merely treated.