Misread label on antibiotic and underdosed - will it still work now?

[miowmix]

Was prescribed Karidox (doxycycline) for my pig who has a bad UTI on 11 November.

I'm an idiot and misread the label because I didn't have my glasses on and have been giving 0.01 ml twice a day (basically a 'lick's' worth) for the past 7 days.

I phoned the vet and the receptionist told me to just start him on the right dose (0.3ml twice a day) now.

I'm worried that the small doses might have messed up his resistance to the antibiotic. Does anyone know?

Thanks

 

[Swissgreys]

I would go with the vet's advice and start on the correct dose now.
These things happen, so just give the proper dose and see what happens moving forwards.

 

[miowmix]

UPDATE - the correct dose is actually 0.03 - I HAVE NOW OVERDOSED BY 10X

Have phoned vet, they are going to call me back. Can't believe I've been so stupid but the god damn tiny writing on those label.

Oh my god

 

[miowmix]

Vets have phoned, they advised to just ensure he's still eating and drinking and that if he is not then I should bring him in. They said no more meds for 24 hours.

 

[Wiebke]

Was prescribed Karidox (doxycycline) for my pig who has a bad UTI on 11 November.

I'm an idiot and misread the label because I didn't have my glasses on and have been giving 0.01 ml twice a day (basically a 'lick's' worth) for the past 7 days.

I phoned the vet and the receptionist told me to just start him on the right dose (0.3ml twice a day) now.

I'm worried that the small doses might have messed up his resistance to the antibiotic. Does anyone know?

Thanks

Hi

Please follow the advice. The dosage and time is too low and too short to create resistance. It takes a lot more exposure.
Don't beat yourself up about it; this is not an uncommon mistake. You make it once and then you have learned your lesson. It is less dangerous to underdose than to overdose. In your case, there is no harm done as your piggy has not badly deteriorated in the meantime.

I have had to train myself to always double-check the label and dosage every single time I fill a syringe - especially with a larger number of piggies and needing to medicate several piggies at any time. One trick to make yourself look at the label closely before you start is to use a marker pen to highlight the medication name and dosage; especially when using several meds at once (using different coloured markers for the labels). It is a simple but effective trick.


Make sure that you can step in with feeding support if doxy impacts on the gut microbiome and additionally give probiotics and/or poo soup (i.e. live healthy microbiome transfer).
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures (our new updated syringe feeding guide includes how to make poo soup)

All the best.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Please be kind to yourself, it's an easy enough mistake to make. As a one off hopefully he will be fine, as the vet hasn't asked to see him immediately I see that as a good sign.

With future meds you may well be more worried now because of this experience. You can always ask the vet to show you on the syringe where you are filling it to which will give you more confidence for any future treatments. My vet often shows on the syringe which leads me to believe they have seen it happen many times

 

[miowmix]

Thought I should come back and update on this. He has been fine all of yesterday and today and eating, drinking and pooping as normal (he has been on daily bio lapis for some time which I'm sure helps somewhat). Let's hope there are no long-term effects. He was 0.03 twice a day, so it was actually a 5 x overdose for that 24 hour period rather than 10. Will now be using a highlighter to highlight the med name and dose as suggested by Wiebke.