Feline Anemia
Anemia in Cats
Symptoms of feline anemia include the following: nausea with poor appetite, sleeping a lot and inactivity due to weakness, coldness exhibited possibly by
the cat spending most of its time in small, cozy places or in the sun to keep warm. Anemia in cats can also cause an irregular heartbeat.
Anemia and feline kidney disease go hand in hand. When kidney function declines, so does its ability to produce a hormone called erythropietin.
This hormone stimulates the bone marrow to produce new red blood cells. If the kidney's ability to produce this hormone is impaired, then so is the
body's ability to make new blood. Simply adding an iron supplement is not going to fix this.
First of all,
it has been suggested that iron supplements that are not 100% derived from all natural or organic sources, are not absorbable or utilized by the body
and because of this, can actually act like a toxin. Secondly, the role of iron is for the formation of hemoglobin...NOT blood cells.
It plays no role in creating new blood cells once the older ones that need to be replaced, die off. The role of hemoglobin is
bind to oxygen in the lungs and carry the oxygen through the body to all the cells that need it when they need it.
A synthetic form of this hormone exists and is called Epogen. It is only to be used for a very short period of time, determined by your veterinarian.
Some veterinarians discourage its use at all. This is because the body quickly comes to recognize this drug as sybthetic and will respond by making antibodies
against it as well as destroy the body's own natural erythropoietin.
There is however, a chinese herbal formula on the market that claims to support the kidneys in their ability to produce erythropoietin. It has other herbs
in it that also help to support and improve the overall health and function of the kidneys.
It is made by Dr. Michael Tierra, a very reputable traditional chinese medical [TMC] doctor. The line of formulas he developed is called Planetary Formulas and the
kidney formula is called Rhemania 8.