Antibiotics (Baytril) and Appetite in 5-YO Cat

[taxcat0311]

My cat (Alex) went to the vet last week for an ear infection. His ear was cleaned out, packed, and he was prescribed Baytril 22.7mg (he's 10.5 lbs) oral tablets. His appetite was normal prior to going to the vet, and on the first two days after seeing the vet. He's taken at least three of them (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). His appetite started decreasing on Friday.

On Saturday he ate a little dry food in the morning and a few ounces of wet food in the afternoon. By Saturday evening he wouldn't eat. He's not eating his dry food, and he's not eating wet food. I offered bites of food that he typically tries to run me over and kill me for a taste of--including goat cheese and lunch meat turkey. (We don't feed him a lot of people food, because we know that's a bad diet, but we do give him fingertips of the stuff we know he really likes). He generally wouldn't take it. If I put it up to him enough times, he would eat a few bites. He would come over excitedly and smell it every time, but generally refused.

This morning I tried the trump card--Fancy Feast Seafood--and he got super excited and ate about 1/4 of the little can before turning his nose up at it. I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. I plan on pouring some watered-down tuna juice on the remainder to try to coax him into eating more in a few hours. I know how bad stopping antibiotics is, but I don't know what to do today. If he won't eat at least 200 calories on his own today, we're considering syringe force feeding him tonight.

The vet opens tomorrow, and I plan to call and insist on bringing him in tomorrow morning. Is there anything else you think I should (or should not) be doing today?

 

[stephanietx]

I wouldn't wait until tomorrow to call the vet since he's not been eating. If you don't have an emergency vet in your area, call your vet's office and leave a message or find out what to do in an emergency. You kitty needs to eat NOW.

It could be that the baytril has caused his tummy to be upset. It's common for the kitty to show interest in food, and the kitty knows it needs to eat, but it can't because there's gas in the tummy or something similar to heartburn in humans. Baytril can cause vomiting, which might be brought on by an upset stomach. You might ask the vet for something to settle your kitty's tummy.

You can also try meat and gravy baby food, boiling a chicken breast in plain water, shred the chicken, then add in some of the broth to make it the consistency of chicken salad and offer that to your kitty, a raw egg (scrambled up) or the meat only part of fried chicken. Also, you can get some Before Grain food, if you can find it in your area and offer that. Some of that is pretty smelly. However, if you don't get the tummy issue resolved, the kitty won't want to eat. Then you're looking at liver problems.

 

[taxcat0311]

My husband (a people doctor) got the brilliant idea to put some catnip in the wet food (to which I added water, some watered-down tuna water, and lightly heated). I have to offer it to the cat 5-20 times before he takes it, but if he takes a single lick, he'll eat for a good five minutes. Two-thirds of the can is eaten now. It's worked twice (about an hour and a half apart), and I'll keep trying the same thing about every hour and a half, waking up in the middle of the night if I have to. The cat hasn't vomited (or had diarrhea) at any point. He still plays with his toys.

The cat is not overweight and has not gone > 8 hours without eating anything, he's just not eaten enough as usual/for maintenance in the past couple days, so I don't believe this is urgent enough for a half-hour trip to the emergency vet. We're still going to go to his regular vet tomorrow morning to talk about switching antibiotics and/or adding an appetite stimulant to his medication. I'll probably also request blood work, since he's about due and didn't have it done last week, and to 100% make sure it's the antibiotics rather than a new problem. My husband says that greatly reduced appetite is a very common side effect to antibiotics in people too.

Through all this I'm the one who hasn't eaten anything in the last 24 hours!

 

[stephanietx]

The cat is not overweight and has not gone > 8 hours without eating anything, he's just not eating enough,

That's the problem, he's not eating ENOUGH. It's not that he's just not eating, it's that he's not eating enough to sustain him. If you can keep him eating, that's good. I'd lay off the med for today, if you've not already given it to him. Do you have a syringe with a large enough opening that you could assist feed him if need be?

 

[taxcat0311]

Originally Posted by stephanietx

That's the problem, he's not eating ENOUGH. It's not that he's just not eating, it's that he's not eating enough to sustain him. If you can keep him eating, that's good. I'd lay off the med for today, if you've not already given it to him. Do you have a syringe with a large enough opening that you could assist feed him if need be?

We haven't given him the antibiotic today.

We do have a syringe (picked one up today), and we're not afraid to use it. We would blend wet food, plain pumpkin puree, and water to milkshake consistency and angle to the side of the mouth, a little bit at a time.

But so far both I and my husband are happy with how much he is eating per hour or so now, given the depressed appetite. Because he is not overweight, and he is still on track to eat a decent amount, not vomiting, and no diarrhea, he's not at high risk of fatty liver in the next 24 hours. Obviously he can't eat like this forever, which is why we're going to talk to the vet tomorrow about switching antibiotics or trying something else.

I agree it would be an emergency if he ate barely anything for even just 24 hours, but if we can get a total of 5 ounces of water-supplemented wet food in him today, especially voluntarily, we will be happy. He can receive much better continuity of care from his regular vet (who is in the process of treating the ear infection, still a major concern, with the antibiotics).