Our 10 year old cat has recurring bladder/urinary tract issues that pop up every few months or so. She currently has an ear infection as well. Our vet is having blood work done to rule out possible liver/kidney problems but has prescribed Baytril to clear up the infections. Any comments regarding treatment with this medication would be greatly appreciated.
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Here is the baytril website for vets. See what you can find on that:
http://www.baytril.com/1/home.htm
Actually, the drug has been banned, and recalled because it poses a threat to humans when used in producing food animals for human consumption. You can read about that at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4777277
http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/baytril/index.html
Actually there are alot of pros and cons, but it seems to be used alot for poultry and cows.
I’m not sure I would want to use something controversial on my pet. Just do a lot of checking up on it before you make your decision.
My dog was on Baytril, unnecessarily (I later found out), for about 8 weeks. It was given to him along with Doxycycline to clear up what was thought to be a stubborn case of kennel cough. I actually had to stop the Doxy for a while because it made him very sick…then I had to start giving him half a Pepcid along with the Doxy and Baytril. At any rate, the bottom line from my experience is that he suffered no ill effects from the Baytril, but because it was given to him unnecessarily, it did nothing to cure what was wrong with him.
I would say if your cat seems to be doing okay taking it, keep giving it to her till you get all your tests back from the vet, and make sure you really know what is wrong before you put or keep her on any medication.
Baytril is a potent antibiotic used aginst bacterial infections in both dogs and cats to treat a wide variety of infections.
Over the years, Bayer Animal Health received sporadic but an increasing number of reports concerning altered vision in feline patients treated with Baytril Tablets and/or Baytril Injectable. (Baytril Injectable is only approved for use in dogs.)
These reports, while very rare, have linked Baytril to altered vision and even blindness in cats, according to a warning letter sent by Bayer to veterinarians in June 2000.
The increase in the number of reports appears to be temporally associated with the July 1997 label change for the oral dosage from a dose administration of 2.5 mg/kg bid to the flexible dose administration of 5-20 mg/kg as a single dose or two equally divided doses.
As a result of discussions with their ophthalmologists, a specific feline safety study was designed to assess any potential effects of Baytril on the eyesight of cats. This study was conducted with dosages both within and well above the label dose range.
Preliminary results suggests that the blindness problems are specifically related to higher doses of Baytril.
I’m assuming you’re giving 22.7mg tablets? 1 tab. one time daily? At this dose baytril is a great medication. It will not lead to vision issues. With cats you are limited in which antibiotics you can use because they prove more sensitive then dogs. Stick with your prescribed therapy and let us kow how the blood work comes out.
Baytril is just an antibiotic called enrofloxacin. It is very broad-spectrum, which just means it kills a lot of different kinds of bacteria. It’s usually not the first choice because we like to use the most appropriate antibiotic to avoid develping bacterial resistance, so this is a last resort as it kills virtually everything…but that’s another topic…it’s also very expensive for you, as you probably know. It’s a very commonly used drug with few side effects from short term use in healthy, adult animals.
Baytril is a great choice if you’re trying to treat a reoccuring infection because it kills most common bacteria…so you can usually wipe out the problem without having to identify exactly what type of bacteria is causing the infection. It’s also probably a great choice since your’s has the ear infection too…it should work for both.
They CAN identify the specific bacteria causing the bladder infection, and certainly SHOULD, certainly if Baytril doesn’t work. They do that by pulling a urine sample via what is called cystocentesis (the vet will probably call it a “cysto,” you put a needle through the abdominal wall into the bladder and draw the urine into a sterile syringe so it doesn’t get contaminated with other bacteria that aren’t really causing the problem…it can be done with or without sedation, depending on the temperment of the animal and preference of the vet.)
You have to send that urine to a lab to be cultured and tested for antibiotic sensitivity…meaning they first grow the bacteria, figure out exactly what type of bacteria it is, and then test it to see which antibiotics it is most sensitive too (which ones kill it best). The vet would call this a “culture and sensitivity.” It can also be done for the ear infection if that keeps up. That can tell you exactly what antibiotic will work…but it takes several days, sometimes a couple of weeks to grow the bacteria…so you need to do something in the meantime…and Baytril is a good choice for that. They may change the antibiotic once they get culture results, or leave her on the Baytril if it will kill the bacteria.
It’s a great idea to do the full blood work-up that you mentioned. A lot of things can help cause chronic bladder infections…like urine cystals/bladder stones (which can be due to kidney/liver disease or many other causes) and even diabetes (the glucose in the urine gives bacteria a nice food source, so bladder infections are very common). Most of those things will show some indication on basic blood work (CBC/chem panel), but you might need to do more follow up if the basic panels show some issues. The concurent ear infection might be of concern in regards to her overall immune status…but that should also show some change in the basic CBC that would indicate further testing. Your vet might also sugest test for FIV/FeLV, etc…not a bad idea, but again, if she is actually showing signs of one of those diseases, you should see something on the basic bloodwork you are already doing that would indicate a need for the test. All this stuff is generally not needed for a single bladder infection…but since this is a recurring problem…there is probably an underlying cause of it that you’ll need to figure out…otherwise it’s one of those things where you are treating the symptoms, but not solving the problem…which winds up being unpleasant for your cat and even more expensive for you!
Baytril is a good choice for now, but certainly find out the bloodwork results and follow up with the urine culture/sensitivity if it doesn’t improve this time!