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Was my cat's oral antibiotic choice wrong for kidney disease?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 lbs

My cat passed away and I can’t stop thinking back. The vet gave me 3 options. IV with antibiotics, take her home and administer an antibiotic by mouth, or a shot. I took her home and delivered by mouth but it didn’t work. She most likely had chronic kidney disease. Was there any chance of the second option working? She was certainly in late stage failure. I feel like I should have done the at vet IV with antibiotic. Any guidance would help me.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Anna M., DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 3rd, 2019

Hello, and thanks for your question on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm so sorry to hear about your loss of Topanga. It's so hard to lose a beloved pet. It's difficult to speculate on all the "what-if's", what would have happened differently if Topanga had been treated a different way. However, if your vet suspected chronic kidney disease, that's a chronic, progressive, incurable disease, and nothing could have cured Topanga if that were the case. Additionally, it is a vet's job to help guide owners through the different options of treatment. If your vet gave you the option of treating Topanga from home with oral antibiotics, then I have to believe they thought that would give you a similar chance of improvement compared to the other options. With that said, the antibiotics were likely a "just in case" attempt to treat, just in case part of the problem with the kidneys was associated with a bacterial infection. But chronic kidney disease is rarely due to an infection - rather, it's an age related progressive disease that is common in cats. All in all, with the information you provided, I suspect you would have had the same outcome regardless of the method of antibiotic administration. I don't believe that your choice to treat her with oral antibiotics was the cause of her ultimately passing. I suspect it was simply the progression of an underlying incurable disease. I know none of that makes it easier to lose a loved one. It's so hard. But I hope this can provide some closure. I don't think you did anything wrong, and I don't think a different route of antibiotics would have changed the outcome. Hugs to you.

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    Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    I am so sorry for your loss. It is very difficult to know without knowing all of the specifics of Topanga's case including details of her physical exam and lab work. Even then it is impossible to know for certain which treatment plan would have been best. In general cats can benefit from IV fluid therapy when they are in late stage kidney failure, however chronic kidney disease is also not reversible and it is possible that hospitalization would not have made a difference in the long run. I would recommend talking to your vet if you want more details.

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