Convenia (14 day antibiotic in one convenient shot)

http://www.pfizerah.com/product_overview.aspx?drug=CN&country=US&lang=EN&species=CN

I began using Convenia with a minor surgical procedure. It was administered before the glider woke up, and I did not have to give any antibiotics by mouth. I thought that was FANTASTIC. So, I requested it with my next surgery (a leg amputation) and with a facial abscess. It worked splendidly in both cases and the healing time for the glider was very fast, as they were not given the added stress of me administering oral antibiotics daily.

I really think this will make a huge difference for many gliders and other animals. Please consider speaking to your vet about it!

Even though this drug is used by vets in dogs and cats often for skin-related infections, it treats the primary respiratory infection in rabbits and may replace Baytril in many instances.

Can this med be used with a pouch infection?

Convenia is a broad spectrum antibiotic, and works like other broad spectrum antibiotics in the system. It is not an antifungal, so it will not work in fungal infections (candidia and yeast infections), but will work on bacterial infections. As long as your glider does not have an allergy to penicillin or Cephalosporin, then it is worth a shot. It is effective against gram-positive and gram-negative Aerobic and Anaerobic bacteria, so if you are dealing with a bacterial infection, then it would likely be effective.

Convenia is an injection. Your vet administers it once, and it is effective for 14 days. A second injection can be given at 14 days if a longer course of antibiotics is desired or required. The drug is rapidly absorbed after injection, and does not undergo "hepatic metabolism", which means that it is not metabolized or altered by the liver. It is, rather, utilized and then excreted, unchanged, in the urine.

The major benefits to using Convenia are:
1) You have no worries about an entire dose being given. You know that the glider/animal is getting 100% of the prescribed dosage.

2) You do not have to stress your healing glider by giving oral antibiotics. Eliminating this one stressor could be very beneficial to the healing process (we will be discussing this at the RRRoundup in detail).

I believe that it is worth speaking to your vet about for treating ANY infection.

I think this is a huge innovation in treatment of infections in animals.