Diabetic kitty + crf + urinary infection (Zeniquin)

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kimouette

kimouette

Member Since 2012
Hi everyone

For the past couple of months I've been helping a man called Alain and his sugar kitty named Farine.
Farine was diagnosed with diabetes over a year ago, went into remission, and was back on insulin couple of months later.
Ever since Alain met me, I've guided him by getting Farine on low carb canned food (Evo chicken/turkey, changed her insulin from caninsulin to Lantus (was too difficult to manage with Caninsulin), and monitor Farine on a daily basis. Farine's diabetes improved dramatically until she was OTJ by the end of August. The thing that worried both of us while she was OTJ, was the fact that her BG levels seemed to be a little unstable, until one day, he gave her raw meet and her levels increased to a point where she needed to receive insulin again... So for the last 2 and a half weeks, Farine has been receiving her Lantus twice a day. I am persuaded that she will soon get OTJ again since her insulin dosage is ridiculously low ( now .10u of Lantus which is the tiniest dosage a human being can get out of a syringe!!).

Last week, I asked Alain to get a complete blood test, dental exam and urine test of Farine. The last exam showed that her CRE was increasing a little and I suspected there was an underneath cause to her "diabetes instability". The tests came back 2 days ago : her CRE has increased to 221 ( was arround 140 last January), urine specific gravity is 1017, but mostly they found a urinary infection.

In a way, I am glad that a treatable infection lies underneath that CRE increase, low USG and maybe causing her remission to be short term. Alain now has to give Farine Zeniquin once a day for the next 6 weeks. The vet told us that this antibiotic could cause a sensibility to insulin, so we are being very careful, and considering the low dosage of Lantus she is receiving, we might even have to stop the injections until her infection is cured.

I haven't found any contraindiction to Zeniquin that would apply to her diabetes, but did find couple of warnings about CRF.

I Know this is a very specific case, but any of you guys have experience with this antibiotic or a personal story or a warning you can think of?

Here is Farine's spreadsheet :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... cslist_api

Urology showed :
Baccilus bacteria : rare
Cocci bacteria : +++
Mucus : ++

Oh and by the way Alain is a new member here and he will be following this thread!
Thanks for your help!!!
Kim, Alain and Farine
 
I uses Zeniquin on my diabetic Mari once. I say not changes n BGs/dose. Have more experience with Baytril which is in the same class (fluoroquinolone) of antibiotics as Zeniquin. I found no BG/dose changes with Baytril. Just not that the antibiotic doing its job may lower BG/dose because it eliminates the infection
 
If the BG levels are dropping not as a reaction to the antibiotic itself but because the cat's health is getting better, well that's great news!!!!

I hope that's exactly what will happen with Farine!
:)
 
Hello! My Ripley was on Zenequin for a UTI for 6 weeks (July 25-Sept. 4). I didn't notice any change in her BG levels while she was on the AB. She is also a kidney-kitty, and there weren't any negative effects. She had bloddwork and urinalysis tests 2 weeks after completing her AB treatment, and her levels had not changed (except that the UTI was gone :-D ).

(In my experience, the only AB that increased her BG numbers was Clavamox in liquid form, for it is sugar-based; the Clavamox pills were fine.)
 
Thanks a lot for the reply Josie!
It's comforting to find someone who's cat is almost exactly in the same situation and that got rid of the infection with the same treatment!

I couldn't help it but look at Ripley's labs, SS and profile! My kitty also is CRF and after reading Tanya's CKD website (and her entire book!!), I wanted to ask you...
-Have you ever considered giving Ripley some Azodyl? Might help with constipation + CRE and BUN
-And why phosphorus binders ? Isn't it a little early considering that he could be put on low phosphorus food like Weruva steak and frite (5%carb, 0.57phosDM) and keep a good calcium/balance ratio that way
- Fish oil (salmon or krill), may improve all three diseases (CKD, arthritis, diabetes).. and also help lower cholesterol which is a little high in Ripley's labs
-And just a trick in case you need it... If your cat start to show stomach upset (mainly if he starts vomiting), adding 1/4teaspoon of slippery elm bark in his food daily might help (this is a cheap and natural remedy!).

Thanks again for sharing your experience. I hope your kitty's general health improves. He sure is in good hands with a person like you!!!
Kim and Titi (my OTJ kitty who is now CKD stage 2)
:)
 
Hi, Kim, thank you so much for all of the tips :-D
I'll look into azodyl and fish oil.
I used to give Ripley SEB regularly, but she stopped liking the taste ~ I'll probably reintroduce it soon.
She eats lc/low-phos Wellness turkey (which she likes, so I don't want to mess with the 'food dance' for now); I add the binder to help bring the phos. level down even more.
Hugs to you and Titi, and I hope Farine will get off the juice again soon! You're so nice for helping her and Alain ♥
 
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