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tiangou · Aug 27, 2009, 04:11 PM

Our cat has been vomiting frequently (almost daily) and would not eat. We took him to the vet and blood test showed a white cell count of ~ 35,000. He is 15+ years old and has always been inside the house and had been totally healthy until about 1 or 2 months ago.
Could he have Feline Leukaemia Virus? I have observed traces of fresh blood in his vomits 2 or 3 times.

tickle · Aug 27, 2009, 04:28 PM

If your cat is l5 plus, then he has lived a good long life. Love him, treat him tenderly and go along with anything he wants to do. His blood count is low because his immune system is probably compromised from old age. Nothing much you can do, but what I said, love him to pieces and cherish every moment you have with him.

Tick (been there, done that)

Sariss · Aug 27, 2009, 04:44 PM

Did they offer any reason at the vet?
He could, but with his situation, the chances are scarce. You can request a test be run to check for it.
How are his teeth? A count that high is sign of an infection somewhere.

tiangou · Aug 27, 2009, 05:22 PM

Thank you, Tickle and Sariss.

Yes, he seems to have an eye infection of some sort. His left eye especially has been having a long trail of viscous tear. The vet gave us a certain eyedrop for that. He meows often; we are not sure if he is trying to tell us of his pains or just wants us to be around. The vet suggested doing a $500 ultrasound to determine if there is any tumor or what. But our cat is the kind that's very much afraid of people other than us and going to the vet is like killing him, a major deal...

Sariss · Aug 27, 2009, 05:27 PM

If you aren't up for the ultrasound, you can always try to do x-rays - often times you can visualize a tumour in those. It isn't as good as an ultrasound, but it's less expensive and less stressful *usually* for your pet.

morgaine300 · Aug 27, 2009, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by tickle

If your cat is l5 plus, then he has lived a good long life. Love him, treat him tenderly and go along with anything he wants to do. His blood count is low because his immune system is probably compromised from old age. Nothing much you can do, but what I said, love him to pieces and cherish every moment you have with him.

I don't usually so completely disagree with stuff you say, but I've got to really disagree with this one. 15 isn't all that old as I've seen cats live far beyond that. It also sounds like just giving up, as though there's nothing that can be found or done - just passing if off to old age and not attempting to find out the underlying cause or what might be able to be done about it.

We treat humans when they get older. Why do we give up so easily on animals - they too get treatable things wrong with them.

morgaine300 · Aug 27, 2009, 08:30 PM

This could be some infection, or something else. Were lymphocytes also high? Did they run a full blood panel? If so, could you possibly post the results of the whole thing? Sometimes there's things there that the vets don't bother to mention, even when they are treatable. The blood in the vomit could be coming from the mouth, or possibly gastro-intestinal bleeding.

It would really be nice if vets didn't just "drop" this stuff, would tell you what could be wrong, and what can or cannot be done about it. What did the vet say about it?