kb2yjx, Norton is in our prayers. As a 2 yr old Kami, an Egyptian Mau, got an auto immune disease where she was killing her own red blood cells. I think this came about from a premium food we fed her which was lacking an important nutritional component but in any event she has had this problem ever since, although it seems to be getting a little better on meds. But just when you think she is doing extremely well she has a relapse. If you think about it, food companies have absolutely no regard for our health - look at the crap they make and sell as human food that is slowly killing us; even the Gov't RDAs are wrong. I read a lot about cat nutrition and the 'food standards' used; they are scary and at best very primitive. She does very well on Evo Ancestral Diet but has health problems with Fromm and Felidae is what caused it. On to your questions, the Epogen has pulled her from near death several times without apparent side effects. I am sure there are though and you can find those on www. A monthly maintenance dose of .2ml holds her usually [10# cat] but when she is having severe problems I have gone to .1ml every other day for a few days till I start to see a response. Cats are extremely tough; they make it through things that would have killed a dog long ago. You can imagine not having enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to all the cells in your body really takes the sap out of them. You usually can see daily improvement from them lying on the floor like a blob of jello, at their worst, to running around the house and doing normal cat things. The best barometer of where they are hematacrit wise, without paying for blood tests, is their tongue. It is best viewed on a sunny day anywhere near a window. The sun makes the true color and purple that the tongue should be show up better. The bottom of the tongue gives a better picture as the top has the little barbs [hair combs] and saliva to disguise it. The idea here is to anticipate and see a deterioration coming and react with meds before they are really bad as it is not obvious from their behavior, otherwise you are bringing them back from near death each time [hopefully]. Prednisolone 2.5mg every other day is part of the treatment but in the emergency state I've used 5mg or more per day. This helps settle the body down and lessen the rejection. So three years later, I have learned a lot about treating this and try not to go to the vet. We have a Fabulous vet but everytime I go, with tests, med refills and all it is $500. I don't know the state of Norton but the above works for us. Kami, with the auto immune situation is also more susceptible to infections so sometimes treatment with Baytril is required to kill that off then rebuild the hematacrit level which ranged from a 7 [transfusion time] to 34. I hope this helps you and anyone else here. I know a lot more about this if you need more info.
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