Overdose on antibiotics?

[Directorthiang]

Is it possible to poison a chin by overdosing on antibiotics? My vet gave me a prescription of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim three days ago, I've given Dash six doses (twice daily), and got home tonight to a voicemail on my machine from my vet saying that she'd told me the wrong dose and labeled the bottle incorrectly! WTHk?! The bottle dosed 0.04 mL twice daily, but when she called, she informed me that it should have been 0.02 mL.

Any cause for concern? Dash seems no worse for wear, but I'm not familiar with this drug.

 

[Stackie]

That's not a huge overdose, so I wouldn't be too worried. Just keep an eye on her appetite, poos, and activity levels. If any of those change, then I would worry.

 

[Essentia]

Nope, no fear here. It's not a huge overdose of the meds. My one chin was actually prescribed the .04.

 

[Directorthiang]

Thanks, to you both. I feel better, and can stop running to his cage and staring at him for five minutes at a time.... so I guess Dash thanks you both, too.

 

[Directorthiang]

Oh wait.... okay, so I listened to her message on my machine again, and she said to give him "point 2" mL of the antibiotic. Her previous directions and demonstration showed 0.04 mL. So... should I be giving him .2 or .02??? I'm so confused! He's approx. 540 grams in weight. Thoughts? I can call tomorrow, but I'm nervous now that I haven't been giving him enough to take care of the URI quickly enough!

 

[CerLynn]

I haven't dealt with sulfa/TMP, but 0.2mL sounds like a lot to me (though it entirely depends on the concentration). I would call the vet first thing in the morning to clarify. If you need to give another dose before you can call, if it were me, I would probably give 0.04mL since it's between the two possible dosages.

 

[menagerie]

0.2 ml sounds like the right dose. I've never been prescribed less than 0.15 ml of bactrim.

 

[Directorthiang]

Yeah, and when they had my guys on metronidazole, I was giving one 1.4 mL and the other 1.7 mL, and both chins have increased their weight since then by about 60 grams. Okay. 0.2 mL isn't seeming so crazy now. It's just SO OFF from what she originally told me. But she was frazzled and running behind schedule thanks to an emergency surgery, so I guess it's possible to be that far off...

 

[tunes]

I haven't dealt with sulfa/TMP, but 0.2mL sounds like a lot to me (though it entirely depends on the concentration).

As far as I know, it only comes in one concentration for pets, and that dose is nothing. As Meanie said, I've given much higher dosages.

As far as overdosing on antibiotics, I would imagine it's much like it is in humans. You would have to give a significant amount and then you'd probably end up with a killer yeast infection, diarrhea, or a stomach ache due to the upset to the stomach. 0.4, however, isn't anywhere near to being worrisome as far as overdosing goes.

 

[Riven]

0.2 is pretty standard for chin dosing on most meds. .04 would be an extremely tiny dose. An insulin style syringe hold 1 cc, this is a very little srying about 4" long and smaller round than a pencil, .02 would barely make a mark in it. .2 would fill it 20% of the way up, .4 almost half.

 

[CerLynn]

Good to know... I could've sworn that our boy was on much smaller dosages of Baytril when he broke his leg, but Scott took care of him through most of that, so I could be wrong. Perhaps I was confusing it with hamster dosages...

 

[jenjenn2005]

While it does depend on the concentration and weight, I just had a chin on .37 and .25 of SMZ-TMP. So, the dosage now seems right, before that was a very small amount that probably didn't even make a dent in an infection. As always, it's best to double check with your vet, just to make sure.

 

[mishellyshel]

I have a longstanding refill on the tri-meth. my vet said my chin can be on it long term. The original script for my chin who weighed 640g at the time was 0.04 2 times per day.
When he was first diagnosed he was on Baytril and I misread the script and gave him twice as much as he needed for the 1st 3 days. Once I realized my mistake I called the Dr. in a panic and she said that it wouldnt hurt him but to make sure he got some extra pro-biotics and to make sure he was eating enough.

 

[Riven]

Another thing that needs to be considered is how it's given, injections are usually lower amounts than oral because they go right into the body and don't need to be absorbed, which increases the effectiveness and prevents "waste" as our bodies don't absorb everything we take in ( for me, it's only fat that gets absorbed... that's my argument anyway! )

 

[tunes]

I could've sworn that our boy was on much smaller dosages of Baytril when he broke his leg,

Baytril and Sulfa are different drugs. The dosage would normally be different, and I find that Baytril doses are less than TMZ; however, as Michelle said, even with giving too much Baytril, all you need is a bit more probiotic to make sure the gut stays stable.

 

[Silverrose]

I guess just to give you another idea and example of dosages, here's my recent experience. I just dealt with a chin with a URI and we used both SMZ-TMP and Baytril (not at the same time). The first prescription was 10 days of .28ml of the SMZ. After he still was not completely over the URI, we upped the prescription and dosage to .5ml of Baytril for another 2 weeks. Both were taken orally. My boy also isn't the hugest chin, he was only about 800g when he started taking the meds. Baytril also did a number on his eating habits so we upped his Reglan intake as well from .12 to .3ml when switching from the SMZ to Baytril.