Please help me with my cat's blood results

[brogueish]

I took my lovely 4 year old rescue girl to the vets on Monday bc she's had some regurgitating and vomiting. She came to us in mid-December, so it's been a few months. I experienced vomiting/regurgitating in a previous cat when she would be a bit sick before breakfast (overly hungry) and then bolt her food and regurgitate it barely chewed. I took previous cat to the vets and was told some cats are just a bit sicky! She was ok otherwise.

Honestly I wasn't that concerned about current cat bc otherwise she's ok, but I was worried that there may be a stuck furball or something like that. The vet did not think that was the case.

The vet recommended bloodwork, which cost £200, and on the basis of that is now recommending further investigations (scans and bloods) totalling another £300. The money is not the issue here, but I am really reluctant to put my lovely cat through unnecessary trips to the vet and blood draws etc. She has been her normal self, playing, eating, etc. I would prefer to take a conservative, watch and wait approach, but the vet was keen to get the scan done this week. We've split her meals into more frequent smaller feeds and so far so good.

Looking at the bloods, there are a few areas outside of normal range:
Haemoglobin 167 (80-150)
Haematocrit/PCV 0.513 (0.24-0.46)
White blood cells 4.5 (5-15)
Lymphocytes 1.08 (1.5-6.5)
Platelet count 48 (230-680) - there's a note that platelets were clumped and could not be manually counted

What would you do? I definitely don't want to withold treatment, but she seems ok in herself and I don't want to upset her if it's not necessary.

How are you doing @brogueish ? We’re booked in for the bloods and x-ray on Monday. The Omeprazole has side effects of nausea/lack of appetite so it feels like going backwards to go forwards a bit - the vet wants us to do the five day course though.

I’m quite insane with worry now. 😕

Apparently (this is from memory with a v fussy/skinny/vomiting cat!) chicken is a common allergen. Might be worth trying a single protein like duck or turkey

My new cat vomits in the morning after breakfast. After trial and error I found wet food first and he's fine, but a single piece of dry food before wet and he vomits
Knew I had adopted another weirdo

@NC03 thank you so much 🙏
I switched over her food after reading your post to mainly fish, bit of turkey, but no chicken. She’s back to her usual self, eating, hungry, playing, happy…and no vomiting or regurgitating food at all. Early days I know but so far this seems really promising. Thank you for the tip!

I’m so sorry to hear this. How far in to the course are you now and how are you all doing? Has the nausea etc passed? Hope so, and I really hope you get some answers…it’s just horrible not knowing isn’t it. Amazing that you’re getting treatment on Easter Monday though. Great vets!

I’ve removed chicken from my cat’s diet following @NC03 ’s suggestion and so far this seems to be working out. It’s nuts really, I thought chicken was one of the blandest things, but then I suppose so are lots of allergens, unless you’re allergic/intolerant.

Oh I'm so glad, I hope it carries on! I can't even remember where I read it but it stuck in my head (my dad says I'm full of useless facts...)

The Omeprazole was a bit of a bust - we kept finding the tablets spat out. She’s totally fine in herself but still pukey. I’m so worried what these tests are going to find, and keep reminding myself that she has had the absolute best life with us, and if it’s her time then we will absolutely do the right thing by her. I love her so much.

We’re in Scotland so Easter isn’t as big a deal here. I think it’s a bank holiday/no post but other stuff is business as usual.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses how did it go yesterday?

@brogueish bloods and x-ray all good, but they also did an ultrasound which showed her liver to be smaller than anatomically usual. Possibly something she was born with, or possibly she has previously had hepatitis. It may be nothing at all to do with the vomiting which might be just that she has got pukey/sensitive tummy with age. We’re being referred on to some fancy pants specialist and there was talk of an MRI.

yesterday cost almost £1,000 and the insurance won’t last forever.

I really don’t believe in keeping animals going if they have poor quality of life, so I asked the vet about this yesterday when we picked her up - she assured me she was well in herself and that she absolutely would not be thinking of pts. Then I burst into tears and she had to give me a cuddle. 😬

How are you guys doing?

Awww I'm so sorry @Judystilldreamsofhorses - your vet is very sensible though. How old is she again? And do you feel it's really impacting on her quality of life? She sounds well and happy otherwise and it sounds like PTS is a long way down the line for her. I understand what you mean though.

My girl is doing so much better without chicken in her diet. She was a little sick this morning for the first time since we switched her food, but I think that was just a empty-tummy sickness. It looks as though it is just a sensitive tummy, that said we've never really had anything other than vomiting/regurgitating. I have to admit I am less worried than I was, I feel that is there was anything really concerning it would have been picked up by now. I hope you're feeling better today x

She’s absolutely fine in herself! Has never been anything but and even if she’s sick she is literally squawking for food seconds later. So no, I don’t think her quality of life is being impacted -I just wanted to double check with the vet. I hate being sick more than anything in the world, I find it SO distressing, and I think I am projecting that onto her. I also have a friend who I really feel is keeping her elderly, heavily medicated dog going for her, rather than him, and I never want to be that person (I know she loves him very dearly but I don’t think his quality of life is great).

My DP said the vet’s face was an absolute picture when I said all this to her yesterday, like she couldn’t believe I had brought it up. She’s 10 so the fact her bloods were all “perfect” (vet’s words) is really good news.

Really glad to hear your puss is doing better! I’m interested in this chicken thing so have contacted Untamed and ordered a second trial of just the fish tins to see how we do with that.