Cat vomiting after Clavamox

[sushinemom]

Hello,
my female Cat (Mou, 6yo) was having problems with a UTI and was given a course of 7 days of Clavamox.

The morning of the 7th day, she puked an hairball. This is unusual for her, but we weren't particularly worried. I gave her the last dose. Towards the afternoon/evening she started puking again. After she puked 5 times total, one of which had a small piece of tape in it, we brought her to the ER. I'm sure she didn't have more than that small piece.

At the ER they took an x-ray (she had to be sedated cause she does poorly at the vet) and found nothing particularly concerning, though they did warn us that she had some gas and loose stools in her colon. They gave her fluids and a shot of Cerenia and send her back with us. They said we would need to bring her back if she vomited again.

The day after (yesterday), we gave her boiled chicken in the morning which she ate without problem. She was sleepier than usual, which was understandable given her unpleasant night and the sedation. At night we went to feed her again and she refused to eat. She would smack her lips and pace around, and not even her favorite foods would tempt her. We brought her back to the ER, and after a cursory exam they decided to give her Entyce and Ondensatron. They had originally suggested Cerenia again, but i asked for Ondensantron as the vet had suggested the day before that we should see if she'd vomit again and didn't want to mask her symptoms. After the Entyce and the Ondensantron, she ravenously ate half a can of A/D food.

Today, she woke up and ate another half a can of A/D with no issue. She then spent the day sleeping around, again more than usual. When time for the evening food came, she was again too nauseous to eat it. I gave her the ondansetron and it helped a bit and she ate a quarter of a can. She refused to eat more, so we left her be and kept her company waiting for her to get better. She was laying around, fairly down. The doctor said to keep an eye on her as long as she wasn't vomiting... which she did.

We called the vet and they suggested bringing her for an ultrasound + possibly x-rays tomorrow. We're waiting for 7am to bring her there.

Now, after the vomiting she perked up quite a bit. She asked us for food, and i gave her 1/8th of a can of A/D (couldn't give her more cause she needs to fast for the endoscopy). I've had to keep her away from chewing plastic wrappers in hunger, which she does sometimes. Now she's sleeping and purring on me, mostly fine.

I don't really have any questions right now. I think it's likely the clavamox thanks to the research I've done. I'm kinda anxious about the ultrasound given that she'll have to be sedated (and of course about potential bad results), and I feel bad about subjecting her to it. But it feels like the right thing.

Please do keep my baby in your thoughts!!

 

[sushinemom]

...and as soon as I wrote this she puked again. Yellow bile with foam. Guess we might bring her there a little bit earlier.

 

[FeebysOwner]

It could be the antibiotic has disrupted her digestive tract, up to and including messing with 'good' gut bacteria. A lot of members will give their cats a form of probiotics during and following the antibiotic treatment. I think the main one I have seen suggested is saccharomyces boulardii. It's a yeast-based product that won't be affected by the antibiotics. If her antibiotic treatment is completely done, then there are numerous other probiotics you could try to see if you can get her gut bacteria back into balance - FortiFlora, Proviable are just a couple of examples.

I hope the tests do not show up anything wrong, and then perhaps you can try giving her a probiotic for a while and see if that helps any. For future antibiotic treatments, you can give S. boulardii a couple of hours before or after each med dosage.

 

[fionasmom]

Please let us know what you find out from the vet.

 

[daftcat75]

Yellow bile barfs should definitely warrant a vet visit. The sooner the better. Cats are talented barfers. They are usually quite adept at bringing up what's bothering them. When they bring up bile, that could be the sign of a dangerous blockage.

Looking forward to a positive update.

 

[sushinemom]

Thank you all. She's at the hospital currently. The doctor called us and went through the exams they'll do: ultrasound, complete blood panel, urinalysis, pancreas enzymes and a fecal check. We asked them to run everything they can run since we don't want to sedate her again for more tests.

I still believe the most likely explanation is the Clavamox, aggravated by the tiny piece of tape she ingested, but of course we need to check. Nerve-wracking.

That aside, the vet mentioned foreign body, pancreatitis, IBD and of course lymphoma as possibilities. Her brother was diagnosed with Large Cell Lymphoma in January, so I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't come to that. But he's always been the puker in the family while she never had any issue st all. It'd be a very cruel joke.

 

[sushinemom]

Here's all the exams they're telling us they'll run. Seems pretty complete to me.

 

[sushinemom]

Got the call!

Her blood panel looks great, and her ultrasound showed nothing. They found her intestinal walls slightly thickened, but it seemed more consistent with current inflammation than IBD/SCL. They're sending her home with supportive care, and they expect her appetite to improve in 2-3 days. If she doesn't, we'll do more checks including a potential biopsy.

We'll get the results of the other tests in the next few days. Hopefully they're also unremarkable and she's way along her road to better appetite by then.

I'm breathing a big sigh of relief for now. Thank you all for your support. I'll keep you updated if things change.

 

[fionasmom]

Let us know regardless how she is doing....and hopefully there will be big improvement and some relaxation for you since there were good test results.

 

[sushinemom]

She has slept the whole day but has gladly come out to eat. She has also paced nauseously around a bit, and my heart was sinking, but she didn't puke. Hopefully she gets through the night ok, makes it to her next dose of cerenia without puking, and her energy levels improve. She gets so scared at the vet and she keeps having to be sedated, so that cannot be good for her.

I made some slippery elm bark syrup and I'll give it to her before going to sleep. Hopefully i can get her stomach to settle.

 

[sushinemom]

Hello, coming back with what's hopefully the almost-final update:

After the last post, we kept her on Cerenia for around a week, during which her activity/hunger levels kept improving. We then stopped Cerenia around 4-5 days ago, and she hasn't vomited since! Fingers crossing, it was an acute episode of gastroenteritis triggered by the Clavamox and this is the end of it!

We'll now need to schedule another ultrasound in around a month to make sure she doesn't have any intestinal thickening anymore. Her brother has IBD (and then large cell lymphoma) so that's a possibility, but she never had any symptom at all aside from this episode so hopefully it turns out to be nothing!