Dear Dr. Forsythe: What is the purpose of always running a culture whenever a pet has a suspected infection of any sort? It seems like whenever I take my pet into you for a routine bladder infection, you ask me about running a culture. Why can’t you just give me the antibiotics, anyway – since you usually give them for my dog, anyhow?
JT,
Sonoma.
Dear JT: I appreciate your asking about this and I’m glad you did – again. So often vets feel pressure to cut corners when it is obvious that an infection is present that we forget how beneficial it is to obtain a culture from the pet to find out what germs are in the urine or on the skin or colonizing within a sore or inside an infected ear or eye. It is the only “sure fire” way to confirm the type of bacteria and pinpoint exactly which antibiotic will be able to wipe out the infection. The alternative would be doing what you say: just giving out antibiotics immediately like they were candy, and hoping they would work. The downside of taking cultures is cost: the lab fee is usually around a hundred dollars to cover the cost of plating out the sample, growing it, and testing it against many common antibiotics. But the benefit to your pet is great: better medicine, a better diagnosis and knowledge of the pathogen at hand. I usually obtain a sample for culture when it is appropriate to do so and explain its importance but allow the owner to make a final decision on whether we send it in to the lab. However, the “standard of care” and good principles of medicine do warrant proper diagnosis followed by treatment, not the other way around. Because of this, and to avoid the possibility of resistant or “unusual” bacteria that may not respond to the first antibiotic I may have been tempted to just pull off the shelf, isn’t it better to have gotten a culture and know what we are treating? My mother always told me that culture was so much better than being uncouth! Thanks for a great question.
Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe: I’m having a terrible time giving my cat her pills. She is on thyroid medicine twice a day and she spits it out and bites me about twice a week or more. I am at the point now where I dread giving her the medication and she looks at me with worry. She has been hiding lately when she hears me pick up her pill bottle. Is there a trick I can use because cramming my finger down the back of her throat is not helping our relationship.
Frustrated mom,
Sonoma
Dear Frustrated: I never “cram” my finger into a cat’s mouth. Holding the head with one hand and prying the mouth open with the other and “dropping” the pill behind the tongue, then snapping the mouth shut quickly following by rubbing of the throat is what I like best. If this is not working, how about a “pilling gun” which is a long plastic “do-hicky” that vets sell that is a type of contraption that allows you to attach the pill and reach it down into the pet’s throat and pop if off once you have it down inside the throat. Also, are you aware that virtually any medication can be made into a liquid – even Tuna flavored – which should be easy to dose, and taste good, too? And lastly, if push comes to shove (or bite in your case) this medication can be compounded affordably into a transdermal “gel” which you then rub gently inside your cat’s ear pinna. It will be absorbed directly through her skin, and you won’t have to feel the “fangs” of ingratitude any more. Maybe one of these options could help your medical dosing dilemma. Good luck and please let me know how things turn out.
Dr. F
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