Treatment for MRSAStaphylococcus Schleiferi?

S

Stone

New Member
I'm getting very frustrated. Last August, we brought our 13 year old Cocker to a new Vet with her chronic ear & skin infections. We did a course of mupiricin ear drops and cefpoxdamine (?) pills for the skin. The results were great, but a follow up culture suggested a different bug in her ear.

Well, it's now almost a year later, and we've been cycling through various antibiotics -- mupiricin, amakacin, beytril, cefposxdamine, etc., and nothing works. Each time we finish one course of treatment, the culture returns positive for a different mrsa straing. Last month we tried amakacin in that thermo-gel, but that left her ears worse.

According to the last culture, we're dealing with Staphylococcus schleiferi. The vet has suggested amakacin drops again.

I can't find anything helpful on the Internet about how best to attack this bug.

Any advice or suggestions?

Our girl doesn't seem terribly upset by the infection, although she's pretty much deaf. She always chews on her paws and belly -- which is probably why the bugs keep getting in. But I would love to give her some relief for her final years.
 
Welcome back. Sorry to hear this. I think you need a dermatology referral for something this complex. You might try researching ways to maintain natural skin flora and crowd out this MRSA bug (soaps, diet).
 
We tried a dermatologist years ago. It didn't help. We do Duoxo baths at least once a week, which help, and she has an anti-bacterial belly rub.
I hate saying it, but I'm hesitant to spend much more money on vet bills unless there is a good chance of success. We're in about $1500 for the past 12 months just chasing different bugs in circles. The two years before that were close to $7,000 each (bloat surgery one year, ear hematoma the next). Her daily pills (apoquel, rimadyl, fish oil, ear drops, medicated shampoo) run another $100 a month, easy.

I was hoping someone would know of a magic bullet.
 
When our Zoe' had skin issues it took a while to find the best course of treatment for her. We did a culture and sensitivity test and found that the problem was also staph for her.

After trying a ton of antibiotics we started back at first base and found that she was allergic to staph and so we started her on shots for this. It worked great for her we administered shots (started weekly) and worked up to a once a month shot. This greatly reduced her outbreaks.

Could this be a secondary infection caused by a food allergy? If she has a food allergy and is scratching / chewing due to the itchness from the allergy. This brings on a secondary infections such as staph and or yeast. Creating a vicious cycle of antibiotic use.
 
Thank you. I don't think we ever tried shots, although we have discussed it with various vets.

What shots did you use? Was the drug specific to a diagnosed bug or a more general antibiotic/ant-inflammatory? What was the cost? Any side effects?
 
The shots were administered by our vet so that he could monitor her reaction to them. It was a antigen for an allergy to staph. We had done a Culture and sensitivity to determine what kind of a "bug" she had. She was started on very low dosages at first and then increased them. It was kinda expensive but our vet ordered the vial and then only charged me for each shot as it was given (with no office visit charge), I can check with their office and try to get more info for you. She seemed to have no negative side effects. On top of the shot she got bathed 2 times a week with Chlorhexidine PS Shampoo. I kept her in very short coat so that monitoring for any new "hot spots" could be found right away.
 
What are you feeding? Some of this like the itching, chewing paws and ear issues sound like a food intolerance to me. I would like to suggest a book. Canine Nutrigenomics by Dr Jean Dodds. This book was eye opening to me. I highly recommend it to everyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top