Can I give antibiotics to my cat?

The felines are susceptible to contract multiple diseases and many of them of bacterial origin, perhaps they are a group of risk since among their main features stands out an independent behavior that translates into life outside the home, where the owner can not control any factor that increase the risk of a bacterial infection.

As with humans, cats should receive treatment in the case of contracting a disease of these characteristics, and treatment in the case of a bacterial infection should be done through antibiotic drugs.

But does that mean I can give antibiotics to my cat? This is the question we answer in this article.

How do antibiotics work in cats?

Administering an antibiotic drug to a cat is not a banal issue, since these drugs have a very defined mechanism of action that can cause damage to the body of the animal Next we will observe that antibiotics can have two mechanisms of action to treat the pathology of our cat:

• Bacteriostatic action: The antibiotic works by inhibiting the proliferation of bacteria.

• Bactericidal action: The antibiotic works by destroying the bacteria that cause the infection.

Depending on the nature of the antibiotic it is possible that the drug ends destroying part of the intestinal flora of the cat, formed by beneficial bacteria, but that the antibiotic is not able to distinguish from those that are causing the pathology.

What are the antibiotics that can be given to a cat?

Generally cats (as well as dogs) receive antibiotics approved for human use, being the best known Amoxicillin, although we can also mention other active ingredients such as doxycycline or cephalexin.

However, the first reason why you can not administer any antibiotic to your cat, lies in the differences between human physiology and feline physiology. That is, our body metabolizes each antibiotic in a certain way, but the cat metabolizes it in a different way, which implies obligatorily a Adaptation of the dose.

The second reason why you can not administer antibiotics to your cat is that not all of them act in the same way or against the same bacteria, in addition, although many human antibiotics are used in pets, some can be potentially toxic for these.

Can I give my cat amoxicillin?

We have seen that there are several antibiotics for humans that are commonly used in cats and dogs, one of the most commonly used being amoxicillin. Therefore it is a frequent mistake looking for information about the dose needed of amoxicillin for a cat and proceed to its administration, let’s see why:

Amoxicillin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which indicates that it acts against a large number of bacteria. If your cat has an infection caused by a bacteria resistant to amoxicillin, Something very serious will happen: the bacteria that are part of your cat’s organism will be destroyed and the bacteria that cause the infection will proliferate without any bacterial competition, aggravating the pathology in a very dangerous way.

Amoxicillin, as well as any antibiotic drug, should be prescribed by a veterinarian, because in the event that the infection does not remit with a broad spectrum antibiotic, in the veterinary clinic they will proceed to perform an antibiogram, a test that determines which antibiotics the infectious bacterium can be attacked with.

You can not give any kind of medication to your cat

Regardless of whether we are talking about veterinary drugs or drugs indicated for human consumption, it is as common as it is wrong for you to medicate your cat yourself, since the only trained person to prescribe a pharmacological treatment to our pets is the vet.

If you give your cat inappropriate medicines you put your life in danger, which can cause serious poisoning, in addition, you can mask a serious illness that requires urgent veterinary attention.

This article is merely informative, in .com we do not have the faculty to prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We invite you to take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.

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