Pet Meds Blog

An emerging topic both in veterinary and human medicine is the recent concern of overuse of antibiotics.  With the emergence of resistant bacteria known as MSRA (methicillin resistant staph bacteria) and other resistant bacteria, many medical experts are cautioning health care practitioners to use antibiotics wisely, and only when there is clear evidence of bacterial infection.

When antibiotics are indiscriminately used in medicine, especially for nonbacterial conditions, that is what leads to this unfortunate set of circumstances. While antibiotics can certainly be life saving drugs, there are certain principles and ideas to keep in mind when and if these drugs are used. The first and most important is to use the most appropriate and least number of antibiotics for a particular body infection.

For example, in urinary tract infections of dogs and cats there are certain bacteria that are more likely to be seen, which will influence which drugs veterinarians should choose. Many times staph infections and/or E coli bacteria are involved with these urinary tract issues, which are usually easily resolved with prescription antibiotics such as drugs of the penicillin class like Amoxicillin or Clavamox, as well as cephalosporins like cephalexin.   It is not necessary to use the “big gun” antibiotics on simple urinary tract infections such as Baytril, as this practice can lead to bacterial resistance. If a pet has recurrent urinary infections, then sterile urine collected by the veterinarian and submitted to a laboratory for a urine culture will generate a list of which, if any antibiotics should be prescribed.   This is especially important in cats with urinary tract inflammation, known as feline urologic syndrome (FUS), where greater than 90 percent of the time, even cats with active straining and blood in the urine do NOT have any bacteria involved in their condition.

If an infection is localized to the airways, then antibiotics such as Doxycycline and Baytril are often preferred due to their coverage against bacteria commonly involved with infections of the airways. And while many veterinarians will prescribe multiple antibiotics for pets with any infection, I highly discourage this practice due to the risk of bacterial resistance, and patient side effects most commonly involving the digestive tract.  Even in pets with nonspecific fevers, this indicates that a pet has inflammation, and not necessarily an infection. For example, many cats with sneezing and nasal discharge most commonly have viruses such as calici virus and/or feline herpes virus involved with their symptoms and would benefit from immune boosters like Vetri-DMG liquid from and/or echinacea and goldenseal rather than the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Over the counter products like L-lysine can also be of help in these cats. One of the more disturbing trends I have seen in recent veterinary graduates is the overuse of multiple antibiotics for any illness in a pet.

I hope that with increasing articles about the risks of antibiotic resistance in medical journals, and the increasing public awareness about this concern, that antibiotic use of the future will be wisely and not overused.

With the strains of an economic slow down in our country, as well as the increasing cost of veterinary exams, many animal guardians are often looking to their own medicine cabinets in easing discomfort in their dogs and cats. And while it is always important for an animal guardian to check with their local veterinarian before administering any over the counter medication at home, this is extremely critical for cat owners who often don’t realize that cats have very unique manners of handling medications. This means that some medications, while normally well tolerated by humans or dogs, can cause health and life threatening consequences in our feline friends.

This is especially true when it comes to the pain relievers aspirin and Tylenol. Because of unique liver metabolism, cats do not handle aspirin very well if given at high doses, and even one adult Tylenol tablet (325 to 500 mg) could be lethal and deadly to cats.  Even minimal levels of exposure to Tylenol can quickly cause depression, vomiting, difficulty breathing, brown discoloration of the gums, respiratory distress, and swelling of the paws and face.

Fulminant liver failure can occur with even minimal dosages. If you’ve made the mistake of giving your cat ANY Tylenol and/or your cat has been given aspirin that causes some of these symptoms, immediate and emergency medical attention is needed. In fact, to demonstrate how sensitive cats are to these nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, when cardiologists prescribe aspirin to cats with certain types of heart disease, it’s at the reduced dose of one half baby aspirin every second to third day.

The take home point of this blog post is to never self medicate your cat at home, unless you FIRST check with your local veterinarian or emergency veterinary facility.   Interestingly, one of my favorite all time antioxidant supplements Proanthozone, has actually been shown to reduce Tylenol damage to cats who have been exposed.  Proanthozone has a wide variety of usages in dogs and cats including as anti-inflammatory, as well as pain reducer. Many of our feline friends can be given dramatic pain relief with safe nutritional supplements such as Yucca Intensive and Cosequin for Cats,. However, as in the case with any supplements, I always recommend feline guardians consult with their veterinarians before administering any over the counter supplements or medications.