Convenia®

Has anyone heard of this or used it? It's an antibiotic injection which lasts for two weeks. Bird got it the other day for a bladder infection. When I did a little research online, I found that it is normally given for skin conditions, no mention of UI or URI or any of those.

Bird seems better, at least.

Maybe it is an off-label use, which is pretty common.

I've heard of it, but never used it. It's in the cephalosporin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalosporin class of anitbiotics.

Did the vet do a culture & sensitivity on a sterile urine sample?

Nothing was cultured. There were clear signs of infection, although no crystals . We'll know soon enough if it's the right drug. The prospect of not having to pill him twice a day for two weeks was enough to sway me

Now one of the outside cats has some kind of throat infection, he feels very poorly, but will not be pilled. I'm pretty sure he was never vaccinated.

Thanks for the link, sugarcatmom. For a URI, it looks hit or miss to me.

Either which way, it's jackpot month for my vet .

Nope. At $50 a pop...

08/09/08

New Antibiotic May Prove to be Convenient for Pets and Their People

Dr. Eric Barchas, DVM

Comments (4)

When I diagnose an infection in a patient, I must prescribe antibiotics. For the person who lives with the pet, that can mean a week or more of giving pills (or a liquid formulation) at home. Under the best circumstances, giving medicine to pets is inconvenient. In the worst cases, it is impossible.

However, a new antibiotic has been approved for use in cats and dogs. It may eliminate the need to give pills at home when pets are diagnosed with certain types of infections.

The antibiotic, called Convenia, was released earlier this year by Pfizer. It is given by injection at the vet’s office. Each injection is effective for up to two weeks. Pets that receive Convenia do not need to take antibiotics at home.

Convenia has two other advantages over conventional antibiotics. First, studies have shown that side effects occur less often with Convenia than with comparable oral antibiotics.

Second, antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria may be less likely to develop when pets are treated with Convenia. Improper dosing (skipping doses or stopping the medication too soon) is a leading factor in the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Pets that receive Convenia are virtually assured of proper dosing.

So, are vets going to stop stocking other types of antibiotics now that Convenia has hit the market? No. There are two sides to every coin, and I can see a few potential disadvantages to the new medicine.

First, Convenia is not effective against all types of infections. It is labeled for skin infections, wounds and abscesses only.

Also, when a pet develops side effects from oral antibiotics, the medicine can be stopped. Side effects from Convenia are rare. However, if they develop there is no way to discontinue treatment or remove the drug from the pet’s body.

Finally, as a veterinarian I am wary of giving too many injections to cats. This stems from the link between some vaccines and certain types of tumors. Convenia has not been linked to tumors in cats. Nonetheless, I plan to be cautious until the drug has been on the market for a while longer.

Hey! I might have to ask my vet about this for Patróns recurring skin infections... You should SEE the battle that ensues in my kitchen every morning to get the horse pill sized antibiotic down his throat!

Thankfully he will USUALLY eat it out of his food, but he has gotten too smart for that too.

I wonder how long it can be used for before becoming ineffective....

Quote:

Originally Posted by badger



...Convenia is not effective against all types of infections. It is labeled for skin infections, wounds and abscesses only....

badger-

Considering what you've discovered about this drug - and - that you've indicated that no culture was done - and - that it's a bladder infection, if it were my cat, I'd follow up with a culture 4-5 days after the two week period the drug is "good for".......the last thing I'd want is an ongoing infection in that area (and probably moving up into the kidneys).

Quote:

I'd follow up with a culture 4-5 days after the two week period the drug is "good for".

You're right. I'll have to see if my budget can handle it!

I've got three with URI, including the head-snapping sore throat and the vomiting. Plus the kitten I talked about on another thread seems to have been abandoned because he's been living with me full-time for the past week - and he's definitely not vaccinated. He is spending the day outside to reduce his exposure.

So I'm probably taking the one sick cat that can't be pilled to the vet for some kind of intervention (not Convenia) and hoping to cadge treatment for the others without having to pay extra for the exam.

There are a couple of snufflers as well; I am ignoring them.

Bill and Percy are living outside 90% of the time. Like me, they hate crowds.

Whew.

If anyone would like a sweet sweet tuxedo baby, with a bee-bop personality to match, PM me asap.

Hello,

Anyone experienced any side effects from convenia, like seizures and death? I've had an unfortunate experience, and now find that 3 others have had a similar experience. Anyone know of any problems with convenia in cats?

Quote:

Originally Posted by badger



Nope. At $50 a pop...

08/09/08

New Antibiotic May Prove to be Convenient for Pets and Their People

Dr. Eric Barchas, DVM

Comments (4)

When I diagnose an infection in a patient, I must prescribe antibiotics. For the person who lives with the pet, that can mean a week or more of giving pills (or a liquid formulation) at home. Under the best circumstances, giving medicine to pets is inconvenient. In the worst cases, it is impossible.

However, a new antibiotic has been approved for use in cats and dogs. It may eliminate the need to give pills at home when pets are diagnosed with certain types of infections.

The antibiotic, called Convenia, was released earlier this year by Pfizer. It is given by injection at the vet’s office. Each injection is effective for up to two weeks. Pets that receive Convenia do not need to take antibiotics at home.

Convenia has two other advantages over conventional antibiotics. First, studies have shown that side effects occur less often with Convenia than with comparable oral antibiotics.

Second, antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria may be less likely to develop when pets are treated with Convenia. Improper dosing (skipping doses or stopping the medication too soon) is a leading factor in the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Pets that receive Convenia are virtually assured of proper dosing.

So, are vets going to stop stocking other types of antibiotics now that Convenia has hit the market? No. There are two sides to every coin, and I can see a few potential disadvantages to the new medicine.

First, Convenia is not effective against all types of infections. It is labeled for skin infections, wounds and abscesses only.

Also, when a pet develops side effects from oral antibiotics, the medicine can be stopped. Side effects from Convenia are rare. However, if they develop there is no way to discontinue treatment or remove the drug from the pet’s body.

Finally, as a veterinarian I am wary of giving too many injections to cats. This stems from the link between some vaccines and certain types of tumors. Convenia has not been linked to tumors in cats. Nonetheless, I plan to be cautious until the drug has been on the market for a while longer.

Can I ask you what was the nature of your 'unfortunate experience' with Convenia and what your cat was being treated for?

My own cat seems to have recovered without any problems but I am keeping a close eye on him in case it didn't do the trick.

yes of course, Booboo was 6 years old. She had been to the vet on Monday and they found a few bad teeth. They gave her the convenia on Monday, kept her until wed morning, giving fluids and food. She was her old. normal self when I picked her up Wed afternoon. The paln was for me to bring her thurs, sat and monday for fluids and a recheck and then deal with the teeth on tuesday morning after the convenia had time to work. Whne I got home wed noght at 11:30, she was seizing on the floor. I d not know for how long. Rushed her to the emergency vet, they gave her 3 courses of increasingly stronger drugs to stop the seizures. Last one was phenol. She satyed the night, I collected her at 8:00 am and took her back to my vet for the full day of monitoring. At 2:00 p.m. she started to have another seizure and my vet gave her half the previous night's dose of pheno.... which stopped the seizure. Doc Lori dropped her back off at the emerg vet Thurs evening without event. I picked her up Firday morning and too her back to Doc Lori for the full day of observation. Still no events but Booboo was still pretty out of it. Sorry this is so long.....

We agreed that I could take her home friday night and watch her, rushing her to the emergency vet if anything happened. We are hoping that she would maybe fight her way back in familiar surroundings. I slept with her on the floor the whole night. She came too several times, took some water with help and actually looked at me. But then at 5:45 a.m. the arching and head shaking started again. She had 2 more by 8:00 a.m. and I took har to lori and had her put to sleep. The very first night this happened I went on line looking for answers. I found a site called Marshfield Clinic and another woman had the same experience. Now since my experience, another person has reported a similar incident. The gentleman on marshfield is a little lacking in his compassion, hence the banter you will see if you visit the site. Anyway, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the drug. It's just strange that 3 occurences in one month are a bit odd.... yes? Your thought would be much appreciated.

Hi badger. My dog was given convenia just last week for his skin irritation. We had a bad experience with our old vet just giving our dog meds and not telling us what they were, so our new vet always sits down and explains things to me prior. The first thing my vet told me about it was that they commonly use it to treat bladder infections in both cats and dogs, but it is also effective with skin conditions and irritations. My guess is that it's a safe treatment for your kitty. Of course there are risks with any drug, but she said it was one of the milder, common ones.

I'm sorry about your kitty, Gypsymagda

GypsyMagda, I hope these incidents are being reported back to the drug company (by vets) and are being compiled somewhere, although a handful of cases probably would not carry much weight, even though your poor cat paid the ultimate price. I'm so sorry.

Danam314, I'm very glad to have this information about off-label use for bladder infections. At least it tells me my vet is not a nitwit or worse, reckless . Bird has now recovered. How's your dog?

Very poor choice of name, though (they spend millions deciding). Convenient for whom?

GypsyMagda, was it MarshfieldClinic or MarshfieldKennel? Marshfield Clinic is near here, but it's a human medical clinic (although they do diagnostic tests for area vets)...but I found a marshfieldkennel link when I queried for 'Convenia'...

I just wanted to throw in my

I like Rustycat's recommendation of a post treatment culture. Great idea - even if a culture was done. It is important to know that the medication worked and we are not letting a bladder infection sit around when so many can go without symptoms. Also a bladder infection can ascend into a kidney infection.

There was a mention that Convenia was labeled ONLY for certain types of infections. Unfortunately if doctors only prescribed medications for what they were labeled for we would have to work with very little and we would be in a lot of trouble. Cephalosporins work well with UTIs!

Here is some information on the where cephalosporins get concentration into (from Plumb's Veterinary Drug handbook fifth edition)

"Cephalosporins are widely distributed to most tissues and fluids, including bone, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid and synovial fluid. Higher levels are found in inflamed than in normal bone. Very high levels are found in the urine, but they penetrate poorly into prostatic tissue and aqueous humor."

Hope that helps!

I took my Persian cat Buddy to our vet on Thursday last week where he was diagnosed with a skin infection on his belly area. He was treated with an injection of Covenia. On Saturday afternoon (48 hours after) I witnessed a 15 - 30 second seizure where he fell off the table to the floor and convulsed.

He was taken to an after hours emergency vet where fortunately he had no more seizures and his blood pathology was normal. I'm interested in gathering information from other pet owners who have had an experience similar.

Thank you Dr. Lee. Given what people have related here, do you think a definite link can be made with the seizures? Have you seen similar reactions?

My cat bella had a convenia injection yeasterday for cystitus,how long will it be for i notice improvment and will it make her want to go to the toliet more?

I know this is an older thread but in case others read it, I had a very bad experience with Convenia. My cat almost died... She became extremely ill, vomiting with bloody diarhia that turned into just passing fresh blood instead of stool. She was sick for almost two months and if you read the literature from directly from the manufacturer it states that Convenia actually stays in the blood system for 2 months, not 2 weeks as most vets claim, and it crosses the blood brain barrier. Once it is in the system there is no way to get it out, nor is there an "antidote".

It has also been known to cause death, tremors/ataxia, seizures, anaphylaxis, acute pulmonary edema, facial edema, injection site reactions (alopecia, scabs, necrosis, and erythema), hemolytic anemia, salivation, pruritus, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, and inappetance.

This information is easily found yet when I discussed it with my vet after my cat became so ill they seemed to have no knowledge of the side effects.

My advice is BEWARE!!