Famotadine oral suspension?

Anyone have experience with famotadine oral suspension?  We rescued a cat that we were told had stomach issues, and they used famotadine to help calm the acid in her stomach and prevent vomiting.  At first we couldn't get near her (growling, hissing, attacking), so she never got any of it other than one time.  She has been doing really great, but has gotten sick twice in the past week.  I am concerned that she may need to go back on the famotadine.  They were giving her half a 10mg Equate brand, crushed and put in a syringe with water.  She also is currently eating Purina Pro sensitive skin and stomach.  I plan to switch her to Royal Canin 33 - I bought a sample bag of it a while ago, and she ate it.  But we got a coupon for a free bag of the Purina with her adoption kit, and I didn't want it to go to waste.  And she also came with some food.  So she is finishing up the Purina now.  Probably should start mixing the two.

Would an oral suspension be a better idea?  Any rough idea on how much a compounding pharmacy would charge?  I did some reading, and 2.5mg would be a more appropriate dosage.  We already put Dasuquin and DevCor Mobility Pro sprinkle on her dry food (she doesn't like wet), so putting another med on her food seems excessive.

Also, speaking of the DevCor - they have now switched from having a cat size capsule and a dog size capsule to one size for both.  Saves money, but it is a real pain to dose out.  I bought a tiny scale that is usually used for weighing small gems or powders/granules, but it doesn't seem consistently accurate. I think I need to calibrate it (it came with a 5 gram weight).  She would get 1 cat sized capsule a day (supposed to be half twice a day, but she only really eats once a day), and now it is 1/2 a larger size (again, supposed to be 1/4 twice a day)..  I just want to make sure she is getting a consistent amount.  Any advice on how to split the sprinkle in half would be appreciated.

DevCor has made a world of difference with her - she came with Medicam, but that wasn't something she could take long term.  She has bridging spondylosis - she has bone spurs that have grown between her back vertabrae.  And she has a broken vertabrae about half way up her back - the tip is broken off and is just sitting there.  She had another cat jump on her.  You couldn't even get near her tail or the lower half of her back before - she would hiss at you and try to scratch or bite you.  But after being on the DevCor a few months (it is a homeopathic remedy), she will let you pet her head to tail, and she will even raise her back up to show that she likes the petting.  No more flinching or aggressive behavior when you touch back there, though she does still get a bit snappy at random times.  One time I bumped her side and scared her, and she got mad.  But overall it has been a miraculous improvement.

garya said:

 
Anyone have experience with famotadine oral suspension? 

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Have you tried the cut up pill in a pill pocket?  It's a hollow treat designed for pills that many cats like.  If oyu try it, use an empty pocket first to make sure she likes it, and to show her there is nothing inside it at first.

I have used the oral suspension before.  The pill form is VERY bitter from what I've been told.  Our compounding pharmacy told us that even the oral suspension is a little bitter, but we had it compounded into tuna flavor and just mixed it into a little bit of his food, and he ate it, so it couldn't have been too bad. 

As far as cost, I think it was around $20 for a bottle that lasted a very long time.

We also went the pill route at times, since I believe Famotadine is really just Pepcid A/C.  We used Whiska Lickins Soft Treats in Salmon or Chicken (the Cheese flavor doesn't work ), and just squished them flat and used them to wrap around 1/4 of the pill.  You need to use a little more than one treat to cover the entire piece of pill, but it works pretty well.  The trick is to give them some plain treats, then sneak in the "loaded" treat, then some more plain ones   This really only works if you have a cat who doesn't chew, but rather just swallows things whole

Thanks for the suggestions.  She seems to only like Whiska Lickins - I offered her crunchy treats (Friskies) and she was not interested.  I think I could hide half a pill inside of one without a lot of trouble.  I just wonder if 5mg is too much, the cat CKD site says 2.5mg for a suggested dose.

I will call the compounding pharmacy here and see what they charge for the oral.  I know they do pet flavors.

I use Famotidine for my guy in a liquid form and he gets 0.45cc a day in his mouth for a 7lb cat. It is his least favourite med but if he does not take it I can hear the gas in his stomach which can be loud at times. He throws up all of the time from IBD so I don't think it really helps my guy with this but it does keep acid production down which may irritate some pets.

garya said:

 
Thanks for the suggestions.  She seems to only like Whiska Lickins - I offered her crunchy treats (Friskies) and she was not interested.  I think I could hide half a pill inside of one without a lot of trouble.  I just wonder if 5mg is too much, the cat CKD site says 2.5mg for a suggested dose.

I will call the compounding pharmacy here and see what they charge for the oral.  I know they do pet flavors.

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2.5mg (1/4 of a standard 10mg pill) is the standard vet dose for a cat.