If you have a pet dog, there are chances
that it will require some kind of antibiotic for dogs once in a while.
The requirement of antibiotics might be for curing infection or treating
injury of any kind. Antibiotics can be used on dogs very safely if the
drug is the correct one, you maintain the right dosage and the
treatment is carried out for the right period. Basically antibiotics
for dogs should be use to eliminate the infection before the dog can
develop any kind of resistance to it. Often times antibiotics for dogs
are used as a safeguard against disease.
When using antibiotics for dogs it is important that the duration of
the application should be adequate. For example, it has been seen that
for best result antibiotic should be administered for 12 days for better
results. However a minimum of seven days of antibiotic medication
should be maintained for optimum results.
Suppose you are treating your dog for some injury, it is critical
that antibiotics for dogs should be given for the correct duration. If
after a couple of days if the dog starts to look better, you should not
stop administering the drug. It is generally recommended that the drug
should continue for at least three more days even after the dog seems to
have recovered. If you cut down on the length of the treatment, the
drugs might not work in the long run. Therefore antibiotics for dogs
should be used adequately in terms of dosage and length of treatment.
The ground rule for treating an injured dog is to first wash the
wound thoroughly with some antiseptic liquid and then start using
antibiotics for dogs immediately. What type of drug you use will largely
depend on the type of injury the dog has sustained. If the dog has been
bitten by a groundhog, you need to wash the wound thoroughly and apply
beta-iodine on it which will be sufficient for the dog to recover. But
on the other hand if the wound is big you need to use either cephalexin,
clavamox or amoxicillin as a precautionary measure as first aid. Watch
it for about four days; if the above antibiotics do not work you have to
start the treatment all over again with some stronger antibiotic. Some
of the popular drugs are described below for your knowledge.
- Amoxicillin – this is an all purpose antibiotic that is inexpensive. This has to be administered at 10 mg per pound of body weight of the dog at an interval of 8 to 12 hours. However the antibiotic is not effective against staph infection.
- Clavamox – though similar to amoxicillin it is stranger and effective against staph infection. This is a good all purpose antibiotic as it can treat ear and respiratory infections as well. This is given orally with a dosage of 6.25 mg per pound body weight. This is available in pre-packaged strips of 62.5 mg for 10-pound puppies, 125 mg for dogs of 20 pounds and 250 mg for dogs of 40 pounds.
- Penicillin – this is used when you don’t have any option left as it is not very effective against most infections, especially if it is in the capsule form. Not at all effective against staph infection. If you do not have any effective antibiotic at hand in an emergency you can use it for the time being while a stronger one is being fetched.
- Cephalexin – this one is the best for wound infections. It is cheap and can be bought over the counter in oral form. Depending on the degree of the wound the dosage can be between 10 and 15 mg per pound at and interval of 8 to 12 hours.
If you have a dog you need to keep Clavamox or Cephalexin in your vet kit positively, you never know when you will need them.
