*headdesk*

[aineotter]

"Hey doc, I've been breaking open the leftover antibiotics from my dog and putting some of the powder in my cat's food. Is that all right?"

Where do I even start? How many things can you find wrong with that question?

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Comments

Hmm...

[madshutterbug]

1] A) Leftover antibiotics B) Why weren't they all given to Dog?
2] Prescription for different species mismatch
3] Dosage mis-match (even disregarding 1&2)

There's probably more...

Re: Hmm...

[wyldlingspirit]

This, and diagnosing what could be wrong with the cat themselves instead of taking the poor beastie to a vet.

Re: Hmm...

[aineotter]

Well yes. And that the antibiotic of choice for one infection may be completely useless for a different one.

I *wanted* to reply 'is it ok if I reach through the phone and smack you now', but I didn't. I did explain the problem with the concept of 'leftover antibiotics', and broke mis-dosing into (a) under-dosing and breeding the next superbug, and (2) over-dosing and risking toxicity. This antibiotic is ok in cats, but that was just luck. If it'd been a different one it might not have been.

[djinnthespazz]

Leftover? Why? Didn't do the whole dose? Bad Owner!
(Alternately, was prescribed a different med in midstream - I have three days dosage for a 10 pound dog of Doxycycline. When I took Cricket from the pound - their script - to my vet, we changed her program up entirely)

What the fuck for? Prophylactic? Wrong.

Dog dose to cat - Wrong. I seem to recall cats need higher doses of the meds that are compatible - because of that metabolism. So a very small dose of med sounds like a PERFECT superbug breeding ground.

Nevermind that a dog med may be toxic to a cat.

Did they tell you what they were thinking?

Did I miss any?

[aineotter]

The cat was scratching holes in itself (flea allergies). It likely does need an antibiotic if the skin is that messed up at this point, but gods and fishes, not a random one in random amounts!

There's also the issue that the appropriate antibiotic for one sort of infection may be totally inappropriate for another, depending on what sort of bacteria we're dealing with.

[owlnix]

And why are they breaking open the capsules?

[aineotter]

Presumably so that they can parcel out smaller doses; the dog is bigger than the cat, and they at least had the vague idea that antibiotics are dosed by size somehow.