Cat on antibiotics with open wounds won't eat.

I would like to start by saying that I love Neyo, he is my absolute world. Normal for him is following the family around the house, begging for food every 3 minutes, chasing my foot like it's a mouse and rolling around showing off his tummy.

Neyo started out with a severe UTI problem. He had about four before we changed Vets and had one last UTI before we discovered the power of D-Manoose and home-made cat wet food. He has thankfully not had one since.

During his treatment for the UTIs we had to give him injections at home. Pretty normal but it went wrong. For some reason, the medicine stuck under his skin and then, after a few weeks, the area the medicine was stuck in (his inner thigh) kind of opened up and became an open wound, we could see the muscle inside. We took him to the Vet (they've become a second home to us) and they stitched up his muscles and we have had to take him in everyday since so they can change his stuffing and make sure everything is okay before stitching the entire wound up. Going to the vet everyday has been stressful on him.

He was put on antiobiotics for his open wounds. We can not give him injections so he was put on a bacterial antibiotic called Hipotomic (625mg). He threw up every time he took it and he lost his appetite. On the first day I got him to eat after struggling and he was fine for the night. The next day, we took him to the vet and they gave him the antibiotic again and he came home, threw up, and wouldn't eat. The vet then changed his medication and put him on liquid medicine, Augmentin (312mg). He still won't eat.

He is in recovery so I am very worried by his lack of appetite. He is lethargic and just sits in one spot all day, barley sleeping and moving from time to time. He urines about once a day and makes frequent trips to his water bowl. Other than that, he just sits there and purrs to himself. I was wondering, can we give him some sort of medicine to open up his appetite? Why is he acting this way? I can't discontinue the antibiotic until we can close up his wound. We have been putting his food through the food processes and feeding it to him with a syringe but this morning he just threw up everything we fed him!

Please help, I am beyond words worried about my little boy. He is 5 years old and a persian white cat.

I'm so sorry Neyo and you are having problems.
Antibiotics are known for causing upset stomachs and appetite problems.
Sometimes cats purr to comfort themselves.
I would call the vet and ask for an anti-nausea medication (or shot if you have to take him in to the vet) and appetite enhancement.
If he doesn't eat, he is at risk for liver damage.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Ritz said:

I'm so sorry Neyo and you are having problems.
Antibiotics are known for causing upset stomachs and appetite problems.
Sometimes cats purr to comfort themselves.
I would call the vet and ask for an anti-nausea medication (or shot if you have to take him in to the vet) and appetite enhancement.
If he doesn't eat, he is at risk for liver damage.
Good luck and keep us posted.

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Exactly that!  Now, he may have thrown up everything you fed him via the syringe IF you fed it to him too fast.  Didi he immediately throw it up, or did it take a little while for it to come back up.  If it was immediate, it might have gone in too fast, been too cold, been too much....any number of things.  If that's the case, you could keep trying, put do it slower, slightly warm it, do less at a time, etc. 

Definitely check into an appetite stimulant and anti-emetic, AND possibly yet a different antibiotic if this one is also making him sick to his stomach. 

Are antibiotics necessary??? i just read an absolute HORROR story about a cat with the same symptoms as Neyo and the vet insisting on continuing antibiotic treatment. The vet then gave the cat IV antibiotics, which I was considering instead of the liquid antibiotics he's on, and the cat got even worse symptoms and ended up passing. I'm scared to my core. He is lethargic, not moving much, not eating, purring to himself. The whole package is there. The antibiotics are ruining him. I read that discontinuing antibiotics could cause an even worse reaction. Please help. I'm at loss for what to do here. Do I discontinue them if they're causing him this much discomfort? Do I keep him on them? I don't trust my vet's word as she's the one who insists him being on the antibiotics and I am in desperate need of a second opinion.

Can you take him to another vet for a second opinion?

@Betsygee, I don't want to stress him out any more than he is and I don't want to change vetsin the middle of his treatment, she knows his history. I just want to know if I can say a firm no on the antibiotics. What will happen if I stop giving them to him?? His wounds are mostly covered up but its a long road to recovery, the vet says. SHe doesnt want to stitch them up until shes sure they're clean from the inside.

I'm sorry you're going through this with your kitty.  It looks like you got some good advice about getting anti-nausea and appetite stimulant meds, have you asked your vet about that yet?

We gave him an appetite stimulant injection earlier but it made no difference, he still wont eat. I am going to talk tot he vet about probiotics tomorrow and possibly stopping the antibiotic treatment if we can. I can't see him like this. 

Poor kitty, and poor you.  I'm not very knowledgeable about antibiotic treatment.  I'm glad you're going to be talking to your vet about it.

In the meantime, have you tried giving him baby food?  Sometimes cats will eat it when they won't eat anything else.  I've given it to two of my elderly cats when I was trying to get them to eat more.  Here's a link about it:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269887/beechnut-baby-food-safe

As far as discontinuing the antibiotic, I can only tell you what our Vet told us, and that is....if the cure is worse than the illness, then stop the cure.  One of our cats got EXTEMELY sick on Augmentin (AKA Clavamox), and every time he needed to take it we thought he was going to die because he would not eat at all and just acted as if he were on his last legs, so finally our Vet told us just stop giving it to him even though he had not had his full course of it.  He immediately started getting better, and no infection set in.  That is NOT to say that your furbaby doesn't need it, because your little one has an open wound and ours didn't. 

You might want to discuss this thoroughly with your Vet and see what your options are.  Can you use some sort of antibacterial ointment and put to cone on him so he can't lick it off perhaps?  (this is a question for the Vet)  Or can you just try to keep it very clean with Betadine wash several times a day?  (another question for the Vet)  Or is there a more gentle antibiotic he could try?  Also, I am not familiar at all and could not find anything about the first antibiotic he was on, but I'm wondering if that's what started this entire episode.  Perhaps he had a reaction to it? 

In the meantime, it is imperative that he stay hydrated and you get food into him, as you probably know.  Did you try force feeding him smaller amounts?  Did you get an anti-emetic from the Vet?  An appetite stimulant won't do any good if the kitty is still nauseated.

We already use antibacterial cream but the wound is deep and she says we need something else. I can ask ber about the betadine wash but she will just shoot it down lik everything else wnd insist he be on antibiotics. Is giving him antibiotics in an IV worse or better? Would he have the same side effects?
The first antibiotic did definitely start this episode. He was fine until he was put on it and then he was fine a day when we took hik of antibiotics. Today im not toing to give him his dosage and look for a change on behavior. I cant keep giving him his poison

I need to update you guys that Neyo passed away today. He died in my arms after a trip to the vet to take his antibiotics in the iv. The doctor cab swear all she wants that ita the infection spreading to his liver. I know what killed him. If you have a vet that won't listen i advise a change immediately. Because of her, my baby is far away from where hes supposed to be.

Oh my dear :'( I'm so sorry to hear this news. I am dreading my vet visit today, because I haven't found one I trust and I keep getting told different things by different vets and my boy is dropping in HCT each day since he received his rabies shot. I'm running scared cause time is of the essence. What do you do when you have to trust someone with your baby, not knowing the credibility of the vet and their diagnosis. I pray for your healing, and I am so sorry for your loss. I send my condolences.

I'm so very sorry.