Narrowed Trachea

[John Popp]

Thanks Brigitte, I think that's a pretty good snapshot of things.

As I understand things, the problem with treating with Clavamox is that it's not the most effective treatment. Then if the vet doesn't know what they are treating for when addressing a URI, they probably aren't going to prescribe 3 weeks worth of Clavamox. Symptoms go away, the bacteria sheds for the next 4 months.

but this is a bug that is included in the PCR respiratory panel so if it were common it would be increasingly detected nowadays, just like we see more Mycoplasma infections now that we can detect it with the PCR panel too...it used to be a rare disease but due to the difficulty in culturing it (so it was easily missed). PCR testing is giving us a much better idea of how common the pathogens are I think.

I get what you're saying here, just a bit humorous. When we weren't looking for it we didn't find it much, now that we're looking for it we're finding it a lot more.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Clavamox is a great first line antibiotic, but there are any number of pathogens it is not completely effective against. Bordetella is not the only one. Generally when it isn't completely bactericidal but more bacteriostatic, then yes when giving the antibiotic things look good, then you stop the antibiotics and the infection comes back, or in the case of this bacteria they shed for some weeks before the body finally rids itself of it.

But yes, there are a LOT of pathogens we don't think we see commonly. There are other obscure bacteria that they suspect are causing the infections that we don't find answers for. It's a matter of time before some are included in those PCR panels (diarrhea and respiratory) and we shall note their presence more. It's a changing diagnostic landscape. With time, it will be less and less common for us or our pets to have infections we don't find a causative agent for. When I was a child I was continually having "viruses" because I'd be ill and the doctors couldn't work out what was causing it...suspecting nowadays they'd be identifying what it was giving me the fevers etc...

 

[Jacq]

Wow! What an ordeal. Thank goodness it was diagnosed and will soon be a memory.


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[Patti]

I think it is interesting to note that ALL of the bacterial infections identified on the URD PCR panel (which supposedly are the most common bacterial infections in cats) are effectively treated with doxycycline - makes me wonder why so many vets start out using clavamox instead...

 

[John Popp]

Clavamox is taste neutral and Doxycycline tastes pretty bad. Doxycycline is also more than twice as expensive as Clavamox.

I have a whole regimen that I go through twice a day per the vets instructions. Coat their Doxycycline half pills with butter and after they've swallowed them use a syringe to shoot 5ml of water down their throat. Fortunately they don't seem to mind it much, and like licking the butter off my fingers.

 

[John Popp]

By the way, the boys had a good morning, perhaps too good. They hit their wheel hard at 4am, turned on the Roomba and got their workout on the staircase completed by 5:30am. Total turn around from yesterday morning, when both got up horfing and with low energy.

I was especially surprised as Dooley was having some issues last night. Typical episodes that were lasting from 15 seconds to a couple minutes. It worries me each time it happens, although last night I was really able to focus on what's going on when these events occur.

Much like the vet was asking me, "does it occur when he inhales or exhales?" it's really clear that the restriction is more pronounced on exhale. This is pretty typical of asthma as I understand it, the chest muscles do fine pulling air in but simply relaxing doesn't push the air from the lungs.

As there really wasn't any other symptoms besides the restricted airway, no runny nose or coughing, it was pretty much all in line with asthma. My guess is if Dino had been a dog, with these symptoms bordetella would have been on the front line of a diagnosis. With any at risk scenarios being weeks or months prior to the onset, not sure how a diagnosis would have been made without the lab tests.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Clavamox is taste neutral and Doxycycline tastes pretty bad. Doxycycline is also more than twice as expensive as Clavamox.

I have a whole regimen that I go through twice a day per the vets instructions. Coat their Doxycycline half pills with butter and after they've swallowed them use a syringe to shoot 5ml of water down their throat. Fortunately they don't seem to mind it much, and like licking the butter off my fingers.

I pinch off a bit of Pill Pocket to coat the tablet. I don't want them to try and eat the pill pocket, but it's easier to hold than a buttered pill and does the same trick of coating the tablet for taste AND helping it slide down the throat without sticking. It leaves a pleasant aftertaste too..

 

[SV Dad]

There are a lot of shenanigans going on currently in the generic drug industry, and the tetracyclines are now outrageously priced. Clavamox (Augmentin to humans) is multi sourced and much more economical.

 

[John Popp]

Rumor has it Rascal that you know all this stuff because you were a test pilot for EI Lily back in the 70s.

 

[SV Dad]

The only piloting I do is in a Cessna.