Is he de-clawed?

W

If one type of antibiotic isn't working, I'd sure want to try another. Is
there another vet you can go to?

My kitty had a paw pad infection. She responded well from the
antibiotics. I did throw out all the clumping cat litter and bought
her the round gel pearls type of litter. She really likes to get into
her box and dig! And throw litter everywhere. Now I have tiny round
"beads" all over the floor that I must sweep up everyday. But at least
I'm not stepping on that rough litter too.

Anyway, the vet seemed to think it was the rough litter and the gel
pearls were the only thing I could find that did not get dusty or
gravelly.

~Melanie

Both of my cats have, at various times of their lives, had antibiotic
resistant infections that required about three visits to the vet each, with
a change of antibiotics every time, to clear them up. If your cat isn't
getting the full dose of his antibiotic, the infection WON'T go away, and
all you will do is increase the antibiotic resistance out there. You really
MUST ensure he gets the full dose, not matter how hard that is. One of my
cats is a fighter when it comes to medicine, and I have simply learned to be
smarter, quicker and tougher than him to ensure any necessary pills go down.

So what I would do is
1. Get your antibiotic dosing method right and ensure he swallows all his
medicine. This may mean wrapping him in towels and forcing it down, it may
mean you get scratched a bit, but it is vital.
2. If after having a full course of his full dose of antibiotics there is no
improvement, you need to go back to the vet, say "that one didn't work, can
we try another one please". And then go through the whole procedure for 5 or
7 days (however long the course is) all over again.
3. Repeat this until you find an antibiotic that works, and persist until
the end of the dose. Whatever you do, don't, halfway through a course, think
"He's getting better now and this is so much trouble I think we can stop".
Halfway through the course, even if he's improving, not all the bacteria
will have died and those that have survived will have begun developing
resistance, so it will be even harder to kill them off when they take over
again.
4. Change vets if you're unhappy with your current one.

Good luck.

If he's not getting full doses of the pills, what you may be doing
is only killing off the weaker bacteria, while breeding antibiotic-
resistant bacteria in the ones that survive.  If that's the case,
you will have to get him on a different antibiotic.

I suggest you bring him back for a change of medication, and look into
either a Pill-Popper device, Pill Pocket treats (worked well on my
cat for nasty-tasting Tapazole), or having the antibiotic compounded
into a solution that you can squirt into his mouth with an eyedropper
or syringe, depending on the size of your cat.

Gideon was on Clindamycin before his surgery, which came as a clear
liquid with a measured dropper, and at 10.5 pounds, he needed a full
dropper.  If LeMieux had needed an antibiotic for his teeth, he
would have been given pills, because he's 17 pounds, and it's
difficult to give a second dropper of a bitter medicine.

If a crushed pill doesn't taste too awful to him, you could try mixing
it with a heaping tablespoon of his food, or with some strained chicken
babyfood, before you feed him the rest of his food, although if it
does taste bad, you might waste a pill trying it if he won't eat it.