Antibiotics by Doc Airborn

Antibiotics stop infection one of two ways. Either by inhibiting the spread and growth of bacteria (thereby allowing the bacteria to die off naturally and be destroyed by the body's immune system) or by actually killing the bacteria by means of bacterial death upon contact with certain concentrations of drugs. Antibiotics that use the first method are called bacteriostatic drugs. The ones that kill bacteria are called bactericidal. It is not important for you to know which antibiotics fall into which class. What is important is this, in both methods of stopping infection some bacteria are hardier and take longer to kill or die. These bacteria will live on if antibiotics are discontinued to soon. These few bacteria that were not destroyed will begin to reproduce and in some cases after having been exposed to one antibiotic will build their own immunity to that antibiotic. This is called building resistance and is why chemists have to keep coming up with new drugs year after year. The old drugs stop working after a while.

I had an Immunologist from the Academy of Health Sciences tell me that approximately 75 percent of all the bacteria he cultures comes up resistant to Penicillin. That means Penicillin will not do squat to about 75 percent of the infections out there. What this means to you and me is this. If we are going to use an antibiotic we'd best use it correctly cause we can only mess up a few times then our dog will be screwed because we will not have anything to give him that will work. What this adds up to is making sure you give the drug at a proper dose for the proper amount of time. The proper amount of time generally means giving it at least 7 days or for 3 days after you see no more signs of infection if the drugs are given more than 7 days.

This is important so I will give examples. You have a dog that gets an infected bite. The wound is red, swollen and oozing puss. You put him on an antibiotic and in 3 days the wound looks great, no more puss, it's not red and the swelling went down. You DO NOT stop the antibiotics. You give them a full 7 days.

OK, suppose your dog has an ear infection, you start antibiotics. On the 7th day of giving them he seems to be 100% healed. DON'T stop. You give them 3 more days for a total of 10 days. One more time. You have a dog with infected mammary glands. You start the drugs and keep giving them for 14 days cause your vet said 14 days the last time this happened. But at 14 days they are still infected so keep giving the antibiotics until you see NO signs of infection and then go 3 more days. This is to ensure absolutely 100% of the germs are killed. If any survive they may become resistant and then the drug you used will be no good if the infection comes back.

I am going to list a few good, effective antibiotics that should not be too hard to come by. I will list what they are best used for and the correct dosage. I will also show how to figure out a correct dose. Say I have a 50-pound dog. I have a drug that's dosed at 6.25 mg per pound every 6 hours. I multiply 6.25 x 50. That equals 312.5. I need to give 312.5 mg every 6 hours. The drug comes in 250 and 500 mg capsules, 250 mg is close enough. Give one 250 mg capsule every 6 hours. If the dose came out to 412.5 mg, I would go with the 500 mg capsules. If you have injectable drugs just read the label to see the dose. It will read mg/ml or mg/cc (cc and ml are the same) so figure if the bottle said 250 mg/ml, I have 250 mg for each 1 ml or cc of drug I inject. So for 312.5 mg I would draw up 1 1/4 mls and give that every 6 hrs. Use a calculator, or if you're not good with math it's easier or ask for help than to correct a screwed up calculation. Don't be ashamed to ask someone to make sure the dose is right. It's better to be humble and correct than proud and wrong.

WARNING: Use any drug with caution and know that a small percentage of dogs can be allergic to any one of the following:

AMOXICILLIN: A good "all purpose" antibiotic, cheap and easy to come by. Amoxicillin is good for wounds of the flesh. It is best used as a preventative antibiotic, given before an infection is present. It can be used to treat infections that are already present but there are better choices. It comes in capsule form and injectable. Both work well. The oral dosage for Amoxicillin is 10 mg per pound given every 8 to 12 hours. You can safely adjust this dose for "rule of thumb" usage. Generally, dogs 20 to 30 pounds should get 250 mg, 2 or 3 times a day. Dogs 31 to 60 pounds should get 500 mg 2 to 3 times a day. The injectable dosage is 5 mg per pound given under the skin every 12 hours.

CLAVAMOX: This is very similar to Amoxicillin but is stronger. It is very good when an infection is already present. It can also be used for respiratory infections and ear infections. It is only given orally. This drug is great but can cause vomiting occasionally. The oral dose is 6.25 mg per pound. It comes pre-packaged in foil strips in 3 sizes and also drops for small pups. There are 62.5 mg for 10-pound puppies, 250 mg for 40-pound dogs and 375 mg for 60-pound dogs. There is a human drug that is the same as Clavamox. It is called Augmentin. Both Clavamox and Augmentin are worth their weight in gold to a dogman.

PENICILLN G: Penicillin is good to use only in the injectable form. It is only valuable as a preventative agent. It will NOT work well to treat wounds that are already infected and if it does work once it will not work on the same dog twice. The best use for this is to give it right after damage occurs along with a good anti-bacterial bath or scrub. The injectable dose on Penicillin G is listed in "units" the product you have may come in a strength of 10,000 units per ML or some other strength higher or lower so check the bottle. Also there are different types on the market and they all stay in the body different lengths of time. Compare your bottle to the list below for how often you must give it. They all should be given in the muscle but can be given under the skin if the dog reacts to the pain of the injection. This is a product you may obtain through some catalogues.

The dose is 10,000 units per pound for these types:
Penicillin G potassium, give every 6 hours
Penicillin G sodium, give every 6 hours
Penicillin G procaine, give every 24 hrs
The dose is 20,000 units per pound for this type:
Penicillin G benzathine, give this every 5 days.
The trade names differ on each product so read the labels. DO NOT mix this drug with other antibiotics.

CEPHALEXIN: Very good drug for skin and flesh infections. Only comes in oral form. The dose is 15 mg per pound of body weight given every 8 to 12 hours.

BAYTRIL: This is a very well known drug. People think it is good for everything, and for the most part they are right. The problem is this drug unlike some others I have mentioned should NOT be used as a preventative antibiotic. It is best used with bad infections or when other antibiotics have not worked. It is excellent for skin, ear, flesh, urinary, and mammary infections. If it is used as a first choice antibiotic sooner or later it will go the way of penicillin. Especially if it is used incorrectly. The dose for the injectable form is 0.25 ml per 5 pounds of weight in one muscular injection followed by the tablets. The dose for the tablets is either 5.7 mg per 5 pounds of weight given orally every 12 hours or 11.4 mg per pound given orally every 24 hrs.

The tablets come in 4 sizes: 5.7mg, 22.7 mg, 68 mg and 136mg. Example: If you have a 40 pound dog you would give either 2 of the 22.7 mg tablets every 12 hours or 4 of the 22.7 mg tablets once a day. The easy way to dose is this. 5.7mg tablet twice for a 5-pound dog, 22.7mg tablet twice a day for a 20-pound dog, 68 mg tablet twice a day for a 60-pound dog. Give 2 tablets instead of one and you can give it once a day.

***Baytril SHOULD NOT be used in puppies up to 8 months old. It can cause damage to the leg cartilage in young pups and they may become permanently lame.***

TETRACYCLINE: This is a broad spectrum antibiotic but it has a few side effects that make it a good choice for infection only if you have no others to choose from. It is however great for Lyme disease. The dose is 6.25 mg per pound every 6 hrs.

Side effects: If you give tetracycline to a pregnant bitch or a puppy before the adult teeth have come in, the teeth of the pup will be permanently stained yellow or light brown. Also tetracycline can sometimes kill off the natural flora or "good" bacteria in the intestines. This can cause a change in stool or diarrhea.

Well those 6 drugs are the most common antibiotics out there. There are others that are very good and would have great use for our purpose in the dog game but they are rare. Also some like Orbax and Antirobe should not be needed by a novice, if your dog needs these, he needs a vet. If there are others you would like info about just write in and ask.

There is an antibiotic used on dogs called Chloramphenicol. This drug can cause a human's body to stop making red blood cells and nothing can make it begin again. Basically it can kill you. It is rare to have this reaction but do not take the chance, do not mess with Chloramphenicol.

Some injectable drugs will be in dry powder form in their vials and you must mix them into a liquid. Do not use anything other than what the label says to use. If it says use "sterile water for injection" do not use " 0.9% saline solution" or vice versa. The local pharmacy will carry these dilutents and they are cheap.

Try to use the right drug for the right purpose. In other words don't use Penicillin for a deep ear infection, use Clavamox. Don't use Baytril for a fresh bite wound, use Amoxicillin. Get the idea?

If I had to choose only 2 antibiotics to have I think I would chose Clavamox and Baytril. These 2 drugs are very effective and between them they can handle most any infection. If you can only get one then try to get Amoxicillin, because as dogmen we will most commonly use antibiotics for bite wounds and Amoxicillin can get the job done 99% of the time.

DEX:

Trimethoprim and sulfadiazine sterile suspension.

Specifications:
Each millilitre of sterile aqueous suspension contains 240 milligrams (40 milligrams of trimethoprim and 200 milligrams of sulfadiazine).

Conditions of use:

Dogs

Amount:

One millilitre (40 milligrams of trimethoprim and 200 milligrams of sulfadiazine) per 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of body weight per day. For subcutaneous use.

Indications:

For dogs for treatment of acute urinary tract infections, acute bacterial complications of distemper, acute respiratory tract infections, acute alimentary tract infections, and acute septicemia due to Streptococcus zooepidemicus.

Limitations:

Administer once every 24 hours, or for severe infections after an initial dose, administer half the normal daily dose every 12 hours. Continue therapy 2 to 3 days after clinical signs of infection have subsided. If no improvement is seen in 3 to 5 days, re-evaluate diagnosis. Injection may be used alone or in conjunction with oral dosing; not recommended for use for more than 14 days. A complete blood count should be done for prolonged use. Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian.

Rebound Liquid

I highly recommend every breeder out there to have a bottle of rebound. Rebound is a liquid oral electrolyte solution you can buy from your veterinary clinic. Price for quality, the cost of rebound is functional. It is specially made for dogs and has special additives for them. Including Vitamin E (immune system) and Carbohydrates (energy). It must be refrigerated; yet, it is good for many uses up to 1 year. Rebound is not only good for dehydration, but also for
lactating bitches, post surgery/after accident recovery, neonates and more.

Rebound is great for parvo or other diseases that has vomiting and/or diarrhea since there is a special additive to help stop those symptoms as well. Thought I would share this with everyone. It has helped save me plenty of times. YIS,

South Block Kennels Note: I have mixed it with RF-1 to make a milky paste in which I syringe feed newborn pups. It works

Scar/Wound Treatment

I got a concoction from an old dog man I feel will forget more shit than 98% of the dog men out there will ever know. He turned me onto this shit and it really works well.

* Get ya a small jar (clean and sterile)
* Nitrofurazone (Fura-Zone) paste from any feed store
* DMSO liquid

spoon a fair amount of Fura-Zone into the jar. Using a wooden tongue depressor stir in a small amount of the DMSO liquid. You want only enough to make the Fura-Zone thin. The ideal consistency is that of heavy oil base paint.

When using this, as with any wound care, ensure the area is clean and free of infection. DO NOT USE ON OPEN WOUNDS. Wait till the wound has begun its healing process. The scab is in a good dry state (not wet and mushy).

* Application- using a small clean paint brush, paint the area with a liberal amount of ointment. AGAIN ENSURE THE AREA IS CLEAN PRIOR TO APPLICATION. If required let dry and cover wound to prevent dog from licking.

This, when used properly will not only aid in faster healing but will help the hair to return faster and with its original color.

Thank you William Knight for this concoction, it's proven very useful to me.