Got some questions about my cat Tiki. Last night, one of her eyes was red and was rather matted with a thick mucous type discharge. This morning, she would not open her eye at all and was even more red & goopy with the discharge. She also started sneezing a bit last night and has done so all day today. I took her to the Vet and they gave me 2 different medications. They told me to give her Delta Albaplex 60 mg twice daily for 10 days & Mycitracin ointment applied once daily.
Since I've never heard of the Delta Albaplex medication, I did a little research on the Internet. I found that it is not used in cats, but is in dogs. I have not given her any of the medication of either one, but I am now concerned that I'm giving her something that is not for felines.
Can someone please shed some light on this medication? Do you think I should call my Vet and ask her about this? At this point, I'm not sure what to do.
TIA!
-Michelle
Well, it depends. It is a tetracycline medication combined with novobiocin sodium and prednisolone (antiinflammatory). Generally, a tetracycline topical would be used for a chlamydial infection, but your vet may be using this off-label based on his determination of severity, or because he may feel the results will be quicker than a topical alone (the mycitracin is only a triple-antibiotic opthalmic ointment, may not target the chlamydia specifically).
The dose seems appropriate, based on the common dose for small dogs, but if you are concerned, by all means call him and ask about it. If by chance the prescription notes "albaplex 3X", cease it's use and call for confirmation, you should only be using the lowest dose form. Also, shouldn't be used for more than 3 days (extrapolated from canine recommendation)
I checked out the package of pills that she gave me and it says Delta Albaplex 60 mg, nothing on there says "3x" & is supposed to take 1 tablet BID for 10 days. From the info that I have gathered on the net about this drug being used in cats was very slim. On those sites, it was mainly used for excessive coughing but on other sites it said it was not used at all in cats. I will be having a conversation with my Vet tomorrow about this! Don't you find it odd that they would give a triple antibotic ointment instead of a tetracycline ointment for her eye? From what I've gathered is that tetracycline is mainly used for this condition, but I've never heard of novobiocin (one of the ingredients of the D-Albaplex)before. Is that an antibotic?
Sorry for all the questions, I just like to know more about this for when I talk to my vet.
Thank you once again!:)
-Michelle
Shell, I guess the first thing I would ask your vet is if he has been using this with success in cats. It's often enough we use veterinary drugs off-label for specific purposes, but on the offchance your vet has no experience really with the albaplex, I'd ask for cessation of the drug and ask for tetracycline topical instead, maybe even tetracycline oral suspension or tabs too for opportunistic secondary infections. I would be concerned about the 10 day period of treatment, even in dogs, the common dosing is not much longer than 3 days. I am assuming a culture was done to diagnose?
Another consideration your vet may have prescribed the albaplex, has your kitty ever had a reaction to tetracycline? If so, that could be one reason he prescribed it, to avoid an allergic reaction.
Albaplex actually is a wide spectrum antibiotic, usually used to target extreme resistant bacterials, like staph. Its effective in a short amount of time for most of these type infections.
If you happen to have other cats, you might want to keep them fairly seperated, or else ensure they have been prior vaccinated with the 4-way FVRCP that contains chlamydia. Be prepared that treatment for chlamydia may need to be extended for a couple weeks, sometimes as long as a month or more.
