My beloved Siamese, Otto, who will be 15 on his assigned birthday this coming New Year’s Day – he turned up as a stray cadging barn cat food in June, 1999, with an estimated age of 18 months – has surrendered several of his proverbial nine lives in the course of various ailments the past 8 years or so.
All are successfully medically managed. One was successfully surgically managed, though because he lost one of his two thyroids and three of his four parathyroids 3-4 years ago, he receives painstakingly titrated daily calcitriol to make up for the parathyroid deficit. (His thyroid function with just one is fine without meds.) For a cat with low grade asthma, a stable cardiomyopathy for 9 years, IBD requiring a special diet, the parathyroid deficit and a missing thyroid, a destroyed lung lobe after a protracted lung infection, and a bit of arthritis that for three years has kept him from being the high jumping athlete he once was, Otto is the picture of health. He certainly seems so to see him. He play-fights successfully holding his own with his adopted Siamese ‘nephew’ just over half his age, and who outweighs him by 4 pounds.
Not counting the meds, regular exams and shots and his special diet or insurance premiums, his healthcare cost is deep into five figures, maybe $4K of which will be recovered if I ever get around to filing his claims for the past 6 years. I also don’t count the initial or annual fees for having Otto gene banked and storing the samples in hopes of getting him cloned someday. Obviously Otto is three standard deviations beyond extraordinary and we both are fortunate that it has been possible to cover his medical expenses.
His chart at the North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine is an inch and a half thick or more. He has been seen by at least five departments, most, multiple times. The poor 4th year vet students who are expected to go through it whenever I bring him in are bleary-eyed by the time they meet us in the exam room to summarize for the resident.
Otto’s med list is extensive, including weekly B-12 injections and four chronic daily drugs specific for his existing various impairments, plus every-other-day aspirin. Happily he snarfs them all down with good grace.
A few weeks ago Otto developed bad breath and some unprecedented flatulence, so his regular vet prescribed metronidazole, an antibiotic also used in human medicine (though Otto can be said with confidence not to have vaginitis or associated GU problems).
Within two days the symptoms resolved. The drug was discontinued after a 7-10 day course. Three days later symptoms recurred, so there’s some kind of undefined underlying bacterial infection. We resumed the metronidazole but it hasn’t been long enough to remove the recurrent symptoms. I’m told that if a 3-4 week course doesn’t abolish them permanently, he may need to take the drug permanently. I’m also told that resistance to this antibiotic doesn’t occur.
We suspect there may be some dental issue, though nothing is obvious now. He was evaluated and x-rayed by the NCSCVM Dental Service a year or so when he momentarily had some malocclusion with nothing found and had his teeth cleaned at that time while he was anesthetized for some other compelling procedure. But because of his mild cardiac issues, anesthesia solely for tooth cleaning or any other non-critical reason, is perceived to be unnecessarily risky.
Does anyone else have a cat or dog or other critter on chronic metronidazole? If so, was it ever possible to sort out what the source of the chronic infection was? If so, what was it? Were there ever adverse effects from the antibiotic? How long has your critter been living or did s/he live after the chronic antibiotic regiment started?
