6/13 OT Kitty otitis - Tresaderm alternatives??

Oh dear. Kitty's sore has been improving using the non steroidal silver sulfadiazine - but yesterday he scratched open a sore behind his ear, and I thought, time to rule out ringworm!

Saw a different vet this time. Now TWO vets think it is not wingworm, but we've taken a culture. What Kitty DOES have is bacteria in his ears - cocci (?) bacteria, i.e. otitis.

The sore in front of his ear has been dry all along, but the one in back looks moist.

Vet's recommendation is Tresaderm. She thinks topical steroids for a brief period would not hurt Kitty or cause remission. I said I would consult with my feline diabetes magnificent mates first!!! Because there is more wonderful experience here than in any vet's office.

We need something to go IN the ear as well as ON the sores. For tonight, she suggested not treating at all. But we need to do something about the bacteria. As for cause... food allergy maybe? Or just plain old no cause.

Thanks, everyone.

 

I will also cross post in health.

 

No advice here .. but I sure do hope kitty starts feeling better soon!

 

Thanks, Devon! I feel so bad for him. He itches and wants to scratch. :roll:

 

Zymox comes both in a steroidal (Zymox HC) and a non-steroidal preparation (just plain Zymox).

 

I have used zymox without steroids for DL's ears but it did not help the only thing that really helps his inner ear is tresaderm but as far as other problems on skin like you are describing does Kitty have itching and allergies this time of year DL does and I did break down and try oral pred this year to see if it helped him since he was itching so much it was tearing up his muzzle and his head and neck area well long story short pred is not helping so I gave a bath a while back to try to help all the while trying to avoid sulfur dipping him which is a common ringworm cure but not common for allergies but in 2006 my vet went to a seminar about sulfur helping allergy patients so I tried it on him he was almost bald that fall anyway back then we were doing it every 2 weeks and it was like a miracle stopping his itching I just dipped him a few days ago again I hate doing it since he hates it and it does smell up the house for a day but his sores on his head are already looking 75% better sulfur can really help sometimes so you may want to think about asking your vet about this just a thought....

 

Thanks for this info!

It seems like we have two problems: the bacteria in the ear, and the skin that has become scratched up - internal and external issues.

Vet said she felt the local treatment (in the ears) could be as successful for this kind of thing as systemic. She also doesn't feel that Tresaderm in the ears would be that bad for BGs, but I have read another condo where people report otherwise.

The big question is: is Zymox a local treatment, something that can go in his ears? The vet thought the Tresaderm was okay for application to the skin itches, but it's the bacteria in the ear that she really wants to knock out.

As for sulfur... I wonder whether this silver sulfadiazine that I've been applying is related.

 

i totally don't know, but am just going to throw it out so you can ask the vet - what about vinegar? when people get swimmer's ear, that's bacteria, and a dilute vinegar solution can be used.

maybe it doesn't apply to cats, though.

 

Kathy, Simon has had problems with ear allergies and is still having some problems. The vet put him on Tresederm and immediately his bg went sky high only after 2 days of being on the drops. I had to take him off since he was going too high. I have been using zymox which really hasn't been helping that much. He is a little better with it, but still scratching some. I'm going to have to ask my vet about the sulfur dip...sounds interesting. All cats are different and your cat might not react as strongly to the tresederm as Simon did, but I would be very cautious.

 

Julie - I read about the vinegar solution (pun!), but someone else said it irritates ears if they are sore. It might be worth trying in very diluted form, though.

Georgia, thanks for that real-life experience. I think Tresaderm is a risk I don't want to take unless I have failed with other options.

I also read in an Amazon discussion of Zymax that some kitties can heat irritations. It has been 95 degrees here. Maybe Kitty has been on the porch too much. Maybe a combination of something gentle like Zymax, plus less time in the heat, plus...new food maybe - maybe those will help.

He does seem better this morning. The sore behind the ear that scared me so much yesterday is not wet. The silver sulfadiazine I put on it may have been the wrong thing.

I will try the Zymax first. If anyone has a better idea, please let me know.

And thank you, everyone.

 

There is Baytril Otic. Your vet can mix some up if your vet does not carry it but does carry the injectable Baytril.

 

Larry, do you think Baytril is a better option than Zymox? I have never used it.

I suspect the vet doesn't carry it, because they didn't offer it, even when I insisted Kitty not get a steroid.

Kitty already has had one shot of Convenia, in case that's relevant. He had no side effects from the Convenia that I can see.

 

Just spoke with the other vet in the office, the first to see Kitty. He has no experience with Zymox. He frequently mixes Baytril... but they have nothing in their office to mix it with that doesn't have steroids!

His recommendation was another Convenia shot. That did seem to clean Kitty's ears up some, although we are now back in itch-land two weeks later.

Vet also discourage flushing the ear, because cats can have bad reactions - dizziness, loss of hearing.

I have the Zymox on order, will get here Thursday. I'll try that. Also going to order a Zymox topical. Fingers crossed.

 

just sending good ear vibes to big Kitty...

 

Celi, thank you!

I think I will add a question to my (rented) condo here, in case anyone wants to educate me:

WHY are we cautious about Convenia? The vet was interested about my concern, but I couldn't explain it, I could only repeat it. ohmygod_smile

 

:shock: I realize this is an old thread, but I only just now put 2 and 2 together to google whether tresaderm may have had an effect on my GA kitty Saima's blood sugar or diabetes, and this popped up. She had Tresaderm several times throughout her life, and I knew it contained steroids but until I started coming here, I never knew steroids were bad for diabetes. (Of course she was not actually diagnosed with diabetes until later, either... but still. I'm sure she had blood sugar issues creeping up for a while and we just didn't know it.) In fact, she had a course of Tresaderm a couple of months before she died.

It's really frustrating when you have a cat with allergies. She had ear infections repeatedly from the time she was a kitten, and it took until she was 7 or 8 years old for a vet to even tell us that this was not normal and was likely caused by food allergies. We had no idea. The only times we ever kept her ears infection-free for any period of time were when she was on Tresaderm. The other ear medicines were all oily and disgusting and never seemed to touch the infection. We'd go back in for a checkup and they would still be infected. I considered Tresaderm a major boon for that reason and always insisted on it, but now I wonder. Maybe it was harder on her body than I realized.

Here again, I now wish I had known about the benefits of canned food at a much earlier point in her life, because I wouldn't be surprised if that had helped. The vet told us it was almost certainly a protein allergy (and to be fair, maybe it was, although she did once stay infection-free for a long stretch while eating regular Felidae which contains the dreaded non-novel protein chicken), but I wonder now about whether low-carb might have helped. The high-carb dry "allergy foods" definitely had a role in her developing diabetes, I am sure, but by the time we realized canned might be better for her, she had been on dry for so long that she pretty much wouldn't touch it.

Ugh. More hindsight is 20/20. :cry:

 

I saw Tresaderm in this thread and about fell out of my skin. Here's the odd thing. My cat Jetta had 2 odd sores on her abdomen (well one was the inside of her thigh, the other was on her abdomen) that showed up in July. She had bloodwork July 7th that was the picture of health! Not a single thing wrong (mind you she's 13 1/2 so I was elated) Anyway on 8/4 her sores that had left in July came back and the vet sent us home with-you guessed it- Tresaderm. After 1 week Jetta was almost dead. She started Tresaderm on 8/4 and was healthy and 7 pounds. On 8/11, exactly one week later, she was 10% dehydrated, totally off food, and under 6 pounds. Vet felt it was pancreatitis and I started syringe feeding her. We didn't re-do blood tests (remember a month ago- picture of health) until 8/15 when she was worse yet, and that's when we found the Diabetes. My DH is CONVINCED beyond anyone's ability to talk him out of it, that Jetta licking at the Tresaderm casued (or played a huge role) in her FD.

 

Wow... that is crazy. It never once crossed my mind that it might have been dangerous until just today. I am so sorry to hear that Jetta went downhill so quickly, whatever the cause, though I am glad she's doing better now.

Saima did take several courses of Tresaderm through the years. Although... DH did just remind me that the most recent infection we treated was actually a different medication and I was mistaken in my previous post. I can't remember what it was but the vet wouldn't give me Tresaderm that time for some reason.

I mean, I'll probably never know for sure, and can't really go down the road of going crazy wondering if I killed her with ear medicine. But it sure seems like it may not have been the best thing for her.

 

I appreciate both of these posts! I am glad I didn't give Kitty Tresaderm. After getting him OTJ after 15 months on insulin, I didn't want to take the risk - and clearly, Tresaderm is a risk.

We ended up using the Zymox WITHOUT hydrocortisone. He didn't enjoy the treatment, but he didn't despise it. We continue to treat his ears occasionally, and the head-shaking is gone - although he still scratches his ears sometimes.

What kind of ear infection did Saima have? Kitty had bacterial infection that antibiotics alone didn't catch.

My most fervent desire is that vets would CATCH UP on the role that steroids play in feline diabetes. Even when our vets KNEW that Kitty had a diabetes background, they still said, oh Tresaderm is just a small dose, it won't hurt.

Yeah, right. Another reason I am so grateful to FDMB.

 

A little late but just saw that there was another post to this thread. The most recent time, supposedly she had a yeast infection. I believe that is why they would not give me the Tresaderm--it is for both bacteria and yeast, and I think they thought it would be overkill. The thing is that her infections always seemed to end up being bacteria and yeast both, so I sort of knew the stuff they gave me (I can't for the life of me remember what it was) wasn't going to work.

On the day she was diagnosed with diabetes, the vet also did an ear recheck, reported her ears were still yucky and this time he did agree to give me Tresaderm (he tried to give Mometamax but again, I was always on a huge Tresaderm kick because it was the only thing that seemed to work over the years... bear in mind again that I didn't know about the steroids/diabetes issue at that time. I was also leery of Mometamax because it is labeled "not for use in cats" and there used to be a lot of rumors online that it could cause deafness in cats. Mainly it just seemed really oily and harsh, and I thought she was acting weird the one time I gave it to her years ago, so I would ask for the Tresaderm since I didn't think there was a downside to it).

In any case, she only lived for a week after that so as it turned out, we never started the Tresaderm. She always hated getting it, so I didn't want to pile that on top of her not feeling well, getting injections and BG tests, etc. We figured we'd wait to start with the ear medicine until we got into more of a routine with the diabetes, but we never got the chance. :cry:

 

Jennifer,

I'm so sorry for your loss of Saima. We all work so hard to do what's best, and yet we still can't control life and death for our beloved kitties.

I hear what you're saying about the treatment being oily. The Zymox is also oily. I wonder how much that bothers Kitty. He's so patient, he doesn't really protest anything we do.

I just wish I could find the vet who would dig through all of this for me and tell me the right, safe way to make Kitty better. :?

 

Check out Dr. Lisa's page on Convenia:

http://catinfo.org/?link=convenia

 

Linda, that's quite an argument against Convenia -- especially when there are alternatives.

Kitty fortunately did okay, but if I had known the risks, I would NEVER have allowed it.

Why oh why do vets use these meds so recklessly? Why did a vet want to give a diabetic kitty a steroidal med for otitis? Why do we have to be our kitties vets by ourselves?

If there is a new wave of vets coming, I hope they hurry up.

 

V E R Y interesting reading on Convenia. Jetta had a Convenia injection in July, the same day her "perfect" blood tests were drawn. She had another injection in August, 5 days before her FD Dx. No more!!!

It is so heartwrenching that we as pet parents are relying on our trusted veterinarians to care for our beloved pets, and so often we are not fully informed. I think the veterinary profession has bred a culture where the vet gives advice, pet owners follow it, alternatives are not given and questions go unasked and thus unanswered. Like the day I was to begin Jetta's Lantus injections at home, I asked about home testing and received a stern no, don't do it. Thank god I found this site. At her prescribed dose of 1.5 u she'd have been in a coma or worse within a week...

Jennifer- I'm so so sorry for your loss.

 

Oh, do I agree. Feel free to look at our profile. If I had continued to follow vet instructions and not found FDMB, my kitty would be gone.

I'm glad you're here, Jaclyn. And every kitty that comes through FDMB becomes another way to branch out and reach others. As the vets hear about the success of home testing, things have to change. They just have to.

 

((((((((((Oh my gosh Kathy)))))))))) Your profile literally brought tears to my eyes. What a strong wonderful Kitty you have to have persevered through that.

 

one of the best outcomes of the internet has been the ability of the average person to gain information that used to be contained in someone's professional books (legal, medical, veterinary, etc.) on their office bookshelf. at the same time, it's frustrating to have to do your own research when you're also paying professionals who are supposed to know more than you.

when my mom got sick i was taking care of her all day, then coming home and trying to look up stuff online to see what the heck it was that was killing her. I needed to be able to be the daughter and not feel like i had to be the doctor too - but i couldn't get the kind of quality care that i wanted. Just as we need to be the pet owner, not the veterinarian.

i trust that vets are in it because of their love for pets. i do think that's 99% true. But i also want a vet that has a passion for excellence, who stays up on the latest info on whatever animal they treat. doesn't seem like too much to ask for, but maybe it's not realistic to think every small town is going to have a vet like that.

 

Both of you have it right! Jaclyn, Kitty is the sweetest, most patient, laid back boy. He is also very, very strong. It breaks my heart still to think about what I put him through. He was on insulin 15 months. I sat at 1 a.m. putting a plate of food in front of his face for his snack on many nights, because I wanted to give him every chance to get out of the trap humans had put him in, from feeding hard food to OD'ing him on insulin. He earned his way to the Falls.

Julie, you said it so well. Our first vet meant well, I know that. But he thought going to a seminar made him a feline diabetes expert. I want better for myself, I want better for my animal companion. (And I'm sorry your mom was so ill.)