Reaction to Antibiotics

[cricketwings]

I agree that it seems like a lot of vets don't really seem to care much for cats. I finally switched to a "cats only" vet after numerous trips to the original vet with little to no improvement in my cat that wasn't eating well, and finally, at all. The first vet totally missed (or ignored) the fact that my guy had terrible stomatitis! He stopped eating because he was in so much pain. I felt so terrible, but I had no idea because I'd never had a cat with stomatitis before. Anyway, the cat vet was easily able to diagnose the problem; several days later I drove a few hours to get to another cat only hospital which has a vet who specializes in oral surgery for a full mouth extraction. The main vet at that clinic was astounded and angry that the problem had progressed so far without the first vet taking notice.

 

[detmut]

 

[kittenfostermom]

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• kittenfostermom
• May 13, 2015

I know it has been a while since your loss but I am very sorry you and your cat suffered through those events.   I wish I had read your thread before attending the Vet tonight.

For the last two weeks I have been fostering 3, now three week old kittens.  All three have been picking up weight and seemed to be doing well.  Until today, the only girl Gizmo (above pic from a few days ago) seemed very tired, would not drink from the bottle and stopped urinating.  I tried feeding her every hour, she took very little and stopped making any noise, no crying or purring just nothing.  At  4pm I took her to the vet, we waited an hour to be seen.  Once in the back they ran a stool sample test and checked her out.  They decided she had a bacteria infection.  They gave her a dose of antibiotics at 5:45pm while we were there and fluids under her skin for the dehydration.  They said she could be tired and sore from the test, we left the vet at 6pm.  Gizmo was purring and moving a little more on the car ride home so my son and I were happy.  The vet said Gizmo would be fine in about 10 days if not to call them and bring her back in.   At 7pm she started gasping for breath and acting like she was choking.   My son and I were beside ourselves, but worked together when she stopped breathing, we started breathing for her and pumping her chest, after a few tries she gasped trying to take in air.  We thought we had brought her back but after a few minutes, Gizmo again stopped breathing we immediately started CPR and she quickly tried to breath again but only one deep breath, then nothing.  We kept trying and she took one final breath for us before passing away at 7:07pm.   We are devastated at the loss and the feeling that we should have done something else.

We do not know if Gizmo had a reaction to the antibiotics, or something else but we all have been effected by her loss tonight.  I know you can not save them all but this is our first loss fostering kittens for the last three years and it has been very hard to take.  We plan on having her a funeral tomorrow.  I just pray that her 2 brothers do not become sick like she did because I do not think I will chance giving them antibiotics if they are recommended.  This was just to much of a coincidence for me, telling us "she will be fine take this medicine," and a little over an hour later she is gone.

 

[jojocat]

I am so happy that you posted this information. I took my sixteen yr old, healthy cat to the vet for teeth cleaning. his back, tooth had abscessed, so antibiotics.  Boo. My handicapped mother is caring for him while I relocate and just noticed he couldn't get our of bed today. She called to see if I wanted to take him back to the same vet.  Hell no.  I just paid $190 for preventive health care that was, in reality, poison. 

 

[kat659]

I'm so glad you posted this story.
I feel like my cat may be reacting similarly and it scares me. He started out with an obvious upper respiratory infection that was passed to him from his sister. I took both cats to the vet, both were given 2 injections of antibiotics and were also given a deworming pill for their worms. That afternoon, the younger cat seemed back to her normal self, but Benny looked awful. He had begun salivating crazy amounts of thick drool and wouldn't eat or drink/ use the litter box and he would also barely move or let me pet him. He looked like he was dying. It continued to the next day and had gotten worse, he looked like he couldn't breathe, so I took him back to the vet. They wanted to give him 2 more injections of antibiotics and keep him overnight to monitor his breathing. Distraught, and just trying to help my cat who looked in so much pain, I agreed. They also gave him sub-Q fluids which seemed to help. He still wouldn't eat though. The next morning his fever had gone, drooling had calmed down a bit so they told me I could take him home - and administer a liquid antibiotic every day until it runs out. I took him home and he finally ate and drank but he is just laying around wherever he walks to - like he can't move. I'm worried now that it might be the same thing your cat had as they could not tell me why he was acting this way, suggesting maybe the infection had gotten worse. I asked if all these antibiotics could react with each other and the vet told me that was a good question, but no. I don't know if I believe him now and I don't know if I should continue to administer the liquid antibiotic. That's a lot of strong medicine to have in anyone's system. Idk what to do. He looks like he literally can't move.

 

[nixi]

I just wanted to share my experience, in case anyone sees the same symptoms with their cat. I took my 18 year old seemingly healthy cat into the vet for a checkup. He seemed completely fine, but it had been two years since his last checkup, so I figured it was time. I was taking him to a new vet. After looking at him, she said he looked great, and looked "5 years younger".

A few days later she got his test results back and said he had a urinary tract infection and would need to start antibiotics. He also showed some kidney failure but the numbers were moderate, and could be maintained with a change in diet.

So I began giving my cat liquid amoxicillin for the UTI. He would immediately throw it up and act very ill for the rest of the day. I tried again the next day, same thing. And he stopped eating and got lethargic. I called the vet, she said wait a few days and try again. I stopped the antibiotic, and he returned to normal. Eating, urinating and defecating all normally for a few days. I started the liquid amoxi again after a few days, and he got very ill. Lethargic. Wouldn't eat. Stopped peeing in the littler box. I told the vet the antibiotics were making him very ill, she said "Oh he just doesn't like them. Let's try it in another form." I tried to tell her it wasn't a matter of "liking" that he looked really ill when he was on them. She thought it was a normal reaction.

So I stopped the liquid amoxi for a few days. Again he returned to normal. The lethargy stopped. He started eating again, and used the litter box normally. The vet said to try giving him the antibiotic in pill form, so I tried that and he got VERY ill. Almost lifeless, would urinate wherever he was laying, and looked very very bad.

I called the vet again, extremely concerned, saying the antibiotic seemed to be making him very very sick. She said "No, that shouldn't happen, it must be the infection getting worse." This seemed very unlikely to me since a few days before when he was off the amoxi, he seemed normal.

So after two days of the amoxi pill, I rushed him into the vet because he looked so ill. There she gave him fluids and sub-q antibiotics, still trying to convince me it wasn't the antibiotics.

He got even worse...looking almost dead. The next day I brought him in thinking he would pass away, and she gave him IV antibiotics (without forewarning me) and more fluids. When I picked up the cat the vet told me she gave him more antibiotics. I asked if she had even tested to see if he still had an infection. She said no. So she tested him, and initial results showed no infection!! She said his kidney values were improved as well.

That night he almost looked like a goner. I rushed him to an emergency vet hospital, they said he had anemia and his hematocrit (i think?) was dangerously low at 9. It had been 20 the day before so the vet was very concerned. She said it could be GI bleeding, or a cytotoxic reaction to the antibiotics. I am completely convinced it was the latter. She asked if his stool looked black. His stool from four days before was normal. (He hadn't had one since). She gave him two transfusions. his number went up to 20, but she said he didn't respond as well as she'd like. That was a Saturday morning. She said bring him in to see the specialist on Monday morning.

Saturday he seemed better. He ate. Walked a little bit. Used the litter pan, and this time his stool was black.

Sunday he got worse again. Was not moving. Wouldn't eat. Wouldn't lift his head. I thought I would get him into the specialist the next morning and he could help me.

Sunday morning at 4 am, I found my cat on his side, with his tongue sticking out. I rushed him to the hospital and they said it was too late, they couldn't help him and had to put him down.

I am absolutely convinced that he had a toxic reaction to these antibiotics and due to the vet's lack of experience, and complete dismissal of everything I was telling her, he died. He didn't even NEED the antibiotics, the infection was cleared!

My lesson from this is do not take everything your vet tells you at face value. You have to do research and get informed. And if your vet doesn't listen to you, find a new vet pronto.

I wish I had not trusted the vet, and had stopped the antibiotics sooner. Instead I paid thousands of dollars within one week and lost my beloved sweet cat who suffered terribly in the end.

Maybe this post can prevent the same thing from happening to another cat.

 

[nixi]

My little 4 month kitty maxi, became really poorly last week, he stopped eating and going to the toilet and just layed by himself staring into space! I got him to the vets and he was given a painkiller and sent home,he said he may have swallowed a foreign object and told us to return the next day, maxi deteriated really quick so I rushed him back in first thing and the vet insisted I rushed him off to there other practice for surgery! 800 pounds later they called me to say they found a small piece of coconut in his colon and he was feeling much beter, I collected him the next day and they gave me some antibiotics to take home and start the next day, when I got him home I couldn't believe my beautiful kitty who I thought was a goner the day before was doing so amazing he was jumping around and kissing my nose all day I was soooo happy! However this was short lived. The next day I snuck an antibiotic into his food, he kept finding it and leaving it this went on for a while but eventually I hid it in some cheese and he ate it, 10 minutes later he kept falling over, I looked at the antibiotics but there was no information leaflet so I couldn't find any side effect info, I thought maybe he was tired from surgery so I layed him on my bed and stroked his head untill he eventually fell asleep. I popped downstairs to get a cup of tea and my daughter came down and said maxi was making a weird noise, I rushed upstairs and he appeared to be having a siezure, he was soaking wet, and wouldn't stop fitting,I rang the vets and they told me to get down there, it was a 20 minute drive and he continued to have a seizure the whole journey, it was heartbreaking! They sedated him and told me they wanted to keep him and do blood test and that it would cost between 400/600 pounds I agreed and went home, they rang me half an hour later and said he had suffered anaphylactic shock, his blood test have come back ok and they need to see what he was like when he wakes up. The next morning they called and told me he was suffering from neurological problems, he wasn't responding or moving and it would be very unlikely that he would ever be the same again,they wanted to do an mri scan, but I made the painfull decision that my poor boy had been through enough, he was only 4 months and full of life! I'm so angry I feel guilty for giving him a death pill, I'm angry there was nothing with this antibiotic giving me information on side effects and I'm heartbroken my boy has gone so soon! I'm now left with 1300 debt, and a massive gap in my life, his life was so short but it felt like he was with me for years![emoji]128546[/emoji] RIP Maxi

 

[william barger]

​I just brought a cat I love home being treated for intestinal virus she was weak the first day, she was great the next day when I woke up in the morning then after giving her the antibiotics the vet told me to give her, she got sick , I don't know what to do.

 

[aldiva]

So sorry for your loss.

I went through a similar thing with my vet 2 years ago... my cat's hind legs were limp I took her to the vet wanting a blood test done and they REFUSED! saying it "cost too much" (***?! I Don't care!) said it was just arthritis and gave me steroids. She improved for a couple months then crashed so badly that she should have been dead. I rushed her to the vet, everyone had off except this "substitute" vet. He wanted to run every test in the book on her, I insisted on just a blood test so he gave me a nasty look and grabbed her... never came back! We were sitting in the office for a while after a VET TECH brought her back, then after like 45 min another tech came in and was like "why are you still here?" no treatment options, no "we'll call you with the results" nothing. Well, turns out she had kidney failure and her blood levels were off the charts in just about everything. They wanted to bring her in and run all these tests/IVs/etc fand have her stay there for about a week. I said no and they said to "make her comfortable then she;s going to die I give her less than a week" I never went back to that vet and instead did my research online and treated her without vet help. She lived another 7 months, gained all her weight back and was a happy cat until she died in her sleep.

I have a hard time trusting vets now because so many of them HATE CATS! Also have no idea how to treat cats! Always trust what you think. There was times that I did a simple google search and went in with more knowledge on the subject than the vet had!

How did you treat your cat for her symptoms described above without antibiotics or the vets help? I have a similiar situtation.