Hello,
My cat Cheddar is about 7 years old and was essentially a feral cat. He showed up at my old house when he was a kitten and started hanging around with a neighbors' cat (who eventually became my cat, which was fortunate for him and me). Anyway, I digress. I am the only person who has ever touched Cheddar other than at the vet under duress so vet visits are very stressful for him. He has been on oral steroids since January (before that we did steroid shots but my new vet said that oral was better). He has been tapered down to .15 mg every three days and seems to be doing well on it. It is chicken flavor and I put it in his wet food.
I had to take him to the vet last week for a 6 month blood test. The whole thing was way more stressful for him than it needed to be because we had to sit in the waiting room with dogs/people etc for about 15 minutes and then it took the tech 7 pokes to get a vein. Poor Cheddar. This was on Friday afternoon and at about 5, the vet called and said he appeared to have a systemic infection and needed antibiotics. I went out to get a shot to give him on Saturday (I do the shots at home because it stresses him out less) and asked to see the blood work. His WBC was quite high (28) but his neurophils were actually a few points low and his lymphocytes were only a point high. His monocytes were quite high. I tried to ask the tech about it but all she said was that he had an infection and the antibiotics would help. I am fairly attuned to Cheddar's health and I saw no indications of an infection. Appetite was always good, no urinary issues, energy level fine. The only thing I noticed was that he sneezed quite a bit and, after the vet visit he was sneezing more until I gave him the shot on Saturday (vet visits always seem to trigger a URI for him). Anybody have any experience with infections when your cat is on antibiotics. I now it decreases their ability to fight infections off but I just don't know what the infection could have been.
My cat Cheddar is about 7 years old and was essentially a feral cat. He showed up at my old house when he was a kitten and started hanging around with a neighbors' cat (who eventually became my cat, which was fortunate for him and me). Anyway, I digress. I am the only person who has ever touched Cheddar other than at the vet under duress so vet visits are very stressful for him. He has been on oral steroids since January (before that we did steroid shots but my new vet said that oral was better). He has been tapered down to .15 mg every three days and seems to be doing well on it. It is chicken flavor and I put it in his wet food.
I had to take him to the vet last week for a 6 month blood test. The whole thing was way more stressful for him than it needed to be because we had to sit in the waiting room with dogs/people etc for about 15 minutes and then it took the tech 7 pokes to get a vein. Poor Cheddar. This was on Friday afternoon and at about 5, the vet called and said he appeared to have a systemic infection and needed antibiotics. I went out to get a shot to give him on Saturday (I do the shots at home because it stresses him out less) and asked to see the blood work. His WBC was quite high (28) but his neurophils were actually a few points low and his lymphocytes were only a point high. His monocytes were quite high. I tried to ask the tech about it but all she said was that he had an infection and the antibiotics would help. I am fairly attuned to Cheddar's health and I saw no indications of an infection. Appetite was always good, no urinary issues, energy level fine. The only thing I noticed was that he sneezed quite a bit and, after the vet visit he was sneezing more until I gave him the shot on Saturday (vet visits always seem to trigger a URI for him). Anybody have any experience with infections when your cat is on antibiotics. I now it decreases their ability to fight infections off but I just don't know what the infection could have been.
