Convenia question

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Diana&Tom

Diana&Tom

Member Since 2009
My little civvie Sapphire is having a dental next week including extraction(s) by her new vet. I’m already freaking out but even more so now I’ve seen the vet’s estimate of costs with breakdown of everything needed... it includes injectable Convenia which I’m sure I’ve heard bad things about. I do think the new vet - a cat specialist - is good and I don’t want to get on the wrong side of her, but I’m thinking of emailing her to raise my concerns and ask if there is an alternative.

Does anyone have any views on Convenia? There must be alternatives. Why is it prescribed if it’s not the best ab for cats? I don’t want to appear to contradict the vet’s advice - not a good scenario - but if there’s a good reason to do so I will....
 
Convenia is an long-lasting anti-biotic that is actually meant to be used for skin infections, not dentals.

A lot of vets just assume that you don't prefer to pill your cat, so giving the Convenia is "convenient".

The problem with it is that it remains in the body up to 63 days. If your cat has a reaction to it, there's nothing that you can do about it other than supportive care. Some cat's have died.

I would just tell your vet that you've read some things that concern you and would rather not take any chances and that you're willing to give antibiotic's by mouth if an antibiotic is indicated at all.

Clindamycin is a fairly common AB that works well with dental infections.

More information on Convenia
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Convenia is an long-lasting anti-biotic that is actually meant to be used for skin infections, not dentals.

A lot of vets just assume that you don't prefer to pill your cat, so giving the Convenia is "convenient".

The problem with it is that it remains in the body up to 63 days. If your cat has a reaction to it, there's nothing that you can do about it other than supportive care. Some cat's have died.

I would just tell your vet that you've read some things that concern you and would rather not take any chances and that you're willing to give antibiotic's by mouth if an antibiotic is indicated at all.

Clindamycin is a fairly common AB that works well with dental infections.

More information on Convenia
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris, that’s pretty much what I thought. I certainly don’t want to take chances. I just can’t believe that vets prescribe it knowing it’s caused problems.
Clindamycin is antirobe, yes? - I’ve heard both good and bad about that too... sigh...
 
THH said:
be prepared for that.
Click to expand...

Anytime it's possible that you're going to start an AB, it's a good idea to start a Probiotic a few days before (or at least on the day of) Antibiotics don't recognize good or bad bacteria, they kill them both so by adding back some of the good bacteria, you can help lessen the chances of diarrhea

You can use a human one like Renew Life, or there's a pet variety called Proviable I've seen a lot of people using lately.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Anytime it's possible that you're going to start an AB, it's a good idea to start a Probiotic a few days before (or at least on the day of) Antibiotics don't recognize good or bad bacteria, they kill them both so by adding back some of the good bacteria, you can help lessen the chances of diarrhea

You can use a human one like Renew Life, or there's a pet variety called Proviable I've seen a lot of people using lately.
Click to expand...
Thanks I’m in the UK but there might be equivalents here.
 
THH said:
Clindamycin (antirobe) can cause diarrhea and GI upset, so be prepared for that. Usually it's given in a capsule that's sprinkled on food once daily, or as a liquid given twice daily.
Click to expand...
Clindamycin is very very bitter and many cats foam at the mouth when administering the liquid. I wouod opt for the capsules. If mixed with food the cat may not eat the food.

Does the vet plan on giving you some pain meds? They are usually required when extractions are done. One advantage with Convenia is that administering a pill like with a pill gun or liquid with a dropper one has to be careful not the touch/contact the extraction sites since one may pull out/damage any sutures
 
Larry and Kitties said:
Clindamycin is very very bitter and many cats foam at the mouth when administering the liquid. I wouod opt for the capsules. If mixed with food the cat may not eat the food.

Does the vet plan on giving you some pain meds? They are usually required when extractions are done. One advantage with Convenia is that administering a pill like with a pill gun or liquid with a dropper one has to be careful not the touch/contact the extraction sites since one may pull out/damage any sutures
Click to expand...
Thanks and oh dear...it seems like this is going to be pretty tricky...,sigh...not looking forward to it at all, and poor Sapphire. I’ll have to ask the vet about what meds they are planning and how best to give them.
 
THH said:
I will add that my semi-feral cat George has had two dentals this year and was given Convenia injections both times with no ill effects. It wouldn't have been possible to get Clindamycin into her. Sometimes it's a good option.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
I’m really confused now. Will have to rely on what my vet suggests. She did say they don’t use Convenia routinely.
 
Antibiotics are usually required after a dental because of the risk of infection, especially with a diabetic cat. So it's a question of which antibiotic will work best for your cat and your situation.

George was feral, lived outside for 9 years before her dental in February. She came inside because her teeth were so bad she was yelping and running from watered down canned food. Since she was barely eating at the time of her dental and there was absolutely no way I would have been able to give her clindamycin by mouth, Convenia worked well for her. When she had her second dental recently, she was also screaming when she was trying to eat, so we opted for Convenia again this time.

On the other hand, my cat Ethel also had a dental this year. We did Clindamycin capsules in her food, and she did absolutely fine with that.

In my opinion, it comes down to: is your cat eating well enough that putting the Clindamycin in her food is an option (go for smelly food like seafood flavors)? And if your cat ends up refusing the Clindamycin in food, is medicating her by mouth a possibility? If the answers to both of those questions are yes, I would ask your vet for Clindamycin.
 
THH said:
Antibiotics are usually required after a dental because of the risk of infection, especially with a diabetic cat. So it's a question of which antibiotic will work best for your cat and your situation.

George was feral, lived outside for 9 years before her dental in February. She came inside because her teeth were so bad she was yelping and running from watered down canned food. Since she was barely eating at the time of her dental and there was absolutely no way I would have been able to give her clindamycin by mouth, Convenia worked well for her. When she had her second dental recently, she was also screaming when she was trying to eat, so we opted for Convenia again this time.

On the other hand, my cat Ethel also had a dental this year. We did Clindamycin capsules in her food, and she did absolutely fine with that.

In my opinion, it comes down to: is your cat eating well enough that putting the Clindamycin in her food is an option (go for smelly food like seafood flavors)? And if your cat ends up refusing the Clindamycin in food, is medicating her by mouth a possibility? If the answers to both of those questions are yes, I would ask your vet for Clindamycin.
Click to expand...

Thanks again. I think having told the vet I’m not happy with Convenia, I can’t backtrack on that even if I wanted to... it most probably is fine but if not and it stays in the system for 60 odd days, that’s a worry. It’s also a worry giving pills of course, especially to a cat that’s recovering from a dental, so the option of putting the a-b in food seems the best option. I’ve heard that most cats recover well and quickly after a dental procedure and eat well, so I’m hoping that will be the case with Sapphire (she isn’t diabetic btw).
 
Just chiming in ... I have used Clindamycin many times over the years for my cats without issue, I did not know they came in a tablet form, I've only ever been given liquid. They've never seemed bothered by the addition to their food. Then again I have no idea how persnickety a cat may be about eating shortly after a dental.

My old vet administered Convenia to one of my cats which I wasn't happy about, but there were luckily no issues. I think in and of itself there's nothing wrong with it ... all drugs have their risk, but the danger is if they DO have a reaction to it you're in big trouble, so I see it as a last resort.
 
My vet did give Max Convenia because he didn’t want stomach upset with a diabetic. I was nervous but he was fine. Before diabetes he never gave an antibiotic unless a tooth was pulled and I was given Clindamycin with no bad reactions. I never mixed in the food as I needed to make sure he got it and wasn’t turned off to his food.
 
In cats as well as humans, peri- and post-operative prophylactic administration of antibiotics, while common, is no longer universally accepted. Here are two pieces that came up right at the top of search results:

https://animaldentalspecialist.com/antimicrobial-therapy-vet-dentistry/
http://www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/Antibiotics.pdf

If the vet believes that a post-operative antibiotic is called for, see whether a one-time injection of something other than convenia/cefovecin is an option.

If you are looking at a multi-day course of antibiotics, perhaps your vet would be willing to prescribe both liquid and pill formulations. You can see which works better, or even alternate which you use for a given dose. This helped, a bit, with my Thomas who just passionately hated any detectable drug administration.
 
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