My cat has low blood counts, anemia, and jaundice. What causes it?

Question

Cat had decreased appetite, lethargy, sneezing. Vet said it was not a cold. 2 weeks later stopped eating and was really weak. Went to ER. He was anemic with jaundice that was being corrected with feeding tube, fluids, antibiotics . His RBC, WBC and platelets were low. Took him home to continue feeding tube care. Showed slight improvement, but suddenly declined and put down due to severe drop in CBC (attached). What could have caused this? Tested neg for FeLV and FIV. Xray and ultrasound normal.

Stacey Anstaett, DVM · Accepted Answer

I am so sorry for your loss. I don’t see your kitty’s age, but if he/she was older, I would be most suspicious that he/she had cancer somewhere. Even though FeLV negative, it’s still possible that cancer developed in her bone marrow due to an unknown cause. (Which unfortunately is usually the case with cancer). When all of the blood cells are low, primary bone marrow disease (cancer, immune mediated disease) may be to blame. It’s also possible that there was cancer elsewhere and the bone marrow stopped working due to either spread of the disease or because of what we call a “paraneoplastic syndrome”, which is just a fancy way to say that unfortunately cancer sometimes does whatever it wants. I am so sorry again for your heartache. It sounds like you did everything you could have for your cat. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Please let us know if we can help you further.

My cat has low blood counts, anemia, and jaundice. What causes it?

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