Please help-Horrific Abcess. I might have to put down my kitty.

Hello everyone. I joined this site because this is my last hope. My 18 year old cat was bitten by my mom's evil Bengal-mix cat. It turned into an abscess. I took him to the vet and had it drained, and had him put on antibiotics. This didn't work. He went back 2 more times. He's had it drained multiple times, and had 3 rounds of different antibiotics, but nothing is working. I've been putting warm compresses on it several times a day. I've been rinsing it out with a sea salt and water solution. I've given him internal and external colloidal silver. I've tried topical lemongrass oil. I've tried L-Lysine. I've tried raw aloe vera leaf on the wound. I massage the pus out everyday, like the vet said to. NOTHING is working.

The vet said that what he really needs is a surgery to cut out the infection, but he is too old, and with his kidney disease, the anesthetic will likely kill him. Finally I suggested we take a culture. He has a weird form of bacteria infesting the wound, called Prevotella. So the vets at the clinic met together and decided that it would be best to do an antimicrobial fusion treatment to the wound (very costly, and I forget what it's called), which would require only a mild, gaseous anesthetic. So far it's not working, and all that's happening is more pus and dead flesh that I have to peel off him every night. So horrific. We are going to give him a fourth kind of antibiotic too, but it likely won't work. The vet said today that if this doesn't work, we should put him down.

I'm so upset. And so angry at my mom's evil cat for killing my poor cat. Also, he can barely walk sometimes, and the vet said that the infection has likely spread to his spinal cord. So if this last antibiotic doesn't work....I don't know what to do. This is of course costing a fortune, I don't know how many treatments I can afford...and more importantly, my cat is suffering all the time. What do I do? Any other remedies before I am forced to put him down??? He still has so much will to live. He loves to cuddle and loves to eat all day long. He doesn't want to die, otherwise I would have called it quits earlier...so that he stops suffering. Thanks for your time.

This is a tough situation and I feel for both you and your cat! It sure does sound as if you have tried just about everything except surgery to remove the infection.

I've only dealt with one cat abcess and that cat had a drain inserted to allow pus to drain out. The drain was left in place for about 10 days and the cat healed quite nicely.

I would say you have to decide the quality of your cat's life and if you feel as if you have exhausted all possibilities you are comfortable with.

You mention the cat would be sedated for this new proceedure using a gas. I know the same technique can be used to sedate him to do surgery to remove the infection and necrotic skin too. I would highly suggest the use of Sevoflurane (Sevo) if you choose to have him sedated for anything and make sure the vet hydrates him properly during the proceedure.

It sounds like you have good vets and they are on to of it, although I would have expected them to do a culture without you asking for one once the infection persisted.

I'm not experienced with Prevotella but did a little research and found that there is a fairly new antibiotic that SOME of the variations of Prevotella are susceptible to: GEMIFLOXACIN

"Prevotella heparinolytica and Prevotella intermedia were susceptible to 0.5 mg/L of gemifloxacin while most other Porphyromonas and Prevotella spp. were not." 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10824034

Unfortunately Prevotella in general is one of those bugs that has developed resistance to antibiotics.  Ask your vets if they have tried this antibiotic and/or if it was specified as to which type of Prevotella this is.

merfolk said:

 

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Hi,

I know exactly what i would do if it was my cat and i was facing euthanasia and he is suffering.  Unless the vet said it was impossible for him to survive the surgery, then i would do the surgery, even if it was 50-50, or worse.  If he lives, then you have the best chance of curing him, and if he doesn't survive the surgery then a) you tried and b) he is no longer suffering.   If it's moved to his spine however then i would want to ask the vet if it is too late for even a surgical option.

Remember that no one here knows your cat better than you do - you have to balance his will to live with suffering and the likely outcome.  If you with the help of your vet determine that these treatments are unlikely to work, then you may want to let him go.  Yes people feel guilty about euthanizing too soon, but the truth is most people feel guilty for waiting too long.  If I had to choose, i would want the former, not the latter.  But before I made any decision, I would want as much information from my vet as possible.

I am so sorry that you and your kitty are going through this.  I would tell the vet to do surgery.  He might die but you would know you have done everything you could.  My 19 year old dog's eye ruptured--she too had kidney diease--but we had the eye removed and she came through it fine.  She died a year later of kidney disease but made it through the surgery. 

We have an old cat who has cancer of the jaw and are facing the decision and it is so hard.

I would read this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240011/colloidal-silver-usage-for-cats-health-in-some-occasions

A family in Zimbabwe had a cat, May, that had an abscess that did not respond to multiple antibiotics or surgery. I think more than one surgery. It had grown to the size of almost her entire thigh, and she could not walk properly.

TCS user @Ambermay (Nadia) found TCS, and asked about the use of colloidal silver. She received advice from member carolina . You can see the results for yourself. She used a combination of RAW ORGANIC HONEY compresses and flushing the wound I think four times a day with 500pm colloidal silver. If you are in the U.S., I use this one:
She started treating May with the honey and colloidal silver early January of 2012. (Page 2 of the thread).
She switched to CS compresses only at some point I think, and continued the flushing with colloidal silver numerous times a day.
By January 27th (post #83), it was almost completely healed.

Post 86 shows a shaved area on May's leg that was the size of the original abscess. It shows the wound as of January 21 (10 days prior to it being completely healed).

So .. an abscess the size of the thigh. Began treatment on or very near January 6. Wound completely healed by January 31.

I don't know your schedule, I don't know if your cat would be OK with the 500ppm colloidal-silver soaked compresses and flushing required three to four times a day. But it did heal one other cat that did not respond to multiple antibiotics or surgery.

LDG said:

I would read this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240011/colloidal-silver-usage-for-cats-health-in-some-occasions

A family in Zimbabwe had a cat, May, that had an abscess that did not respond to multiple antibiotics or surgery. I think more than one surgery. It had grown to the size of almost her entire thigh, and she could not walk properly.

TCS user @Ambermay (Nadia) found TCS, and asked about the use of colloidal silver. She received advice from member carolina . You can see the results for yourself. She used a combination of RAW ORGANIC HONEY compresses and flushing the wound I think four times a day with 500pm colloidal silver. If you are in the U.S., I use this one:
She started treating May with the honey and colloidal silver early January of 2012. (Page 2 of the thread).
She switched to CS compresses only at some point I think, and continued the flushing with colloidal silver numerous times a day.
By January 27th (post #83), it was almost completely healed.

Post 86 shows a shaved area on May's leg that was the size of the original abscess. It shows the wound as of January 21 (10 days prior to it being completely healed).

So .. an abscess the size of the thigh. Began treatment on or very near January 6. Wound completely healed by January 31.

I don't know your schedule, I don't know if your cat would be OK with the 500ppm colloidal-silver soaked compresses and flushing required three to four times a day. But it did heal one other cat that did not respond to multiple antibiotics or surgery.

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Just to add, this cat's wound, which ldg is referring to, was caused by a wolf's bite, and a super bacteria. He had multiple surgeries, and was treated for months and months with powerful antibiotics before coming to TCS. Colloidal silver started working very very fast. His vet has it now in his clinic, so impressed he was with the results.
Good luck, and don't give up hope, it works great!

Thank you everyone for all your kind advice. My kitty passed away at home. He was just too old and sick to fight off this infection. Towards the end he was paralyzed and couldn't move his back legs. It was horrifying to watch. He died the day before he was scheduled to be euthanized. He died at home, surrounded by his loving family. He is not suffering anymore. Thanks again for talking to me you guys. xoxox

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat, how devastating. :'(

At lease he died peacefully with the ones he loved. Big BIG hugs and good luck. It's hard to get through this, but it does get better with time. 

merfolk said:

 
Thank you everyone for all your kind advice. My kitty passed away at home. He was just too old and sick to fight off this infection. Towards the end he was paralyzed and couldn't move his back legs. It was horrifying to watch. He died the day before he was scheduled to be euthanized. He died at home, surrounded by his loving family. He is not suffering anymore. Thanks again for talking to me you guys. xoxox

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I'm so very sorry.

I am very sorry to read of this...  {{{{{{HUGGSSS}}}}}}

I'm so sorry to hear your cat lost his battle. As you said, at least he passed at home surrounded by people who cared about him. Out of respect, this thread will now be closed as per The Cat Site policy. When you feel up to it, you may wish to create a tribute thread for him at our Bridge Forum.