Bob was a rescued, neutered, 5 to7 years old cat who had been loosing weight progressively, to the point that worried his owner very much. Lately he had also lost appetite, and was very weak.
His mucose was very pale but, apart from it, nothing else could be found wrong in his phisical exam.
He was tested for leukemia or feline inmunodeficiency disease and his biochemical results where within the average range. However, his hemogram showed such anaemia that the diagram in the analyzer gave us its slowest result.
He was tested for leukemia or feline inmunodeficiency disease and his biochemical results where within the average range. However, his hemogram showed such anaemia that the diagram in the analyzer gave us its slowest result.
Running out of the limited budget to spend on tests, it was decided he would be kept under enrofloxacine for a week, hoping all his problems me be due to some
kind of parasite or a bacteria infection.
kind of parasite or a bacteria infection.
His health didn't improve at all, his skin went from pale to a little bit yellowish, and his owner made up his mind the best would be to put him to sleep. As a last chance it was decided to "give" a blood film test, hoping to find that expecting parasite that could be the answer to his suffering.
To our surprise, when his blood was mixed with EDTA-anticoagulant, it clotted, what didn't make sense, unless we were witnessing a blood phenomenon called "rouleaux" formation*. A "saline agglutination test" can rule out this rouleaux agglutination from others, in unclear cases. In this case, an inmune-mediated haemolysis was strongly suspected.
This agglutination also explained the extremely low results of his red blood cell count in the analyzer, because this machine cannot count clotted cells, therefore the result is misleading us to think the anaemia is more severe than it really is.
Because of lack of money, it could not be done any more investigation as to why Bob was having this haemolysis, and he was put to sleep knowing, at least, that it was his own inmune system what was making him be so ill.
*Rouleaux formation is an organized, orderly agglutination of red blood cells, due to electrostatic attraction. Though it is not unusual, it may increase its production in inflammatory diseases.
No comments:
Post a Comment