Hi all,
I was struggling to figure out the correct dosage for a new litter of 5 week old kittens for Clavamox antibiotics and since the handy dosage calculator I found online that I used to use is no longer available, I had to **shudder** do the math by hand. Ugh...
Actually, it's not that hard.
Since I went through the trouble of figuring it out, I figured I'd share here for anyone else who might need it.
This will work for any liquid medication as long as you know the cat's weight, the correct dosage (this will be in whatever insert comes with the medication, usually given in mg/kg), and the concentration of the medication if is liquid form (usually given as mg/ml).
I get frustrated when I see websites that say stuff like, "oh, correct dosage is 1ml per pound", or "dosage is 2ml twice a day". The problem is if the medication comes in different forms (like pills) or different concentrations (like 62.5mg/ml or 200mg/5ml). Simply just saying give whatever mls without specifying what the concentration is is doing nobody any good and could potentially be hazardous if using the wrong concentration. Like if the instructions say give 1ml and the concentration they used is 20mg/ml and you have a bottle that is 100mg/ml and you follow their dosage instructions, you just gave a 5 times greater dose than you were supposed to.
So, the concentration of the medicine is crutial and needs to be included in any dosage considerations or calculations to get it right.
Okay, so here comes the math (it's not very complicated; just multiplication and division).
Before we begin: I am not a veterinarian and am not trained as one. I work in cat rescue and have the knowledge and experience that many of you might have. This means DO NOT use this information without first consulting a proper veterinarian to make sure the information is correct. The absolute last thing I want is for someone to harm an animal because I made a mistake and you followed my advice. My purpose for sharing this is because a lot of dosage info online is incomplete or misleading and since we're a shoestring rescue and don't have a veterinarian on staff and I need to do these calculations on my own many times, I figured this post could help others who find themselves in similar situations. Bottom line: don't just take my word for it. But if you're in the similar line of work and circumstances, I hope this post could help. Even then, don't take my word for it. Ask a professional.
Okay...
The full formula for dosage for a liquid medicine in ml is:
Dosage(ml) = weight(kg) x dosage(mg/kg) ÷ concentration(mg/ml)
For my example, I have 7 kittens that have a good case of URI and need antibiotics. The antibiotics I have is a Clavamox equivalent but I don't have an insert with dosage info. But the bottle says is a concentration of 200mg/5ml after reconstituted (with water).
First thing is to find the normal dosage since I don't have an insert with that info on it. Looking online, the normal dosage for Clavamox is 13.75mg/kg twice a day.
So I know:
- Each kitten is 1.5lbs
- Normal dosage = 13.75mg/kg
- Concentration = 200mg/5ml
1. Convert lbs to kg:
kg = lbs ÷ 2.2
so kg = 1.5lb ÷ 2.2
kg = 0.68
each kitten is 0.68kg
2. Convert concentration to mg/ml:
I have 200mg/5ml but I need to know how many mg in a single ml
so
200 ÷ 5 = 40
concentration(mg/ml) = 40mg/ml
(40 mg in each ml)
3. Plug in the values:
Formula again is:
Dosage(ml) = weight(kg) x dosage(mg/kg) ÷ concentration (mg/ml)
my values:
weight(kg) = 0.68kg
dosage(mg/kg) = 13.75mg/kg
concentration(mg/ml) = 40mg/ml
Dosage(ml) = 0.68 x 13.75 ÷ 40
Dosage(ml) = 0.23ml
For each kitten, dosage is 0.23ml twice a day.
I hope this helps and wasn't too complicated. I try to be as thorough as I can so sorry if this post is long.
Any professionals out there that see anything wrong with my calculations, please let me know.
Hope this helps!
I was struggling to figure out the correct dosage for a new litter of 5 week old kittens for Clavamox antibiotics and since the handy dosage calculator I found online that I used to use is no longer available, I had to **shudder** do the math by hand. Ugh...
Actually, it's not that hard.
Since I went through the trouble of figuring it out, I figured I'd share here for anyone else who might need it.
This will work for any liquid medication as long as you know the cat's weight, the correct dosage (this will be in whatever insert comes with the medication, usually given in mg/kg), and the concentration of the medication if is liquid form (usually given as mg/ml).
I get frustrated when I see websites that say stuff like, "oh, correct dosage is 1ml per pound", or "dosage is 2ml twice a day". The problem is if the medication comes in different forms (like pills) or different concentrations (like 62.5mg/ml or 200mg/5ml). Simply just saying give whatever mls without specifying what the concentration is is doing nobody any good and could potentially be hazardous if using the wrong concentration. Like if the instructions say give 1ml and the concentration they used is 20mg/ml and you have a bottle that is 100mg/ml and you follow their dosage instructions, you just gave a 5 times greater dose than you were supposed to.
So, the concentration of the medicine is crutial and needs to be included in any dosage considerations or calculations to get it right.
Okay, so here comes the math (it's not very complicated; just multiplication and division).
Before we begin: I am not a veterinarian and am not trained as one. I work in cat rescue and have the knowledge and experience that many of you might have. This means DO NOT use this information without first consulting a proper veterinarian to make sure the information is correct. The absolute last thing I want is for someone to harm an animal because I made a mistake and you followed my advice. My purpose for sharing this is because a lot of dosage info online is incomplete or misleading and since we're a shoestring rescue and don't have a veterinarian on staff and I need to do these calculations on my own many times, I figured this post could help others who find themselves in similar situations. Bottom line: don't just take my word for it. But if you're in the similar line of work and circumstances, I hope this post could help. Even then, don't take my word for it. Ask a professional.
Okay...
The full formula for dosage for a liquid medicine in ml is:
Dosage(ml) = weight(kg) x dosage(mg/kg) ÷ concentration(mg/ml)
For my example, I have 7 kittens that have a good case of URI and need antibiotics. The antibiotics I have is a Clavamox equivalent but I don't have an insert with dosage info. But the bottle says is a concentration of 200mg/5ml after reconstituted (with water).
First thing is to find the normal dosage since I don't have an insert with that info on it. Looking online, the normal dosage for Clavamox is 13.75mg/kg twice a day.
So I know:
- Each kitten is 1.5lbs
- Normal dosage = 13.75mg/kg
- Concentration = 200mg/5ml
1. Convert lbs to kg:
kg = lbs ÷ 2.2
so kg = 1.5lb ÷ 2.2
kg = 0.68
each kitten is 0.68kg
2. Convert concentration to mg/ml:
I have 200mg/5ml but I need to know how many mg in a single ml
so
200 ÷ 5 = 40
concentration(mg/ml) = 40mg/ml
(40 mg in each ml)
3. Plug in the values:
Formula again is:
Dosage(ml) = weight(kg) x dosage(mg/kg) ÷ concentration (mg/ml)
my values:
weight(kg) = 0.68kg
dosage(mg/kg) = 13.75mg/kg
concentration(mg/ml) = 40mg/ml
Dosage(ml) = 0.68 x 13.75 ÷ 40
Dosage(ml) = 0.23ml
For each kitten, dosage is 0.23ml twice a day.
I hope this helps and wasn't too complicated. I try to be as thorough as I can so sorry if this post is long.
Any professionals out there that see anything wrong with my calculations, please let me know.
Hope this helps!
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