Ping: Phil. Kenzie

"Phil P." wrote in message
m...

"Gandalf" wrote in message
...
Kenzie, my 14 year old Calico cat, has been on Clavomox (ammoxicillin)
since the evening of 3/2/10.

It's for the indolent lesion on her inner lip, discovered when she was
in for a 'routine' dental cleaning.


Sounds like you're describing an indolent ulcer (rodent ulcer) or
eosinophilic granuloma, which is part of the Feline eosinophilic
granuloma
complex (EGC).

http://maxshouse.com/Dermatology-Illus/Rodent_Ulcer.jpg

http://maxshouse.com/Dermatology-Ill..._upper_lip.jpg

If it is an indolent ulcer or eosinophilic granuloma , antibiotics aren't
going to resolve it. Sometimes antibiotics help a little but that's
because
of the anti-inflammatory activity of some antibiotics rather than their
primary bactericidal properties.

Take a look at the pictures in the about links. If your cat's lesion looks
like either, let me know.

Phil


Hi Phil,

For some reason, I didn't get your post. Maybe my ISP server messed
up(?) I saw it in a reply; thank goodness

Kenzie's lesion, or ulcer, looks very, very much like the photos.

Her vet said the location and appearance made for a pretty concrete
diagnosis.

If I were still working, I could do a swab, or get a tiny bit of tissue,
and do the simple stain and look for eosinopiles myself. Extremely easy
to do.

Kenzie's vet didn't even suggest a biopsy.

I used to have access to a really expensive, and nice, research grade
microscope, and everything else I needed, too.

But, I no longer have access to my lab; actually, all the equipment and
supplies are long gone; the grant ran out, and wasn't funded again.

Under GW Bush, money for basic science research was drastically cut, to
fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several hundred people lost
their jobs, just at my University. Virtually everyone I knew is gone,
now

Anyway, the vet prescribed prednisone: Kenzie weighed 10 lbs 5 oz; a
month ago. She specified 2.5mg BID for 3 days, 2.5mg HS for 5 days, and
2.5mg every other day for 4 days.

I hate prednisone: I've had to take it for asthma. It's nasty, with so
many bad side effects, that vary so much, it's hard to keep track of
them.

But, I'm going to give Kenzie a few more days to recover from the shock
to her elderly system from the Clavomox, and hope for the best.

It's a pretty hefty dosage of prednisone for an elderly cat, but it's
more efficacious than Clavamox for an eosinophilic granuloma.

The only good thing about being out of work is that I can keep a MUCH
closer eye on Kenzie, which is very good.

Likely, she won't lose her appetite on prednisone, and with luck, the
lesion will heal and not come back.

That's what I'm hoping for, at least.

If you have any advice for me about an elderly cat on prednisone, I'd
sure appreciate it.

It makes me really, really short tempered, hungry, and I have a hard
time sleeping. I have had previous ulcers, so my stomach usually bothers
me.

That's what I worry about the most: Kenzie's stomach.

Hmm....I seem to remember reading....probably here....that Pepsid is
safe for cats, in a low dose. I lost ALL of my saved posts from this
newsgroup; they went back 7 or 8 years. I am using an ancient version of
Agent Forte. It's so old, it ran on my old Win 3.11 computer(!) It's
getting very unstable; just due to age. I don't know how old my copy is.

I will have to call the vet and ask about Pepcid. She is VERY good about
returning phone calls, and answering questions. She ALWAYS asks if I
have any more questions; that gets a LOT of points, in my book.

Kenzie is eating very well, and if that lesion hurts, she doesn't
display any signs. I hope it isn't too painful.

It's not nearly as large and the bigger one; probably 4 to 5mm at it's
width. It's up under Kenzie's top lip, and hard to get a good look at,
for me alone.

Kenzie is very, very sweet, good natured, and mostly a laid back cat,
but she IS a calico, and can be stubborn. She fusses when I try to look
at the lesion, and I can't hold her still.

She's also a VERY smart cat. I've only had to roll her up in a towel
once, but she remembers me doing it, and struggled when I tried.

I figured I would wait until I HAD to wrap her up, since she's has a
better memory than I do, for things she doesn't approve of

Thank you for your advice




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