Reconstituting medicine

[sweetpea]

Hello all. Just wondering if anyone has reconstituted medication before.

I have Doxycycline with a dosage of 0.8ml to 30ml of water but the doxycycline is a powder. It seems odd that the vet didn't say I have to add water to the bottle to make up the mixture, before drawing up the 0.8ml. Especially odd that I haven't come across this before, given the amount of medicine I've had to deal with over the years...

I'll ring the vet tomorrow to confirm but I feel a bit stupid asking!

[Marianne Marlow]

I've not had to add water to medicine for budgies before. But Eve has had a lot of antibiotics and it does come in a powder format and have had to make it up with water. Amoxicillin and co-amoxiclav so far.

Sorry, that isn't helpful

[Marianne Marlow]

Once the meds we have had are made up, they have 14 days to be used (stored in fridge) and then have to be chucked out.

[Hezz]

Very remiss of the vet not to give you reconstituting instructions, or possibly the vet nurse made a mistake. I would definitely get very definitive instructions from the vet as any mistake could cause an over-dose. Our budgies are too little be be able to cope with that.

[blueelephant]

I've had to do this before. Definitely need instructions from the vet. It my be that the active ingredient in the medicine fades with time once hydrated so you can't make up a bulk load and store it. I had to make up new medicine every three days. Definitely ask the vet lots of questions including where you should be storing the powder and the liquid. They may need to go in the fridge.

[sweetpea]

Thanks Marianne Marlow, Hezz & blueelephant. I did also wonder how long I can keep it for, once I add the water, although now I look, I can see that on the box it says keep in the fridge for up to 30 days. I've dropped an email to the vet about it (hate making phone calls!)

I've really dragged my heels over this medicine. I know it's an antibiotic, so should be safe (with correct dosage) but I wish the medication (in general) wasn't so hit & miss, although I know that can't really be avoided without the extensive tests that I usually refuse.

[Ira]

Aug 15, 2023 9:53:55 GMT sweetpea said:

Thanks Marianne Marlow, Hezz & blueelephant. I did also wonder how long I can keep it for, once I add the water, although now I look, I can see that on the box it says keep in the fridge for up to 30 days. I've dropped an email to the vet about it (hate making phone calls!)

I've really dragged my heels over this medicine. I know it's an antibiotic, so should be safe (with correct dosage) but I wish the medication (in general) wasn't so hit & miss, although I know that can't really be avoided without the extensive tests that I usually refuse.

You should have had reconstituting instructions, yeah.

From that I would assume that they mean for you to add 30ml of water, and then draw up the 0.8ml from that.

Because 0.8mg in 30ml would be an odd way to discuss medicine strength.

But, that's beside the point, because the instructions should be unambiguous.

Hope they get back to you soon.

[sweetpea]

Aug 15, 2023 15:49:33 GMT Ira said:

Aug 15, 2023 9:53:55 GMT sweetpea said:

Thanks Marianne Marlow , Hezz & blueelephant . I did also wonder how long I can keep it for, once I add the water, although now I look, I can see that on the box it says keep in the fridge for up to 30 days. I've dropped an email to the vet about it (hate making phone calls!)

I've really dragged my heels over this medicine. I know it's an antibiotic, so should be safe (with correct dosage) but I wish the medication (in general) wasn't so hit & miss, although I know that can't really be avoided without the extensive tests that I usually refuse.

You should have had reconstituting instructions, yeah.

From that I would assume that they mean for you to add 30ml of water, and then draw up the 0.8ml from that.

Because 0.8mg in 30ml would be an odd way to discuss medicine strength.

But, that's beside the point, because the instructions should be unambiguous.

Hope they get back to you soon.

Thanks Ira . Yes, draw up the 0.08ml (I mistyped 0.8 earlier) from the 30ml that has been added to the powder.

The nurse confirmed it. She also said that boiled water would be ok for the 30ml, as it said to use 'purified' water.

Hopefully now it's onwards & upwards!

[Ira]

0.08ml is a much more sensible sounding dose.

Glad it got sorted out!

[Hezz]

Glad they got back to you quickly sweetpea. This shouldn’t be something you needed to clarify because of the harmful effects that a misunderstanding could cause. As a responsible citizen it might be worth pointing this out to them so that other people may not make a mistake. What can be clear to those who use all the time can not always be so to the uninitiated.

[sweetpea]

Aug 16, 2023 0:20:52 GMT Hezz said:

Glad they got back to you quickly sweetpea. This shouldn’t be something you needed to clarify because of the harmful effects that a misunderstanding could cause. As a responsible citizen it might be worth pointing this out to them so that other people may not make a mistake. What can be clear to those who use all the time can not always be so to the uninitiated.

To be fair to them, the reconstituting instructions were on the medicine box. The problem was that I was not expecting it to be in that form, plus I haven't had it in that way before, so it would have been nice to have some warning.

Started on it today. The powder dissolved perfectly. Hoping it will help Finkleberry, but as usual, it's just a shot in the dark...

[Hezz]

Aug 16, 2023 11:38:47 GMT sweetpea said:

Aug 16, 2023 0:20:52 GMT Hezz said:

Glad they got back to you quickly sweetpea. This shouldn’t be something you needed to clarify because of the harmful effects that a misunderstanding could cause. As a responsible citizen it might be worth pointing this out to them so that other people may not make a mistake. What can be clear to those who use all the time can not always be so to the uninitiated.

To be fair to them, the reconstituting instructions were on the medicine box. The problem was that I was not expecting it to be in that form, plus I haven't had it in that way before, so it would have been nice to have some warning.

Started on it today. The powder dissolved perfectly. Hoping it will help Finkleberry, but as usual, it's just a shot in the dark...

If someone such as yourself hesitates and isn’t sure they have understood properly, you can be guaranteed that there a lot more folk out there going to make a mistake.

Whatever it is, I hope it works some magic on Finkleberry.