Posted by:
Tilda
at Fri Aug 26 07:47:34 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Tilda ]
I don't know how to proceed.
My 6 year old female spayed cat Noodle started to have mucousy discharge from her vagina last year. She got antibiotics (no tests were done that time) and it stopped, but it came back after a couple of months. Again antibiotics, again it stopped, again it came back etc etc, until I had enough of this in April this year and suggested a urinalysis. (I live in India, and the vets here won't do anything until you ask for it. I had to research the subject online myself.)
The urinalysis showed calcium oxalate crystals (but not many, only very few). The vet then suggested an x ray, which we did, and it showed nothing in the bladder area. There was an unidentified object higher up in the area where the urethra could be, but she didn't think it was in the urethra because it was too large for it to fit into it. She said it probably was a piece of fishbone or something in her intestines.
As Noodle had no discharge then (in April this year) the vet said only to watch it, do a monthly urinalysis, and cut out all milk and milk products or other foods high in calcium.
The next urinalysis in June showed no crystals, and we were happy.
However, in July she started having discharge again. This time we did a CBC and a swab of the vagina. The CBC was pretty normal, but the swab showed a significant amount of streptococci bacteria. A culture showed ciprofloxacin to be most effective. So we thought finally we indentified the culprit. And because the discharge had been going on for so long, my vet advised to put her on 100mg/day ciprofloxacin for two weeks and then on half the dose for another three weeks. We did that and she just finished the course a week ago.
And guess what. The discharge is back!
I don't know what to do anymore and where to look anymore. The vets here are really not much help. There is no vet who performs ultrasounds, I would have to do it with a human doctor, but what does he know about the insides of a cat and what to look for?
Should we have another x ray done? Should we investigate this 'object' that had been on the previous x ray more? If there really had been something that blocked her urethra for many months wouldn't she show other symptoms as well?
Her behaviour is normal, she eats and pees normally, she doesn't lick her vagina a lot, the discharge (it isn't much) doesn't seem to bother her at all. But I was told that any discharge in a cat is not normal and should be investigated. Is that true?
So what do I do? Another urinalysis? Another x ray? Another swab? I was told, all these tests can miss the problem, urine might not show crystals but still there might be a blockage, and x rays and ultrasounds might not show stones even if there are some.
And the vets look helplessly and suggest another antibiotic.
Any ideas appreciated!
I'm about to pull my hair out!
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 Frustrating, persistent discharge - Tilda, Fri Aug 26 07:47:34 2005
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