Hello! My friend, Travis, who lives in North Dakota, has a lovely seven-year-old cat named Chloe. Up until recently, she was always incredibly energetic, cuddly, and overall sweet in nature. However, as of about a week ago, Travis noticed a sharp decline in her typical behaviors. For instance, she began to sleep constantly and wouldn't use the bathroom as frequently. Chloe has also been suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and lack of appetite. After his first visit with his local vet emergency clinic, they discovered an abnormally low white blood cell count in Chloe. In other words, they confirmed that his cat has panleukopenia. On their first visit, Chloe had a mild fever of about 103.8 degrees Fahrenheit; they initially suspected a number of causes including feline panleukopenia virus, feline leukemia virus, or feline immunodeficiency virus. Among these options and others, they were also concerned that sepsis, "a severe systemic infection," could be at play as well as her outdated vaccinations. However, upon further research, the tests for these conditions came back negative, but they want to consider the potential for false negatives.
The emergency vet clinic would like to conduct more advanced testing, such as ultrasound or bone marrow sampling that would be charged at approximately $1,500. In addition, they have also offered intensive in-hospital care, which can cost roughly $2,400. Due to more extreme financial constraints, my friend currently is unable to go through with either of those options and, in the meantime, is opting for outpatient care with two antibiotics and a medication to help with nausea.
On top of all of this, my friend has been unable to receive the necessary antibiotics and nausea medicine from the emergency vet clinic because he is already on a payment plan with them for the testing they were able to conduct. In the meantime, he has attempted and not been able to find the recommended medications elsewhere (Veraflox, Amoxi-Clav, and Maropitant citrate).
If you have any further questions or comments, please never hesitate to reach out.