my 13 year old cat, Oscar

Question
Approximately 1 month ago Oscar lost his voice. I took him to a vet and they prescribed a liquid oral antibiotic called cepaclor (?). He seemed to get better and I had them do a full checkup and blood workup. The results were good. Last Saturday he fell asleep on me and it sounded like he was growling. I realized the next day he was actually wheezing and he kept swallowing like I do when I have a sore throat,  later the same day he started coughing. I had a very small amount of the antibiotic liquid left still in the refrigerator and I gave it to him. About 4 hours later he threw up quite a bit and then threw up again about an hour later. I took him in to the vet the next morning and had to leave him over nite. They sent him home the next day with Baytril pills as well as a pill for nausea. He seemed to get worse and was not eating, drinking very little and even quit that, I was worried about dehydration as well as what ever was wrong. He had not had a fever this time so they said it was viral. I took him back in and they kept him for 3 days it was Fri. Sat. Sun. which made it 7 days since it started. Today I was told to call before I came and the vet said Oscar was blind! He said it could be due to high blood pressure and they wanted to get another blood pressure reading when he was calmer. I said that he had never had any blindness and the vet said that he was not blind yesterday. When I picked him up the assistant was the one to give me new meds and instructions. She said the vet had done more research on baytril and found it could cause blindness. I was very emotional and still am. The new medicine is antirobe drops 25mg 20ml once a day 10 days, and cyprohepradine 4mg 1/2 tab twice a day 10 tabs. No diagnoses. What should I do? Are the new medicines safe? I feel like I took a sick kitty to the dr. and they have given me back a sicker kitty who is blind. Will he get his sight back?  

Answer
Hi there!

Im real sorry about Oscar. Yes, Baytril can cause blindenss, but only if it was prescribed incorrectly. MOST TO ALL cats get 1/2 to 1 tablet ONCE daily. NO MORE. Also the miligram on the bottle should state 22.7 mg, NOTHING HIGHER.  BUT, you tend to get more blindness in cats with Baytril (which is permanant) with the injectable form.

High blood pressure can cause blindness (anything over 180 in cats is considered high enough to be monitored closely, as well as anything under 100 for hypotension)

Cefaclor is used for  the following;

# Infection of the kidney (pyelonephritis)

# Infections of the ears, nose or throat

# Infections of the organs associated with breathing, including nasal passages, sinuses, windpipe and lungs (respiratory tract)

# Infections of the urinary tract

# Skin or soft tissue infections

Antirobe(clindamycin drops) is used for the following:

skin infections

deep wounds

dental infections

it essentially kills strep and staph infections.   This antibiotic is risky in cats with kidney and or liver problems.

The cyprohepatadine is an anithistamine it CAN cause drowsiness and it also acts as an appetite stimulant.  This is a safe drug.

If he was my cat and I am not getting the answers I want, I would see another vet, a cats only vet.

God Bless!

E