Is giving your Dog Antibiotics a Few Hours Early Ok?

The world is growing….

But unfortunately, a lot of these changes are scary and nightmarish for both pets and their parents. With almost dozens of new variants of microbes and diseases popping every now and then, ensuring their safety and happiness has become the time’s demand. So, if your pooch has been lately getting some treatment, you might want to be more mindful of the dosage and timing.

Dog antibiotics all come in several powerful combinations. So while 8-10 hours is usually okay, if the gap is any lesser than that, giving your dog antibiotics a few hours early is never wise.

The medications may cause severe side-effects or show no good results at all, as their body is already going through some changes during the gap. To know more, let’s dive into the subject, without further ado.

What are Dog antibiotics?

Just similar to their name, Dog antibiotics are medications that are specifically made for our four legged furry partners. They kill maleficent microbes, mostly bacteria, from deep inside the body, thereby stopping the condition from worsening overally.

Pet antibiotics are available in many forms, just like human-made ones. This includes oral tablets, liquid solutions and even injection formulas. Each of these forms differ from each other in chemical composition and are usually given as per the severity of the health condition. Similarly, their after-result rate also varies from one another, with injected formulas starting to work much faster than the rest methods.

How do Pet antibiotics work?

When consumed, the components inside the drug instantly pass on to the bloodstream to reach the site faster. Once there, the pet antibiotics then recognize, target and destroy all infected cells along with the underlying cause, i.e., the bacteria. This as a result, aids in slowing down their rapid replication process, until the next dosage is administered.

Thus, in short, these medications are external supporting factors for the canine’s natural immune system. They disrupt the normal mechanism of the infected cells as they break down their protective layering. This in turn, exposes them to the natural T-cell mechanism inside the pooch’s body, which finally gets rid of the foreign infestation, aiding them to return to their previous health.

Are they safe for usage?

Depending upon their power, a dog antibiotic can differ from the other in both functioning as well as their side-effects. However, they are rather safe when used properly and in the right dosage.

These antibiotics never target normal cells and are specially designed to only attack on the bacterial cells, and hence help with stopping the infection from further spreading. Generally pet antibiotics are of two types-

• Bactericidal antibiotics- These antibiotics work by targeting the bacterial cell walls.

• Bacteriostatic antibiotics- These medications specifically recognize the infected cells by their extraordinary replication procedures and then proceed further by destroying them.

To prevent backfiring, it is very important to refer a vet for the same. They are qualified and have the required experience to help your little one out without subjecting them to even more discomfort. 

Why is it so essential to stick to the dosage and timing guidelines for Canine antibiotics?

As every pet antibiotic that comes across has live or dead attenuated microbes, pet parents will need to be very careful with their usage. This is because even though all of the contents are genetically modified to help build the woofer’s body resistance to the cause, anything extreme is never good.

Moreover, these dosages are decided based upon the pooch’s age, health condition, body immune capacity, and various major factors. The doctor has to run the sample through various tests before coming to a conclusion, which when disrupted could create added consequences.

Reportedly, some antibiotics are also known to cause vomiting, diarrhea, or other digestion issues, and hence are needed to be handled carefully. A pet parent needs to strictly adhere to the dosage and timing gap for the medications to work successfully, or else in the end they are just adding to the canine’s discomfort.

Now that we know that these medicines come with their own basket of pros and cons, here’s a few things every pet owner needs to know about them.

Must-know facts about Antibiotics

• Antibiotics are for treating bacterial diseases only

A common popular misconception that almost 70 percent of the pet parents have is that ‘a dog antibiotic is a cure-all.’ But, NO, THEY ARE NOT!!! Canine Antibiotics, as we said previously are for bacteria only and hence they will be effective against bacterial diseases only.

For instance, if your pooch is running a flu (which is a viral disease) giving them antibiotics won’t work out at all. Your pooch will only end up with an upset stomach, having congested such powerful drugs. So, don’t try to be a ‘Veterinarian’ by yourself and get your pooch checked up if they are down with anything.

• Using the right antibiotic

While in the first fact we discussed how antibiotics are only successful on bacterial diseases and infections, another thing to remember when dealing with them is that each one of them carries a particular function. Not every medicine will act upon a canine urinary tract infection, and hence consulting with your vets is an absolute must.

This way you won’t be overdosing your furry baby with irrelevant medications or hampering their comfort.

• They have side-effects

Another major fact many pet parents tend to forget is that dog antibiotics like any other chemically formulated drugs come bearing side-effects. The only reason why they work is when they are given the right dosage at the right time for treating a particular health condition. Without all of these, a pooch can easily develop a very bad case of diarrhea, vomiting, have severe lethargy, or in worst cases even have convulsions and seizures.

These could severely hamper the pooch’s condition, requiring emergency professional care to pull them out safely from such situations.

• Sharing human-specific pills

Even though you might have seen the same kind of tablets or pills being given to our four-legged partners, there’s a huge difference in their compositions. Usually prescribed based upon the pet, infection severity and their weight, even the most commonly used pet antibiotics like penicillin, amoxicillin, and tetracycline come in different composing values for humans and canines.

Hence, despite the fact that you may be cutting the pill in half, to supposedly lower the antibiotic’s power, it may still be too strong for their bodies. This could end up creating huge expenses and tremendous stress on the pooch, so why even risk it!!!

• The right dosage is the key

Until now it must have been completely clear that canine antibiotics work by killing harmful bacteria at the intended site, right??? So, the next thing to remember is that a specific dosage is highly crucial for the results to show up as desired.

Although sometimes some pet owners may try to save expenses on medical bills by cutting down the prescribed dosage of their pooches, this practice is never good. A little or too much of the antibiotics could have no effect on the infection or could actually worsen up the whole scenario a thousand times more. So, to ensure the happiness of your dog, it’s better to strictly adhere to everything that the vet has prescribed, starting from the very dosage to every other crucial thing.

Dog antibiotics and their dosage frequency can be a tricky thing for most owners. Therefore, to make sure the infection or disease is being properly taken care of without inflicting more discomfort or pain, sticking to the vet prescribed timing is the best choice.

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