Shirley & Bill
New Member
Hello, I no longer have a diabetic cat but thought that maybe I could post this question here since there have been discussions on Convenia. My apologies that it's a long post, but I want to give as much info as possible and ask for any opinions...
Beastie:
Torbie, about 12 years old. Temperamental, gets really nasty when she doesn't like what you are doing. I can restrain and administer liquid meds, pilling is out of the question.
Beasties history:
Prior barn cat, had severe respiratory problems in the late 90's. After blood work, x-rays, you name it, never found the source of the problem but keeping her in the house seemed to help tremendously and had to wonder if the barn cat was allergic to the barn (hay and straw dust, etc...) Temp never taken due to the fact that all attempts resulted in one mad cat and either the vet or myself bleeding.
Most recent:
7 June 2010 Took Beastie in to the vet, symptoms were weight loss with elevated BG (167). Amazed that I actually got a BG on her, she doesn't like being restrained. It took two techs and a vet to draw blood, when done the vet was concerned because Beastie was panting and really appeared to be struggling to breath. Vet prescribed Prednisolone for the breathing problems and said BG was ok.
Late Sept Beastie got nasal congestion and had a stuffy nose. I have Amoxicillin on hand (vet let me have a bottle of the powdered stuff due to history of herpes virus in barn kitties, I use it for URI symptoms) so put Beastie on a course of Amoxi bid for 2 weeks. Congestion cleared up shortly after starting the Amoxi as expected. About 1 week after finishing the course, congestion came back.
Started back on Amoxi and contacted vet who said that she would prefer Beastie on Doxycycline. Even though I told her that I can not pill this cat, she left pills and told me to just crush them (this was 15 Oct). Day 2 of Doxycycline, Beastie totally quit eating. I had to try crushing the pills, mix with water, and wrestle kitty to get them in her. 19 Oct, Beastie still wasn't eating at all, and force feeding is not possible. I had an appointment to take our 14 y/o Lab cross on his last vet visit and somehow remembered to talk to the vet about Beastie (different vet) and she agreed that I should put Beastie back on Amoxicillin. Put her back on it that night and she resumed eating (though still not eating enough). She had days when she was looking better, then she would look bad again.
Nov 2 I started seeing a bit of blood in the snot coming out of her nose which got worse over the next few days (I thought perhaps because she was sneezing a lot).
Nov 3rd, looking a bit dehydrated (pulled on her scruff, I am not sticking fingers in this cats mouth). Got out a LR bag and talked myself into trying to give her fluids. Amazingly enough, she was a sweetheart and let me put in 100ml.
Nov 4th woke up to a cat with a long string of bloody stuff going from her nose to her whiskers, a string about 2" long. Made an appointment for the next day and in the meantime discontinued the Amoxi. (She has not had her pred since she got sick).
14 hours after her last Amoxi, the nasal discharge was a lot clearer, some yellowish coloring but no longer bloody. Is she possibly allergic to Amoxi? Discussed this with the vet today (who was the first vet to sucessfully get her temp - he said not bad considering that she has an infection).
I told the vet that if he was going to put her on antibiotics, please give me injectable or liquid, no pills. He replied 'we are going to give her a shot of...' I thought he said Ceflaxin? He gave her the shot and said that she needs to come in for another shot in a week. This struck me as strange, and I sat in my vehicle in their parking lot for about 1/2 hour watching Beastie. I figured that if she was going to have a reaction, I would rather be there than on my way home. She looks fine so I came home and had to leave again for a bit. Came home tonight and looked at the receipt to find what he gave her and look for info on the med. The receipt says that he gave her Convenia, and the info on their site says that it's for skin infections. Is it also good for URIs? All of the info posted here on FDMB is making me nervous! And he wants to give her another shot in a week. Yes or No?
Could the elevated BG in late May have been signaling the start of this infection? How long after it's cleared up should I wait to see if she will let me test her again? Should I resume the Pred when she is feeling better?
Any thoughts on any of this? I am sorry it's so long...
Beastie:
Torbie, about 12 years old. Temperamental, gets really nasty when she doesn't like what you are doing. I can restrain and administer liquid meds, pilling is out of the question.
Beasties history:
Prior barn cat, had severe respiratory problems in the late 90's. After blood work, x-rays, you name it, never found the source of the problem but keeping her in the house seemed to help tremendously and had to wonder if the barn cat was allergic to the barn (hay and straw dust, etc...) Temp never taken due to the fact that all attempts resulted in one mad cat and either the vet or myself bleeding.
Most recent:
7 June 2010 Took Beastie in to the vet, symptoms were weight loss with elevated BG (167). Amazed that I actually got a BG on her, she doesn't like being restrained. It took two techs and a vet to draw blood, when done the vet was concerned because Beastie was panting and really appeared to be struggling to breath. Vet prescribed Prednisolone for the breathing problems and said BG was ok.
Late Sept Beastie got nasal congestion and had a stuffy nose. I have Amoxicillin on hand (vet let me have a bottle of the powdered stuff due to history of herpes virus in barn kitties, I use it for URI symptoms) so put Beastie on a course of Amoxi bid for 2 weeks. Congestion cleared up shortly after starting the Amoxi as expected. About 1 week after finishing the course, congestion came back.
Started back on Amoxi and contacted vet who said that she would prefer Beastie on Doxycycline. Even though I told her that I can not pill this cat, she left pills and told me to just crush them (this was 15 Oct). Day 2 of Doxycycline, Beastie totally quit eating. I had to try crushing the pills, mix with water, and wrestle kitty to get them in her. 19 Oct, Beastie still wasn't eating at all, and force feeding is not possible. I had an appointment to take our 14 y/o Lab cross on his last vet visit and somehow remembered to talk to the vet about Beastie (different vet) and she agreed that I should put Beastie back on Amoxicillin. Put her back on it that night and she resumed eating (though still not eating enough). She had days when she was looking better, then she would look bad again.
Nov 2 I started seeing a bit of blood in the snot coming out of her nose which got worse over the next few days (I thought perhaps because she was sneezing a lot).
Nov 3rd, looking a bit dehydrated (pulled on her scruff, I am not sticking fingers in this cats mouth). Got out a LR bag and talked myself into trying to give her fluids. Amazingly enough, she was a sweetheart and let me put in 100ml.
Nov 4th woke up to a cat with a long string of bloody stuff going from her nose to her whiskers, a string about 2" long. Made an appointment for the next day and in the meantime discontinued the Amoxi. (She has not had her pred since she got sick).
14 hours after her last Amoxi, the nasal discharge was a lot clearer, some yellowish coloring but no longer bloody. Is she possibly allergic to Amoxi? Discussed this with the vet today (who was the first vet to sucessfully get her temp - he said not bad considering that she has an infection).
I told the vet that if he was going to put her on antibiotics, please give me injectable or liquid, no pills. He replied 'we are going to give her a shot of...' I thought he said Ceflaxin? He gave her the shot and said that she needs to come in for another shot in a week. This struck me as strange, and I sat in my vehicle in their parking lot for about 1/2 hour watching Beastie. I figured that if she was going to have a reaction, I would rather be there than on my way home. She looks fine so I came home and had to leave again for a bit. Came home tonight and looked at the receipt to find what he gave her and look for info on the med. The receipt says that he gave her Convenia, and the info on their site says that it's for skin infections. Is it also good for URIs? All of the info posted here on FDMB is making me nervous! And he wants to give her another shot in a week. Yes or No?
Could the elevated BG in late May have been signaling the start of this infection? How long after it's cleared up should I wait to see if she will let me test her again? Should I resume the Pred when she is feeling better?
Any thoughts on any of this? I am sorry it's so long...
