Wanting Some Opinions On Bacteria Found In Cat Lungs

[PetParent1]

long story, short. my cat was in for a routine procedure. when placing the breathing give down her throat, it filled with mucus, quite. bit of mucus. vet offered to send it off to be cultured. I said okay. that was costly. in the meantime she was put on an antibiotic. a week later I found out from the culture that the follow two bacteria were found: Pasteurella multocida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Was told original expensive bacteria wouldn't touch this and put on a different antibiotic. had to hide antibiotic in food until she refused to eat, then start putting it down her with a syringe. she won't hardly eat at all now. I suspect cause of weeks worth of meds. she's throwing medicine up so its useless. I really want some other opinions. I have stopped the antibiotics. I read they can need them for months for these bacteria. I also read that these bacteria are often found in cats. so is it normal. could she have had it forever. what harm if I stop the meds I wonder? It's becoming an endless cost and I really don't know what risk there is of her having bacteria often found in cats. also I read that one round of meds likely won't eradicate the bacteria. and not eating seems worse then all of the above. thoughts/ opinions? It's becoming a very expensive treatment. one that I can't really access the risk of her having the bacteria in her to begin with from what little I find online.

 

[silkenpaw]

You say your cat was well before all this happened? No coughing? Playing, eating as usual? How long was she on antibiotics? (Just curious, what specifically did they treat with? And what was the procedure?)

Usually, when more than one type of bacteria is found, you suspect contamination. You’d also want to reculture before committing a cat to prolonged therapy. But I understand they didn’t want to go down your cat’s lungs to get another aspirate. I think what you are doing is perfectly reasonable. Just watch your cat carefully for any coughing or other signs of illness. And get her something perfectly yummy to eat so you can be sure the appetite loss is really due to her associating food with the medication.

If you are nervous, you can always get a second opinion.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[PetParent1]

she was perfectly healthy. 9 year old female cat. she was getting her teeth cleaned. when they told me about the mucus. said she had alot. I allowed them to culture it cause you what lungs and panic. she didn't sneeze. cough, nothing. and every thing I read on here says cats have all these symptoms. they put her on doxycine for a week to treat mucus until culture came back. it was near impossible to get medicine down her and now she is so used to us hiding it in. her food. she won't even try her food anymore. it's hard to get her to eat. you begin to wonder if you are getting taken. then after a week. culture comes back with these two bacteria so doxycine was a waste. she was then out on enrofloxacin. after 3 days of struggling to get that down her and she throwing it up minutes later. I have stopped it. I dont get why we are treating something to which she has zero symptoms. I now worry. with all these meds. I will suddenly starting seeing symptoms as strange as that sounds. they also put hee on 14 days of the medicine. by what I read here 14 days wouldn't have touched those bacteria sounds like. thoughts?

 

[PetParent1]

I definitely want a second opinion but when you have spent close to $1000 on something that just snowballed. you don't want to keep chasing over priced opinions that may be leading you on the wrong path.

 

[silkenpaw]

I understand panicking about stuff in the lungs. Sometimes you get lab results you are sorry you asked for Have you discussed your questions and doubts with your vet at all?

As I mentioned, whenever you see a culture with more than one type of bacteria, you have to consider that the bacteria came from your hands or your equipment rather than the patient.

The other possibility to consider is that your cat really does have pseudomonas in her airway but that it’s not harming her. It is normal to have bacteria in your mouth and throat. Sometimes these bacteria get out of control and cause disease. When that happens, the culture will usually show just one type of bacteria, not two as in your case.

I can understand the temptation to treat the pseudomonas, as it can be a nasty infection and is difficult to treat, as you know. However, I’m a firm believer in treating the patient rather than the labs. Sometimes the treatment is easy and no big deal but in your case, you are having a major problem due to the treatment. Under these circumstances, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to step back and rethink your action plan. So, I would agree with stopping the antibiotics and watching for any problems.

 

[PetParent1]

thank you for your reply. I had never thought about contamination. makes me wonder which bacteria she actually had of the two or if she had either.

 

[silkenpaw]

You are welcome. Please post here about how she does.

 

[PetParent1]

she finally ate this morning. I just wonder how likely it is to even find one of these bacteria and a cat not show any symptoms at all ??

 

[silkenpaw]

Glad she ate.

I think Pasteurella multocida is normal to have in the nasopharynx but Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not. Still, I am sure some cats are carriers and your cat may be one of them. As long as it’s not causing problems, I see no point in treating it (but then, I’m not a vet and am not treating your cat.)

 

[PetParent1]

she will not eat any of the food varieties that I hid hee medicine in. i buy her quality food and just stocked up so I can't imagine that food going to waste. one vet office I called today said that is very common when you put their medicine in food. I can't help but start to think I got taken by the vet and am our alot of money when I had a very healthy cat. I now wonder if she really even needed the teeth cleaning....

 

[silkenpaw]

Well, to give the vet the benefit of the doubt, you said she had a lot of mucus when they intubated her, so it wasn’t unreasonable to look at it. Once he got the results and started treating the results instead of the cat is where I’d wonder, but of course, he was there and I wasn’t and hindsight is always 20/20, so I have to go easy on him.

But if you’ve stopped trusting him, you have to find someone else. It’s very important you trust your vet because you are never going to know as much about cat health as he does and you need to be able to follow his advice without always double-guessing it.

 

[PetParent1]

right. and this was actually a new vet for me to see. I didn't see the mucus. and what one vet calls alot. another might not. I know i had a healthier cat who would eat with vigor before all this and now I struggle to get the cat to eat a meal which is dissapointing.