a tough pill to swallow

A few weeks ago, Guinness’ fabulous, private vet, S, called. She had heard back from the feline guru in New Zealand. Her suggestion was to try Guinness on a heavy dose of antibiotics, treating him for toxoplasmosis. She was aware that he’s tested negative twice, but she’s had great success treating another toxo-negative cat in New Zealand. She also mentioned that neuro signs related to toxoplasmosis usually appear in cats Guinness’ age, so we decided to try the antibiotics.

S told me that the dose was very high and that he would likely have diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. He was getting four pills a day (for 7 days) and took them like a champ. All was well until late that Sunday night; he started to cry around midnight. He wasn’t feeling well, which was apparent in the litter box. I got him settled down and he slept the rest of the night. Monday morning he ate, had his pills, and promptly vomited, repeat Monday night and Tuesday morning. I spoke to S and she said that we likely would have seen an improvement in the first few days, we didn’t, and that it was fine to discontinue the pills. It was definitely worth a shot, but we should have known, too easy of a fix.

He’s now having a few weeks of relaxation (no pills or injections), some time to rest his system. Hopefully in that time we will hear back from the university in the U.S. Depending on the results of that test, we have a few other meds to try. It’s so tough to wait on answers for this little guy.