The information I have found is a little fuzzy as to potential side effects in dogs and puppies although people can have serious complications from it. A litter I am interested in has been on it, at a very young age (<3 weeks old). Now I am a little worried about the potential for aplastic anemia or other problems down the road. Just wondered if anyone on here had experience, bad or good, with using it?
We used it years ago for Mycoplasma before Baytril came along. It worked very well, the issue is it was banned for use in animals that entered the food chain because in some people the drug interfered with blood clotting. Prior to limiting it's use it was prescribed as the drug of choice for reproductive issues in cattle.
Why are you using it? Sometimes the reasons for a medication override potential side-effects. Is there another medication you could use to have the same effect with fewer possible side-effects? Kate
I'm not using it, the breeder did, I can still choose to not get the puppy if I'm too worried about it, just don't know whether I should be. I was told the exact problem was never pinned down, the pups were born a little premature, weren't gaining as much as they should have and some showed signs of getting weaker. Now they are at weights that are great for their ages and don't seem to have any problems.
Just wondered about possible later problems from the antibiotic.
Adults, this drug used to be the choice used for pneumonia in humans. I would guess it was used where a broad spectrum antibiotic was called for. Baytril could not be used so this was chosen. I would not have an issue taking a puppy that it had been used on.
Thank you for the reply. I noticed that it is one of the few antibiotics that does mycoplasm infections, which could have been the problem, no one is sure, since baytril and tetracycline are not puppy-friendly it would have been one of the few left. I'm not disagreeing with the fact that they needed it, just wondering about later problems. You gotta realize I have gotten two other puppies in the last year and a half and both have turned out to have life-threatening, incurable birth defects within a couple months of bringing them home, so paranoia is a way of life now!
It could also been and much more likely a respiratory issue. Why don't you ask what the issue was or at least the symptoms that caused the vet to prescribe this drug.
The issue was not gaining as much weight as they should have been, weak, getting chilled, not wanting to eat, just general not thriving type of symptoms. I don't understand, I thought one of the types of infections that mycoplasm commonly causes are respiratory infections like pnuemonia?
If this antibiotic was going to cause any of the listed side effects in any particular animal I would expect it to happen NOW (as in while they are on it). I would not expect any problems from using this antibiotic "down the road" as you say, once they are off it.
The question of whether or not the puppy will have any future problems in general or related to whatever was going on with the litter is another question entirely (and impossible to answer from the info at hand).
