Sick Bengal -- please read

I'll try to make this as concise as possible, but about just over a year ago my bengal Sophia came down with what my vet called, "a kitty cold." She was lethargic, not eating too much, etc. Brought her in and he gave her two shots and by the time I got back home - bam - she was running around like nothing ever happened.

Well, last Thursday she started exhibiting similar signs. I made a vet appointment for Saturday, but by the time Saturday came, she was visibly improved and again scampering around, playing with our other cat, etc. Then came Monday and she started acting like a sick kitty again. Now, she isn't sneezing, she has no nasal discharge or anything from her eyes. She wasn't throwing up and she's using the litterbox as far as I can tell and for the most part, she's been eating.

Regardless, I took her into the vet yesterday and he said she's running a bit of a fever (103 to be exact). He gave me some Clavomox (antibiotic) and some gel (as kind of a maintenance therapy).

So, we get home from the vet and within 15 minutes, she throws up. I chalked it up to nerves and finally coming down from the adrenaline rush of being at the vet (and she hates the car, too). From there, I gave her a crushed up pill of the Clavomox about two hours later on top of some wet food and she ate it all.

Until midnight where she threw up again.

Now, her demeanor this morning was actually somewhat improved. I got her to purr and she jumped into bed with my fiance and I when we woke up (the normal routine), but I'm still really concerned. The vet is treating this like it might be an upper respiratory issue, but even he's not 100% sure.

Like I said, she's not exhibiting any of the other upper respiratory symptoms. He did say that Clavomox is notorious for causing an upset stomach. I know this is post is ranting a bit, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had any additional input. She's not even four years old yet.... I just hate to see her be miserable like she's been. On top of all that, she refuses to open her mouth for the pills... a total pain.

If anyone has additional thoughts I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

It is likely, IMO, that the Clavamox is causing the vomiting. BUT - you know there's always a "but" in there - I'd still call the vet. If the Clavamox is causing an upset stomach, perhaps you can switch to another antibiotic? (Unless you already called the vet about the vomiting - I couldn't tell from the way you worded it & I did skim your post a bit)

Yeah, sorry -- I was a bit all over the place with my post. I did call the vet first thing this morning and he told me that Clavomox is notorious for causing an upset stomach and to supplement it with Pepsid. So now we're talking not one, but two pills.... I wish they could just give her antibiotics via shot or something easier. My bengal has like super human strength when she's being feisty (i.e. anytime she's being forced to do something like have her nails clipped). I may try some different type of food or tuna to see if she'll take it with that.

Right or wrong, my vet tells me that the Convenia shot works better for URI than it does for UTI (which is what we constantly deal with). She says Clavamox is better for UTI. Could you ask about Convenia? It lasts a couple weeks, as well.

Interesting. I'll have to ask about that. I know the shots that she got from my old vet last time around were just an anti-inflammatory and an anti-nausea shot, but it made her feel so much better.

Just wondering - will she eat pill pockets? I've had success with those - the trick is to put the pill in with one hand, and hold, and close, the pill pocket with the other (non-pill smelling) hand.

Well, I have crushed up a pill inside some wet canned food for her and she ate that yesterday so I'm going to try that again today. Does the liquid form have any taste/smell? Because if it doesn't, then I'm sure I could put that on food and she'd eat it no problem.

The liquid smells like bubble gum, at least to me - I had a problem getting my girl to take the liquid, even mixed into her favorite chicken (no onion or garlic) baby food. I had better luck with pill pockets, but every cat is different.

Gotcha. Maybe I'll pick up some pill pockets as well just to see if those work.

We have a very hard time getting Midnight to take medicine. When he had a URI, we asked the vet if they could give him shot, instead of us going there every day for them to give him a pill. He even fights the vet techs! They gave him a shot and it worked right away. I know you said your cat was given a shot for this before. Maybe she needs another shot of the medicine?

What I did with mine and the pill pockets is let them have an empty one (yum yum) and then give them one with the pill in it. I did get lucky - my boy even took Batril (which is a pretty big pill) as long as it was in the pocket. Good luck, and speedy return to health for your baby.

UPDATE:


Well, Sophia earlier this week did start vomiting a decent amount (a white, foamy substance..she did manage to keep her food down) mid-week. I took her back to the vet and he said since he had nothing to go off the first time (she seemed fine other than her fever in the vet room...maybe adrenaline) where he thought it might be an upper respiratory issue, he said now he'd say it's definitely something G.I. related.

So, I brought her in on Thursday to get an injection of Cerenia and Metacam. Now, the doctor told me the Cerenia is a 24-hour shot, meaning it can be given every 24 hours. The initial shots definitely seemed to help. She was more active and her vomiting stopped. But, she's still not 100% because she's still sleeping right next to me at night (she never does that) and she's not playing with our other male bengal, Draper.

I took her in today to get another shot of Cerenia (she vomited just a small amount this morning). Hopefully this helps a little more.

The thing I'm concerned with and that I can't get an answer to until Monday however, is with the Cerenia, is that just stop-gap type of treatment to make the cat feel better, or can it also treat what's causing the cat to feel bad?

Again, she's still eating/drinking. I think she's using the litterbox (haven't viewed myself, but pretty sure) and overall, her demeanor is much better than it was earlier in the week where she was very lethargic. But, until I see her roll over on her back and show her belly like she does when she's super happy, or jump off the couch onto the top of our other cat, I won't be convinced she's 100 percent.

UPDATE part II:

Not sure what this means, but she seems to have quite a bad case of gas ever since she got home. She didn't eat anything weird, so I wonder if the Cerenia is helping her to eh, get things moving a bit better. That would be good (although bad for those standing around her).

Cerenia is an anti-nausea medication that helps settle the stomach. I would think that if you're also giving Pepcid that would help and you wouldn't need the Cerenia. Did your vet recommend a different antibiotic or are you still giving the Clavamox? There are pharmacies that will compound into a treat and I've given those with much success.

Why did the vet seem to think this is something GI related? Is she drinking normally and peeing normally? What are you feeding her?

Whatever you do, do not let the vet give her another Metacam injection. That is the one drug that is on my never give any of my cats unless okayed by me list. It has been known to contribute to renal problems and in extreme cases, death. (Just FYI.)

Wow, well, now I feel even more confused. I guess I trust my vet, but the reason he said it's something G.I. related was because she was vomiting and not showing any upper respiratory symptoms like coughing, sneezing, etc. She's eating fairly normally but ever since she originally became sick and lethargic, I've been feeding her wet canned food (which she loves) and drinking water from our faucet (ditto) just to make sure she's eating/drinking enough.

Today she only got the shot of Cerenia. I guess I'll talk to him again on Monday but now it looks like she's just going to have to have X-rays/Blood work done because I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. She's definitely not showing any extreme signs, but there's something just not right.

Well, Sophia's energy level is definitely up today which is great. Funny, how her level of health is directly correlated with her level of annoyance, too (she likes to bat at every loud thing in our bedroom to wake us up..). She's also eating her dry food which is good. For the last week, I was primarily giving her wet canned food (which she goes cuckoo for) to entice her to get some nutrition.

I still haven't seen her play with Draper (our other Bengal), but she seems to have at least improved.

It may be that something in the canned food is bothering her stomach. It's my opinion that you should probably be feeding her mostly wet food anyway, but if she's eating well and doing better, then it would seem that things are definitely improving.

Well, this started before I was even giving her wet food (it was about a month before that she last had wet food).

She's still pretty active and peppy as of today, but did throw up again just a little bit last night. I'm starting to wonder if it's a bad hairball or something she can't pass. She's still eating and drinking normal, but I haven't seen her play with Draper yet either - which I'm still waiting on to confirm she's 100%.