How Blood Transfusions Saved Two Very Poorly Cats.

Blood transfusions have long been an important part of veterinary medicine, particularly for dogs. However, transfusing cats presents some unique challenges. Careful blood typing and close monitoring are essential to help make these life-saving procedures as safe as possible.

Recently, we treated two very poorly cats, Dobby and Violet, who both arrived suffering from severe anaemia. Their stories highlight just how critical prompt diagnosis and treatment can be — and how remarkable the results of a blood transfusion can be.

Why is blood typing so important in cats?

Unlike dogs, cats naturally develop antibodies against certain blood types during the first few months of life. This means that a cat can experience a serious transfusion reaction even if it has never received a blood transfusion before.

Cats have three main blood types: A, B and AB. Type A cats generally have lower levels of antibodies against type B blood, whereas type B cats often have strong antibodies against type A blood. Giving incompatible blood can therefore cause a potentially life-threatening reaction.

For this reason, cats must have their blood type checked before every transfusion, including their first. Blood typing is a vital step in selecting compatible blood and reducing the risk of complications.

Certain infectious diseases can also affect a cat’s red blood cells and complicate the picture, making thorough investigation particularly important.

To learn more about feline blood typing, visit the Pet Blood Bank UK website.

Why might a cat need a blood transfusion?

There are three broad reasons why a cat may become severely anaemic and require a blood transfusion.

1. Blood loss

Significant blood loss can occur following trauma, including road traffic accidents, or as a result of parasites, bleeding disorders or problems with blood clotting.

For example, exposure to certain rodenticides can interfere with normal blood clotting, potentially leading to severe internal bleeding.

Cats that have been injured, have a heavy parasite burden or are experiencing unexplained bleeding may therefore need urgent assessment and, in some cases, a transfusion.

2. Destruction of red blood cells

Sometimes, red blood cells are destroyed faster than the body can replace them. This is known as *haemolytic anaemia*.

In cats, possible causes include infectious diseases such as *Mycoplasma haemofelis*, a blood-borne organism that can cause feline infectious anaemia. Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and other underlying diseases may also contribute to anaemia.

Toxic substances can cause serious problems, too. Everyday items that may seem harmless to us, including onions, garlic and paracetamol (acetaminophen), can be highly toxic to cats.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause and may involve supportive care, appropriate medication and, in severe cases, a blood transfusion.

3. Reduced production of red blood cells

Red blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. If the body cannot make enough new cells to replace those that are naturally lost, anaemia can develop.

This is known as *non-regenerative anaemia*. Possible causes include chronic kidney disease, certain cancers, bone marrow disorders and some viral infections, including feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).

These conditions may be more commonly encountered in older cats, although cats of any age can be affected.

Dobby and Violet: two cats in desperate need of help …

We recently saw two cats whose presentations were particularly concerning.

Dobby, just 15 months old, was brought in after her owner reported that she had fallen. Violet, aged five, was unable to walk properly and kept collapsing.

Both cats were weak, had very pale gums and had sunken-looking eyes — worrying signs that prompted us to investigate urgently.

We took blood samples from both cats to assess a range of health indicators. Of particular concern was a measurement called the packed cell volume (PCV).

PCV tells us what proportion of the blood volume is made up of red blood cells. These cells contain haemoglobin, which carries oxygen around the body. When the PCV falls dramatically, the body struggles to deliver enough oxygen to its tissues.

A typical PCV reference range for cats is approximately 30–45%, although the precise range can vary between laboratories.

– Low PCV: Indicates anaemia and a reduced proportion of red blood cells.
– High PCV: May indicate dehydration or, less commonly, an abnormally increased red blood cell concentration.

Dobby’s PCV fell to an alarming 5%, while Violet’s was just 7%. Both values were dangerously low compared with the expected range.

At these levels, urgent treatment was essential.

A race against time

Although we had not yet established the exact cause of either cat’s anaemia, we suspected that red blood cell destruction was playing a significant role.

We decided that blood transfusions were a critical part of their immediate treatment while further investigations continued.

Both cats were started on medication, including corticosteroids to help suppress an inappropriate immune response that may have been contributing to red blood cell destruction. They were also given doxycycline, an antibiotic used to treat certain infections, including Mycoplasma haemofelis.

Because feline blood compatibility is so important, we typed each cat’s blood before obtaining a suitable blood product.

The transfusions were administered gradually over several hours, with a dedicated veterinary nurse monitoring each cat closely throughout the procedure. Careful observation allowed us to watch for any signs of a transfusion reaction and assess how they were responding to treatment.

Once a blood product has been prepared for use, it must be handled and administered according to strict storage and safety protocols. Any remaining product that cannot safely be retained must be discarded.

The remarkable difference a transfusion can make

The photographs tell the rest of the story.

Dobby’s photographs were taken three weeks after her transfusion, when she returned for repeat blood tests to check whether her red blood cell levels had remained stable. It was encouraging to see her back for that important follow-up assessment.

Violet’s photographs were taken during her transfusion — and they capture a particularly memorable moment.

Halfway through the procedure, Violet began to feel noticeably better. She started rolling around, playing and showing an interest in food again.

Seeing such a change in a cat who had arrived unable to walk properly and repeatedly collapsing was a wonderful reminder of how important timely treatment can be.

A transfusion does not necessarily resolve the underlying cause of anaemia, so continued investigation, treatment and follow-up are essential. However, it can provide vital support while the veterinary team works to address the problem.

A huge thank you to Dobby and Violet’s owners

We are incredibly grateful to both owners for seeking veterinary care and giving their cats the chance to recover.

Dobby and Violet’s cases are a reminder that anaemia can be life-threatening, sometimes developing with surprisingly subtle signs before a cat becomes critically unwell.

If your cat seems unusually weak, has pale gums, collapses or is struggling to walk, seek urgent veterinary advice.

Blood transfusions require careful preparation, compatible blood products and close monitoring, but in the right circumstances, they can make a life-saving difference.

We’re delighted to have been able to help Dobby and Violet — two very special cats whose stories show just how much a timely transfusion can matter.

When you take on a pet they quickly become part of the family and you want to keep them happy and healthy and part of the family for as long as possible,

This dog is Calimay who was a rescue. The top photo shows her around 4 years of age. Fast forward and the second photo is her at 14 and a half- bet you are thinking doesn’t she looking amazing and what if we said the photo is taken after her walk up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) wow even more amazing but what if we said that day was to celebrate her going into remission 15 months after being diagnosed with lymphoma a blood and lymph node cancer.

Calimay is a fantastic success story for the practice and whereas many practices shy away from cancer and offering treatment we are proud to say we didn’t. Working with experts in their field we could provide on site recommendations to giving the chemotherapy and were able to provide the majority of life saving treatment at Mochdre Vets.

It should be noted that Cali did experience treatment-related side effects. However, these were successfully managed through inpatient hospitalisation when required or with close support and guidance provided to the owners for home-based care. This approach allowed the adverse effects to be effectively controlled, even when they persisted for several days.

Although we don’t know how long Calimay will stay in remission we already have protocols in place if she comes out of remission.

So far we are talking 15 months which is almost 9 years in doggy years which is definitely worth the chance and although we can’t every dog into remission we are proud to offer service that can hopefully prolong the life span of animals with cancer.

From the whole team its been a privilege to get Calimay to this point and with her dedicated owners feel we were all a team.

There was suspicion that Rex had been playing with a stick and we thought that was how the injury was caused. We needed to explore the wound to see where it went and what damage had been done. It was a complete surprise when we found this still in the wound.

No wonder he was so uncomfortable. We suspected that Rex had landed on the stick with force and as the stick was wet and rotten it had snapped. This left us with other worries how far had the stick gone, what actual damage had it done and were there any other bits of stick present. Any little splinters could cause future problems. Thankfully after flushing the wound continuously for several minutes we able to perform a CT scan. The results were excellent and exactly what we hoped for. We were able to rule out any damage or any lingering pieces.

And in case you want to know what the specialist saw on the CT?

There is a poorly defined region of hypo attenuation and focal swelling within the root of the tongue on midline (Figure 1, red arrowheads). Numerous small gas foci are present within the tongue and geniohyoid/mylohyoid muscles with subjective enlargement and presumed contrast enhancement of rostral aspect of the layer. There is fluid accumulation in the le retropharyngeal space and overlying subcutaneous space (Figure 2, green arrowheads). Rostrally, numerous small gas foci are seen between the le aspect of the tongue and digastricus muscle (Figure 3, yellow arrowheads)

What is Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a long-term condition where the cartilage in the affected joint deteriorates, leading to pain and lameness. This can be especially debilitating for dogs. Stem cell therapy is a novel and cutting-edge treatment that is showing increasing effectiveness in combating osteoarthritis.

What are stem cells?

Stem cell therapy is relatively new in both veterinary and human medicine. However, its use for treating osteoarthritis (OA) is more advanced, especially in cats and dogs, where arthritis is very common. It is estimated that 20% of dogs suffer from OA, and globally, tens of thousands of dogs have been treated with stem cells. In successful cases, the stem cells are injected into the joints, alleviating pain and allowing pets to walk without lameness.

How do stem cells work?

The process involves taking a small fat sample from your pet under general anaesthesia, from which stem cells are isolated and cultured into millions of cells. These cultured stem cells are then returned to your vet for injection into the arthritic joints. Additionally, some cells are stored frozen for future use, ensuring they are always available if needed.

Stem cells offer natural anti-inflammatory pain relief for your dog, with noticeable effects within a week to 10 days after injection. These benefits include improved mobility, reduced stiffness, and pain-free movement. The relief typically lasts for a few months and can last for up to a year, after which a follow-up injection may be necessary. Following stem cell treatment, dogs can often live pain-free with reduced or even no medication for an extended period of their lives.

Is it safe?

Yes, the stem cells are isolated from the same dog, making the procedure safe and eliminating the risk of rejection or adverse reactions. However, there may be risks associated with the injection process itself, and pet owners should discuss these potential risks with their veterinary surgeon.

If you want to know more about stem cell please visit The Veterinary Tissue Bank

Testimonial from Brody’s mum and dad …

Brody is now 2 days post stem cell injections and he is happy and his usual cheeky self! He’s just having short lead walks to help the stem cells settle and do their job.

Brody was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and elbow dysplasia at 8 months old. At the time we were told it was so severe that if we did nothing, he’d be lucky to get to 6 years old. Last month we celebrated his 11th birthday! He’s been having stem cell therapy for about 5 years and it’s been truly life changing for him. It gives him the ability to be active again and enjoy life pain free.

We want to say a massive thanks to everyone at Mochdre Vets for looking after him so well and for being able to carry on this amazing treatment for him.

Debbie, Phil & Brody

We are very lucky to be able to offer scoping facilities at the practice and it has meant we have been able to pass a camera up noses, down stomachs and sadly for our very own Bert up bottoms too!  Well to scope does mean assess or investigate something. On Friday March 22nd it turned out to be cavalier scope day with three of them booked in.  Harvey had an endoscope passed down to his stomach a procedure called gastroscopy. For those that have a strong stomach you can click on the description to see some photos!

Angularis

A gastroscopy is a procedure that involves passing a thin, flexible tube (an endoscope) with a camera at one end into your mouth down into your stomach and the first part of the small intestine the duodenum.

No one wants to hear their pet isn’t well but thanks to the camera Harvey was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and we are able to start him on specific treatment.We could also reassure his mum there wasn’t anything more sinister going on. We were able to see that he had ulcers that were healing.

Mylo had a rhinoscopy where the thin camera was passed up his nose. Cavaliers can have a condition called Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome and as we were investigating episodes of sneezing we wanted to know if his anatomy was the problem or something else, thankfully despite having a lump in his nasal passage biopsies showed it was just a polyp.

Cobbled Gastric Mucosa

Becky had a bronchoscopy and rhinoscopy so bless her she had cameras up (her nose) and down (her windpipe). That in itself is fairly amazing as the dog lung has four bronchiole systems, dorsal, lateral, ventral and medial, on either side.  Each measuring less than centimetre! In Becky’s case an x ray would have missed some of the changes going on and although cavaliers can get a cough due to heart disease this was definitely not the case for Becky!

If you have a pet that you think would benefit from further diagnostics including scoping then please contact the practice on 01492 546112. 

Scoping procedures with biopsies start from £750 upwards depending on what your pets requirements are.

We are more than a little bit thrilled to announce we have won Practice of the Month for Agria Pet Insurance! We are the winner for the WHOLE of the UK and it was based on customer feedback and the level of service we provide so a huge thanks to all those who have supported us and we are so proud of this achievement! Jo even managed to drag Rhian out of her cupboard to celebrate!

A huge thankyou to everyone that left us feedback and to all the staff who we could never do this without!

The Cat Friendly Clinic is a worldwide programme from the International Society of Feline Medicine, the veterinary division of International CatCare. We recognise that because of their unique nature and needs, taking a cat to a veterinary clinic can be very stressful, both for the cat and also the owner.

As you are aware we are the only practice in the local area that achieved the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) Gold award for our standards in cat care.   As Mochdre Vets is a new practice we had the fortune to design it from the beginning with a view of making it friendly for our cats and never had to compromise because we were trying to shoe horn it in to an existing clinic.

We have to thank our head nurse and cat advocat Claire Williams for all her hard work and enthusiasm who has been involved right from the beginning when we were still drawing up plans for the building.  She ensured that we achieved and continue to maintain the standards required, there was never a point during this process where ‘good enough’ was good enough!  Though obviously she did have Clive cracking the whip!

We asked Claire to write about her experience in helping design Mochdre Vets with a feline friendly view in mind …

I have always had an interest in feline behaviour and had some knowledge of their welfare within the veterinary practice so when Sarah Heywood decided to open Mochdre Vets I was invited to help plan the lay out with our feline friends in mind.

Right from the start we decided that everything should be separate from a feline hospital ward to the waiting rooms and consult rooms.

Starting with the waiting room this is completely separate from the dogs and can be accessed easily without having to come in to contact with any dogs. The room was picked to give the maximum space away from dogs and the room was next to the hydrotherapy pool so it would naturally be the warmest room. The consult room itself is the smallest and darkest of the consult rooms which is an environment preferred by cats than dogs. To reduce stress within the waiting room there are plug in devices which help to relax cats, there is a high level stand to place the cats in their carriers. There are towels to cover the carriers to help make it less stressful and these are sprayed with the stress helping pheromones. We also operate cat only consulting times and I myself am doing the ISFM certificate in feline behaviour so I offer a lot of free consults to cat owners. This is again to help minimise stress when owners are introducing their cats to new situations. I even offer consults for just the owners the idea longer term is to try and minimise the stress for a cat coming to the vets, studies have shown animals that are stressed will show higher levels of pain and take longer to recover from any illness or operations.

For any hospitilised patients we have a separate ward with ISFM approved cat condos.These are different to your usual veterinary metal cages as they have plenty of space. There are perches so the cats can sit up high, there are hiding areas to give them a sense of control and safety. The design of the cages means we can monitor patients easily, they are warm and easily cleaned which can help with infection management. As they are not metal it means cats won’t catch their reflections which can be seen as a threat. The condos allow for the cats to be on drips and still be able to move round freely.

All staff have undergone further training in cat handling and detecting signs of pain and I regularly do training with the nursing team. As vets and nurses we have to do a certain amount of continual learning each year and a lot of this is feline based so that we can maintain our gold standard and keep improving. We also provide a variety of diets and have dedicated staff to sit with any poorly cats grooming them and helping them relax.

ISFM have a categorised feline friendly status which are marked Bronze, Silver and Gold. To achieve the highest Gold standard we have to be judged against a wide range of criteria including:

• Veterinary Clinic Premises – exclusive cat wards, isolation facilities, waiting rooms and consult rooms
• Facilities – raised shelves and benches for cat baskets with vertical barriers and a high level of laboratory equipment.
• Services – minimum consult times, all our consults are 20 minutes for all clients
• Staff – All staff , receptionists, vets and nurses need to have an understanding of the needs of cats including how to hold and approach them.

To achieve and maintain standards a Cat Friendly Clinic should have an dedicated person that holds all the values for felines with the upmost importance, called a cat advocate and at Mochdre Vets that is Claire.

If you are interested in the complete list of requirements for CFC accreditation you can read the ISFM’s criteria here.

Claire works Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays but can always be contacted by email info@mochdrevets.co.uk and would be delighted to help you with any cat related issues you have. Claire has almost completed her certificate in feline behaviour and the sessions are FREE and already we have had some very positive outcomes to nervous cats.

The saying is life in the old dog yet well how about life in the old cat yet!

Our November dental offer if going well but I think our biggest success story will be Angelica. Angelica came to us as a second opinion as she had a dental abscess that had stopped her eating but at 18 and a half it was recommended she just had antibiotics for the rest of her life. This obviously wasn’t ideal as certainly wouldn’t do anything for her pain. We discussed the anaesthetic risk with her mum and the things we could do to help support Angelica and tailor the protocol to her and her mum was keen. Angelica ended up having 5 teeth out not just the one that had caused the abscess. From our perspective Angelica was a fantastic patient and within an hour of waking up was already eating a bowl of food.

Our bespoke cat condos are designed to have the best comfort factor for cats and within a couple of hours Angelica had jumped up on one of the shelves and was happily grooming herself.

Angelica has been back for her post op checks and so far all is going well.  She has a great appetite and has even put on a little bit of weight so we are delighted.

Without a crystal ball we don’t know whats round the corner but even if it buys her 6 months thats the equivalent of 3 and a half years to us!   And most importantly we hope it will be a 3 and a half pain free years.

Ruby came to us as a referral client after seeing a member of our extended family – Dugie Gemmill who is our expert Orthopaedic  and Laparoscopic Surgeon who regularly refers cases to us for rehabilitation.  Ruby has luxating patellas which means her knee caps move out of place and Dugie recommended for her to try treatment on the underwater treadmill to build muscle to support her knees in the aim to avoid surgery.

On Ruby’s initial consultation we took some measurements of her muscles. We found she was over- muscled in her front legs due to her weightbearing more through them. This was a clever way her body had adjusted to avoid putting extra weight through her knees. Ruby was quite lame on her back right leg and had a significant difference in the muscles of her back legs. There was a 7cm difference!!!  Ruby was also on pain relief at the time of starting her treatment.

After a treatment programme of 10 sessions, coming twice a week, we repeated the measurements and found that Ruby had lost a small amount of muscle from her front legs, confirming the treatment was helping her to balance better and that she had gained 2cm of muscle on her left hind and 7cms on her right hind!

With now only 1cm difference between her back legs, no longer on any pain medication, moving better and much happier in herself, what a difference a few treadmills made! Ruby continues to be treated by our rehabiliation team at Mochdre Vets – what a success story!!