clavamox question

hello all.
i am wondering if anyone can give me an answer on a question I have regarding the medication Clavamox. I have the liquid form and have been giving my 4mo kitty 1 mil 2x a day per the vet's advice. I have been doing this 4 days now and am to continue until the bottle is empty (looks like I have one more day left). now to my shocked eyes I read "refridgerate" bottle...and I have not done this until today! to be honest its been pretty cold in my house, but not 40 degrees. i feel terribly guilty for overlooking this and wonder if the remaining medicine will be potent anymore. Help!
PS
My kitten has been as active as ever and drinking and eating normally. The vet had done bloodwork before she was set to be spayed and her white blood cell count was high, as was her temp. Otherwise she seems perfectly healthy. She was not spayed. Also, she just had some vaccinations a couple weeks back and I am thinking maybe thats why her temp was up..

Some cats do have bad reactions to vaccinations, that is why I only vaccinate my cats once ever. But as for the Clavamox, I would call the vet in the morning and double check. I think the reason you need to refridgerate it is so it doesn't spoil and pick up bacteria from being left out. When I worked at the shelter, we threw it away if it was left out for more then an hour or so. But see what the vet thinks, I don't know.

What I wonder is why the vet only has her on clavamox for 5 days? Meds are generally given for 10-14 days as far as I know.

Several months back 2 of mine were on that, too. I didnt refrigerate either. I didnt know to. So when I finally read it, I called the vet. He never gave me a difinitive answer, just called some more in for me. I think he said something about not to use if has turned brown.

Originally Posted by Jen

Some cats do have bad reactions to vaccinations, that is why I only vaccinate my cats once ever. But as for the Clavamox, I would call the vet in the morning and double check. I think the reason you need to refridgerate it is so it doesn't spoil and pick up bacteria from being left out. When I worked at the shelter, we threw it away if it was left out for more then an hour or so. But see what the vet thinks, I don't know.

What I wonder is why the vet only has her on clavamox for 5 days? Meds are generally given for 10-14 days as far as I know.

Click to expand...

Hey Jen ...... I dont really know a lot about meds and why how much is given, but my vet perscribed it for 7 days, twice a day.

Some cats do have very bad reactions to vaccinations - but the temp a few weeks after is not usual. Did the vet draw blood for bloodwork? I ask, only because one of our kitties almost died from anemia. He had an autoimmune disease, and treating it with clavamox would not have worked.

I'd consider getting blood work done if it hasn't been. And, unfortunately, the clavamox does need to be refrigerated. I don't know of any liquid antibiotics that do not need to be refrigerated.

And I agree with Jen - meds are usually prescribed for 10 - 14 days. Five sounds strange. Are you sure you were giving her the proper dose?

thanks for your responses. i will definitely give the vet a call in the morning. yes, it was discolored thats why i looked closer and noticed the refridgerate bit on the label. so i don't plan to give her any today..i feel terrible that i messed this up.

My cat kinsey is on it right now for 14 days for a URI infections 2x daily...but i knew to refridgerate it. I would call the vet and ask them to make you another dose

i think its the correct dose, i fill the little dropper until its up by the top for 1 mil.
another question. i had read about adding water on the bottle itself, but assumed that was done when they administered the first dosage at the vet. i really hope i was not supposed to add water each dose.
the bottle says it is 15 mL. and also that any unused portion should be discarded after 10 days..

Originally Posted by luvslive

thanks for your responses. i will definitely give the vet a call in the morning. yes, it was discolored thats why i looked closer and noticed the refridgerate bit on the label. so i don't plan to give her any today..i feel terrible that i messed this up.

Click to expand...

I would also ask him about the dosage amount, too. As I said my vet perscribed for 7 days 2 x a day, but it was also to prevent an infection for injuries from a spat 2 of my cats had, not an already existing infection.

i notice it says in the instructions that for skin and soft tissue infections should be treated 5-7 days or 48 hours after all symptoms have subsided. urinary tract infections may require 10-14 days or longer. my vet really wasn't sure what was wrong. i had seen no symptoms of anything being off.

I'm a pharmacist, so I think this will apply to your question. The active drug (amoxacillin) breaks down in the suspension form at room temperature. How much will be inactive (it won't act like an antibiotic any more) depends on how long it was out and how warm it was in your house. It's a good thing he called in another rx for you!

it could just be a mild infection that the doctor feels could releave itself with only 5 days worth of meds. Most of the time the docs send spays, declaws, dental extraction patients home on 5 days worth just as a preventitive. Glad to hear doc called in a new prescription. As for adding water, the answer is NO. It comes as a powder form and only 15mLs have to be added once to make the compound. Hope it helps kittie and makes her better.

I believe Clavamox is egg based which is one of the reasons it needs to be kept cold. If it was in liquid form when it was prescribed, there is no need to add water.

thank you all for your helpful information. i called in to the vet today and was put on the line with a vet tech. i informed her that i had given the medicine 4 days, realized my error of not keeping it in the fridge and not given her the last day's dose. she said "oh thats not a big deal", basically don't worry about that last dose.
the kitten seems to do be doing alright, active as usual. i have 4 cats in the house and one of them puked, sadly i can't say for sure who it was..but i will definitely continue to monitor them..they all seem to have great appetitites for food and water.

The vet probably reconstituted the bottle for her... it comes as a powder. Clavamox suspension is used in humans, and it isn't egg-based (I just looked up the inactive ingredients). It needs to be refrigerated because the drug can change chemically in solution when kept at room temperature for a long period of time. The drug won't work anymore when it changes. Clavamox has a second drug in it that makes the amoxacillin work better. I'm rambling, sorry.... I'm avoiding chores. That tech was right, it isn't a big deal... some active drug was still in there, just not as much, and the break-down products aren't harmful.