Are too many courses of ABs harmful?

Actually, it is immaterial to Jimmi whether this is the case or not as it is the only way to manage his paws, but I wondered if anyone else has a dog that has to have frequent courses of ABs, and whether it has caused problems.

With Jimmi, he can sometimes go for three or four months with no problems, and therefore no ABs - but then, like currently, he can have several flare ups of his paw problems in a very short space of time and each time he has at least a ten day course, if not a fourteen day one. It never seems to affect him, and seems to do the job in that the swollen skin between his pads doesn't go on to develop an abscess - so it is the right way to go. Still, I wonder whether one day they will cease to have effect, or cause problems.

I too have wondered this as Flash has been on 5 courses of abs in 4 months. I too didn't have a choice as my dog kept getting a nasty form of gastroenteritis so in effect they saved his life. Initially my vet gave me different types but there was only one type that worked really well on the condition he kept getting.

There are a lot of comments on this subject on the www but I found one really interesting article http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/iss...cs_5612-1.html and it seems the crucial thing is to give pro-biotics which of course does make sense. If any of my family are on antibiotics we always take Yakult or one of the pro-biotic yoghurts while we are taking the tablets and never suffer from upset tums.

I did give Flash a spoonful of live yoghurt while taking them last time.
I'll keep an eye on this thread as I'll be really interested to read what others think.

I suppose you are between a rock and a hard place there Sally and neither choice is ideal.

I agree Lynn sometimes we have no choice and the alternative could be worse. My dog is prone to skin infections (staph) and has had quite a few long term courses of ABs over the last couple of years. Piriton has no effect ditto Malaseb shampoos and he's quite miserable with all the scratching and chewing of his legs and his lymph glands are always up. I think the next step will be to test his thyroid but my vet wants him on ABs for at least ) weeks so we have to go with it.

Both my dogs and my cat are given either plain yoghourt, kefir or Entrodex probiotic powder practically every day as a normal part of their diet.

The main problem with antibiotics is that they're a "kill all or cure all" in that they not only kill off all the offending bacteria but also the good ones as well and giving a good probiotic helps to redress the balance.

As a Shar-Pei owner ... a breed that is prone to many health problems .... probiotics are an absolute must and an easy and inexpensive way to help keep my girl healthy.

I was the same as Twix, with a dog with terrible skin conditions, and over the years, he had many courses of ab's, sometimes lasting a month. In his older years, when he got cushings and had demodectic mange, then the vet said it was the only wtg to put him on a daily ab for weeks on end. After a couple of months, we started going one week on them and one week off and it seemed to work, otherwise, I'm afraid it would have been the end for him because the mange was taking over due to the cushings.

My current dog is on an antibiotic every, single day at the moment! One metronidazole 400 mg she has been taking for well over a year now, but again, it's her life saver, because it controls her irritable bowel.

I do give her live yoghurt now and again, but I also know that whilst you are ON ab's this does no good whatsoever, as the good bacteria stands no chance of establishing itself, when the next ab hits the gut. I have always given pro biotics after a course of ab's, but of course, I can't do that currently when my dog is taking one a day.

I do believe the vets and doctors are right, in that one day, these critters we are killing off will be able to build up enough resistance to our current ab's, due to over-usage, they are already saying we need to find new ones as a lot of them are now failing.

Pereg has one of These every day while I am sorting out her first [wet] meal. It would be cheaper to buy the powder and sprinkle it on her food but she thinks all pills are a treat and will sit happily waiting for me to get her meal ready - and she enjoys her meal enough as it is!

It's always best to minimise use if possible, but if you need them, you need them.

Here are a couple of articles on antibiotics that might deal with some of your concerns:

http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-hea...e#.Us_AA_RdUuc

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/iss...cs_5612-1.html

Harmful? Probably no more harmful than any other lab produced chemicals (flea drops etc.) we're giving our dogs.

However, I assume that if dogs are anything like people... after a while they can simply lose their effectiveness.

When humans need one course after another they usually change the type or strength to stop them becoming ineffective.

I don't think you have much option to be honest. Lesser of two evils.

I once had to be on ABs for a protracted period because of a very persistent ear infection (more than a year it lasted and that ear still ain't 'right') I did use the probiotics and was advised to do so on account of the ABs knocking out the 'good' stuff along with the bad and resulting in other probs, including thrush.