Convenia Concerns

Hello everyone. 

Very stressed out mommy here. My baby girl has had a very rough week. My fiancé and I rescued our kitten Lily when she was five weeks old. She was found in the wild a couple of weeks before I adopted her, very undernourished and in poor condition. She is now almost 6 months old, and though she has been doing well, she is still a very tiny girl. She is a very nervous cat, and gets stressed out quite easily.

She was at the vet a couple of weeks ago for a general check up, and the vet, whom I have always had complete faith in, said she was a healthy kitten and gave her the go ahead for her spay. We had her spay done on Thursday, April 23rd. That night we noticed some swelling, but didn't think much of it. The next day it seemed that the swelling had increased so I took her back to the vet to get it looked at. The vet said that her internal sutures were torn and that she had herniated and would need another surgery to repair it. She now has to wear an e-collar, and be kept in a dog crate when not being supervised for the next two weeks to try to minimize the chance that this will happen again. Of course Lily and I are stressed about this, and she has even broken a few of her claws trying to get out of the crate 

Lily's second surgery was Monday morning. We spoke with our vet and mentioned that we were concerned that Lily's incision was getting infected. He said he would take a look at it and if he thought it was necessary he would give her an antibiotic. He said that we could give us pills to give her, and risk her doing damage to herself by struggling when we gave her these pills or he could give us an injection that would last for two weeks and we wouldn't have to worry about it. Of course this seemed like the better option, so this is what we did.

The evening after her surgery, Lily seemed fine other than the fact that she was very sleepy. She did pee once that evening, and had a soft poop, but it wasn't diarrhea. She also shivered occasionally, especially when sleeping, but the vet assured me that this was okay.

The day after her surgery, I noticed a worm stuck on her tail. I brought the worm to the vet and they told me it was a tapeworm. They gave me profender to treat the worms, and I gave it to her as soon as I got home. That evening Lily had very bad diarrhea, and she has had it ever since. She doesn't poop more often than normal, but when she does, it is very runny. I called the vet multiple times, and they tell me the diarrhea is due to all the stress she has been under and to wait a few more days. 

I have done some research on the different drugs she was given, and I am very concerned about the Convenia. I called the vet about my concerns, and they assured me they use the drug many times and have never had any reported problems. Other than the diarrhea, which started 24 hours after she received the drug,  she doesn't seem to be having negative effects. She does sleep a lot, but this could be due to the fact that we restrict her from doing any activity. She does get quite playfully at times, and is still as cuddly as she ever was. She eats well, and is drinking fine. 

I read that this drug stays in the body for 65 days or more, and I have heard both positive and negative stories. She had the drug about about 84 hours ago, and has no life-threatening immediate effects. I am watching her bathroom habits closely, and if the diarrhea doesn't clear up in a few days I will request something from my vet. My main worry is that I have read cases where cats have had no immediate effects but than had serious problems, or have even died, a week or two after having the drug. Has anyone experienced this? If she has had no serious effects by now, should she be okay?

If anyone can offer any comfort or advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I have an anxiety disorder, and am easily stressed out by minor things. I have not been able to eat or sleep properly since I found out my girl needed a second surgery, and it seems as each day passes, instead of feeling better, I discover something that makes me feel worse. 

I'm sorry your baby girl has gone through so much! I know it can be so stressful to have issues with our fur babies.

You can try giving a very small amount of canned pumpkin (not pie filling; just pure pumpkin with no sugar) to see if it will help with diarrhea. I have not had any experience with Profender. If the diarrhea does not resolve soon, I would definitely follow up with the vet. Make sure she stays hydrated with lots of water.

My boy had a shot of Convenia fairly recently. It seemed to hit him a little hard. I panicked and thought "Oh my, what did I do?" He gradually perked up and was fine. I think it was the antibiotics hitting his body. He came out of it just fine, but it did scare me a bit. I think I will go for the pills next time. I did not like that sense of panic in not being able to stop it. I think it will be okay for your girl too. One thing I have learned-I know my cats fairly well. The Vet does not know about every bad reaction. If my cats don't fo well with a med, I really don't like to give it again. So, I will pass on Convenia next time. I think your kitty will be okay.

Try to get the diarrhea under control. If it does not calm down in a day or two, call your Vet back. Stay on top of everything. I think your baby girl is going to pull out of this. Try to do your best and not worry!

The poop she had overnight was half runny diarrhea, but the other half was quite formed. Hopefully this is a sign that her belly is calming down. If it has not settled completely over the weekend I will call the vet again on Monday. I am really hesitant to bring her to the vet unless absolutely necessary because she gets so stressed out in the car. Of course if she becomes worse over the weekend I will call the emergency vet.

I purchased a couple of cans of switch by fruitables. The only ingredient listed is pumpkin. However, the receptionist at the vet cautioned me against using it because pumpkin is high in fiber and could make her diarrhea worse.

None of my animals will ever get this drug again. Even if they had no reaction, it still scares me that it has apparently killed perfectly healthy animals. If my vet had told me how long it stays in their system, I probably wouldn't have given it to her in the first place.

Thank you for your hope and encouragement. It is very much appreciated. The biggest challenge this morning seems to be trying to keep her from bring too active as she is running around the room and pouncing at every thing on the floor.

My biggest fear is that she will have a life threatening reaction in a couple weeks time, and I won't be able to help her

I think it is probably pretty rare to have a reaction weeks later. It is possible, but extremely unlikely. You have to look at the total numbers of injections to the number of deadly reactions. I think your kitty is probably just fine. So try not to worry!

That being said, I won't intentionally give the shot again. I'm not sure if Vets push it because it is expensive. Maybe they really do think it is good. Maybe they don't have the experience to know otherwise. Maybe a lot of pet owners don't notice odd behavior. I think your baby girl is going to be fine!

As for the diarrhea, it can take a while to resolve. Even a week or so. If she us improving and staying hydrated, I don't think you need to take her back to the Vet. If need be, they can most likely just prescribe something like Flagyl without seeing her again.

Hang in there and try to breathe! It is going to be okay. Stay on top of the incision and watch for infection.

Thank you for the positivity. It is encouraging to hear of someone who used the drug without having too many serious effects. 95% of everything you read online is negative and quite terrifying.

I keep reminding myself that my girl has been through so much and has proven to be a fighter. She has had two major surgeries in less than four days, and has had tapeworm for months. She has also been pumped with so many drugs, including the profender, the convenia, and two rounds of metacam (which I worried about as well). It really isn't surprising that her belly is a little mixed up. It is becoming increasingly difficult to restrain her activity, which while stressful, I'm taking it as a sign she is feeling better.

I'm trying my best to not worry too much but it is difficult. Lily, along with my other two cats, have been very therapeutic and have gotten me through various mental problems. I cannot imagine losing one of them.

I'm happy for the opportunity to help!  I know how scary it is to see all the negative stuff.  Most of the time, you don't hear when everything went okay.  The horror stories can be overwhelming.  I have also freaked out over meds.  We want to protect our fur babies.  When we feel powerless, it gets to be too much at times. I know exactly how you feel.  

Your girl reminds me of mine.  She also went through 2 traumatic surgeries.  One was due to infection of her incision.  She's a fighter too.  She and her brother have been there for me through thick and thin.  I love them dearly.  They have been through a lot.  I am getting better at staying calm.  It takes practice!  I know exactly how you feel.  

I think your girl is going to be just fine.  Have faith that you're going to get through this. Stay calm and try to relax.

I rescued an orphaned kitten that I wanted to ensure was healthy so I took her to a convenient "round the corner from the house" vet - Penny Paws. The vet confirmed she was only 3 weeks old & weighed 5 oz. Turtle was deemed healthy (as I knew she was; I'd had her 5 days at that point & she was taking her bottle & moving around. Quite active. As a "precaution" the vet gave her a shot of Convenia & a dose of Strongid for worms. 4 hours later, Turtle was lethargic, vomiting & had balance problems. I rushed her to the ER where I discovered her body temp was 89 & her blood sugar was so low it wouldn't register (the ER vet said it was below 20). They kept her for 2 days and, thank God, she survived. I learned that Convenia is NOT approved for use in animals younger than 4 months & the vet at Penny Paws knew this. She told me this but they often used "off-label" drugs like this. This vet knowingly gave this tiny 5oz kitten a drug she KNEW wasn't approved. I spent over $1000 saving my baby Turtle & am now making it my mission to alert as many people as possible about the dangers of Convenia! Do NOT be afraid to question your vet's actions! They're not God & they think they can do what they want without fear of repercussions. I've reported them to the Texas Board and hopefully this will result in more people coming forward with stories like mine. Please speak for our fur babies; they don't have a voice & we must protect them! I am happy to say that Turtle is now 5 weeks old & weighs a whopping 11 oz!

Darma0415 said:

Do NOT be afraid to question your vet's actions! They're not God & they think they can do what they want without fear of repercussions. I've reported them to the Texas Board and hopefully this will result in more people coming forward with stories like mine. Please speak for our fur babies; they don't have a voice & we must protect them! I am happy to say that Turtle is now 5 weeks old & weighs a whopping 11 oz!

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Very true. Many people are afraid to question their vet, I guess mostly  because they don't know themselves what is going on so they leave it up to the vet to make the decisions. Pet owners need to speak up and question everything in the interest of their pet's health and safety.

Here's one vet's take on the dangers of using Convenia: http://catinfo.org/?link=convenia