Clavamox and the cat....

[kslib]

Anyone have experience with their cat having bad reactions to Clavamox?

Bubba was given Clavamox a week or so ago to clear up another skin infection. He then had a dental. Afterwards, he got constipated, which is a recurring problem with him, and wasn't surprising since he had to skip two doses of his Lactulose (stool softener). I took him to work with me and they gave him an enema, after which they discovered that behind the fecal plug was a colon full of diarrhea (Jeez, that was the best $20 I've ever spent, so glad it was them and not me!). He had also been vomiting and was anorexic (which, at 13 lbs is really unusual!)

They had him lay off the Clavamox until he passed a normal stool, then start again just once a day instead of twice. Well, he passed a normal stool on Sunday morning, and I gave him some Clavamox on Sunday night. 30 min. later he vomited and this morning there was diarrhea in AND AROUND (EWWW!) his litterbox. He also vomited again this morning after I talked him into eating his breakfast (there's that anorexia again!) So, I guess he can't take the Clavamox anymore! Poor kitty! It's always something with him. He's sick a lot, and I've had family members suggest just "putting him down, he's just a cat for goodness sake (they are all dog people, and raised with barn cats who were not pets, just mouse traps, but I'm slowly educating them)!" But, it's never anything terrible, just a lot of chronic constapation and allergy skin stuff, etc. I do feel bad for him though; he's such a sweet little guy!

Anyone else have problems with Clavamox or other antibiotics?

Also, he's starting to develop an aversion to his litterbox. His normal stool was passed outside of Gracie's box on the rug, and part of it in his own box. I assume this is because he associates his box with painful pooping, since he still uses it to urinate. Any tips on this would be helpful as well.

Thanks everyone! :)

[sleepyhead]

1. Any antibiotic can cause diarrhea.

But you might want to ask if there is another type of antibiotic you can give that would serve the same purpose but perhaps be easier on his system. Also ask your vet if he/she has any sort of probiotic to give along with the antibiotic to keep the intestinal bacteria normalized. (Some of the ones I've seen are Benebac, Fast Balance, RxBiotic.) Or try giving some yogurt (with live bacterial cultures) along with the antibiotics. Most of the time, diarrhea is due to a disruption in the normal bacterial population of the intestines and yogurt or probiotics can help this.

Make sure you keep the litter box very clean - you may want to add a second box temporarily, or change brands of kitty litter, to give him a different bathroom experience that won't be associated with discomfort. He will probably start using the box again when he feels better. Good luck.

[kslib]

2. Thanks!

I'll ask about that, I can't feed him the yogurt since he's on a food trial, but maybe the other stuff would be appropriate. I also wanted to point out that this isn't just not feeling good, he is getting really really sick. I would assume it is probably due to the fact that any disruption of his bowels, including anorexia, results in constipation or diarrhea that gets severe enough to dehydrate him. That's why I have to be super careful, because just one day of not getting enough lactulose in his food or not eating enough to "stimulate" his bowels is enough to create havoc within a few days, and necessitate a trip to the vet's office. As long as he stays on a regular routine of eat, lactulose, snack, nap, eat, lactulose, chlorpheniramine, poop--over and over, he's fine.

He's like an old man, disruptions in routine just throw him off! :)

[Eurobabe]

5. have you had the cat checked for thyroid problems?

just a thought. Usually hypo would indicate slow bowels, but many lose weight when hyper, so not sure. Hope he feels better, poor baby.

[China_cat]

3. Antibiotics are a touchy thing

with the diabetics. Clavamox is one of the worst for inappetance, nausea and diarrhea. Our vet recommended 1/4 of a Pepcid AC about 20 minutes before the Clavamox and that seemed to take care of it.

Ask your vet about trying that.

[radfringe]

4. if he's developed an adversion to that litter box

you could try completely cleaning/washing the box and disinfect it with bleach/water solution before refilling

this will kill any "smell" he may associate with the box

or get a new completely different type of box

Our Grande Dame (19yrs old) is on meds for hyper-thyroid and for kidney/liver problems. She seemed to do fine for a couple of weeks, then all of a sudden she started vomiting after eating. We discontinued all the meds for a couple of days -- then started her up on the thyroid ones -- no vomiting. yesterday I gave her the stuff for her kidney/liver and the vomiting began again.

a call to the vet told us to just discontinue the kidney/liver meds for now since we have an appointment next saturday for a follow-up and blood work anyways.

[kslib]

6. Hope your kitty is better!

I just went ahead and bought a new box. It was almost time for that anyway, and there was diarrhea all over the walls of the box. I didn't really want to clean that up anyway! ;)

He's doing better now; I'm going to try starting his antihistamine soon, and then we'll see about the antibiotic. Right now I'm just using Triple Antibiotic Ointment on the lesions to try and keep the infection at a standstill.