Enrofloxacin vs Orbafloxacin ?

My cat Casper had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago
and the vet told me that she had a high level of red
blood cell in her urine.

After 1 week of Clavamox the level was still high
and the urine culture results came back negative,
i.e. they weren't able to grow anything.

So my vet is saying that she probably has an infection
in the kidneys and wants her to take Enrofloxacin.

Today I faxed him the following article :

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00528.htm

"Enrofloxacin has recently been associated with retinal
degeneration in cats at the recommended dose rate.
Affected cats present with rapid onset of blindness
after systemic enrofloxacin administration. Affected
cats have typical lesions of retinal degeneration.
Discontinuation of enrofloxacin as soon as visual
problems are noted may result in improvement in vision
in some, but not all cases. No doubt guidelines will
be forthcoming regarding the use of enrofloxacin in
cats in view of increasing numbers of anecdotal adverse
reaction reports as well as published data or its
potential toxicity."

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

What would you do in this situation ?

Casper seems to be doing better and has gained back some
weight during the past week. She's recovering from IBD
and doesn't need Prednisone that much any more but this
probably has nothing to do with blood in the urine.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

In article et,
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use on cats long
enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is pretty expensive though. I
would also be wary of Baytril, and I am disappointed with your vet's
resistance to your concerns.

-Alison in OH

In article et,
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use on cats long
enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is pretty expensive though. I
would also be wary of Baytril, and I am disappointed with your vet's
resistance to your concerns.

-Alison in OH

In article et,
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use on cats long
enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is pretty expensive though. I
would also be wary of Baytril, and I am disappointed with your vet's
resistance to your concerns.

-Alison in OH

wrote:

My cat Casper had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago
and the vet told me that she had a high level of red
blood cell in her urine.

After 1 week of Clavamox the level was still high
and the urine culture results came back negative,
i.e. they weren't able to grow anything.

So my vet is saying that she probably has an infection
in the kidneys and wants her to take Enrofloxacin.

Today I faxed him the following article :

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00528.htm

"Enrofloxacin has recently been associated with retinal
degeneration in cats at the recommended dose rate.
Affected cats present with rapid onset of blindness
after systemic enrofloxacin administration. Affected
cats have typical lesions of retinal degeneration.
Discontinuation of enrofloxacin as soon as visual
problems are noted may result in improvement in vision
in some, but not all cases. No doubt guidelines will
be forthcoming regarding the use of enrofloxacin in
cats in view of increasing numbers of anecdotal adverse
reaction reports as well as published data or its
potential toxicity."

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

What would you do in this situation ?

I don't want to start another argument over the comparative safety of Baytril
vs. Orbax, but if it were me, I wouldn't panic over the use of Baytril. As
your vet notes, it has been used safely with millions of cats, even at much
higher dosages than the newly recommended guidelines. And there is evidence
that with some types of organisms, Baytril is more effective than Orbax, if I
recall.

However, I wonder how your vet took the urine sample. If he used a needle, that
can introduce some blood into the sample. Did he take another sample?

If you are leery of Baytril, you can insist your vet prescribe something else.
On the other hand, you can also decide to trust your vet's expertise. That's
what I did when one of my cats once was prescribed Baytril for an infection
that did not respond to other antibiotics, but you need to make your own
decision.

Casper seems to be doing better and has gained back some
weight during the past week. She's recovering from IBD
and doesn't need Prednisone that much any more but this
probably has nothing to do with blood in the urine.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

wrote:

My cat Casper had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago
and the vet told me that she had a high level of red
blood cell in her urine.

After 1 week of Clavamox the level was still high
and the urine culture results came back negative,
i.e. they weren't able to grow anything.

So my vet is saying that she probably has an infection
in the kidneys and wants her to take Enrofloxacin.

Today I faxed him the following article :

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00528.htm

"Enrofloxacin has recently been associated with retinal
degeneration in cats at the recommended dose rate.
Affected cats present with rapid onset of blindness
after systemic enrofloxacin administration. Affected
cats have typical lesions of retinal degeneration.
Discontinuation of enrofloxacin as soon as visual
problems are noted may result in improvement in vision
in some, but not all cases. No doubt guidelines will
be forthcoming regarding the use of enrofloxacin in
cats in view of increasing numbers of anecdotal adverse
reaction reports as well as published data or its
potential toxicity."

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

What would you do in this situation ?

I don't want to start another argument over the comparative safety of Baytril
vs. Orbax, but if it were me, I wouldn't panic over the use of Baytril. As
your vet notes, it has been used safely with millions of cats, even at much
higher dosages than the newly recommended guidelines. And there is evidence
that with some types of organisms, Baytril is more effective than Orbax, if I
recall.

However, I wonder how your vet took the urine sample. If he used a needle, that
can introduce some blood into the sample. Did he take another sample?

If you are leery of Baytril, you can insist your vet prescribe something else.
On the other hand, you can also decide to trust your vet's expertise. That's
what I did when one of my cats once was prescribed Baytril for an infection
that did not respond to other antibiotics, but you need to make your own
decision.

Casper seems to be doing better and has gained back some
weight during the past week. She's recovering from IBD
and doesn't need Prednisone that much any more but this
probably has nothing to do with blood in the urine.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

wrote:

My cat Casper had her teeth cleaned a few weeks ago
and the vet told me that she had a high level of red
blood cell in her urine.

After 1 week of Clavamox the level was still high
and the urine culture results came back negative,
i.e. they weren't able to grow anything.

So my vet is saying that she probably has an infection
in the kidneys and wants her to take Enrofloxacin.

Today I faxed him the following article :

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00528.htm

"Enrofloxacin has recently been associated with retinal
degeneration in cats at the recommended dose rate.
Affected cats present with rapid onset of blindness
after systemic enrofloxacin administration. Affected
cats have typical lesions of retinal degeneration.
Discontinuation of enrofloxacin as soon as visual
problems are noted may result in improvement in vision
in some, but not all cases. No doubt guidelines will
be forthcoming regarding the use of enrofloxacin in
cats in view of increasing numbers of anecdotal adverse
reaction reports as well as published data or its
potential toxicity."

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

What would you do in this situation ?

I don't want to start another argument over the comparative safety of Baytril
vs. Orbax, but if it were me, I wouldn't panic over the use of Baytril. As
your vet notes, it has been used safely with millions of cats, even at much
higher dosages than the newly recommended guidelines. And there is evidence
that with some types of organisms, Baytril is more effective than Orbax, if I
recall.

However, I wonder how your vet took the urine sample. If he used a needle, that
can introduce some blood into the sample. Did he take another sample?

If you are leery of Baytril, you can insist your vet prescribe something else.
On the other hand, you can also decide to trust your vet's expertise. That's
what I did when one of my cats once was prescribed Baytril for an infection
that did not respond to other antibiotics, but you need to make your own
decision.

Casper seems to be doing better and has gained back some
weight during the past week. She's recovering from IBD
and doesn't need Prednisone that much any more but this
probably has nothing to do with blood in the urine.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Alison Perera wrote:
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use
on cats long enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is
pretty expensive though. I would also be wary of Baytril,
and I am disappointed with your vet's resistance to your
concerns.

-Alison in OH

My vet doesn't have Orbifloxacin in stock but I just called
an animal hospital in the area and found that they have it
(but the technician I talked to had never heard of Zeniquin).

Has anybody seen any evidence that Orbifloxacin is safer than
Enrofloxacin ? If you could refer me to a web site showing
the studies that would be even better.

Thanks again.

Alison Perera wrote:
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use
on cats long enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is
pretty expensive though. I would also be wary of Baytril,
and I am disappointed with your vet's resistance to your
concerns.

-Alison in OH

My vet doesn't have Orbifloxacin in stock but I just called
an animal hospital in the area and found that they have it
(but the technician I talked to had never heard of Zeniquin).

Has anybody seen any evidence that Orbifloxacin is safer than
Enrofloxacin ? If you could refer me to a web site showing
the studies that would be even better.

Thanks again.

Alison Perera wrote:
wrote:

I asked him if Orbifloxacin (recommended by Phil) is safer
but he said that there are not enough statistics to show
that it is safer. He said there are a lot more statistics
on Enrofloxacin because it's been used on millions of cats
during the past 10 years. So I told him that I wanted to
think about it for a few days.

Another fluoroquinolone is Zeniquin, which has been in use
on cats long enough (perhaps) to satisfy your vet. It is
pretty expensive though. I would also be wary of Baytril,
and I am disappointed with your vet's resistance to your
concerns.

-Alison in OH

My vet doesn't have Orbifloxacin in stock but I just called
an animal hospital in the area and found that they have it
(but the technician I talked to had never heard of Zeniquin).

Has anybody seen any evidence that Orbifloxacin is safer than
Enrofloxacin ? If you could refer me to a web site showing
the studies that would be even better.

Thanks again.