How much Doxycycline for my cat's upper respiratory infection?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Doxycycline is not a good antibiotic for a UTI. If you are worried about a UTI in Jewel it is best to take her to a vet so they can look at the urine under the microscope and determine which antibiotic would be best and safest for her. If she doesn’t have bacteria in her urine, an antibiotic will not help her. Good luck and kisses to Jewel!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. In regards to the test results, I would contact your vet to find out what the results were. For the cats you havestarted on doxycycline, the respiratory symptoms may not be due to a bacterial infection but rather a viral infection, in which case, an antibiotic won't treat if it is purely a viral infection. Sure it will treat secondary bacterial infections that may be going on as a result of the primary viral but I wouldn't rely on an antibiotic solely to treat this. I recommend using lysine supplementation. Many times in kittens, they pick up the herpes virus from the mother. Lysine works by lessening the severity and possibly shortening the duration of a herpes viral infection. Duralactin with Lysine is the supplement I recommend to help treat the infection which can be found online. If the infection worsens, a nebulizer may help and sometimes antibiotics are nebulized in severe cases. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

This is a great question. Doxycycline falls into the category of antibiotics called tetracyclines. Other tetracyclines- namely oxytetracycline- are shown to disturb bone and teeth developement in fetal skeletons or in young growing animals. Doxycycline is MUCH less likely to do this than other tetracyclines. Even so, the formulary recommends considering the risks and benefits before prescribing. Though I don’t routinely give this to kittens (I prefer clavamox) I do often give it to puppies. I have not yet seen or heard of a case of abnormal bone developement with doxycycline in kittens or puppies - but it could theoretically happen. In my opinion, doxycycline is a great drug for upper respiratory infections in cats- especially in a shelter situation which may not have the labor, funding, or storage abilities of my suburban clinic. I also feel that - especially in a shelter situation - the benefits far outweigh the risks. I am far more worried about a kitten in a shelter dying from complications from a URI than I am about the minuscule chance of affecting bone development. Of course, if your shelter had plenty of liquid clavamox and people to administer it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to switch the young ones to something like that. Hope this helped clarify some things! Thank you for all you do!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If you think Cotton Ball is in need of an antibiotic for a infection, I would recommend having him examined by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate antibiotic can be recommended. Antibiotics such as Convenia and Doxycycline are good choices for antibiotics when treating respiratory infections. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The recommended dose of doxycycline for Lyme disease is 20mg/lb once daily, so Joey should be taking around 200mg a day. Rarely doxycycline is used at higher doses or more frequently than once every 24hrs. Please, get in touch with your local vet to discuss the treatment as it sounds that the dose should be slightly adjusted.

There is a dose range for clindamycin. We will be able to best help you if you know your cats current weight and can provide that inforrmation, if you know the concentration of the drug (mg/ml, should be on the package), and if you know how many ml you were instructed to give (should be on your syringe and the label on the bottle). If you are able to re post your question with that information we can let you know if the dose is in the dose range. But, as different diseases may be treated with a different dose, it will always be safer to verify with your vet as he or she prescribed the medication. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I’m so sorry to hear about Misty. If the medication had caused the vomiting, I would have expected it to cause vomiting days ago when you started it. That leads me to believe it is less likely related to the medication and more likely related to something else. That being said, double check that you are giving the correct amount and do shake the bottle well each time you give it. Just like in people, there are dozens of reasons vomiting occurs including: infection, dietary indiscretion (eating that piece of plant or human food, or dead mouse), GI foreign body (eating that hair band which is now causing problems), toxin, non specific nausea, diet change or new treat, and the list goes on. If it was just the three times in a row, I would just withhold food and water for 2 hours, then reinteoduce water. If she holds that down well, offer a small bit of food 8-12 hours after the last episode of vomiting. Don’t repeat tonight’s dose of medication. I am concerned in the back of my mind that something else is going on since her appetite had started decreasing. Is it related to the disease we are treating with the doxycycline or some other problem? Certainly if the vomiting continues or she is not ready to eat in the next 24 hours, or you see any new signs, please head to your vet or an emergency vet for re-valuation. Best wishes to you and Misty!