Update time!  Since the last post, I increased Tig's pred to 5 mg BID.  He responded well and his Hct went back up to normal (32-33 where it is most of the time).  I've been weaning his Pred dose back down over the past couple months.  He's now at 5 mg once a day, which is where he'll stay.  He doesn't seem to tolerate less than that.  He's still getting the Chlorambucil every other day.  He seems happy, energetic, stable weight, with a cute pink nose and gums.  Since I don't plan on decreasing his Pred dose, I'll try to stretch out his CBC's as long as possible-- don't want to torture him unnecessarily at the vet.  

Hope everyone else is doing well.  Not sure if anyone is even reading this besides Brad.  I figure at some point, someone might stumble upon this site and Tigger's experience might be helpful to them.

Quick question Brad-- did you ever give any iron or vitamin supplements?  I used to give Iron, but one of the vets along the line seemed to think it wouldn't do anything because it's not an iron-deficiency anemia.  Any thoughts?

Oh-- forgot to mention.  I came across someone selling a mini-PCV centrifuge machine.  With a drop of blood, I can do my own PCV at home.  I tested the machine on myself and it seemed accurate.  Only problem is that I can't get up the courage to prick poor Tigger.  I watched some videos online (from people with diabetic cats requiring blood glucose checks), but don't really want to torture Tigger just to appease my paranoid/anxious self.  If anyone is interested in purchasing a machine, I can pass on the contact info from the guy (who happens to be a retired MD) I purchased it from.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too Peachy!

Glad to hear it.  Vala, Trip, and I are doing fine too!

OK...this is where the story takes a turn....

So, after they removed Tigger's spleen, the pathologists were doing a biopsy on it.  Turns out, Tigger has lymphocytes that are eating his red blood cells (normally macrophages do this).  The pathologists suspect Tigger has a very rare (only ONE, yes, ONE other cat has been reported to have this, EVER!) T-cell Lymphoma.  So far, they have not been able to PROVE that it is cancerous--- to do this, they need to be able to find clonal cells (identical), which they have not.  However, just because they haven't found them, doesn't necessarily mean that they're not there.  So, these pathologists at the university are having a field day with this potential "discovery" and are working around the clock, making new tests, etc. to try and prove that Tigger has this rare lymphoma (btw, this is luckily at no cost to me, since they have such an interest in this).  And the vet assured me that Tigger willl one day be famous and in a medical journal - lol.  So, the next step the vet wants to take is a Liver aspirate to see if these strange cells are in Tigger's liver as well.  If they are, then this essentially means that taking out his spleen was not the "cure" that we were looking for, and that he will most likely need to stay on the Pred forever.  If it's not in his liver, I'm not sure what they will want to do.....but I refuse to put Tigger through another bone marrow biopsy just for the sake of science.

So, this other cat was treated with Pred and Chlorambucil (what Tigger is currently on).  The paper was written in 2008, and at that time, they said the cat had been fine for 2.5 years.  not sure what the current status of the cat is, but i'd be curious to know.  This cat did have differences from Tigger though, one being that it was 13 yrs old, whereas Tigger was only 3 when he first got sick.

Craziness.  Still can't believe that this is happening, but trying to stay positive!  Will continue to update as new info arises!