My cat's skin is white and he has low red blood cells. What's wrong?

My concerns are that Kim has a high white blood count (indicating possible infection or immune mediated infection) and REALLY low hematocrit of 12%. The hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in the body. Usually when it is that low, the animal needs a blood transfusion. Granted I didn't do the exam on him so I would call your vet to discuss if this is needed, as well as additional diagnostics or medicines. I would also talk to them about whethe he needs to be hospitalized in a 24 hour care until he is more stable as he sounds very sick. I hope this helps and he starts to feel better really soon.

Pale nose and ears in a cat can be a sign of anemia (low red blood cell count), shock, or dehydration. The pale color happens because of poor circulation to the extremeties, which can be caused by any of the conditions I mentioned. If possible, I would recommend having your kitty examined by a vet since some of these issues can be serious - your vet can do some basic blood work to help determine what's wrong.

I am so sorry for your loss. I don’t see your kitty’s age, but if he/she was older, I would be most suspicious that he/she had cancer somewhere. Even though FeLV negative, it’s still possible that cancer developed in her bone marrow due to an unknown cause. (Which unfortunately is usually the case with cancer). When all of the blood cells are low, primary bone marrow disease (cancer, immune mediated disease) may be to blame. It’s also possible that there was cancer elsewhere and the bone marrow stopped working due to either spread of the disease or because of what we call a “paraneoplastic syndrome”, which is just a fancy way to say that unfortunately cancer sometimes does whatever it wants. I am so sorry again for your heartache. It sounds like you did everything you could have for your cat. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Please let us know if we can help you further.

Ouch poor Harry. Low PCV could be from a number of things including immune-mediated anemias, lack of blood cell production or as you checked, problems with the kidneys and erythropoetin production. If the kidneys seem functional looking toward issues that would cause auto-cell destruction may be the next step as well as possible transfusion or injection of EPO to stimulate red cell production. Checking for parasitic anemia and high parasite load may also give clues to the low PCV value. Panleukopenia, FIV and FeLV can also cause low PCV as part of the disease process. Ruling out an internal bleed somewhere may also help narrow down the cause.

I am assuming when you refer to the blood gets low - this mean that Lorah is anemic and having a low red blood cell count. The red blood cells can be low due to loss (bleeding), destroyed (auto immune, red blood parasites) or not being made (bone marrow problems). It is important that additional testing be done to determine why the anemia is happening. IF the underlying cause is not addressed that the anemia will continue to be present. I hope that helps

Much more information would be required in order to make any sense or use of blood results, a summary of what has been concerning you, her signs and symptoms and response to any previous treatment i would be required at a minimum. It is unusual to have a high RBC/HCT (more than normal red blood cells )and low MCH/MCHC (usually found when recovering from anaemia). This may indicate the red blood cell production process is gone wrong and an examination of the cells under a microscope by a specialist pathologist and possible bone marrow biopsy may be required. Occasionally accidental exposure to human medications used to promote blood production can produce similar results

I would recommend that you have your cat examined by a vet. These are not good problems to have, and could be caused by a number of things including stomatitis, FIV, oral or nasal cancer, bacterial or fungal infection, among others. The vet will do a thorough exam, and may need to run blood work and maybe x-rays to determine the cause.