Visiting the Vet – Ruby’s Urine Culture

At last we have the details.

On September 1st, I published an update on Ruby’s condition with regard to her UTI. This was because Ruby had had a re-occurrence of blood in her urine. Dr. Jim took an xray and also wanted Ruby’s urine sent across to Three Rivers Hospital for a culture. As I explained in that post, using information found online:

A urine culture is a test to find germs (such as bacteria) in the urine that can cause an infection. Urine in the bladder is normally sterile. This means it does not contain any bacteria or other organisms (such as fungi). But bacteria can enter the urethra and cause a urinary tract infection (UTI).

A sample of urine is added to a substance that promotes the growth of germs. If no germs grow, the culture is negative. If germs grow, the culture is positive. The type of germ may be identified using a microscope or chemical tests. Sometimes other tests are done to find the right medicine for treating the infection. This is called sensitivity testing.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, the Clinic rang to say that the full results were in.

So yesterday morning, the air still heavy with the smoke from the forest fires, we called in to Lincoln Road.

The report from Rogue Regional Medical Center, as in Three Rivers Hospital, offered the following:

VET URINE CULTURE

SPECIMEN SOURCE: URINE

COMMENTS TO MICRO: URINE

CULTURE RESULTS: 20,000 CFU/ML PROTEUS MIRABILIS

REPORT STATUS: FINAL 09/02/2017

(My emphasis)

That translated into Ruby’s medicine being changed from her present course of Amoxicillin antibiotic to Enrofloxacin (Two 136 mg tablets by mouth every 24 hours for 10 days.)

A quick web search produced this (in part):

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic sold by the Bayer Corporation under the trade name Baytril. Enrofloxacin is currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of individual pets and domestic animals in the United States.

Jeannie reading the details on the label.

Onwards and upwards!

24 thoughts on “Visiting the Vet – Ruby’s Urine Culture”

  2. Hi Paul,
    As soon as I saw the word Baytril, I thought I’d better comment.
    About 4 years ago, my 10 year old (otherwise healthy) cat developed a serious mystery illness (possibly a bladder infection but I was never told). I had been away at the time and came home to find family members ready (at last!) to rush him to the vet. He was so unwell that he stayed at the vets surgery for a few days on a drip, receiving medication. A couple of days before he died, the vet told me that my cat had gone blind. I asked her in the course of discussion what medication he’d been having and she replied ‘Baytril’.
    I subsequently googled it and found that it can cause blindness in cats.
    When I asked another vet at another surgery about this at a later time, he said that he hadn’t been aware of this possible side effect of Baytril and that, in any case, he hadn’t used Baytril for years (for either dogs or cats.)
    (Once again, I had that weird feeling, more often experienced with the odd GP over the years that – hey, here I am telling the professional this and I have absolutely no medical qualifications – although I do read widely and am always checking /verifying things if I don’t know or am unsure.)
    If you Google – baytril blindness cats – you’ll find quite a bit of information. I read that there is an alternative, safer drug that can be used for cats, to eliminate the blindness possibility.
    Another time, my then 14 year old cairn terrier was prescribed a fairly high dose of prednisone from yet another vet for a nasty rash. After 24 hours, he started shaking and panting quite markedly so I rushed him off to another vet who was still open and he confirmed the original prescription and in fact increased the dosage. I couldn’t believe it!
    I had once been on a health retreat where they had given a demonstration on making up poultices. So I put the cortisone aside and that night I made up a poultice of grated cabbage and garlic, vitamins c and a powder, vitamin e direct from the capsule, black charcoal powder and other things. I wrapped this mixture around my dog’s leg, renewed it twice and within 48 hours, the rash was gone – permanently. I’ve often wondered what my dog would have suffered if he’d continued on with the medication and whether he might have died. I don’t mean for this to disparage vets, but, as with human doctors, I suspect that errors on their part are sometimes buried with the client. (And yes, I am most grateful to vets for their life saving efforts and surgical skills on other occasions in my life.)
    It pays for us all, whether it’s for human or animal use to familiarise ourselves with the diagnosed condition and with the various treatment options, including medications and drugs. There is a wealth of credible information from respectable sources on the net ( Google Scholar etc ) – information that is easily available these days and just knowing what questions to ask and concerns to express, will help to keep professionals on their toes.

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    1. Marg, seen your very useful reply but unable to do much just at the moment. Will try and do some research over the coming days or later next week. But that doesn’t reduce in any way the value of your feedback. Thank you so very much.

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      1. I got this medication in large size for about 2 weeks against some mean bacteria, as were close to end my life. After 1 1/2 month in the hospital, where I got many different products of antibiotic, they decided to give me this, which took away the last bacteria. I haven’t made full recovery yet, but one day a time.

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      3. Thank you Paul. Both my daughter and I made posts about this at my blog and at a Amy Rose’s blog. Maybe you didn’t see these, much have been happening through the summer in our world.

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      5. Take it easy Paul, it is understandable, that I find your blog more interesting, because I also love animals. Not many men look much for jewelry all the time 🙂
        I do also write sometimes…

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