Maggie is 3.5 yrs old. She was born with only 1 kidney (learned this during her spay).
Her first problem seemed to be "soft stool" which caused a messy bum, and since she's not a butt-licker, I was always trying to clean her up, and sometimes we'd have a potty-patch shaved or we'd keep her britches trimmed as close as we could). This might be the cause of her frequent UTIs (once a year the first 3 years, which a shot of Convenia took care of).
Last Christmas she showed UTI symptoms, so we had to take her to the Vet ER which didn't use Convenia, and she was given a 2 week Rx of Clavamox instead. Her urine was a bit dilute at that point, and she'd just started drinking water (which she hadn't been doing since being put on canned food only with water stirred into it).
A month later, I took her back to the regular vet to make sure the infection was cleared, and her urinalysis showed that it had indeed been cleared. But again, dilute urine. Ran blood tests and everything was fine (late January).
She continued with the water-drinking, and finally I decided she needed more tests because of it. This was in April. Blood tests this time showed an increase in BUN and Creatinine. Urinalysis showed a "raging infection" (but she'd had NO symptoms), and she was given a shot of Convenia. Maggie hated the vets there--she'd had 3 surgeries (the first spay, the second spay to get rid of the "missing" ovary not found at first spay, and another the next day to repair her tear of incision), and they no longer treated her very nicely (though what can you do with a fractious cat?), so I decided to switch to a holistic vet in hopes of maintaining her kidney function and to get to the bottom of her chronic UTIs. The other vet was like "what do you want me to do?" (I don't know, that's what you're for, isn't it?).
I took her to the new vet office in mid-May. They did a urinalysis which showed no infection but it was dilute. There were a few spots of blood, likely from the needle, and we sent it off for culture, just to be sure. Culture was fine in May.
So, now. I just had a hunch the other week that I should have Maggie's urine tested again (since last UTI she didn't show any symptoms, and I was surprised she had it), so I took her in for a urinalysis. She did have a UTI, and they started her on Clavamox and sent a sample for culture. NOW, they say it's a resistant bacteria. Just got the word before the holiday weekend. The vet said to keep her on the Clavamox until her could consult with the vet school about what medicine to try her on. He warned me that any of the big guns for treating MRSA would be hard on the kidneys. But not treating her isn't an option, is it? I don't know what to do. I haven't heard back from him yet.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking that even with successful treatment of this infection, what's to keep her from getting more...... I need to stop the source of the infections (assuming it's from the messy bum and not something else), so I started researching about firming up her bowels. I read on here somewhere that some have had success with products from vitality science, so I'm about to try that. I've tried other probiotics, forti-flora, pumpkin, kitty fiber. Right now she's on Proviable between ABX doses and also Standard Process Renal Food for kidney support.
She's currently on grain-free canned food from Fussie Cat (and we've tried other high-end foods, too). I'm thinking of trying raw....
I just need to vent to some other kitty folks. My husband is too stressed with work right now to burden him with these worries. If you have any ideas or suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks for reading,
Tab
Her first problem seemed to be "soft stool" which caused a messy bum, and since she's not a butt-licker, I was always trying to clean her up, and sometimes we'd have a potty-patch shaved or we'd keep her britches trimmed as close as we could). This might be the cause of her frequent UTIs (once a year the first 3 years, which a shot of Convenia took care of).
Last Christmas she showed UTI symptoms, so we had to take her to the Vet ER which didn't use Convenia, and she was given a 2 week Rx of Clavamox instead. Her urine was a bit dilute at that point, and she'd just started drinking water (which she hadn't been doing since being put on canned food only with water stirred into it).
A month later, I took her back to the regular vet to make sure the infection was cleared, and her urinalysis showed that it had indeed been cleared. But again, dilute urine. Ran blood tests and everything was fine (late January).
She continued with the water-drinking, and finally I decided she needed more tests because of it. This was in April. Blood tests this time showed an increase in BUN and Creatinine. Urinalysis showed a "raging infection" (but she'd had NO symptoms), and she was given a shot of Convenia. Maggie hated the vets there--she'd had 3 surgeries (the first spay, the second spay to get rid of the "missing" ovary not found at first spay, and another the next day to repair her tear of incision), and they no longer treated her very nicely (though what can you do with a fractious cat?), so I decided to switch to a holistic vet in hopes of maintaining her kidney function and to get to the bottom of her chronic UTIs. The other vet was like "what do you want me to do?" (I don't know, that's what you're for, isn't it?).
I took her to the new vet office in mid-May. They did a urinalysis which showed no infection but it was dilute. There were a few spots of blood, likely from the needle, and we sent it off for culture, just to be sure. Culture was fine in May.
So, now. I just had a hunch the other week that I should have Maggie's urine tested again (since last UTI she didn't show any symptoms, and I was surprised she had it), so I took her in for a urinalysis. She did have a UTI, and they started her on Clavamox and sent a sample for culture. NOW, they say it's a resistant bacteria. Just got the word before the holiday weekend. The vet said to keep her on the Clavamox until her could consult with the vet school about what medicine to try her on. He warned me that any of the big guns for treating MRSA would be hard on the kidneys. But not treating her isn't an option, is it? I don't know what to do. I haven't heard back from him yet.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking that even with successful treatment of this infection, what's to keep her from getting more...... I need to stop the source of the infections (assuming it's from the messy bum and not something else), so I started researching about firming up her bowels. I read on here somewhere that some have had success with products from vitality science, so I'm about to try that. I've tried other probiotics, forti-flora, pumpkin, kitty fiber. Right now she's on Proviable between ABX doses and also Standard Process Renal Food for kidney support.
She's currently on grain-free canned food from Fussie Cat (and we've tried other high-end foods, too). I'm thinking of trying raw....
I just need to vent to some other kitty folks. My husband is too stressed with work right now to burden him with these worries. If you have any ideas or suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them.
Thanks for reading,
Tab
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