My cat is suffering from inflammatory bowel disease.  She responds
well to Flagyl (metronidazole) This is given in a pill form.  The
problem is she is very difficult to pill----I can't pill her and she
has to be taken to the vet's office for pilling.  Obviously doing the
"car thing" every day is not going over too well with her.

I would like to know: Can metronidazole be injected subcutaneously in
cats?  I have experience with giving subcutaneous injections to cats.
This drug can be injected intravenously but I can't find any good
information on subcutaneous metronidazole administered to felines. 
Please advise.  My cat, Emma, and I will be very grateful to you.

Zia

my only suggestion is to check out the possibility of using cipro
instead, it is less dangerous than metronidazole in humans and may be
superior in cats but I only doctor horses and equines so I can't be
certain - it is just a suggestion to check with a vet.

I know cats are picky but I never saw one starve to death with food
available, how about crushing pills into fish?

You probably can tell I'm not a cat person but I am big on rescuing
animals I am not alergic to so I hope hope helps (GRIN).

Good luck to emma.

BTW, I know a good source for kevlar gloves if that would help.

Siliconsamurai, metronidazole and ciprofloxacin don't have the same
action on gut flora and may not be interchangeable. Metronidazole also
has a sharp, almost metallic (IMO) taste that is very off-putting to
cats. Dogs, too. And people. And one thing I've learned is if a
treatment is working, for goodness sake don't mess with it!  :-)

Ziaemma, I am not going to comment on the SQ metronidazole in order to
allow a Researcher to respond (this is an easy question,
Researchers!). However I will say that any compounding pharmacy can
make up oral metronidazole liquid that is flavored; tuna, chicken,
beef, chocolate, coffee or vanilla are all flavors you cat may like--
you would know best-- and the compound strength could be made high
enough that you would only need to get one CC, or even a half CC, into
the kitty's mouth.

Additionally, prednisone is often indicated for IBS as well, and
similarly can be made in a tasty liquid. I used to make up my own
formula that was slightly sweet and vanilla flavored that worked well.
Prednisone is well tolerated in cats and they can be put on a
long-term regime, unlike dogs. If your vet has not discussed using
prednisone I would be very, very surprised (annoyed) and would urge
you to find out why.

Markvmd, in Europe cipro and metronidazol are often used in
combination in humans to treat crohns and IBDs. Their action is
different but metronidazol is much more dangerous and tests in humans
have shown that cipro alone is just as effective and without many of
the dangerous side effects which make it impossible to give
metronidazol continuously.


After all, I was ONLY recommending checking with a vet, and, BTW, a
vet was the first to tell me about using Cipro and Metro.. for Crohns
and IBD in people.

The reason antibiotics such as cipro and metro. work is because IBD
and Crohns is often due to a MAP infection despite years of being told
that it was an autoimmune disease (very much like what happened for
decades with stomach ulcers until someone discovered they were mostly
due to an infection.)

This is cutting edge research in humans and may not have been
completed in cats yet but it is worth checking with a vet.

And, by the way, steroids are extremely dangerous for people and
animals and are contraindicated for long-term use.

Markvmd, on the other hand, both are useful against MAP infections and
in Europe cipro and metronidazol are often used in combination in
humans to treat crohns and IBDs. Their action is different but
metronidazol is much more dangerous and tests in humans have shown
that cipro alone is just as effective and without many of the
dangerous side effects which make it impossible to give metronidazol
continuously in humans.

So I thought it was worth checking with a vet.

After all, I was ONLY recommending checking with a vet, and, BTW, a
vet was the first to tell me about using Cipro and Metro.. for Crohns
and IBD in people. I have no idea whether cipro is toxic to felines
and it can?t be purchased without a prescription anyway, so I didn?t
think my little contribution was doing any harm, especially since I
care for an average of 300 animals daily on my rescue facility.

It is useful to understand that the reason antibiotics such as cipro
and metro. work is because IBD and Crohns is often due to a MAP
infection despite years of being told that it was an autoimmune
disease (very much like what happened for decades with stomach ulcers
until someone discovered they were mostly due to an infection.)

This is cutting edge research in humans and may not have been
completed in cats yet but it is worth checking with a vet.

And, by the way, steroids are extremely dangerous for people and
animals and are contraindicated for long-term use.

BTW, MAP is Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis
If this is concern to you, please read
http://www.crohnscanada.org/english/researchsites/italcomm.pdf

I will provide links to clinical trials on humans if you are interested.

my apology for the double post, it was accidental

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11356321&dopt=Abstract

Activity and postantibiotic effect of marbofloxacin, enrofloxacin,
difloxacin and ciprofloxacin against feline Bordetella bronchiseptica
isolates.

I'm NOT saying cipro is better in felines, just that it is something
to ask a vet about - I AM saying it is better in homo sapiens and have
clinical trials to demonstrate the fact.

I am only concerned for the cat.

Whoa, Siliconsamurai!

I reread my comment to ensure it wasn't accusatory to you and I am
confident it wasn't, nor was it meant to be.  Your comment was
excellent and has valuable information-- but those gloves are quite
expensive! I merely wanted to point out that the two drugs may (might)
not be interchangeable in this case and that successful treatments are
a blessing not to be tampered with.

Prednisone is contraindicated in people and dogs (and a bunch of other
animals) for long term use, but cats do not suffer the same side
effects. Metronidazole is similarly well-tolerated, as is tylosin
(Tylan), another commonly used IBS antibiotic. The usual raft of side
effects is expected and should be reported but they have minimal long
term problems.

Quinolones (marbofloxacin, enrofloxacin, difloxacin and ciprofloxacin
you mentioned and others) are the big guns in this battle and may be
overkill, sort of akin to killing a fly with a cannon. That's an
individual clinician's call.

By the way, I thought your comments in 611272 "Purchasing a home from
a family member" regarding the lookback period were spot on. And I
chortled when I sw how fast you answered number 474380.   ;-)

Markvmd, I was just trying to pass along the info, I wasn't upset at your comment.

M and Cipro are certainly the big guns and not well tolerated, but
Cipro is a bit less nasty.

It appeared to be a very strident response mostly because a software
glitch caused a double posting. When I posted my third note the second
one hadn't registered as being posted. Otherwise I would have only
made one posting.

I offered to post links to the clinical trials in humans because I
figured anyone who knew right away about these two drugs might want
the info, not to be nasty. The trials were in England and Italy.

I know I was the one who first informed several doctors about the
treatment for crohns, just as I informed several about the use of
vitamin D3 for malignant melanoma - they just don't have time to read
all the literature. Even the recent news about D and cancer was all
wrong on TV, they talked about the vitamin D in your standard
supplements and that isn't what all the trials talk about, they only
refer to D3 (Calcitriol.) Far too much sloppy medical reporting on TV.

My apologies if I came across as nasty.

Thanks for the info on steriods and felines, I know they are bad for
most animals, including humans.

Tylosin is what we use routinely here for almost everything - it is
virtually impossible to get a decent vet to make house calls and not
much easier to get mini horses and mini donkeys into a van only to
learn the vet doesn't know there is a difference between the lab blood
results for donks and horses!

I like cats but am alergic so never treat them.

I do have to manage emu, equines, canines, and lots and lots of sheep,
so I know a lot about them, especially obgyn! (GRIN)

Markvmd, had forgotten about 474380. It wasn't from personal
experience (GRIN) I just happened to have checked out that sort of
thing before as part of an investigation so I knew where to look.
(That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)

Perhaps the suggestions on this site may help:

Medication and Cats
http://www.vetinfo.com/catmed.html#Pilling%20a

I've tasted Metronidazole already when it was prescribed to me. Don't
try it at home. ;)

Have you tried having the metronidazole compounded by a pharmacy? 
(check out the following web site for detailed information)

http://www.islandpharmacy.com/metronidazole.htm

My vet just called in a prescription to a local pharmacy that does
compounding to have this done for my cat as she could not take the
pill form as it caused her saliva glands to release and froth and she
was not getting the benefit of the medication.

Different flavors can be added (tuna in my case) and the taste of the
metronidazole cannot be detected in the compounded formula (liquid). 
The taste of the metronidazole pill has been compared to battery acid.
 I am thankful to have learned about this compounding option so my cat
does not have to endure such an awful taste experience.

02/08/06