stay pink, benji cat

at the beginning of last month benji had some kind of energetic collapse.  normally, he's a very active cat, so, when he suddenly shut down, i knew something was really wrong.  one day he just hunkered down on the bed and seemed to be having trouble staying conscious.  

i got him an appointment with the vet for the next morning.  she checked him out and couldn't find anything obviously, physically wrong with him.  he didn't have a fever or any respiratory symptoms or digestive symptoms.  she said to keep an eye on him and if he showed no improvement or worsened to bring him back.  

later in the day, benji seemed a bit worse and i was very worried so i left a message on the after hours voice mail for the doc.  the next morning we got a call from the vet's office saying we could bring benji in.  

doctor wise (such a great name for a doctor) ordered some blood work and after the tech took the sample we went home to wait for results.  that afternoon i got a call from the doctor saying benji was anemic, his platelets were low, and she had sent out for additional tests to rule out leukemia and fiv.  

after a restless night, the morning brought good news.  benji was negative for leukemia and fiv and the doctor thought his condition may be the result of an autoimmune attack on his platelets so she prescribed an oral steroid.  i gave benji the medication twice a day, every day, and after a short time he seemed to be feeling much better.  he even seemed to like the medication and would come to me when he knew it was time and open his mouth for me when i offered the syringe.  

after some frustration in locating the prescription at the pharmacy (likely due to some creative spelling of our last name), we got things figured out.

 

after a few weeks, we took benji in for a follow up blood test to check his platelet count.  when we were getting ready to leave the vet's office, doctor wise came up to us, smiling, and said, "he's pink".  she said that when we first brought him in, weeks earlier, he had looked pale to her, but he seemed to have much better color this time around so she was encouraged that the steroid had helped.  i got an email from her later that day when the test results were back saying his platelets were normal and i could taper him off the medication.  

the doc thinks the autoimmune attack could have been an isolated incident and that benji should be okay now without any medication.  

 

so far, so good.  stay pink, benji cat.  we love you.