Clavacillin 125mg - anyone have a cat who has been on this dose?

Hi there! It's been quite a while since I had occasion to visit this board. Bailey has been in remission since early 2016 and in generally good health since then.

Today though he had to go to the vet for a small wound just under his right ear (there had been a mole there for several years that he managed to catch with a toenail and rip off last night). The vet prescribed 125mg of Clavacillin, twice a day for seven days, and when I asked why the high dose, the vet tech told me he was just being more aggressive with the treatment.

About five years ago, just before he went into remission, in fact, he was prescribed Clavamox 62.5mg as part of a treatment for ruptured anal glands. He responded to that just fine and the glands have not been a problem since.

The issue with the anal glands was much more severe (and persistent, for a few weeks anyway) than what we're dealing with now, so I don't entirely understand the need for more aggressive treatment and the vet tech who explained things to me wasn't particularly helpful (just said that "different vets have different styles"). Everything I see online says that 125mg is to be used in dogs only and that the recommended dose for cats is 62.5mg.

I'm just curious to know if anyone here has had a cat on the higher dose and if they experienced any problems with that. The vet tech said it would be okay to cut the tablet in half (it's large enough I'll have to do that even if giving him the full dose because I don't think he'll swallow it otherwise), so I'm thinking I'll give him the usual recommended dose for now, but still wanted to check in with the wealth of knowledge and experience here.

Thank you in advace!

 

Bump

 

I have on occasion had a vet dose 125mg BID for cats that are very large (over 20 lbs) but that’s an exception. There weren’t any problems, but I believe because of the size of the cats, the higher dose fell within the recommended range for mg/lb. In my experience, most vets prescribe the 62.5 mg pills, even in larger cats.

If you’re uncomfortable with the higher dose and the tech suggested you split the pills, you can’t certainly do that. Just be sure to put the other half of the pill back into the foil wrapper and reseal it as best as possible, then put it in a small airtight container.

 

The US manufacture just says dose for cats i 62.5mg.
https://www2.zoetisus.com/content/p...-chewable-drops-marketing-package-inserts.pdf
However, one of my vets perscrobed a larger dose. I think it was 1 ½ 62.5mg tablets twice daily..

 

@JL and Chip - Bailey is only about 12lbs and he's 14 years old so I'm extra worried about the higher dose. The vet tech didn't suggest I split the pills to give him half, she just said it was okay to do that if I couldn't get him to take the larger pill in one go (to spilt it and then give him both halves at the same time). I spoke with the manufacturer yesterday and they didn't have any studies on the safety of that dose in cats (Clavacillin is the generic of Clavamox so they didn't have to replicate the Clavamox studies to get on the market). They also said that because the pills aren't scored, they wouldn't recommend trying to give him just half a dose by splitting a 125mg tablet.

Bailey has been very lethargic the last couple of days and had bad diarrhea in the mornings. He's so sleepy for so many hours after taking the antibiotic that I even have a hard time waking him up for food (which is NEVER a problem as he's very food-motivated, lol). It worries me enough that I'm calling the vet today and asking for the regular 62.5mg tabs. Hopefully a stable regular dose will help...