Docycycline intolerance?

Cat Pal said:

This is not an original idea, but it works for getting a skittish cat to take her pill without freaking out. I made tuna water by bringing a can of tuna and a cup of water to a boil and straining. I offer her about a tablespoon of it after pilling and she loves it, it helps her forget the trauma of being pilled and so far she hasn't started running away from the evil pill lady every time I move in her general direction - so far ha ha .

Click to expand...

Haha.  Very clever indeed.  

I agree that the procedures for Vivian are somewhat invasive and risky, namely the anesthesia.  If the DD does not work, try giving another food a shot.  Of course, a food trial should be given a chance (not sure how many weeks your vet recommended).  IBD is rough.  

Poor little Willis. He's probably traumatized by the DD chasers!  Generally speaking, I'm not sure how well cats can tolerate doxy.  I know that it's hard on humans.  So, it's probably hard on cats too, especially cats with sensitive tummies.  

I hope your babies get better soon.    

So Willis has actually gotten significantly more congested since he finished three weeks of docycycline to treat mycoplasma felis. It was clear that the med did not clear his nasal congestion, so I went with the vet's recommendation and scheduled an xray - unfortunately the first date they have available when I can take him to a fasting a.m. appointment is Jan 19 - a week away. My goal is not to have to drop him off and leave him at the clinic all day until I get out of work, but he is sounding pretty bad, like he is snoring heavily even when he's wide awake. Still eating and fairly active but not a very happy guy. I'm really starting to get concerned about what this could be that would get WORSE after antibiotic treatment. He has had stuffy nose off and on and treated in a variety of ways without effect for many months, but he hasn't sounded like this before. I'm leaning toward taking him in Tues which means leaving him there all day. I understand how an antibiotic could be ineffective in treating a stuffed nose, but how does it make the situation worse??

I can't think of any reason that the antibiotics would worsen Willis' condition. It might be coincidental. That said, I would take him on Tuesday if his condition has worsened that much. You can always leave an item of clothing with your scent when you leave him at the vet. That might help comfort him. If he has an obstruction or something else going on, I would want to know sooner rather than later. Hang in there. Poor Willis!

How's Willis? Any word on what is wrong?

Willis spent last Monday 1/19 at the vet clinic. The did xrays of his head/sinuses which didn't show anything there that shouldn't be there. The vet also sedated him and did a nasal flush. One sinus flushed easily and all was clear. The other offered some resistance to the flush and then  some dried bits of blood and some fresh blood came out. The vet put some of the dried bits on slides - one stained and one not stained but I don't know what that means - and looked at them under the microscope for signs of cancer I guess. Saw nothing out of the ordinary. Previously she had said if she didn't see anything obvious on the xray  she would recommend sending them to a pathologist trained at reading xrays for a closer look - for anther $175+ Last week she asked me if I wanted the slide sent to a pathologist trained at reading slides for a closer look - again for an additional $175+ When I asked her about the xrays she said she if it were her cat she would send the slide before the xray since there wasn't anything obvious on the xray. Another instance of her story kind of changing over time. Willis came home still congested but has shown some improvement in the last week. He has started sneezing a little more which helps to clear his sinuses and he isn't have such difficulty breathing through his nose or making that loud snoring sound. He's not completely symptom free but he is better and I am hesitant to throw more money into reading xrays and slides - the last visit cost me nearly $400 and the one before that to get the culture was a couple hundred more. I've been just kind of giving him some time to see how much better he's going to get before doing anything further. 

Vivian is on her 4th week of Metronidazole for her loose stool and high folate/low B12, and the food transition to the novel protein is complete as of last week. For now I am continuing Metro for a little while and waiting a couple or few weeks after she has been 100% on her new diet to see what happens. At this point she is not having as many bowel movements per day, she's down to about 2 or maybe 3, they are somewhat formed but not the way she has always been, still lighter in color and there are still traces of fresh blood visible on the outside of the poop when I get a look at one. So - maybe some improvement, but not a lot. Next I will decide if I'll have an ultrasound done of her intestines or just start her on steroid, I'm leaning toward just starting her on steroid. I'm not going to have a biopsy done, I'm pretty sure. The 24 hour fasting and enemas  are just too much to put her through.  She's due for a distemper shot. Seems like I read somewhere that animals who have compromised health like Vivian shouldn't get distemper shots. Anyone know anything about this?

So - both cats are doing "ok", neither is all better - ironically one with symptoms on the front end and the other with trouble at the back end.

Haha. :lol3:

I'm happy that Willis seems to have improved a bit. It was probably a good idea to see if he had an obstruction. I hear you on all theses costs! It adds up so fast. The trick is to figure out what's necessary versus what's optional. I think a good vet will help with that, but no vet can say with certainty.

I think an ultrasound is a hard call on Vivian. There is no way to know what's going on in her tummy. You could consider the steroids now and maybe get the ultrasound depending on how she does. It's a hard call.

I think my boy needs an ultrasound. I keep taking him to vet and he has not improved. On top of it, I moved and have had to start over with a new vet. I did not like the first new vet at all. The second one reminded me a lot of my old vet, but I still have some concerns. I miss my old vet! If he needs surgery. I don't know how to trust the new vet. With the costs, it feels a bit overwhelming. I think I'm going to go forward with the ultrasound though.

Regarding the vaccine, I think it depends on the circumstances. Do any of your animals go outside? Do you or your cats have any exposure to high risk or outdoor animals? If they are high risk, I would ask your vet. It may be better not to vacinate cats with compromised immune systems, but it depends on the facts. Also, it may be harder on older cats. You have to weigh the pros and cons and decide what you think is best for your cats. You should ask your vet. Mine don't get vaccinated anymore. They both have IBD and are indoors only. They are also over 10.

I hope Willis and Vivian feel better soon!

Unfortunately Willis' congestion has returned pretty much to it's original state before xray and nasal flush. So I had the vet go ahead and send the tissue slide for a pathologist to analyze. Report just came back - inconclusive - does not suggest presence of cancer or inflammation or infection but could be an over growth of normal respiratory tract flora. He has tested negative for all major respiratory diseases that i know of. But nothing is for sure and the pathologist recommends another deep nasal culture to rule out MORE kinds of bacterial or fungal problems. The vet has essentially told me that she has reached the end of what she feels qualified to do and recommends an internal medicine specialist, more than one hour's drive from me, if I want to continue to pursue finding a solution to Willis' congestion problem. Ah! The last thing I want to do is force this cat into a crate and put him in a car for two hours - you know how most cats are with the car ride - and pay even bigger $$$ for no sure solution. He's stuffed up for sure, sometimes more sometimes less. But he is breathing ok, eating, drinking, active, affectionate, no fever, no head shaking, no nasal but a small amount eye discharge - Willis' other person thinks we might do just as well to just let him be. And the vet apparently wants no more to do with the situation, so I guess that means trying more meds without knowing exactly what is wrong with Willis' sinuses is out of the question. This has been going on for a year now. We have gone from convenia to baytril to lysine to nasal culture to doxycycline to xray to nasal flush to nasal tissue slide analysis. And we are back to square one.  Any similar experiences or advice?

I would go to the specialist. It could be a antibiotic resistant infection. Specialists often have additional training and are better for difficult cases.

Yes, I imagine I will end up taking Willis to the internal medicine specialist, once I get past the bitter disappointment of another dead-end measure to find out what's going on with him. After a year and so many meds and procedures, he has been through a lot and we are no closer to finding answers or relief than we were at the beginning. Eventually I will likely feel so guilty as I listen to him sneeze and snort and snore that I will break down and do what I said I wouldn't do and that is put him through the trauma of more travel and unfamiliar places and more tests and procedures. When my mother was living we "shared" the little himalayan stray named Nina, pictured here. She lived with my mother and I took care of her food and veterinary expenses.  Nina lived her whole life with seriously messed up kidneys and some other health issues. But Nina never needed any extraordinary measures while my mother was living, and my mother believed if the time came that Nina needed specialized medical intervention, hospitalization, invasive therapies to keep her alive this would represent a drop in her quality of life and that she was "too nice of a cat to put through all that". It was her opinion that if Nina got to that point it was a signal that it was time to euthanize her.  I was more on the fence about taking some of these measures, but as it turned out, 6 years after my mother died by the same motto, "no extraordinary measures" so Nina went too, so quickly that there wasn't time for extraordinary measures. I think about how my mother felt when I consider putting my cats through this med and that procedure and this test - of course I want them to be healthy and happy and comfortable and I feel responsible for their well-being. But most of the cats I've ever known are so traumatized just by the vet visit, not to mention the horrors that await them should they be sick and require further intervention, that I weigh the pros and cons.  I'm just really frustrated and discouraged over the continued health troubles of both of my cats, who were both so healthy until they turned 10 and haven't been healthy since, and all this on the heals of losing a third cat at about the same age. I suspect I'll come around to trying that "one more thing" with Willis that might give us some answers and him some relief.  

My cat Pheobe has herpes and over the years has had a lot of issues with sneezing and being stuffy and it got to the point where nothing helped and she was miserable. I even took her to an internal mediciane specialist and she had rhinoscopy performed which didn't show anything specifically. As a last ditch effort to get her some relief we tried prednisolone which normally should not be used in cats with herpes. It was like a miracle drug for her, after 2 doses she was able to breath clearly. She stayed on it on and off for 2 years and then the problem just went away and she no longer needs the steriods. You might want to ask your vet about trying steriods even for just a short period to see if it brings him some relief.

I did ask my vet about trying prednisolone to treat upper respiratory inflammation/congestion in my cat Willis that refuses to go away despite several kinds of antibiotic treatments, lysine, nasal flush, culture, cytology, radiograph, and who knows what else. She had told me she was out of ideas, but said go ahead and try the pred. From March 8 until March 19 it helped! He was breathing easier than in recent history, and then BAM! he presented with the worst sneezing, congestion he's had this whole year and now accompanied by runny eyes, low to no appetite, lethargy - so much worse than before. So back to the vet he went - nothing found. She put him back on doxycycline, told me to taper and discontinue pred and try Cerenia because aside from treating nausea it has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. She did a full blood panel. He has responded to antibiotic and Cerenia injections (I think) and has regained some of his appetite and energy. His sinuses are returning to his former baseline, stuffed and sneezing but not over the top. However, blood panel results are disturbing: elevated liver enzymes which she said could be due to pred; profound hypothyroid which she said is likely directly linked to the respiratory disease process, and random other high values such as cholesterol, creatinine kinase,

what the what?? She now wanted to put him on thyroid meds. So I said ok that's it, he's going to the internal med specialist Tues. All of these abnormal blood values COULD be attributed to his sinus illness and/or meds used to address the sinus illness. So much for the pred. I am tapering to discontinue, and hoping for some answers Tuesday, or at least some direction. Either way I feel terrible - terrible for driving him 3 hours in the car which will totally freak him out, to a strange clinic that will totally freak him out - I never wanted to go the route of the high tech far away specialist - AND I feel terrible for not doing it sooner. Poor Willis can't seem to catch a break.