Hi,I made an emergency trip to the vet last evening for cat having pretty severe lethargy and also intermittent small amounts of blood in his stool. The vet did a scan of his stomach and saw no obstructions and also did a rectal exam which was clear.He recommended doing a Cytology analysis. That's fine.he sent me home with metronidazole.I was wondering if anyone here has experience with this drug. It's in liquid form,but I am reading it can have very undesirable side effects. If anyone can help me with this I would greatly appreciate it.
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Metronidazole safe for cats?
- Thread starter Forry
- Start Date
My vet has given it to my cat several times in tablet form but not liquid. Didn't have any side effects.
Hi
F
Forry
, I'm so sad for your cat, I hope he recovers soon.
The only time I used the Metronidazole in pills was when I had to treat my cat for giardia. Along with Panacur I explicitly asked my vet for a prescription for metronidazole, because it was one of the ways to get rid of those parasites for good.
My cat was on metronidazole for 10 days, with no side effects.
This is my experience.
The only time I used the Metronidazole in pills was when I had to treat my cat for giardia. Along with Panacur I explicitly asked my vet for a prescription for metronidazole, because it was one of the ways to get rid of those parasites for good.
My cat was on metronidazole for 10 days, with no side effects.
This is my experience.
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It can make cats drool and lose their appetites. My cat is on it right now for a liver infection.
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- #5
Thank you very much. Now I'm seeing my cats anus looks very sore and irritated this morning, he keeps licking it and seems to be in some pain.This is after the vet performed the rectal exam. Does anyone know what a rectal exam for a cat is?is this normal for my cat to be irritated and have a painful bottom after this exam? I'm not very happy about this.
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Metronidazole is a common and safe drug for people and pets. My cats and I have all taken it before. It also may be the worst tasting thing on earth! Most of the side effects are related to the bad taste - excessive drooling, gagging, possible nausea/decreased appetite. I found the taste easier to avoid with the pill. Using a pill pen was quick and easy with my cats, whereas the compounded liquid doesn't hide the taste, it just adds a second taste.
Metronidazole works extremely well but it kills almost everything in the GI tract, good and bad. You need to add a probiotic for this reason. You can start a probiotic while taking the metronidazole but be sure to separate the doses by a few hours, otherwise the metronidazole will kill everything in the probiotic. And be sure to continue with a probiotic for at least a week after the metronidazole is finished (7-10 days, maybe 14). Don't use Forti Flora in this instance because it isn't strong enough. Proviable is a good one, and there are many others as well.
A rectal exam is very uncomfortable for cats, so it's normal to be irritated and red afterwards, especially if they're also having diarrhea. Your cat should be able to soothe himself by licking and keeping it clean, but call your vet (or emergency vet) for advice if you don't see improvement later today or by tomorrow. They may be able to offer tips for home care or help you look for signs that indicate prescription care is needed.
Metronidazole works extremely well but it kills almost everything in the GI tract, good and bad. You need to add a probiotic for this reason. You can start a probiotic while taking the metronidazole but be sure to separate the doses by a few hours, otherwise the metronidazole will kill everything in the probiotic. And be sure to continue with a probiotic for at least a week after the metronidazole is finished (7-10 days, maybe 14). Don't use Forti Flora in this instance because it isn't strong enough. Proviable is a good one, and there are many others as well.
A rectal exam is very uncomfortable for cats, so it's normal to be irritated and red afterwards, especially if they're also having diarrhea. Your cat should be able to soothe himself by licking and keeping it clean, but call your vet (or emergency vet) for advice if you don't see improvement later today or by tomorrow. They may be able to offer tips for home care or help you look for signs that indicate prescription care is needed.
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- #7
Thank you so much.I will start to give him the Metronidazole today.The vet just called and wants to decrease the dose to .75 ml. I will look into a probiotic.Proviable I will look at.He is actually looking like he's feeling a slight bit better so hopefully his bottom is going to fine.Thank you for your response.
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- #8
I wanted to follow up with one more question. So I tried to administer the first dose of liquid Metronidazole with a syringe, but my cat spit most of it out.I do believe he swallowed some but not all.Do I just wait until the next prescribed dose now?I don't think I should try to give more now should I?
If you're not sure 100% sure that the medicine (liquid, pill, injectable, whatever) got into the cat, do not give any more medicine. Just wait until the next dose time to give the prescribed dose.
Metronidazole (aka Flagyl) is super nasty tasting to cats so there's always going to be drooling and medicine spit back out. The pill form isn't much better but a Pill Pocket or something can at least mask some of the taste.
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You should probably wait until the next dose. What exactly happened: did he spit out the medicine as quickly as you were putting it in his mouth, like it may not even have made it past his tongue? Or was his reaction a moment after you gave him his medicine? Excessive drooling is very common with metronidazole. What happened with my cats is I gave them the liquid and the reactions started about 1-2 seconds later. Thick drool was hanging from their mouths like I had never seen before! Then they started running around as if they could outrun the awful taste, flinging drool everywhere.
So thick drool after a dose is entirely normal. Spitting it out while you're dosing or vomiting/regurgitating is not - your vet may still want you to wait, but you could give them a description of what happened and see what they think.
So thick drool after a dose is entirely normal. Spitting it out while you're dosing or vomiting/regurgitating is not - your vet may still want you to wait, but you could give them a description of what happened and see what they think.
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- #11
So I had his face in my left hand making sure to hold his whiskers back with him facing away from me.I am right handed,so with the syringe in my right hand and my left hand tilting his head toward the ceiling, I put the syringe in the side of his mouth and tried to position it pretty far back into his mouth, of course he is clamping his mouth shut a d trying to wiggle free.I had a good opportunity and squirted it in the back of his mouth. I could immediately tell he was holding it in his mouth and trying his best not to swallow. I kept his head tilting up and I thought he swallowed so let go of his head and he spit a good portion out on my hand.i do believe he swallowed some though.There was no drooling and I immediately feed him his wet food dinner which he ate.I did see him burp a few times and it looked like he was going to vomit which makes me believe he swallowed some.frustrating.Im sorry your kitties drooled so much and ran around.
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You're doing a good job! I think you're okay with dosing for now. You could try to immediately follow the metronidazole with a syringe of water (a small amount, maybe 0.5 mL), just don't squirt it straight down his throat, squirt it to the side along his teeth and gums. And you can contact your vet in a few days if you're still worried he's not getting enough.
I have a rehabbed feral with a dormant whip worm outbreak right now and in addition to the 3 Ivermectin shots over 3 months, they gave me metronidazole, since his diarrhea is going on 2 months. He was sick earlier this year and apparently, the low immune system triggered the dormant eggs from his former life of eating mice and birds. He's been on it now for 5 days and it's slowly helping. I have taken metronidazole myself (Flagyl) when I picked up a nasty giardia infection in Venezuela. It took 2 rounds of that to clear it, after 3 rounds of ineffective Bactrim. It's safe, only thing is if you ever have to take it, do NOT drink or even rinse your mouth with anything that has alcohol in it. Cats don't have to worry about that, and humans have the warning on the prescription bag.
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- #15
Thank you! That's good information. I have heard of Ivermectin.Yes this little cat was living outside also,so the diet of mice and birds sounds like what he was having to.The vet also recommended that I get Pyrantel and give him that.I am not familiar with Pyrantel.Giardia sounds pretty bad,I really don't want to get that.I guess it's easy to get something like giardia while visiting another country? I've heard the water in different countries can be very infectious if you're not used to drinking it.Im glad the metronidazole is helping your kitty. I will be giving my kitty his gose of metronidazole in about an hour. Not really looking forward to doing it because he struggles so much.Hopefully this dose will be easier than his first one from yesterday. Thank you.
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- #16
Can Metronidazole cause constipation? He's had three doses of the Metronidazole and this morning didn't have a bowel movement which he regularly does like clockwork in the morning time. This morning no bowel movement. That's 24 hours without one.
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The metronidazole itself doesn't directly cause constipation, but the awful taste can lessen a cat's appetite and a reduced food intake can lead to fewer bowel movements. Also, your cat and his digestive system have been through a lot the past few days, so skipping a bowel movement isn't unexpected. One of my cats always skips a bowel movement when starting an antibiotic, regardless of which antibiotic she takes.
Everything you've described in this thread so far is completely normal. And I completely understand having doubts because I had the same concerns the first time we dealt with metronidazole! Tomorrow would be a good time to check in with your vet if he doesn't have a bowel movement after 48 hours; plus, you could ask them about him spitting out medicine. And it sounds like your cat needs to follow up with testing a fecal sample? I think you're okay for now as long as his symptoms don't get worse.
Everything you've described in this thread so far is completely normal. And I completely understand having doubts because I had the same concerns the first time we dealt with metronidazole! Tomorrow would be a good time to check in with your vet if he doesn't have a bowel movement after 48 hours; plus, you could ask them about him spitting out medicine. And it sounds like your cat needs to follow up with testing a fecal sample? I think you're okay for now as long as his symptoms don't get worse.
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- #18
Thank you so much!
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- #19
Hi.Well at this point I'm going to have to say that my cat looks constipated,he has actually been eating almost his normal amount of food and hasn't had a bowl movement in about 30 hours. This morning he had 3.5 oz of wet food after the metronidazole and he always has a little dry food on his plate. Yesterday he had 5.5 oz of wet food and slightly less than his normal amount of dry.hes drinking water, he's already had about 1/2 cup today. He's now laying next to his litter box in the bathroom looking miserable.im not sure what to do.
Try putting a small pea size blob of original Vaseline on his lips or paw for him to lick off. If you have psyllium, which is fibre, mix a pinch in his food a couple of times a day. These are if you cant get hold of your vet to get a laxative.
