They're pseudomonas, an opportunistic genus of bacteria. Their main claim to fame: drug resistance. Not only do they have an intrinsic resistance, they're also terrific at developing acquired resistance. I'm so very grateful that the vet didn't just give him a broad spectrum antibiotic as soon as she diagnosed pneumonia, and that my earlier vet never realized that he had pneumonia - a regular course of broad spectrum antibiotics wouldn't stand a chance against these guys, and would only have pressured tham toward greater multi-resistance. The fact that he's never received antibiotics might just be the one thing that'll give him a fighting chance!
He just started a 10 day course of very agressive antibiotics. Even if he initially improves with the antibiotics, if they aren't been erradicated completely they'll just come back with a vengeance, so after 10 days off medication he's going back to the clinic for new BAL samples. They'll take about a week to grow out, so we're looking at another 4 weeks of uncertainty.
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