Has your cat taken Clavamox? What did you experience?

[bwx411]

My (girl) cat has a UTI. We went to the emergency vet and $236 later came out with a prescription for Clavamox.
Getting it into her is a holy terror and makes me feel horrible, but we do our best.
The problem is, it's a liquid and it seems that the majority of it winds up foaming out of her mouth. How are you supposed to get this medicine into her?
Also, does anyone have any experience with this? She's always been a little standoffish except to me, but she is severely anti social right now.
Given the chance she would crawl as far under my bed as possible and not come out, I think.
She lies under stuff or in small spaces, she wont' eat hardly anything, she barely drinks and she growls at my boyfriend. She corners him in the room, and he is afraid to walk out past her because she is growling so much.
It's actually pretty scary, and I haven't really seen that she is acting like she feels any better in the 3 days she has been on the medicine, just grumpier.

[sugarcatmom]

Couple of questions: how old is your kitty? What were the symptoms that resulted in the emergency visit? Was a culture and sensitivity done on the urine sample to prove it actually is a bacterial infection? The reason I ask is that true urinary tract infections are actually very rare in cats under the age of 10. What often happens is that there may be some inflammation that causes the cat discomfort when peeing, the cat goes to the vet and they just automatically prescribe antibiotics without a lot of further investigation. Can you get a copy of the lab results from the vet? I'd be curious to know what her urine specific gravity is.

As for the Clavamox itself, it tends to cause digestive upset in many cats, which is probably why your girl isn't eating properly. This is very serious. Cats need to eat consistently or else they are at risk for developing hepatic lipidosis. How long has she gone without food? Can you tempt her with treats or other foods like plain chicken baby food? Tuna, salmon or sardines? Yogurt? She needs to eat. That takes precedence over any treatment plan.

If she truly has an infection, you can get Clavamox in tablets that can be pulverized and mixed in with canned food. Much easier to administer. The stress your cat is going through in administering the liquid is not going to help her get better.

Some info for you on the role diet plays in bladder/urinary tract problems in cats: http://www.catinfo.org/#Common_Felin..._Ties_to_Diet_

And a quote from that link about the use of antibiotics in treating cystitis:

A note on antibiotic usage in these cases. Most cases of cystitis are sterile. In other words, they are not the result of an infection and should not be placed on antibiotics.

Only ~1% of cats with cystitis that are under 10 years of age have a urinary tract infection, yet many veterinarians place these patients on antibiotics when these drugs are not warranted. Most cats under 10 years of age produce a very concentrated urine (USG greater than 1.030) and bacteria do not grow well in concentrated urine.

A urine culture and sensitivity (C & S) should be run to check for an infection if the patient has a low urine specific gravity or is diabetic. It must be kept in mind that even with a low USG, most cases of cystitis are not due to an infection. This is why it is important to run a C & S before placing the patient on antibiotics. Antibiotics should only be used when the presence of an infection can be established.

We have to stop treating all cases of cystitis with antibiotics without supporting evidence of an infection!

[bwx411]

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

Couple of questions: how old is your kitty? What were the symptoms that resulted in the emergency visit? Was a culture and sensitivity done on the urine sample to prove it actually is a bacterial infection? The reason I ask is that true urinary tract infections are actually very rare in cats under the age of 10. What often happens is that there may be some inflammation that causes the cat discomfort when peeing, the cat goes to the vet and they just automatically prescribe antibiotics without a lot of further investigation. Can you get a copy of the lab results from the vet? I'd be curious to know what her urine specific gravity is.

Ok, I don't know exactly how old she is. I got her off Craigslist about 6 months ago, and she was small enough to fit into the palm of my hands just about.
We took the late night trip to the kitty ER because she was acting funny. When I came home from work, she was behind the TV, which isn't weird, but later in the night she was lying on the floor behind the water and food bowl. I had never seen her do this before, but I wasn't concerned until she stood up. There was blood on the floor under where she had been lying and when she was standing up blood dripped out from somewhere underneath.
I don't DO blood and all I could think of was that she was dying.
They did a urine culture, and here is what it came up with:
Urobilinogen-normel
glucose-negative
Ketone-negative
bilirubin-negative
protein 2000 or more
nitrite-negative
luekocytes-small
blood-large
pH-7.0
Specific gravity 1.015.

When we got to the vet he squeezed what seemed like an awful lot of bloody urine out, although I couldn't really look. She just isn't quite herself still. Right now she is lying in her litterbox, which hasn't really been used, so I guess it's ok, but strange.

[bwx411]

She is eating a very little bit, but nothing tempts her. She usually comes running when she hears the treat bag, but I tried to give her one right to her, like didn't even ask her to move and she refused it. She is drinking alot though, like she'll lie by the water bowl so she doesn't have to get up.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by bwx411

There was blood on the floor under where she had been lying and when she was standing up blood dripped out from somewhere underneath.

That's pretty scary indeed. Sorry you guys are going through this!

Originally Posted by bwx411

They did a urine culture, and here is what it came up with:

This is actually a urinalysis, not a urine culture. Urine has to be sent out to a lab for a culture and results aren't usually known for 2 or 3 days. As for the urinalysis results, I'm alarmed by how low her urine specific gravity is for such a young cat (do I understand that she's probably a year old or less?). Her urine is also quite alkaline.

Originally Posted by bwx411

She just isn't quite herself still. Right now she is lying in her litterbox, which hasn't really been used, so I guess it's ok, but strange.

It sounds to me like she's in pain. And with that amount of blood, it could indicate kidney or bladder stones. They didn't do an x-ray of her abdomen by any chance, did they?

I can only tell you what I would do if in your shoes, and that would be to get the Clavamox tablets, and possibly some pain meds like oral Buprenex or a Fentanyl pain patch.

[bwx411]

Thank you for all your kind words and advice. I ended up taking her back to the vet because i couldn't dismiss the swelling in her sides any longer as just a strange position she was lying in or or something else.

She was diagnosed as being in kidney failure and we ended up having to put her to sleep tonight.

It ahs been a crappy night and I feel like a failure, like I let her down, but she was definitely not herself.

[sugarcatmom]

Oh no, sweetie. I'm so sorry! You are not a failure, you were there for her when she needed you most, to help ease her pain. I wish there was a better outcome, but you did all that you could under the circumstances. Please take solace in the fact that she was loved and had a warm happy home for most of her short life. My heart goes out to you. Please take care of yourself, and if you have any pictures of Misa, or you'd like to post a memorial in the Rainbow Bridge forum here, if might help to share your grief.

Peace and love,

Julie

[rhartjr]

I am so sorry for your loss. This is the hardest part of sharing our lives with our furry friends.

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

You are not a failure, you were there for her when she needed you most, to help ease her pain. I wish there was a better outcome, but you did all that you could under the circumstances. Please take solace in the fact that she was loved and had a warm happy home for most of her short life.

Absolutely! You did everything you possibly could have. You gave her a loving home from one end of her life to the other and when it was time you helped her on her journey to that place where kitties get to frolic and play all day and never have to suffer. No not a failure, you did exactly what our little furry friends expect of us.

[drfreud]

I am SO sorry for your loss! I went through the very same thing with my male cat 7 yrs ago. I couldn't get the antibiotic in him to save my life. I wish I had joined this site sooner. I had Abu at 3 different vets, none could get it down him either. They finally gave me shots to give him, twice a day for 14 days. That was also hard (not on him, but on me!), and in two of the places I gave him the shots, he now has bald spots. I wish I could remember what antibiotic he was on then. I don't know about you, but my animals are just like my children, and the death is just as hard to get over. HUGE HUGS to you, bwx.

[KarenC]

I am so very sorry for your loss

[natalia]

You didnt fail her! you never did.. you were a good mother to your kitty.. you did everyhting you can in your power. It's sad when things like this happen, i had lost two of my cats too in the past. It is hard, but always look at it from the better side of things, the good memories.. Sorry aobut your loss..

[kanis]

I am so sorry for your loss. Please know that you did everything humanly possible to help your little girl.