Cat blinded by Baytril

[kittens mom]

To the point. My 10 year old cat had her first ever bout of URI. When the symptoms advanced we took her to a local vet. She felt her chest had a bit of a rattle and started her on an antibiotic and gave us pills to dose her daily. Kitten got a shot Saturday and her meds sun, mon and tues. Early wed morning I noticed she had her anime eyes on . And the nightmare started. The vet gave her 68mg of Baytril every 24 hours. My cat was going blind in front of me. In the half hour it took my husband to get home I had enough time to read about this drug and the toxic effect when given an overdose.

The vets in the ER tried not to say what I did. The vet screwed up big time.

At this time Kitten seems to have some sight. We don't know if there will be any measured improvement over the next few weeks or if her eyesight will continue to go away. There is no verified treatment for baytri toxicity her exam revealed retinal degeneration.

 

[lazer]

Oh no I am so sorry. Do you know what the prognosis is? Is the main risk her losing her eyesight or are there other life-threatening complications? I too have had an experience with a vet mistreating my (originally healthy) kitten and it just makes me so mad, especially when they refuse to take responsibility for what they did or even admit the to the vague possibility that they screwed up despite paperwork showing this. I hope your vet is better than this and that your kitten will be ok and go on to recover.

 

[kittens mom]

What is lost is gone. She made her way up on the kitchen bar which is their area to mooch this morning.

In the case of Baytril had the vet taken one minute to tell us what she was using and the possible side effects in never would have went into her. As per the manufacturer who acknowledges that does over x amount have this effect my vet hasn't got any wiggle room. She can either pay up or get sued in small claims. Our state has a 10K limit. I also have the paperwork to file a complaint to the State veterinary board. My vet easily meets the three requirements needed in my state to be found negligent. We have the paperwork to prove it along with vet reports from the Vet ER. The other vets were having a hard time not getting to emotional. Even said they don't use this antibiotic on cats for this very reason. Even at a correct dose it can happen. It's just very rare. At double it's a pretty sure outcome there will be eye damage.

I am sorry about your kitten. While I don't know if you should be able to sue for emotional damage when your pet is injured through no fault, medical malpractice is another issue.

In all my years of owning livestock I have never had a vet miscalculate a medication. You man not get your desired outcome no matter what a vet tries. A vet cannot guarantee any treatment. That does not mean they can miscalculate a drug that is known for over a decade to have serious side effects or use a drug against the manufacturers recommendations.

The vet did not do a culture, while she was a bit congested in the lungs she said it was mild and Kitten's temp was within the normal range. There was no indication to pull out a drug like this.

She got up and ate, potty, ate, drank, mooched treats. begged the last of my cream and walked off leaving it in the bowl. (normal for her.) My cuppa will be stirred with cream out of a cat bowl I guess. She cussed like a drunken sailor at having her eyes cleaned. Right now she is making sure each hair on her body is in perfect working order.

Everything I learned about this drug was after the fact. This is a long time practicing vet. She treats small animals on a regular basis. The 68mg dose should have stuck out as being wrong.

For three days at home I stuffed those pills down my cats throat. The onset of vision loss was rapid within an hour.

 

[lazer]

 
What is lost is gone. She made her way up on the kitchen bar which is their area to mooch this morning.

In the case of Baytril had the vet taken one minute to tell us what she was using and the possible side effects in never would have went into her. As per the manufacturer who acknowledges that does over x amount have this effect my vet hasn't got any wiggle room. She can either pay up or get sued in small claims. Our state has a 10K limit. I also have the paperwork to file a complaint to the State veterinary board. My vet easily meets the three requirements needed in my state to be found negligent. We have the paperwork to prove it along with vet reports from the Vet ER. The other vets were having a hard time not getting to emotional. Even said they don't use this antibiotic on cats for this very reason. Even at a correct dose it can happen. It's just very rare. At double it's a pretty sure outcome there will be eye damage.

I am sorry about your kitten. While I don't know if you should be able to sue for emotional damage when your pet is injured through no fault, medical malpractice is another issue.

In all my years of owning livestock I have never had a vet miscalculate a medication. You man not get your desired outcome no matter what a vet tries. A vet cannot guarantee any treatment. That does not mean they can miscalculate a drug that is known for over a decade to have serious side effects or use a drug against the manufacturers recommendations.

The vet did not do a culture, while she was a bit congested in the lungs she said it was mild and Kitten's temp was within the normal range. There was no indication to pull out a drug like this.

She got up and ate, potty, ate, drank, mooched treats. begged the last of my cream and walked off leaving it in the bowl. (normal for her.) My cuppa will be stirred with cream out of a cat bowl I guess. She cussed like a drunken sailor at having her eyes cleaned. Right now she is making sure each hair on her body is in perfect working order.

Everything I learned about this drug was after the fact. This is a long time practicing vet. She treats small animals on a regular basis. The 68mg dose should have stuck out as being wrong.

For three days at home I stuffed those pills down my cats throat. The onset of vision loss was rapid within an hour.

This is just infuriating, I hope the vet sees some consequences. Our kitten (the same one I mentioned) was also on Baytril for a few days for a UTI, in pill form. I cannot remember how much was prescribed as this was a while ago, but after a few days and another urination scare the new vet we saw got us to take the dose way down.

Our issue with the bad vet was not misuse of medication but introduction of a UTI and blockage during what was meant to be a routine neutering surgery. Our 6 month kitten had cryptorchidism, where his testicles had not descended, but was otherwise perfectly healthy and this never posed a problem for him. The vet assured us this is pretty common, a routine surgery, and would just more closely resemble a female spay surgery where they would have to get the testicles from inside. They knew where they were because they did an ultrasound beforehand. While they had him open they thought his bladder "looked big" and decided to stick a catheter in him to check for blockage and infection. They found no blockage or infection, but after they sent him home he developed both blockage and infection!! We rushed him back as soon as we noticed him not being able to pee - they again stuck in a catheter and this time found tons of bacteria. He was in different hospitals for a month and almost got PTS because the vets said there was nothing more they could possibly try. The day he was to be put to sleep at home he miraculously peed on his own for the first time in a month. Now he is still on tons of medication and the vets cannot tell us how long we have with him, as they have never seen a cat with such a damaged bladder last so long and do not know what the long term effects of the meds he is on now are. Even now I am getting more and more worried as I wait for him to pee - it's coming up to 24 hours since his last urination. It just makes me so mad because he was such a healthy kitten. Even now he doesn't even know he's sick - he just doesn't feel his bladder like normal cats do and unfortunately it could kill him. We have since been seeing an internal medicine specialist at another hospital, who said that the original catheterization was unnecessary in the first place and that it is normal for organs to vary somewhat in size, especially in larger breeds like ours - if no problems had been reported there was no need to start poking around in there.

Sorry, I don't mean to rant. I still get very emotional talking about this - I even have an entire section on my site dedicated to retelling what happened (here if you are interested). 

Please keep us updated on your cat, I will be sending positive thoughts your way!

 

[kittens mom]

Rant away.  There is a grieving process not only when we lose our pets but when they are injured in some way. I suspect like me your hold yourself accountable to some degree for choosing that vet as I do for shoving that drug down my cats throat for three days.  I poisoned my pet. Doesn't matter if it was the vets instructions. By my hand my cat is blind. Even I know that's irrational but humans process things this way. In the end all we can do is love our pets and make each day special for and with them.

Legally speaking our only recourse is to sue the vet for reasonable vet bills incurred from her mistake. There is a possibility of recovering emotional distress in an equal amount. I will present the bills to her and hope we can come to an agreement on a suitable amount once we see a specialist and find out what her possible future needs might be from this incident. I will report her to the state no matter what.

 

[lazer]

 
Rant away.  There is a grieving process not only when we lose our pets but when they are injured in some way. I suspect like me your hold yourself accountable to some degree for choosing that vet as I do for shoving that drug down my cats throat for three days.  I poisoned my pet. Doesn't matter if it was the vets instructions. By my hand my cat is blind. Even I know that's irrational but humans process things this way. In the end all we can do is love our pets and make each day special for and with them.

Legally speaking our only recourse is to sue the vet for reasonable vet bills incurred from her mistake. There is a possibility of recovering emotional distress in an equal amount. I will present the bills to her and hope we can come to an agreement on a suitable amount once we see a specialist and find out what her possible future needs might be from this incident. I will report her to the state no matter what.

It's true, I do hold myself accountable. We were not familiar with pet ownership in this country and in our efforts to educate ourselves and find a good vet we asked around to try to find a vet someone we knew trusted. A friend said they had a good experience with this vet so we went OUT of our way to take our kitten there even though it was on the other side of the city. If we just chose a closer vet, or the large vet hospital we later learned was only 5km away, this may never have happened. We are now afraid to get our younger, female, kitten spayed because if something goes wrong again we will not have the money to spend ~100,000SEK on her treatment like we had to with Rigel. We want to regather some of our savings again. I refuse to introduce the possibility of having our kitten die because we can't afford to do whatever is possible to make her better.

We tried presenting the situation to the original vet here. They sent a letter stating that our kitten already came in with a distended/flaccid bladder even though their own vet journals, which we have copies of, state the complete opposite. The second hospital who treated him actually mentioned the possibility of this being "iatrogenic". Unfortunately we do not speak the language here and do not know what we can do in this case. We don't have a fortune to spend on lawyers, especially when we still need to have money saved for his medicine, ongoing specialist visits, and any further emergency vet visits. I think I'm just going to have to learn to live with the anger and tell as many people as possible who have pets around here about the dangers of visiting this clinic. When I look at the larger picture I'm just grateful our kitten is still here, the rest is baggage not worth holding on to.

I sincerely hope you get a better result when talking to the vet in your case. How is your kitty doing now?

 

[kittens mom]

I put my hand down to cup her head and call her. She walks straight to where the hand is no matter where she is coming from or where I position it. I suspect she has poor peripheral vision. She cannot track fast moving objects but will follow a finger from across the room. We are hoping an exam of her eyes might give us an idea of what we are working with. It's very hard to figure out her vision when she's in the home she was raised in. Since it's very overcast I opened the drapes and I seen her head follow the birds at the feeder. She even had a slight wiggle butt swishy tail. Again sight or hearing ?

What we don't have is a panicked cat running into things or retreating into a hostile ball of fear. She is for the most part carrying on her life although at times she seems confused she is working it out on her own. She seemed to follow the butterfly on the white background on her tablet toys. ( oh shush). I choose that because it doesn't make a noise. Again hard to tell. She unlike our other cat figured out long ago she wasn't going to get a bug to chomp on. We had a horrible T storm last night but she was as always unfazed. My husband thinks I'm being passive and just accepting what happened. We have no choice as far as our cat goes. And our other cat reminded me she was still living here today. Bills have to be paid along with all the other facets of our daily lives. Time can't grind to a halt.

Is there a way you can empty your cats bladder yourself ?

Vets in the us all have state licenses and a board oversees them. I have already been in email with them over this. I need to make copies of all the information and will wait until her vet visit this Tuesday.

We chose this vet because she handles cats very well and has a good local reputation. A 15 mile round trip vs almost a hundred miles seemed like a good choice. The blame lays squarely on this vets shoulders. Depending on the availability of small claims court and your willingness to settle for that maximum even if you've spent far more costs 90 bucks to file here and is recoverable if your win. We either will or will not win a judgment if it comes to that. We do have to take care of our cat no matter what that outcome is.

 

[lazer]

I'm glad she seems to be coping well! It's great that she seems to be adjusting.

We have tried to express Rigel's bladder manually during the "month from hell", but no matter how many videos we watched and techniques we tried we could never get it to work. We begged the vets to show us how to do it, saying we would be more than willing to do it multiple times a day since we know many people have handicapped pets and manage this way. But unfortunately none of the vets were able to express him either, and we have asked several over and over. He, too, has learned to "cope", I think. If you just met him you would have no idea about his "handicap" because he acts like a perfectly normal, happy kitten. It's like one of the vets said - he doesn't seem to even know he's sick.

 

[kittens mom]

This evening we both had a meltdown laughing and crying. The horrible realization that Kitten is coping better than we are.

No matter how we see them as our babies, furkids etc they are still animals and have a totally different set of coping skills. And at the same time they each have their own personality's that make them so dear to us.

She had a misstep to day and my heart dropped. And then remembered we have always called her a flatfooted water buffalo who failed ballet.

 

[meowkittymeow]

 
This evening we both had a meltdown laughing and crying. The horrible realization that Kitten is coping better than we are.

No matter how we see them as our babies, furkids etc they are still animals and have a totally different set of coping skills. And at the same time they each have their own personality's that make them so dear to us.

She had a misstep to day and my heart dropped. And then remembered we have always called her a flatfooted water buffalo who failed ballet.

 I understand the sadness you are feeling. I had a pug (who recently passed...) that was attacked by another dog and he lost all of his sight. My husband and I went through a long period where we would look at him and cry, I always blamed myself and the "what I could of done". He ended up living another 10 years and was never really affected by it. He was lively up until the day he passed. 

So while I have never had a blind cat, I have had a blind dog. Animals seem to learn to cope really well and sometimes we even forgot he was blind (until he ran into a chair out of place!).  I'm so sorry about your kitty and I hope you make sure action is taken against the vet.

 

[haveakitkat]

Glad your kitty is coping well

 

[kittens mom]

 
Glad your kitty is coping well

Yes she is. the point here is she shouldn't have to go through this at all.

The more I read about this class of drug the more I question if it should be used on any living creature unless it is the last resort and then with informed consent.

I do not think any vet should give out this drug unless they fully inform the pet owner of the possible serious side effects. That this dose didn't resonate in the vets brain is truly disturbing. The manufacturer is clear on the need to not go over the tolerance limits in cats.

I've spoken to other clients of hers. She isn't a quack vet. I hope by the end of the week to be able to have a sit down with her. I need my emotions on better footing before. I want to hear her thinking on what happened. I want to know that no one else going in there has this happen. I need to know somewhere inside me that she is truly repentant over this. IF she's not sorry , I can't forgive her and will have to follow every course of legal action available. I would much rather spend my time with my husband, family and kitties than slinging mud.

This also means her owning up to the financial end of this we've incurred.

She hasn't called me back. Is it because she doesn't care, Covering her tracks or is she as devastated as we are at the needless injury to a little house cat.

 

[kittens mom]

Today has been blissfully uneventful. We have to put the anti viral in her eyes in a few but even that is down to a non event. I have the next two weeks to devote to her, the forgotten cat and making sure the house is blind cat safe.  While obviously not totally blind her lack of peripheral vision and depth perception poses it's own set of challenges.  I have some beautiful antique rug sections from auctions I was saving for a project yet to be named. I'm going to cut and edge them to fit tables etc where slipping is a bit of an issue. Fall mowing needs to be done.

Woke up this morning and walked into the kitchen to see Kitten at her favorite bird feeder tail swishing. We done her meds and she gobbled breakfast. The forgotten cat came out and demanded tummy time on me while she stretched and purred.

I have much to be thankful for. We played one of her favorite games which is played by tossing a plastic tablecloth over her and then shooting hair ties at it. She can flip them off with amazing accuracy from underneath. I also indulged in using plastic bags at the grocery so they have a pile in the kitchen they are surfing on. This was followed by a wallow at the catnip station and some general rummaging.

I'm no saint. there are flashes of white hot anger It's just not going to rule the day. She said hopefully.

 

[kittens mom]

How we got here.

We live in a very rural area. The recession seen a lot of business fly down the road. We had a significant population decrease. Most vets here specialize in livestock and treat dogs and cats, cats being on the lower end of the food chain as a side or courtesy. When our cats were due their vaccinations we decided to try a small vet office. Nothing fancy , hand painted sign. But it had been here for years. Advertising here is word of mouth. We asked around, checked yelp, done a bit of digging on the net, Checked out her FB page.  Getting vaccinations nearby rather than the long over hundred mile round trip seemed a good idea. It would be nice to have a vet nearby that was on call for emergencies. She handled our cats beautifully. Even the ferocious BabyMook had little to say in the I'm going to devour you department. When Kitten got the URI it seemed reasonable to take her to the closest vet rather than dragging her over the mountains. How I regret and hate myself of that decision. We go through elevation changes and our ears pop. I've often suspected the cats probably feel that also.

Now to the vet we used locally. I can't find anyone saying particularly bad things about her. If she was blinding cats right and left I would have ferreted that out by now. Instead what we have is kind loving woman who set up shop in her golden years and is providing a service that is much needed here. I suspect she's bartering in many cases for payment. My husband doesn't understand how I can feel this way after what happened to our little precious Sugar Pot Pie. It doesn't mean what happened is OK. It doesn't mean that some sort of financial atonement isn't necessary. What happened involved the demon called complacency. I want the two young assistants to feel the burn of this. I want it to eat up a little piece of them so that this never happens to another cat they care for. I don't want to end their careers , I want to sober them up.

Baytril is a bad drug that has good uses. It is not the first antibiotic to pull out on an URI. I don't want it banned . That only hurts the many pet owners who need it. it is probably time for medications given to our pets per Rx to come with a mandatory fact sheet. Pet owners should be able to trust their vet without second guessing them at every step.

If your vet prescribes Baytril to your cat question them about the need for that medication and the dosage. To all the vets that may read the board. There is no shame in double checking what you think you know before prescribing any drug.

kitten and mook.jpg

• kittens mom
• Sep 3, 2015

 

[kittens mom]

The sound of her bell is distinctive. I can hear it even in my deepest sleep and wake up. Kitten has been quite active the last few nights. I'm sure as time goes on I won't feel the irrisistable urge to jump out of bed to make sure she is OK.  I hope.

We have a system to do her medication in the morning. Husband gets her, I am not the always bad guy. We put in the anti viral drops. 200IU of vit # and her dose of L Lysine. We're down to less than a minute operation. It's easier to do the two fingered sneak attack while she's snoozing to put the antibiotic ointment in her eyes. Usually aside from sitting up for a moment and having that cat *** look on her face she doesn't seem bothered by it.

Kitten expanded her world by another room yesterday. I close off any room at night she is hesitant to enter while we're around.

A far cry from a week ago where she went from a bed on the floor in my office to her food/water and litter box.

I would love to take a current picture of her but flashes are a no no and she has to be kept in subdued lighting for 6 weeks. 

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• kittens mom
• Sep 4, 2015

 

[kittens mom]

I am thankful we took Kitten to a specialist. We know what's going on in her eyes. her pupils are more reactive to light and she can follow images on her tablet games. I turn the sound off. I don't think there is a definitive test to know exactly how well she sees. If not for her pie eyes her behavior would be very deceiving. The damage is very real. Her medic alert tag should be here shortly and she's listed as blind on PetTrack.

Her next evaluation is on the 14th of sept.

As things go this disaster for Kitten has went as smoothly as possible. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I gave her a pebble. She can see it and follow reasonable flipping. If it gets outside her range just a bit she can't track it and looks up for me to come toss it  Pretty sure there are blind spots in her vision as well. Hoping that regular hunt chase games help hone her senses and teach her how her eyes work now. Favorite way to play ball has always been for me to have a basket full and roll them at her while she bats them. Hoping early play therapy for want of better words will help her incorporate all the skills she had with full sight just a short time ago.

I want to make sure she walks with hat head up, tail poofed and see that street walker swagger.

 

[margd]

I've been following your thread and just wanted to say how lucky Kitten is to have you. With everything you are doing, it will be much easier for her to adapt. It's such a rotten shame this happened - I'm hoping to read the update saying Kitten has her swagger back!

 

[kittens mom]

http://www.drugs.com/vet/baytril-enrofloxacin-antibacterial-tablets.html   Every pet owner should be familiar with this drug. I wish I would have known. I wish my vet would have at least mentioned the possible side effects. Possibly the best way to end this is for the pill to be manufactured in a pill more suited to the average housecats weight.  No cat would ever be given a whole 68 mg Baytril. I kept looking at the receipt from the vet, At the Rx instructions on the bottle. Did I misunderstand. No. the vet prescribed my cat a full 68 mg baytril. I still go back and look at the paperwork. And every vet I've seen since has sent home written care instructions. Nothing. No where.

Clear as a can be:

08/22/2015

Quantity : 7

Baytril 68 mg

Give on tablet by mouth once a day. AT

This meshes exactly with my concern that she wouldn't eat the tab no matter how tasty and I was going to have to break it into pieces to pill her. Cause really if you have a cat and you see a pill your cringe. The size of this pill almost made me cry. She was out of the dermagel.

Other vets and vet techs have told me that yes she did prescribe a 68mg dose for my cat.

Bayer the manufacturer has done studies on the safe limits for dogs and cats. Kitten was given twice the upper limit of this drug.

All of this means nothing unless I share it. This is a huge site full of cat lovers. Many coming here to ask questions about their cats health. If just one of the puts in a search for Baytril given to their cat I want them to feel the bottom fall out of their gut as they check the dose. Give correctly this is a highly effective antibiotic. Had my cat been given the correct dose there is only a miniscule chance she would have had her vision diminished. I could easily post the does but I want anyone who's interested to read what Bayer says not what I claim.

The ASPCA poison hotline came up with the 200IU of vitamin E. There is no proof but the opthamolagist was curious enough to suggest we continue that protocol until her next visit. There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that at the very least it can stop of slow down the effects of the toxin .  She is on terramyacin (?) 4 times a day and anti viral eye drops along with 500 MG of L lysine. We are unclear of the dose of Baytril given by injection. She received 3 doses of Baytil at 68 mg per day. The effect showed up on the 4 day nearly 22 hours after the last does. The visible event took place in a matter of minutes.  She was up on the kitchen bar assisting, one minute her eyes were normal and then her pupils dilated and you could see she was somewhat confused , Honestly my first thought wasn't she's blind but rather some other side effect of the drug.

I know this is long. I don't see her as a burden in any way. She is no less loved or cherished. She is my little heartbeat. I am using this thread as sort of a personal blog, sounding board and emotional organizer.

 

[kittens mom]

In the early morning I heard her chittering at a bird in the feeder by the kitchen window. Kittens pupils are much more reactive to light. I am not going to let myself read anything into it. It s a week until her next visit and we have managed to smear a whole tube of the antibiotic ointment for her eyes everywhere. She doesn't seem to mind the antiviral drops but hates hates hates that ointment in her eye. Here's hoping we can either refill it locally or the vet will say to just keep on course with the antiviral. There is one to two days worth left.

 

[kittens mom]

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• kittens mom
• Sep 7, 2015