Antibiotics raising BG ?

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Ace & Chelsea

Ace & Chelsea

Member Since 2021
Hello to all,

Wondering if I can get some feedback on our current situation!
For the last two days Ace has been excessively grooming his private area which is a new behaviour for him. He is still urinating normally although his stools are softer than usual. He was recently diagnosed with asthma on top of his diabetes and I’m currently waiting for the asthma meds to come in. I contacted my vet as soon as Ace started howling since the licking accompanied by the howling led me to believe his crystals are back! I contacted my vet who advised me to have him brought in so we could run some tests however I’ve now tested positive for covid.
The vet recommended that I have someone pick up antibiotics at their office, to give to him twice per day to be on the safe side. I’m concerned about how this will effect his BG and wondering how long apart from insulin I should give the antibiotics or if it matters..
Just want to understand this as best as possible to be able to not throw his BG off too much. He is fairly unregulated as it is as you can see on his spread sheet but I’ve noticed his breathing has gotten better even without the asthma meds in the last couple of days with our new air purifier so fingers crossed I can get him to a more stable/regulated spot sooner rather than later...
any helpful feedback is greatly appreciated !
 
FrostD said:
If anything the infection is raising his BG more than antibiotic would. Just remind them he is diabetic... something is sticking in my head about some of the antibiotics containing a form of sugar. @Suzanne & Darcy ? @Katherine&Ruby ?
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A lot of the liquid antibiotics do contain sugar and are to be avoided! Sometimes it seems even some of the vets don't realize this. Liquid Clavamox comes to mind as one of the sugary ones!
 
Can you pill him? I would definitely avoid liquid formulations of antibiotics. Zeniquin is a very good broad spectrum antibiotic for urinary tract infections (if that's the concern). Does he usually take antibiotics for this problem? I mean, in the past has he had an actual UTI confirmed with a culture or at least seen under the microscope. Crystals in an of themselves are not at all unusual in cat urine and it depends a lot on the type of crystals that determines whether there's likely to be a serious problem. But you sound like you've had experience with this before... so tell us his history :-) Also, I'm sorry that you have COVID and I hope it will be just a very mild Omicron type and that you will be all better (and testing negative) very soon!
 
I have only ever given metronidazole successfully. Ruby had a terrible reaction to Clavamox. I’ve never given liquid meds as she is very easy to pill. I never thought twice about giving her an antibiotic with her insulin. The two should have no interaction except if the antibiotics work, BGs should come down.
 
The symptoms you describe also sounds like it could be cystitis. I had a cat with that, diagnosed one week after Neko got her diabetic diagnosis. :rolleyes: Treatment was pain relief with buprenorphine, as it's incredibly painful, Cerenia for it's anti-inflammatory properties, Cartrophen, and something to relax him, sorry been so long ago I forgot the name. One hallmark is smaller pee clumps than normal or more frequent smaller pees. Crystals can also be a part of this. Stress was his trigger for an episode. Food, with lots of water added, helped. Since Ace is in higher numbers, he may be a bit dehydrated, making the situation worse. As others have said, a dose increase can help.

The only antibiotic my diabetic Neko got was clindamcyin after dentals. Horrid tasting stuff. Liquid was easier for me to give her, but caused her to foam at the mouth. It wasn't sugared. Often you can ask for non sugar versions of ABs. Remind the vet he's diabetic. The vet will have directions on how long to give antibiotics, but it's usually at least a 7 day course.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Also, it looks like your Ace needs more insulin. :bighug::bighug:
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I’m not looking to raise is insulin until his asthma medication comes in since they snag be causing the high BG numbers and the infection clears up :0 If I go above 1.5 U he’ll drop bellow 5mmol/l mid day so I thought it would be best to wait rather than have him bouncing. Correct me if I’m wrong tho
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Can you pill him? I would definitely avoid liquid formulations of antibiotics. Zeniquin is a very good broad spectrum antibiotic for urinary tract infections (if that's the concern). Does he usually take antibiotics for this problem? I mean, in the past has he had an actual UTI confirmed with a culture or at least seen under the microscope. Crystals in an of themselves are not at all unusual in cat urine and it depends a lot on the type of crystals that determines whether there's likely to be a serious problem. But you sound like you've had experience with this before... so tell us his history :) Also, I'm sorry that you have COVID and I hope it will be just a very mild Omicron type and that you will be all better (and testing negative) very soon!
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The vet gave me Clavaseptin 62.5 mg Pork liver flavour (1 tab, twice per day)
And yes we’ve experienced this three times before with Ace. Antibiotics usually does the trick. Previously if he was having urinary issues he would owe just outside the litter box or in his own bed which was unusual behaviour for Ace, one time I actually noticed blood in his urine and brought him in right away.
The time we saw blood was scary so anytime I notice anything unusual in that department, I usually bring him in right away. This time it was the licking and the howling, he is still having large pees though.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
The symptoms you describe also sounds like it could be cystitis. I had a cat with that, diagnosed one week after Neko got her diabetic diagnosis. :rolleyes: Treatment was pain relief with buprenorphine, as it's incredibly painful, Cerenia for it's anti-inflammatory properties, Cartrophen, and something to relax him, sorry been so long ago I forgot the name. One hallmark is smaller pee clumps than normal or more frequent smaller pees. Crystals can also be a part of this. Stress was his trigger for an episode. Food, with lots of water added, helped. Since Ace is in higher numbers, he may be a bit dehydrated, making the situation worse. As others have said, a dose increase can help.

The only antibiotic my diabetic Neko got was clindamcyin after dentals. Horrid tasting stuff. Liquid was easier for me to give her, but caused her to foam at the mouth. It wasn't sugared. Often you can ask for non sugar versions of ABs. Remind the vet he's diabetic. The vet will have directions on how long to give antibiotics, but it's usually at least a 7 day course.
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Our vet prescribed clavaseptin 62.5 mg 1 tab, twice per day. Do you think that’s an appropriate antibiotic for what he may have?
I’m just concerned about raising insulin since last time I increased it dropped below 5mmol/L and was told that his asthma attacks may be what are causing the high BG numbers so I’m worried increasing dose msg cause him to bounce. I’m very new to this so just correct me if I’m wrong. He has Flovent and albuterol on the way in the mail as well
 
Don't be afraid of bouncing. It is a cat's natural reaction to numbers lower than they are used to (could still be quite high BC) or fast drops in numbers. It means Ace's protective system is working well. And bounces are extremely common in relatively new diabetics.

Allowing a cat to become used to higher numbers (with too low a dose), just makes the bounces worse. Your goal is to get him used to numbers much closer to normal BG values. I would increase the dose, and if he goes lower when the meds kick in, then you can lower the dose.

Hard to say about clavaseptin, since you have to culture the urine to see what type of bacteria is present, before deciding what antibiotic to give. Given the circumstances, the vet is giving an educated guess.
 
Thanks so much. Very helpful! I’ll try 1.75U for next dose and monitor

and yes the vet has tried their best to treat him based on an educated guess, hoping it at least helps things until I’m done isolating so that I can get Ace into vet.
 
Ace & Chelsea said:
Our vet prescribed clavaseptin 62.5 mg 1 tab, twice per day. Do you think that’s an appropriate antibiotic for what he may have?
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Yes. That’s what we call Clavamox here. Excellent drug for UTIS in general. You can’t get a culture now due to being homebound so it’s a good choice. Has he taken it before though? It can be very hard on the GI tract and may cause inappetance, and diarrhea and in some cats, vomiting. Some of my cats tolerate it well. Others not at all! Very recently I had a cat who had ear surgery and he took it like a champ… no diarrhea and he kept on eating a lot!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Yes. That’s what we call Clavamox here. Excellent drug for UTIS in general. You can’t get a culture now due to being homebound so it’s a good choice. Has he taken it before though? It can be very hard on the GI tract and may cause inappetance, and diarrhea and in some cats, vomiting. Some of my cats tolerate it well. Others not at all! Very recently I had a cat who had ear surgery and he took it like a champ… no diarrhea and he kept on eating a lot!
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His appetite is great, no diarrhea but his stool is definitely softer than usual. I don’t think this is one he’s had before no.
 
I woke up this morning to a trail of poop. Looks like the antibiotics are causing diarrhea day four, should I get him some probiotics to help him out?
 
In my experience with this antibiotic, it will not get better but worse. You should call the vet and ask about switching to a different antibiotic if at all possible. Some of my cats actually get explosive diarrhea on this antibiotic, while others do fine on it. I keep a list so I can remember who is sensitive to it.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
In my experience with this antibiotic, it will not get better but worse. You should call the vet and ask about switching to a different antibiotic if at all possible. Some of my cats actually get explosive diarrhea on this antibiotic, while others do fine on it. I keep a list so I can remember who os sensitive to it.
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I called the vet this morning to ask if I could switch antibiotics and they suggested to get him on a probiotic
 
Darn! Sure you can add it in, but at this point the antibiotic will probably overwhelm the probiotic. It can’t hurt. I wonder how long they intend to let this go on!

If you have ever taken the human antibiotic called Augmentin, you will know what I mean! I did. I didn’t actually get diarrhea, but I had the worst, most painful, almost continual heartburn that I have ever experienced. I finished the course because I had a particular, rare type of bacterial infection that only responds to a few drugs and this was one of them.

Is he still eating? Have you ever tried slippery elm bark? This helps although needs to be administered at a different time than the antibiotic. It helped me with the painful gastric reflux from the med.
 
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