My good friend has an indoor only cat (PeeWee) which is 18 yrs old. PeeWee has always been in good health with no problems. Two days ago, the cat suddenly stoped eating/drinking. Peewee also threw up and then continued with periodic dry heaves. She took the cat to the vet yesterday (1 day after symtoms occured) and they underwent a series of blood tests and x-rays. The vet gave her a very small dose of anesthetic before doing the x-rays to keep her from moving around. After the x-rays, she was told that PeeWee has an obstruction of her intestine. The Vet administered IV fluids, an antibiotic shot (baytril) and an injection of reglan (for nausea). He then sent her home with the IV kit (w/ baytril mixed in) to administer 3x per day. Vet also gave her Reglan injections to give 1x per day.
I did some researching and found that Bayer, which is the maker of Baytril put a warning out on 7/23/03 that "the injectable form is approved for use only in dogs" and "to restrict the use of Baytril tablets in cats at a dose not to exceed 5 mg/kg/day" due to vision impairments". I also looked up Reglan and found that because it creates contractions to make food go down it is stated that "if stomach obstruction is suspected in a given patient, it is best not to encourage motility and some other anti-nauseal drug is preferred."
Afer the vet visit PeeWee could not walk and was very drowsy which we suspect from the anesthesia. PeeWee remained this way throughout the night and even urinated in the spot she was laying at.
This morning PeeWee can walk but very slowly. Tried to feed her but she seamed as she could not chew and was kind of throwing her food back with a head shake like she was in pain. At this time my friend noticed that one of her fang teeth was totally broken and just hangin there.
So now here are my questions...
1) Do you think that maybe the broken tooth was the problem to begin with an she doesn't have an intestinal obstruction. I wonder about this vet because of the fact that both of the injections were not appropriate in the first place.
2) Should she go back to the same vet about tooth or go to a new vet altogether? This vet does do dentistry. But wouldn't he have found the loose/broken tooth to begin with? I suggested to her a new vet... but what do you think?
3) Should she give PeeWee the Reglan injection still or skip it until she goes back to the vet tomorrow morning?
4) Is it normal for PeeWee to be so "out of it" and unable to walk with only a small fraction of anesthetic for such a long time (18hours) or could it possibly be the injections?
5) Obviously the tooth need to be pulled or given a root canal and to do this PeeWee need to be sedated. Do cats have to be totally knocked out to do this?
6) If she goes to a new vet... should she just skip the $60 bloodtest to determine if 18 year old PeeWee can take the anesthetic since the tooth need to be taken care of no mater what. Or is the test still important because it also show things such as amount the can be administered ect.
7) Can vets request records/test results from other vets like how our human doctors do?
Thanks in advance for any opinions, suggestions and help. I and my friend greatly appreciate it.
Thanks again soooooo much,
Candee
I did some researching and found that Bayer, which is the maker of Baytril put a warning out on 7/23/03 that "the injectable form is approved for use only in dogs" and "to restrict the use of Baytril tablets in cats at a dose not to exceed 5 mg/kg/day" due to vision impairments". I also looked up Reglan and found that because it creates contractions to make food go down it is stated that "if stomach obstruction is suspected in a given patient, it is best not to encourage motility and some other anti-nauseal drug is preferred."
Afer the vet visit PeeWee could not walk and was very drowsy which we suspect from the anesthesia. PeeWee remained this way throughout the night and even urinated in the spot she was laying at.
This morning PeeWee can walk but very slowly. Tried to feed her but she seamed as she could not chew and was kind of throwing her food back with a head shake like she was in pain. At this time my friend noticed that one of her fang teeth was totally broken and just hangin there.
So now here are my questions...
1) Do you think that maybe the broken tooth was the problem to begin with an she doesn't have an intestinal obstruction. I wonder about this vet because of the fact that both of the injections were not appropriate in the first place.
2) Should she go back to the same vet about tooth or go to a new vet altogether? This vet does do dentistry. But wouldn't he have found the loose/broken tooth to begin with? I suggested to her a new vet... but what do you think?
3) Should she give PeeWee the Reglan injection still or skip it until she goes back to the vet tomorrow morning?
4) Is it normal for PeeWee to be so "out of it" and unable to walk with only a small fraction of anesthetic for such a long time (18hours) or could it possibly be the injections?
5) Obviously the tooth need to be pulled or given a root canal and to do this PeeWee need to be sedated. Do cats have to be totally knocked out to do this?
6) If she goes to a new vet... should she just skip the $60 bloodtest to determine if 18 year old PeeWee can take the anesthetic since the tooth need to be taken care of no mater what. Or is the test still important because it also show things such as amount the can be administered ect.
7) Can vets request records/test results from other vets like how our human doctors do?
Thanks in advance for any opinions, suggestions and help. I and my friend greatly appreciate it.
Thanks again soooooo much,
Candee