Linda and Bear Man
Very Active Member
Bear's PCV on July 15, just before his first shot of Aranesp, was .18. His BP was OK, and his heart rate was 240. We opted for the max dose of 6.25 mcg. He also got a shot of iron dextran.
Although I did not expect to see results so soon, he seemed more active and social in the first few days after the shot. Instead of just lying in the bathroom bed beside his water dish, he walked from room to room a bit and lay in some of his old favorite beds.
On July 22 his PCV was rechecked, and was .20. BP was good, and heart rate was just above 200. We repeated the dose of 6.25 mcg. The desirable rate of increase in PCV is 2% per week, so we seem to be right on target.
I did get some feedback from a feline anemia support group (just before the second shot) saying that 6.25 mcg was way too high a starting dose for a cat
The poster shed some light on why I am seeing so much variation in suggested doses. The high dose of 6.25 mcg that Bear is on would be analagous to the higher dose recommended for human patients on chemotherapy. The lower suggested dose of .45 mcg/kg would be more in keeping with the dose for human CRD patients. I discussed this with my vet, who wanted to go with the 6.25 mcg dose she is seeing on VIN. His BP and PCV seemed to support that, so we repeated the dose. The next recheck and shot will be July 29. I am buying the Aranesp from my hospital pharmacy in preloaded syringes of .4 ml. We are injecting .25 ml, and have been discarding the rest.
Although I did not expect to see results so soon, he seemed more active and social in the first few days after the shot. Instead of just lying in the bathroom bed beside his water dish, he walked from room to room a bit and lay in some of his old favorite beds.
On July 22 his PCV was rechecked, and was .20. BP was good, and heart rate was just above 200. We repeated the dose of 6.25 mcg. The desirable rate of increase in PCV is 2% per week, so we seem to be right on target.
I did get some feedback from a feline anemia support group (just before the second shot) saying that 6.25 mcg was way too high a starting dose for a cat
The poster shed some light on why I am seeing so much variation in suggested doses. The high dose of 6.25 mcg that Bear is on would be analagous to the higher dose recommended for human patients on chemotherapy. The lower suggested dose of .45 mcg/kg would be more in keeping with the dose for human CRD patients. I discussed this with my vet, who wanted to go with the 6.25 mcg dose she is seeing on VIN. His BP and PCV seemed to support that, so we repeated the dose. The next recheck and shot will be July 29. I am buying the Aranesp from my hospital pharmacy in preloaded syringes of .4 ml. We are injecting .25 ml, and have been discarding the rest.
Also see Bear's video in my signature.
