Wow, I'm realizing that my post is unreadable due to the lack of paragraph breaks! Apologies for the double-post but I'm going to try again in case it helps people read it:
Hi everyone -
I’m coming out of a draining 9-week health ordeal with my 45 lb, 10 year old dog Joy. Her vet suggested a culture because the wounds on her neck were not healing after weeks and making her itch madly. The results revealed the presence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus pseudintermedius (I think that’s the same as MRSP?). The resistance stems from the Clavamox Jojo was on for an initial infection on her paw at the time her neck became wounded from the cone placed on her at urgent care.
Without many drug options left (daily injections out of the question due to her temperament), Joy was prescribed a 10-day course of enrofloxacin (aka Baytril); 1.5 tabs of 68 mgs once per day. Her vet said that depending on when the wounds started to improve, we may need more so he approved a second 10-day course as well. Her wounds started to dramatically improve by about day 7/8; close enough to the 10th that I decided to continue to make absolutely sure the potentially deadly bug was dead.
Here’s my question: I know that ending a course of antibiotics early risks making the bug stronger, but since she’s already done 10 days, what’s the ideal place to stop now? On one hand, I want to make sure the bacteria is dead, but on the other, I don’t want to overdo it with a strong antibiotic - her appetite isn’t great, her signs of nausea at night are increasing, and I worry about side effects like liver damage, especially when the itch is 100% gone and the area has looked fine for about five days now with no further improvement (we’re on day 12). The embedded photos get totally chopped off but feel free to click on the link to view the full progression:
And a photo of Joy:
https://imgur.com/PxMF1b9
To pre-empt suggestions of asking my vet, I’m not going to get an answers from there until it’s too late because he's away this week. I left a message through the front desk person last week before getting the second 10-day round of the antibiotic. She's very kind but responded vaguely along the lines of, “Well, you can do the second 10 days if you want to?”.
I suppose the priority is for the superbug to not return but, having completed the initial 10 days and then some, I worry about harming my dog with overkill now that her skin looks normal (except for the tiny yellow crust you can see at the bottom) and she has zero itching.
I get that no one can give me a cut-and-dried answer or instructions, but I'd greatly appreciate any information or guidance that might help me gauge this. Thanks so much!!