– USE AND MISUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS
Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the demands by clients for veterinarians to make sedatives (tranquilizers) and anesthetics available to companion animals – especially those accompanying owners/ caregivers on long road trips and domestic/international flights. The thrust of those previous articles was to dissuade pet owners or their agents from even approaching the veterinarians to convince them to part with such controlled chemicals, which could lead to catastrophic sequelae.
I have decided to take this conversation further, and deal with a similar situation that we veterinarians experience much too frequently from the incessant pleadings of clients for drugs that fall under the “magic” group of antimicrobials, known to all and sundry as “antibiotics”.
I have touched on this topic in the past, but it remains a great concern, and must be addressed continuously with the hope that we can fight against antimicrobial resistance and cease to use antibiotics unnecessarily, and even frivolously. I maintain and advise that the acquisition and (mis)use of antibiotics is a serious matter, and is not to be trifled with. Antibiotics must be used for specific bacterial infections, and in the manner prescribed.
Let me state quite clearly that all drugs should be viewed as being potentially harmful, even toxic. For example, a relatively simple drug like Aspirin (Salicylic acid) – a much-used painkiller and fever depressant – can be harmful to a patient with stomach infections/ulcerations, especially if the dosage rate is incorrect. Actually, incorrect dosages and inherent side effects may be more dangerous than the disease itself. Perhaps it is for this reason that many countries in Europe, and even in the USA itself, now insist (by law) that medication advertisements must include deleterious consequences to their usage. Have you noted the lengthy list of side effects and precautionary text at the end of the advertisements for even the simplest of drugs?
Antibiotics must never be administered by the pet caregiver, unless prescribed by the veterinarian and acquired directly at the Clinic, or purchased via a prescription. I urge pharmacists and veterinary health shops to desist from supplying antibiotics without a prescription.
Further, let me make it very clear that if, at any time during the dosage regime/protocols being implemented, the pet caregiver finds that adverse consequences are being exhibited (e.g. vomiting, diarrhoea, listlessness etc.) relative to the medication, common sense dictates that the usage of the drug must be discontinued, and the prescribing vet contacted.
Below, I have tried using data provided in a book authored by Drs. Carlson and Giffin, that link certain specific antibiotics with possible adverse reactions. Your vet is knowledgeable of these possible reactions, and would discuss them with you ahead of prescribing, and provide you with guidance on countering them, should they occur.
