I was waiting on that phone call about Melbcat’s urine results, and fretting because I knew we’d then be waiting on a specially compounded antibiotic…

Then I realised I’m so stupid. I already had a half bottle of that compounded stuff in my fridge left from February. I had discontinued it because she turned out to be allergic and then forgot to throw it out. But now she’s resistant to the antibiotics she can tolerate (cephalexin) and the alternative (enrofloxacin) has the risk of idiopathic blindness… so she’s having to go back on the stuff from February (trimethoprim sulfa) because the itchiness and ear infections from the allergic reaction are more treatable than blindness.

I rang up and checked with the vet if that can be used, and I’m good to start giving her that immediately to hold us until the next batch comes.

I still feel like a piece of shit for waiting a couple of days and giving anti inflammatory pain relief to see if it was just stress induced cystitis (as it sometimes is). Because with not having the usual level of assistance available due to bad luck and then the weekend, Melbcat waited a while to be seen. Too long. And ideally I should have remembered having that bottle in my fridge at the vet or shortly after coming home /facepalm

Edit: I’ve given her the first dose now and she’s drooling and retching from the bitterness… poor bubba. I also need to start washing her ears out ready for when she inevitably gets an ear infection. Thankfully I have the ear wash and the antibiotic ear drops ready to deploy.

Edit 2: I’m also waiting on her bloods to see if her kidney function is still going well, as CKD can lead to frequent UTIs like this. I asked the vet about preventatives like D Mannose, and he suggested a supplement called Cystopro. Apparently it’s a combo of probiotics, compounds similar to D Mannose, and cranberry extracts.

I’m also considering buying pure generic D Mannose powder off Amazon or iHerb to show the vet and ask if that’s an affordable long term maintenance strategy for prevention, as the unit cost is much lower. Discuss the dosage, risks of kidney damage and such.

I initially asked about D Mannose because he said he saw a rod bacteria and so by my guess depending on ph it could be E Coli, which it’s effective at inhibiting. E Coli would also square with getting it from a dirty litterbox, so I will need to work at keeping them extremely clean now. However since she’s been getting tough resistant ones it could be Proteus which she’s had before. We’ll see with the further tests.

I’m worried about her infections having increasing resistance to antibiotics and really need to try everything to avoid needing the higher level ones right off the bat.

She may also be getting recurrent infections due to bacteria clinging to the lining of her bladder and protecting itself with biofilm.