My cat has Mycoplasma haemofelis. What's the prognosis & spread?

Anaemia caused by Mycoplasma can be very serious as I know you are well aware. Anaemia can be caused by a number if different diseases and the best way to confirm mycoplasmosis tends to be on a pcr test. Although it can be diagnosed on culture of bodily fluids. Mycoplasma are hardy bacteria and require a long course if strong antibiotics to cure. An otherwise healthy cat on a long course of the appropriate antibiotic would be expected to have a good chance of making a full recovery. However a cat with an already compromised immune system will not have such good chances. Having said that diseases such as FIV and Felv and FIP would be most concerning for the immune system. You could consider having your cat screened for these conditions as he may have an underlying issue. If so then prognosis is poor. However, if this is not the case and he is well enough to be treated from home It won't do any harm to give the medication a week or 2 and see how he fares. If he does get over the infection you can help prevent reinvention by keeping him out of damp areas and practicing good hygiene in his environment.

Poor doggy. No mycoplasma is not contagious to other pets or people. Mycoplasma is transmitted through a flea bite and pets can be affected. This is not considered to be a zoonotic (contagious to people) disease although there was 1 reported case of a person getting infected after being scratched by a cat. But in general no it isn't easily transmissible to people. So essentially a flea that is infected will infect any other pets that are not protected by a monthly flea preventative. I hope your pet gets well soon!

This is a blood borne parasite which attacks the red blood cells, it can be spread by biting parasites such as fleas and lice and I would not recommend a play date until at least 8weeks and ensure to keep all cats up to date with flea treatments

Good question! What I tend to see in practice is that these rescue dogs are very stressed from previous poor nutrition, being in a shelter, and then usually surgery. Their immune system is weak and they get any infection they are exposed to. The existing family dogs are usually well fed and healthy. Some do get these infections, but many are able to fight them off and either never get sick or only have very mild signs. Of course I would be vigilant about monitoring for any signs but I would also be optimistic that he could remain healthy! Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Poor guy. Non-regenerative anemia in an older cat is always concerning. Due to the timing of all of these events however, his anemia could have very well have been caused by the medication alone. This would be considered to be an adverse reaction that would not be normal for any pet to have not can be predicted. But with that said it usually is a regenerative anemia when medication is the cause. A closer look at his bloodwork could help clarify this. Other possible causes that are common in older cats are: feline leukemia/feline aids or cancer unfortunately. Typically with all of these you will also get some changes with the white blood cell count levels as well and often-times a fever. Overall the prognosis would be guarded to poor considering your pets age and the fact that the anemia is non- regenerative. I am so sorry to be bearer of bad news here. If you wish to share more information about your pets specific bloodwork results and also physical exam findings (i.e. temperature, body condition score, etc), then you can request a private consultation with one of the experts here on the site. Best of luck moving forward with your vets treatment plan for Puddy and I do hope that he is able to stabilize soon. Take care.

Once the initial infection is successfully treated, hemobartonella infections should not affect Raven as she gets older. The best protection from hemobartonella is to stay on a good flea preventative to prevent further risk of contracting hemobartonella again. Here is a great article on Feline Infectious Anemia: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Alfie's diagnosis. Unfortunately, no one can predict exactly how Alfie's hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) will progress. Some cats can live for years with known heart disease, while the disease progresses more rapidly in other cats. The progression of HCM is variable, and the best person to provide you with a more detailed prognosis would be a veterinary cardiologist. Often the best we can do is regular monitoring (recheck echocardiograms) to watch for progression of the disease and provide the appropriate treatment accordingly. Even so, there are some things we cannot predict, such as a thromboembolism, that can occur secondary to heart disease. It's difficult to have so many unknowns, and so I encourage you to ask your vet about referral to a veterinary cardiologist for evaluation if you would find more information helpful. I know this is still a pretty open-ended answer, but hopefully it helps guide you to the next step.