Bad Bladder Infection

Status
Not open for further replies.
chriscleo

chriscleo

Very Active Member
cleo has been on cytoxan as part of her chemo protocol for lymphoma. she's been really sick and we've been to the ER twice. she's been collapsing and not eating so i've been syringe feeding her.
we ran a ton of tests and finally found the culprit is probably a bad bladder infection (don't know if anything else is going on but bloods were okay and chest xray ok too. no masses or fluid buildup).

vet has called in a prescription for baytril. i'm so not pleased about baytril but don't know an alternative for what she has. DH is on his way to the ER now to pick it up (growling all the way). we're just making sure we're staying under the maximum amount allowed for her weight (vet prescribed max but we're going somewhere between that and amt supposedly prescribed by most vets per vetinfo.com).

anyone with experience with this? any tips?
 
I had an elderly female (21) who had periodic bladder infections. Baytril was one of the antibiotics that we used, and she had no issues with it. It cleared the infection quite quickly, and although it was a few years ago, I seem to recall that she felt better fairly soon after starting. Hope that your girl responds well.
 
Both Hope and Mishka were on it, different times, for cultures that showed Baytril was the one to use. Gave dose required for their weight and no problems whatsoever.
 
chriscleo said:
probably a bad bladder infection
Click to expand...

I don't understand the "probably".

Wasn't a C & S run to make sure that she actually has an infection...and that IF she does...that baytril is the only AB that the bug is susceptible to (doubtful if playing the odds)?
 
dr lisa, cysto taken on sunday and C&S started then so i don't think the full results would be ready yet, right? (that's why i said "probable")
vet just called me last night to say bladder infection so i'm guessing the culture had come back for that. full results i'd expect on wednesday. asked for antibiotic to start, as i honestly didn't know how much longer she'd make it. we've been trying to find out what's wrong with her since wednesday and she's been sick for 10 days now.
 
Makes sense to empirically start ABs on such a sick patient *pending* C and S results. I may have missed it but was not aware that a culture had been set up. Once it is back, you can see if baytril is the appropriate AB to use.
 
yes, fdmb has taught me well. i insisted on cysto and C&S. absolutely never would have known its importance if it weren't for this site.

not sure if anything else is going on so i said probable culprit for collapse/severe illness. we have all test results but full C&S result. just a phone call saying bladder infection had been found so far. we ran cbc, full blood/urine panel, chest xray, BP check, doing C&S. vet's first concern was lymphoma traveling to lungs or brain but negative on that.

she's been collapsing in distress, and inappetant and hiding. collapsed in front of vet tech too, when she weighed her, and scared the heck outta her.

vet wanted to give baytril or convenia on sunday before culture came back and i refused. accepted baytril last night when we got call re bladder infection.
 
chriscleo said:
yes, fdmb has taught me well.
Click to expand...

Yep - I figured that you would know - that was why I was confused. :-D

chriscleo said:
vet wanted to give baytril or convenia
Click to expand...

This makes me want to scream...or cry. To put a LONG-ACTING drug (convenia) in a body....that would probably not even be the drug of choice....when there are other - safer - choices.....
 
Lisa dvm said:
chriscleo said:
vet wanted to give baytril or convenia
Click to expand...

This makes me want to scream...or cry. To put a LONG-ACTING drug (convenia) in a body....that would probably not even be the drug of choice....when there are other - safer - choices.....
Click to expand...
esp when some chemotherapy agents and protocols may cause myelosuppression and anemia. if a problem like anemia develops post-convenia use, how would one isolate the cause - cancer, chemo, or convenia?
 
plus, dr lisa, if infection had traveled to kidneys (and with her anemia already), i shudder even more to think about convenia. it always seems to be the first thing they offer when you say your cat is difficult to pill.

she didn't even say the word convenia til she said she could inject cleo with an antibiotic and i asked which one it was. at least she asked, tho. some don't even tell you what they're going to do or the potential side effects.



[edited for minor typo (grammar)]
 
chriscleo said:
cleo has been on cytoxan as part of her chemo protocol for lymphoma. she's been really sick and we've been to the ER twice. she's been collapsing and not eating so i've been syringe feeding her.
we ran a ton of tests and finally found the culprit is probably a bad bladder infection (don't know if anything else is going on but bloods were okay and chest xray ok too. no masses or fluid buildup).

vet has called in a prescription for baytril. i'm so not pleased about baytril but don't know an alternative for what she has. DH is on his way to the ER now to pick it up (growling all the way). we're just making sure we're staying under the maximum amount allowed for her weight (vet prescribed max but we're going somewhere between that and amt supposedly prescribed by most vets per vetinfo.com).

anyone with experience with this? any tips?
Click to expand...

Hah! Maybe I can help! I have experience with this.

So... I have had two cats on Baytril and in pretty large doses. One was DoDo. He had a horrible UTI after a blockage. His little bladder was so scarred that there was hardly any room for his urine. Clavamox was not really helping the infection so the vet put him on Baytril. I can't remember the actual dosage. He got a shot of it at the vet and then he was on it for 10 days I believe. He was also on some pretty toxic drug to help the lining of his bladder (I read that they use it some cancer treatments). This helped immensely and his bladder was no longer so hard.

My civvie BooBoo has been on both Baytril and Amoxicillian together. He had a nasty cardiac infection and was not doing well at all. He was on some pretty high doses of Baytril (so much so I was worried that he was going to have the nasty side effects) and the other antibiotic. However, the drugs worked a miracle and he no longer had the cardiac infection that was pretty apparent surrounding his heart.

Interestingly, BooBoo has some kind of mystery infection found during his grooming and when checking to see if we could do a dental (with the illness he had and his grade four heart murmur they have decided to not worry about the dental for awhile yet since his teeth werent horrible). We think the infection is from his PU site (he had the surgery years ago) and since he was long haired and rather tubby he was pretty messy in that area so we are thinking that is where the infection is coming from. We can't find any other discernible areas (lungs clear, xrays clear, etc). They even tried to grow bacteria in his urine, etc and nothing. But like I said the PU site was rather messy so we think it was from there and he is on 30 days of antibiotics (which has turned him into a new cat thankfully in the past few days). The antibiotic this time was Clavamox.
 
my vets have said that the injectable baytril is known for more severe side effects than the pill form is. didn't stop me from worrying about the pill form but at least i can make sure she stays under the max dose suggested.
 
update

cleo tonight had her third dose of baytril and is doing better. she actually ate a little FF grilled chicken with gravy off the plate today after multiple days of syringe feeding only and no interest in canned food. poor thing was collapsing in pain/exhaustion every day, especially after having to use the litterbox. she's still spending some time hiding under the bed but thank goodness the baytril seems to be helping her (she is on pain meds, tho -- bupe). :)

i'm a little sad she's off chemo for the week until she has her next oncologist appointment on monday, but we didn't want to resume cytoxan and risk having the bladder infection travel to her kidneys. so right now she's still getting pred to help fight the cancer but that's it.
 
I have not posted for a while because I don't have useful information to add, but, I have been following and feeling terrible your baby is suffering and you along with her. I'm so sorry and keep you in my positive thoughts.

One of my guys hated Baytril, especially since the tabs are so large. It became impossible to dose it and switched to Clavamox and then Zenequin which I procurred online since no one where I live had it.

Give Cleo and gentle scratch and hug for me.
 
thank you, everyone, for your kind wishes and experience with baytril. cleo's doing better. she's still sleeping most of the day but she's looking forward to her syringe feeds and still doing some eating on her own. she's pretty much stopped hiding, too.
we have our oncology recheck on monday so she'll get another checkup then and we'll probably be switching to leukeran and continuing the baytril if still needed.
her blood glucose levels have been higher because of the infection so i had to increase the dose but her numbers are better. i don't think she collapsed even once today so that's progress. (i'll take what i can get re progress! :))
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top