Chewable antibiotic tablet for cats
I just noticed this: chewable antibiotic tablets for cats and dogs. They’re available in America and are FDA approved. They are manufactured by Piedmont Animal Health and the product is Baytril Soft Chewable Tablets.
Pill for cats and dogs
The antibiotic is enrofloxacin which is good for skin, urinary, eye, respiratory and other infections. Clearly chewable antibiotic must be very welcome for cat owners because of the difficulty of administering standard hard antibiotic tablets to domestic cats.
The tablets use ‘meat-free cubes made without water, heat or an extrusion process which allows them to be infused with an active pharmaceutical ingredient’ (americanveterinarian.com).
Enrofloxacin is a ‘synthetic chemotherapeutic agent, class of the quinolone carboxylic acid derivatives and it has antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria‘ (drugs.com).
Update: please note this comment:
“Cats will not chew them and most decent DVMs who treat cats don’t use enrofloxacin unless it’s a last resort. The monster DVM who killed our Kitten gave her an injection and overdose of over twice the safe limit for a cat. Aside from being blind she died from liver failure. There are safer quinolones for cats if they need this class of antibiotics. Even at the safe dose there is some evidence that these side effects may occur especially in older cats, dehydrated or any cat with compromised kidneys.
Enrofloxacin is called Baytril the trade name from Bayer and Putney puts out a generic tablet. There may be several other makers by now. Always ask if the antibiotic your DVM prescribes is a Floroquinilone and if there is a safer antibiotic that will work. Antibiotics in this class are black boxed for humans but veterinary drugs have no such classification. These are failed chemotherapy drugs. The only safe form of this drug for a cat is the trans-dermal gel.”
Here in the United States, the usage of fluoroquinolones in humans are mandated as last resort antibiotic agents, to be used only when other classes of drugs are ineffective. Twenty-five years ago this class of drugs was prescribed incessantly. There needs to be safer restrictions placed on all veterinary drugs as well. I agree with M E King’s comment.
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm612995.htm
As an addendum to my comment, note that the link for the US Food & Drug Administration has a category for Animal & Veterinary information. Click on this category from the list of headings.
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/default.htm
Thank you Frances.
Cats will not chew them and most decent DVMs who treat cats don’t use enrofloxacin unless it’s a last resort. The monster DVM who killed our Kitten gave her an injection and overdose of over twice the safe limit for a cat. Aside from being blind she died from liver failure. There are safer quinolones for cats if they need this class of antibiotics. Even at the safe dose there is some evidence that these side effects may occur especially in older cats, dehydrated or any cat with compromised kidneys.
Enrofloxacin is called Baytril the trade name from Bayer and Putney puts out a generic tablet. There may be several other makers by now. Always ask if the antibiotic your DVM prescribes is a Floroquinilone and if there is a safer antibiotic that will work. Antibiotics in this class are black boxed for humans but veterinary drugs have no such classification. These are failed chemotherapy drugs. The only safe form of this drug for a cat is the trans-dermal gel.
Thanks ME. I will include your comment in the post.
Over the last 3 years I have had many conversations with DVMs including Dr. John Robb (Save the pets) via phone call. The majority of DVMs who deal with cats exclusively or specialize do not choose this antibiotic because the dose that is safe may not be sufficient to treat the infection.
While Kitten was massively overdosed the adverse effects can and do show up even at so called safe levels.
Eventually to find the true horrors of this class of antibiotics I had to follow the trail of misery to the human victims. Especially those related to liver failure.
I don’t have to be a qualified DVM or specialist to draw the direct connection between the overdose and Kittens eventual death due to severe liver failure. There are a plethora of things I don’t allow in my home because of cats sensitivity to them.
Thanks ME for sharing your valuable first hand experiences.