Convenia Injection side effects?

[vikinggirl34]

Within a couple of hours the cat had become "a zombie"—extremely lethargic and not eating or drinking. The cat's health rapidly deteriorated and two days later she had to be euthanized. The severe reaction was clearly caused by the Convenia injection.

Judi, I cried when I read your post that is so sad! Has your friend reported what has happened to Zoetis? Contact Us | Zoetis They are the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Convenia.

Whenever Janie first started having problems, I reported it to Zoetis. They need to know about these cases!

God, that is just so awful whenever have a sick animal hoping that the right thing is being done for it and it ends up sicker or worse yet, dying!

 

[josiegirl]

That is the problem with Convenia. It stays in the system and if your cat has a reaction to it there's nothing you can do but wait it out. To me, that is a HUGE negative and I will never let my cat be injected with it. I made my vet note it on his file.

I'm a pet sitter and I have a lot of clients who had reactions to Convenia and it's frightening to see the cat go downhill. Personally, I don't think it's all that rare since I've seen it happen so many times. Even my friend, who lives in Ohio, had a cat react to the Convenia and stop eating. It was terrifying but he pulled through.

I realize this is an old thread, but a friend of mine had a very recent experience with Convenia.

His 4-year old female cat apparently had a urinary tract infection [UTI]; she was otherwise a healthy cat. The cat was taken to a vet [not her regular vet], who as a first-line approach gave her an injection of Convenia.

Within a couple of hours the cat had become "a zombie"—extremely lethargic and not eating or drinking. The cat's health rapidly deteriorated and two days later she had to be euthanized. The severe reaction was clearly caused by the Convenia injection.

I understand there are many far less risky options to deal with a UTI in a cat, and Convenia appears in any event to be touted primarily for 'skin infections'. Plus Convenia stays in the body for a long time, as opposed to other non-injectable drugs that the body can get rid of quickly.

That's exactly what my friend's cat had, a UTI. The vet didn't even ask her; just injected him with Convenia. I had my friend look at the invoice to see what he was given and was alarmed to find out it was Convenia. My friend doesn't like to pill her cat and her vet knew this. Of course, her vet denied it was the Convenia causing her cat to stop eating. I'm wondering if they're trained to say this. Huh....

I have had a lot of bad experiences with vets throughout the years so I am very wary of them. After doing a lot of research on home remedies, homeopathy and cat nutrition I was lucky enough to find a vet who was open-minded, listened to my opinions and fed his own animals raw food. But he's now moved to Colorado so I am back to square one, sigh...

 

[Judi-1]

Judi, I cried when I read your post that is so sad! Has your friend reported what has happened to Zoetis? Contact Us | Zoetis They are the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Convenia.

Whenever Janie first started having problems, I reported it to Zoetis. They need to know about these cases!

God, that is just so awful whenever have a sick animal hoping that the right thing is being done for it and it ends up sicker or worse yet, dying!

Thanks for your empathy. It is really sad; she was still a young cat, with otherwise no health issues. And she suffered. Plus there are far less risky means of dealing with a UTI! Totally avoidable and unacceptable. It really enrages me. I know my friend is outraged and distraught. I will follow up with him regarding advising the pharmaceutical company, which I know he is aware of. [FYI, we are in Canada. Not sure if that's relevant.]

 

[4horses]

Are you certain the cat that died just had urinary cystitis and not a blockage? Or kidney disease? Some other reason for its death?

My cats have had the injection more than once and never experienced any side effects. Tru was nearly on deaths door (vomiting, unable to eat). The final diagnosis was IBD, but she recovered even before treatment for ibd was even initiated... All she had was subcutaneous fluids for a few days and convenia. Oral antibiotics weren't even an option as she would throw them up. At this point I don't know what happened...food poisoning? Intestinal blockage that passed? Pancreatitis? IBD? Some infection that responded to the convenia?

Injectable medications should not be used for convenience, but they do have a place in treatment.

With Tru, I asked the vet how safe the injection was, as giving antibiotics was optional. We decided for the injection because she was so sick. It is difficult to treat something without a diagnosis, but we had to try. The vet said most cats tolerate it well.

It is not until you end up being sick and in need of antibiotics, that you can discover whether or not those medications are tolerable. This definitely applies to people as well. I tried a plethora of experimental drugs to help with some complicated medical issues. I now have a list of drugs i can't tolerate and a list of "good drugs".

convenia is dangerous because of how long it lasts in the body. This doesn't mean it is more dangerous than other antibiotics. Metronidazole causes nerve damage, ciprofloxacin causes spontaneous tendon ruptures. I personally don't tolerate metronidazole at all - the last time i tried it i got super sick with the worst migraine in my life in addition to fatigue and muscle aches...

Adverse reactions happen and should definitely be reported. Also remember that correlation does not imply causation. If a cat dies after getting injected with a medication, that does not prove the medication was responsible. You would need a necropsy and evidence to back up your claim. Otherwise you are just guessing at the problem.

Perhaps kitty had a heart defect, cancer, or something else. We don't know. We don't know the drug was the culprit.

When my dog passed away, even with a necropsy, they could not identify what went wrong... There is too much that we don't know yet about medicine. He did test positive for a bacterial infection but they couldn't identify it, or determine its source.

Given the rise of antibiotic resistance, vets need to only use antibiotics when absolutely necessary...animals can pass resistant bacteria to people, who then pass it to the community (often while not getting sick). It is the ultimate typhoid Mary.

Since cystitis is usually sterile, giving antibiotics would be unnecessary. But antibiotics can be used for other reasons such as their anti inflammatory actions.

 

[Judi-1]

I'm pleased your cats responded well to Convenia. I'm sure that positively influences your perception of this drug.

The other causes of death of my friend's cat you suggest are not based on any evidence and thus are speculative. The fact this healthy young cat almost immediately severely reacted from the Convenia injection, leads to the overwhelming and inescapable inference that Convenia caused her death a short while later. There is no evidence of any other cause. And the circumstances map with other similar incidents of animal deaths caused by Convenia.

The long half-life of Convenia is a striking factor in its risk profile. There are clearly other far less risky drug options available for UTI than Convenia. Convenia is not meant to be a first-line treatment approach to UTIs, and it appears it is used only "off label" for UTIs.

 

[ailish]

Just to weigh in... If your cat has an immediate bad reaction to Convenia, do not assume it was just "hell-drug" Convenia and let your guard down about other antibiotics. Convenia is a trade name for a certain route for administering an antibiotic. If you cat is allergic to Convenia, it is probably allergic to that antibiotic in pill form, too.

 

[LouieLove]

Hi - I wanted to post an update regarding my cat Louie. He had a convenia shot back in December of 2017. The twitching never stopped - and now he is starting to have seizures. The vet I go to no longer administers this drug due to all the horrible reactions. We believe the drug caused long term damage and that is the reason for the seizures now. I'll be starting a new post so I can hopefully get input regarding experience from other cat owners on the seizures.