my elderly cat

Question
Hi Ali, my elderly cat Sylvester is drooling and has breath odor, but is still in good spirits and has a good appetite. before i take him to the vet i was planning on giving him a course of penicillin ...i am pretty sure he will need a tooth out,i am just a bit concerned about the medicine affecting his kidneys....he had a blockage of some sort about a year ago and could not wee !!  it cleared up when i gave him the special U/R canned food by Purina.  do you have any thoughts about the subject? i know you are busy and you have been very helpful and supportive in the past. have a great day ! Barbara

Answer
Barbara,

I wouldn't suggest giving antibiotics without the advice of your vet. From the sounds of things Sylvester could have an issue with his teeth, but there are other medical issues that can cause foul smelling breath/drooling. I'm incredibly glad that Sylvester's blockage resolved on its own, however typically a urinary blockage is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical treatment by a veterinarian for two reasons - first and foremost adequate pain relief is important as these blockages are incredibly painful, secondly and most obviously relieving the blockage before it has an opportunity to cause kidney/bladder damage is crucial.

I can certainly understand why you would be concerned about medications that you could give Sylvester affecting his kidneys and I agree with you which is why I think that the safest course of action before giving him any medications at all would be for the vet to assess him as soon as possible. The vet may want to do blood work to check the status of his kidneys (usually referred to as a BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen)/Creatinine profile) - at my vet these tests are about $30 each, I'm not sure what your vet will charge. Having a kitty who nearly died in 2007 due to the kidney failure she developed during the Menu Foods pet food recalls I know how valuable the information that these tests provide can be. Given Sylvester's history I would imagine that the vet would want to be super cautious and just make sure that his kidneys are functioning within the normal range before prescribing ANY medications. If Sylvester's drooling/bad breath is the result of dental disease the vet may recommend taking action and removing decayed teeth as quickly as possible to reduce the risks of transmitting any bacteria from his mouth throughout the rest of his body... Typically my vet will prescribe antibiotics IF she finds infections under the teeth that she pulls, otherwise she will simply allow the extractions to heal while watching for signs of any potential problems... After all you don't want to risk creating bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics by using the wrong antibiotic to treat an infection or using that antibiotic incorrectly.

Hopefully you have found this information helpful. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me againa at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali