Don't tell **** Pound and WADA, but...

My cat's just been prescribed EPO.

He recently reached end-stage renal failure. For the last week, I've been giving him subcutaneous fluid treatment and various medications. Today was his follow up appointment, and the vet said that all of his stats are noticeably better except his hematocrit levels. So, he's getting a blood transfusion and a week of erythropoeitin to see if that counteracts the anemia.

My warped sense of humor finds it funny that after all I've read about EPO in bike racing, I'll now be administering it to my cat :rolleyes:

my sister took 16 weeks of chemo and radiation for lung cancer starting in june of this year. and not too surprisingly at one point her hemoglobin was too low and they gave her a shot of procrit. the oncologist was explaining this to her and she told him, so i guess what you are telling me is i can't ride the tour de france this year. this was in july even, so the timing was perfect. he's a very quiet sort of sedate guy, very calming and we like that. but we joke that we wonder if he has much of a sense of humor. but that line just cracked him up and he told her no, he was sorry to tell her but she was out of the tour this year.

my cat had CRF for 5 yrs. i spent a small fortune on her and countless IV bags and medications. i had to let her go last summer but she got a lot more years than the dr every expected. sorry about your cat but glad you too have a warped sense of humor. my family, my sister especially, have found it quite helpful.

My dad was on EPO when he was sick with aplastic anemia.
I used to tease him and ask him if he could spare any, as I needed all the help I could get on the bike! :rolleyes: :cool:
Hope things go well for your cat.....

Kalidurga, I'm sending thoughts your way. I'm the human pet of a 16 year old cat and she's beginning to show some signs of her age. I dread the time when we have to part and I know I'll do whatever I can to keep her as long as she can be comfortable. Give your kitty-child a little ear rub for me.

Thanks for the well wishes, ladies. The blood transfusion apparently helped quite a bit. He's got more energy today, but still tries to hide from me in between torture treatments. I dunno why, but he just doesn't seem to like being strapped to the bike...




Sorry, lame attempt to continue the EPO joke ;) :rolleyes:

Big hugs and healing, happy, energetic butterflies with a great sense of humour, to Kali and your cat. I'm so happy that the blood transfusion and EPO are available for your baby! We have 3 blood donors in the house and I love to tell people about it so that more will consider having their fur-baby be a blood donor.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~