Clavamox and a small kitten

[seneca]

Hi. I rescued a 5 and 1/2 week old abandoned kitten from the side of the road on Monday, July 2. I took him to the vet and they kept him overnight, fixed him up, and I decided to adopt him. The vet prescribed 0.1 ML of Clavamox liquid twice daily for 10 days for a URI. However, the instructions on the bottle were not clear and I thought it said to give him a full dropper of the medicine - that's 1.0 ML, or ten times the dose prescribed by the vet.

This went on for 7 days or so before I ran out of medicine. When I called the vet to ask for more she set me straight. The vet also said the if the kitten was not vomiting and didn't have diarrhea then he should be fine. He has had neither and his is his spunky, friendly, and playful self.

I feel really bad and guilty about accidentally giving him such large doeses of Clavamox! Could I have done any damage to his liver or kidneys or anything else? Or do you think he will be OK? He's playful, seems fine, and has been growing fast.

Thanks!

[Traci]

The eyedroppers that come with clavamox are only 1 ml, so technically, you only gave a double dose each day, as would be given to an adult cat (adults are generally prescribed a full ml twice daily, prescribed by weight of course), and if kitten is truly 5.5 weeks of age, he should be ok. There would be a problem if he had had a reaction, since penicillin medications do have that potential, especially in large doses, and as your vet said, diarrhea and vomiting. I would, however, check some bloodwork when he is at least 10-12 weeks of age, just to play it safe.

He DID eat and drink normally during the course of antibiotics, yes? Your vet did NOT prescribe a new course of antibiotics, did she?

For this reason (yes, sometimes, instructions are not clear or misread), it is best to include an actual 1 or 3 ml needle-less syringe to avoid this problem. Then use a marker on the syringe to mark the line (or decimal points) on the syringe where it is to be filled to.

[seneca]

Hi Traci,

Thanks so much for the advice. He is doing really well (he's 6.5 or 7 weeks by now).

I'm not taking him back to the animal hospital where he was rescued - they are too expensive for routine care. So when I take him to the new vet in two weeks for his kitten shots I'll be sure to mention this to her and I'll see what she has to say.

I'm not exactly sure how I gave him a double dose instead of 10x dose since 0.1 ML is 10% of 1.0 ML. Am I missing something?

There was no new course of antibiotics. The vet said I should not get a refill and that I should discontinue the Clavamox (I was out, anyway). The kitten did eat, drink, play, and eliminate normally while taking the antibiotics and he's still doing so right now.

Thanks again for the advice! I appreciate it.

[Traci]

What I meant was that it wasn't so much more than what an adult cat would get on a twice daily basis. Some kittens with severe infections may actually require 1 ml twice daily...while it would be a bit high in a 5 week old kitten, he obviously did ok (although you don't want to do that again in a tiny kitten). Providing your kitten was otherwise healthy, eating and drinking normally, and is active, etc, then the large doses of clavamox probably did little harm. However, as I mentioned, I would check bloodwork between 10-12 weeks of age, that's coming up soon, better to play it safe. You can also get him tested for FELV/FIV at 12 weeks of age, and the kitten vaccinations can start then as well (providing he is healthy).