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[Sharon Tan]

> In April my neutered female cat of 8 years old had a bad ear-infection and
> a mild fever but her appetite was still good. I gave her Baytril for 5
> days but she developed swollen front paws. My vet changed from Baytril to
> Cephalexin and Flagyl and put her on the drip due to her lungs filling up.
> This cleared after Vibravet was also introduced. She was on these 3 drugs
> for 1 month. Then, Vibravet and Flagyl were taken off leaving her only on
> Cephalexin. After 2 days, her ears flared up (went red) again. Then
> Vibravet and Flagyl was added back again. The vet also gave 1 shot of
> antihistamine. A few days after that, we noticed her lymph nodes swelled.
> This started from around the ears but spread to other parts of the body. A
> biopsy and culture was done and the results were negative. Throughout
> these times, the catâ?Ts demeanour and appetite is good. However, as one
> of the 3 pathological results indicated rare yeast strain, the vet gave
> her 1 dose of 50mg Sporanox. This resulted i!
> n a bad bout of vomiting blood for 3 days. She was put on drip with Rantac
> injection and cephalexin and Flagyl injections. A dose of Vibravet also
> brought on another bout of vomiting. Then her skin especially around the
> ears developed scabs which she scratches and becomes bloody. She is now
> back in our house with Rantac tablet only.
>
> Note : Throughout this time, numerous blood tests have been taken to
> ensure kidney and liver were ok.
>
> Q1. What is she suffering from? Our vet is lost. He is only quite sure
> that it is not cancer.
> Q2. We want to start back on Vibravet but very worried about its effect on
> the stomach. Are there safer alternatives to Vibravet?
> Q3 We also read that too much of Cephalexin can result in skin rash. And
> this leads us to stop all antibiotics believing that her skin is a result
> of allergy. Is this true?