UTI, Clavamox, and S Boullardii

[Biomehanika]

Hi all,

I had to start my 12 year old girl Bitsy on Clavamox today as her urinalysis results from Monday came back pointing to a UTI. A culture to know more specifics is currently being done and she just had her first dose about an hour ago. Was quite surprising as she wasn’t showing any symptoms and we initially did the test mainly to check out her kidney health. Just today (before starting the Clavamox) she started acting a little off— sleeping more/in some new places and not as interested in her food, but still no litter box issues and otherwise acting normal and is currently stretched out on my lap, so I believe we caught it quite early.

From everything I’ve read here and elsewhere online Clavamox seems to be pretty harsh and often causes diarrhea and some other issues. I constantly see people suggesting S. Boulardii for antibiotic related gut/poo issues and was thinking of preemptively picking some up tomorrow (if the local health store even has it) so I can either begin dosing her before issues arise or start at the first sign of them. From what I gather this is a very well tolerated and safe supplement, but do you all think I should ask my vet about giving her it beforehand? In all the threads I’ve read I’ve never seen anyone say “talk to your vet first!” regarding S. Boulardii, so I just wanted to double check if it really is that safe that it doesn’t require “vet approval”.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It probably wouldn't hurt to just let the vet know you are planning on using s. boulardii. I'd be surprised if they told you not to use it. Some vets will recommend a probiotic when taking antibiotics, but it is often Forti Flora which is a pretty weak probiotic.

S. boulardii is often recommended for diarrhea brought on by antibiotics, because it helps to restore good bacteria that antibiotics kill. Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria, and impacts bacteria strains in other probiotics more so than s. boulardii because it is yeast based. (See article below.)

Make sure your cat eats with the Clavamox to help offset stomach/digestive discomfort that antibiotics can often cause in addition to the looser stools/diarrhea.
The benefits of using S. Boulardii for cats– FullBucket Health

 

[Biomehanika]

Thank you FeebysOwner

The local health store did have it and I grabbed some, so I’ll call my vet in the morning and ask about it just to be safe. No diarrhea/poop/nausea issues yet so hopefully it’ll be unnecessary but want to be prepared for over the weekend when the vet is closed just incase, and make sure it won’t mess with her follow up urinalysis results (which she will have done in about ten days).

I have been feeding her wet food 20-ish minutes before giving the clavamox, then am mixing the clavamox itself with a tiny bit of a different wet food (not the wet foods that she really likes though as she is hyper sensitive with food and I don’t want to turn her off of them), then giving her it via finger feeding small chunks right onto her tongue. Little weird maybe but its been a tried and true method for us over the years and she is totally chill with it as opposed to direct syringe dosing or mixing it in with her normal food (she detects even the slightest change/addition and refuses it, always, doesn’t matter if it’s medication, pumpkin, or just a bit of a new wet food lol).

 

[Biomehanika]

WELP, Bitsy had a very soft poop this morning so we are definitely heading towards diarrhea territory. She also wasn’t very interested in her breakfast.

My new vet is out of office today so they asked another vet at the clinic, who apparently wasn’t familiar with S.Boulardii, and they suggested FortiFlora (typical probiotic suggested by vets that is much weaker and less effective than S.Boulardii from what I’ve read). Sooooo I’m just going to go ahead and start her on the S.Boulardii as I really doubt it could hurt.

I see the recommended dose is 2x per day, half a capsule each time. The Boulardii I have is 10 billion cultures though, and I believe that dose suggestion is from the 5 billion culture tablets, so I am thinking of bumping the dose down to 1/3rd each time to start? Does that sound good?

(Brand is RenewLife BoulardiiMAX Traveler’s Probiotic)

 

[FeebysOwner]

I see the recommended dose is 2x per day, half a capsule each time. The Boulardii I have is 10 billion cultures though, and I believe that dose suggestion is from the 5 billion culture tablets, so I am thinking of bumping the dose down to 1/3rd each time to start? Does that sound good?

Why not go down to 1/4 for each dose 2x a day? As you noted, that is the most common dosage I have seen. And, it might help with getting Bitsy's body better acclimated to it. You can play it by ear from there and increase or lower the dosage accordingly.

 

[Biomehanika]

Why not go down to 1/4 for each dose 2x a day? As you noted, that is the most common dosage I have seen. And, it might help with getting Bitsy's body better acclimated to it. You can play it by ear from there and increase or lower the dosage accordingly.

Ok yeah I can do that, that’s probably the smarter way to go about it. I was worried it might be too little powder/coverage going down that much, I’m not sure how this sort of stuff works, but I guess it’s the culture # that really counts and not the volume of the powder inside the capsule itself.

I will give her one dose in a few hours and then will start her 2x daily tomorrow, 1/4 each time to start, thank you

 

[stephanietx]

Clavamox is known for causing diarrhea. We ask for a different antibiotic. My vet won't even prescribe it anymore because of the side effects. I would ask for a different antibiotic. Acidophilus is better to use when giving an antibiotic.

 

[Biomehanika]

Clavamox is known for causing diarrhea. We ask for a different antibiotic. My vet won't even prescribe it anymore because of the side effects. I would ask for a different antibiotic. Acidophilus is better to use when giving an antibiotic.

Unfortunately it’s Friday night so I can’t ask the vet about getting another antibiotic because they are closed weekends. By the time Monday rolls around she will only have 2.5 days left on it as it’s a 7 day course. Getting to the vet to pick up a different antibiotic is a 3+ hour roundtrip, so unless things start to really go downhill I am just gonna stick with it, and should I ever get it prescribed again I’ll ask if there are other gentler options. She was prescribed it after her test results came in after we had been back home for a couple days, so I had to get it from my small local human pharmacy, so that may have limited what they could give me too.

As of right now, besides having a much softer poo than usual this morning and suddenly deciding she doesn’t want grain free Turkey wet food (ONLY grain friendly Turkey wet food or her Purina wet food… or her dry food lol) she seems to be doing quite well with it. She doesn’t actually have diarrhea, I am just trying to be prepared for if she does and trying to prevent it from happening at all. Her soft poo was this AM and she hasn’t gone again since, she’s usually a once a day pooper and tends to go in the morning, so everything is mostly normal and regular for now.

 

[Biomehanika]

Maybe I jinxed it with my last post. My poor girl puked up her midnight snack then had a diarrhea five minutes later

 

[Biomehanika]

I ended up giving her another dose of the Boulardii late last night after my last post before I went to sleep as it’s apparently OK to give more often when active diarrhea is happening. No more pukes or poops overnight and she is in good spirits this morning. Had another dose of Boulardii before her meds this AM and she ate all of her wet food for the first time in a few days, I even gave her some extra afterwards which she also ate. So I think/hope the Boulardii is helping and she’s feeling a bit better.

This is so weird, but I think she actually likes the taste of the clavamox??? It’s fruit flavoured so that’s super weird to me. I haven’t been having to finger feed the tiny bit of food mixed in with the dose anymore because she’s just been eating it on her own. She’s usually the pickiest cat on the planet when it comes to food and hasn’t touched food with meds in them since she was a little kitten, so it’s very strange, but also very convenient lol.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Glad things are looking upward. Who knows with cats sometimes. There are others on this site who have had cats that like some of the fruity or sweet flavorings. Just be glad she does!

 

[Biomehanika]

Bitsy took her last diarrhea on the 18th (Sunday) at 4PM. I was just sitting here wondering “where’s the poo?” because she hasn’t gone for awhile when she went to the box and took a soft but fully formed turd. No more diarrhea! This is currently day 6 of her meds, so the Boulardii has definitely definitely helped!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Good to hear it looks like s. boulardii is helping!