Need help: 18 year old cat lethargic, antibiotic?

My cat is 18 years old.

A couple of months ago, my cat was lethargic, and the vet put her on a two week dose of Clindamycin to take care of bacteria in her month.

Due to her dental disease, and the vet's concern about anesthesia, the vet recommended giving her one week doses of Clindamycin every four weeks.

I haven't been doing that until about nine days ago, when I noticed the same symptoms coming on (sneezing). We completed the one week period on Sunday morning.

Today the cat is lethargic, not eating, and camping out by the water dish. I haven't been able to get her to eat her other meds (thyroid, heart med) - well I tried, but she still is feisty enough to spit out her chewables (got some of them down the hatch a bit.

Though I stopped the antibiotic on Sunday morning, I'm thinking of resuming it tonight so she gets the two week cycle. Normally I'd wait until the morning to ask the vet, but by then she'd have missed two full days of doses. Of course, I also worry about giving her too much of this stuff, and harming the immune system.

Any guidance/thoughts would be much appreciated.

Jay

Call your vets office , likely you will get directions and a phone for the nearest ER clinic or the vets home number... Call and discuss it ... If this was mY cat I would be on the way to the ER vet right now

She was actually fine until she went off the antibiotic. I will call my vet's office in the morning and not restart the antibiotic, but I bet that's what they'll have me do...

Dental disease can and does cause kidney failure. Your cat needs emergency treatment.

Please get her to the vet now and have blood work done to check her kidney function.

Thanks. Actually we've been treating the kidney disease for about a year, and ran a blood panel about a month ago, and she was still fine.

Did go to the vet in the morning. She thinks it could be anemia or thyroid (cat has thyroid meds in form of treats, but hasn't been taking them, and it is all out war trying to get her to eat one).

Vet doesn't think the dental disease is an issue this time - said cat's gums looked pretty good.

I will know sometime today or tomorrow on what vet recommends, as we ran another panel today.

Cat rarely had to go to the vet, and it seems like about every three weeks we're going in for something. The cat seems to rebound well every time the vet figures out what is going on and prescribes treatment.

However, I am concerned that all these issues aren't a good sign (thyroid, blood pressure, kidney, dental disease), and the cat is going downhill. I don't want the cat to live with incredible amounts of pain just because I want her around and can't let go, but I do want to do all I can to see what's going on and if there's a solution...

I am confused here - it seems to me that she is not taking some of the meds she is supposed to be taking... is that correct?
Can you please list the issues she has and the meds she takes, how she takes - if she is current, taking every day, and if not?
This way we can have a clear understanding... I am totally confused...

Carolina,

Sure, thanks for asking. This should lay it out there:

She takes a blood pressure medication, in form of a treat.

She takes thyroid medication, in form of a treat.

She is eating Royal Canin LP food to address her kidney disease. The kidney disease hasn't progressed since she was diagnosed, and the blood panels show that she's in the high normal range.

She occasionally shows up for anemia on the blood panels. She's had Epogyn shots before to get her back into the normal range, and she may need that again.

The vet is also making sure that she doesn't diabetes, but the last blood panel showed her in the normal range.

Every four weeks, I give her an antibiotic for seven days to take care of the dental disease. The vet today didn't seem too concerned about those issues.

She got so sick yesterday that it was pretty much impossible to give her the thyroid and blood pressure meds. I could force the treat in her mouth, but she kept spitting it out. Today she is eating a little, and I did manage to give her the meds. The vet also gave her a hydration shot, as she had been dehydrated.

Three weeks ago, she had some seizures. She seemed to recover from the seizures. She's also lost most of her eyesight in the last month, though some days she seems to see just fine (other days she gets around fine).

So that's the long laundry list. I love my cat very much and am doing what I can to help her. I don't want her to suffer, either. She was active and fine and happy the last couple of weeks until yesterday, but I am concerned that more and more issues keep arising.

Jay

Originally Posted by Carolina

I am confused here - it seems to me that she is not taking some of the meds she is supposed to be taking... is that correct?
Can you please list the issues she has and the meds she takes, how she takes - if she is current, taking every day, and if not?
This way we can have a clear understanding... I am totally confused...

Click to expand...

Just after I posted this, got bad news from the vet - cat's red blood cell count is the reason she has crashed. Apparently it was a pretty dramatic crash from the previous blood panel. Albium levels are low, meaning she's susceptible to dehydration. Vet wasn't optimistic, said steroid treatment could possibly help, but was thinking in concert with all the other things going on that it's a lot to put the cat through.

I'm going to give it a little time to see. Vet said the thyroid meds could have been impacting the blood cells. Thyroid levels are low, so I'm taking her off the thyroid meds. Maybe the cat will miraculously rally (she has a couple of times these last several weeks), but I'm not going to put her through a lot of suffering...

Sendin you that this too shall improve