Folks should also know that flea meds and collars are equally dangerous.
My wife sprayed some otc flea meds on a comb (just that tiny bit) and the cat had a stroke
first question from the vet was what Otc med did you use?
I believe the FDA did try to ban all OTC flea meds and collars
If you have a flea collar on your cat take it off now.
The people who manufacture these meds could care less how many animals they kill
Use food grade DE to help with fleas
Iâm glad he is okđ youâre welcome. As you know convenia stays in the body for 64 days so you need to keep monitoring him during this time and I would keep him on the probiotoc too. The reason people think probiotics may help is they suspect that convenia rapidly kills all good and bad bacteria causing many of these adverse reactions. It is especially bad in a cat who is already compromised in any major way, although even cats with minor or no issues( given for dentals to prevent infection) have died from one injection. Angie had cancer it turned out- the necropsy showed this- so she should never have been given this drug with a weakened immune system⌠her dvm had no idea what was causing her illness and they not only gave her a very dangerous drug, they gave her something which was not a treatment for her illness with no clear evidence of a bacterial infection. Convenia did her in and gave her no chance of survival.
So sorry about your kittyđż I knew about the otc flea meds. In addition I would warn people not to use any of the flea meds.
They are all dangerous poisons. I stopped using them and only gave my cats a bath if needed. I had never used them in the past and only started using them when we got Syb who was long haired and we had an infestation. After a period I stopped using them and gave her a haircut in spring and baths when needed which worked just as well. I believe the flea poisons caused cancer in 3 of my cats and may have contributed to my own ill health as well.
When I brought Quinn home, he had fleas, the breeder had been giving him the oral flea drug because she had a flea problem but it didnât work. She said to give him a bath which I wish I had done. I was worried because he was so young so I took to dvm and they put flea poison on, he vomited immediately after we came home and started having digestive issues and more. No more treatments ever again. I have finally figured out and stopped his issues now I hope with a home cooked diet. You can control fleas by washing all bedding etc. vacuuming everything and baths as needed. Keeping cats indoors helps too.
I donât quite agree with the baths - I have two cats in the house and never had a bath in 16 years -
the otc meds that do work Advantage etc only basically work once and then are useless
My wife just combs them a couple times a day to control the fleas and sometimes food grade DE
A funny story - I once saw a picture on a photo site - the guy took a picture of his cat for the website and it had a flea collar on. So I emailed him. He emailed me and said he knows about the danger, but the cat screams if he takes it off. He said it had been washed about 20 times so the poison should be out.
VAn indoor only cat prolly wonât need any treatment. I never used to do any treatment for my shorthair indoor outdoor cats except a bath in the summer. I was thinking of indoor/ outdoor cats which my last generation were mostly. I donât do any treatment now for my young guy at all. Advantage is not as dangerous prolly immediately as the old otc ones like Hartz in terms of it can kill you right away like the hartz collars can. It used to be not otc so I still think of it as that. I think there is a new collar that is rx and which may be dangerous too.
I forgot to say I think that he should just but a regular collar for his catđš
Thank you so much for posting this.
MY CAT JUST DIED 6 DAYS AFTER BEING CONVENIA. THE VET GAVE IT TO HER KNOWING HER CREATANINE LEVEL WAS AT 4.4 AND HER BUN WAS 50. I AM DEVASTATED!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE I ALLOWED THE VET TO GIVE THIS TO HER. SHE WAS A VERY HEALTHY CAT WHO JUST TURNED 19. SHE WAS ALWAYS EATING AND WAKING ME UP TO FEED HER. SUDDENLY WHEN SHE TOOK THIS AND A FEW DAYS LATER SHE DRANK WATER PROFUSELY AS IT CAUSED HER KIDNEYS TO SHUT DOWN. HOW DO WE SUE CONVENIA AND GET THIS CRAP AWAY!!!
That sucks, meee. Everyone needs to be more cautious will all drugs. Its hard to know what is in anything anymore. https://www.amazon.com/China-Rx-Exposing-Americas-Dependence/dp/1633883817
I am so sorry 
please report this to the fda and to Zoetis, that is the only way to get this off the market. Go to their websites and report it and tell your dvm to report it as well. Warn everyone you know and others not to allow the use of Convenia. Hugs to you. There is no class action suit yet but there has been talk of it, but that was several years ago.
It is unacceptable and unconscionable giving this awful drug to very ill cats and dogs or to any cats and dogs, there are plenty of safe alternatives . I know how you feel and my thoughts are with you, please try not to blame yourself.
Yes, I think most drugs from china are ok though? They need to be tested / monitored. One of my fatherâs bp drugs was recalled,but he had not received any of the contaminated lots. While convenia will never be safe no matter where it is made.
azathioprine
Itâs an immune suppressing drug be wary of it.
Another one to watch out for is azathioprine vets indiscriminately give it without knowing what it actually can do. My dog had a sudden blood disorder and she might have died anyway. But the vet put her on azathioprine and he didnât watch her reticulocyte count go almost to zero and he didnât have a clue what that meant, which is it was killing off her bone marrow. This happens to 10% of the dogs itâs given too, no small number to not know what to be checking for.
Forget suing vets in Calif, no matter what proof you have. The next specialist said theyâve seen it a few times that itâs a too often mistake. I had it written from the next specialist vet that drug toxicity had caused her bone marrow to shut down, even a bone biopsy to prove it. But you have to get another vet into court to actually be there and testify in front of a judge and good luck with that.
Unfortunately because of the way they changed the system now, vets virtually have a free pass on not being held accountable for anything they do wrong.
I am so sorry Marie 
for your loss and how terrible your dvm did that to your baby . It is such a trauma. I agree it is very difficult to sue individually or even to have any recourse at all. Thanks for warning us. I am going to look it up and warn dog owners about it. 10% is horrific.
I am a veterinarian and a diabetic myself.
I am sorry for your loss, but in your own post the diagnosis is there, and it has nothing to do with the Convenia. Nothing. Iâm sorry. I know you want to blame someone for your loss, or so it seems, but you wrote that the necropsy showed âit turned out that Angie also had cholangiocarcinoma of the liver and bile duct as well as an acute myeloid leukemia reactionâ. This is not an unimportant finding. THIS IS THE CAUSE OF DEATH. Cholanigocarinoma of the liver / bile ducts is a very serious cancer and takes months not days to develop. It was not caused by Convenia. It is caused by those genetic / aging / immune system changes that cause cancer in all beings. And the leukemia "reaction"you describe is coming from that.
Yes, Conenia, like all drugs, has a down side, and should never be given without owner consent. However, would you the disparage the use of penicillin even though yes, itâs true, people have died from reacting to it. It has saved millions of human and animal lives.
For some people who cannot give their cats medicine, Convenia is a God-send. Do not post irresponsible things like âit is a dangerous drugâ when it is not at all what killed your beloved Angelina. that is just the truth. Every drug, every food, every vaccine carries a risk of reaction and sometimes those reactions are fatal. But in this case, this is not what killed your cat, by your very own words.
The user that posted about azathioprine-- yes, this is a chemotherapy drug, so itâs side effect are more of concern than a cepholosporin antibiotic like Convenia. It should not be given lightly, and should never be used for diseases that can be treated without it. Chemotherapy drugs kill bad cells, but the good cells get killed, too. During my chemo, my acupuncturist told me: âThe goal of chemo is to kill the cancer and hopefully not kill the person. Sometimes it kills the cancer. Sometimes it kills the person.â
Azathioprine works "By inhibiting purine synthesis, less DNA and RNA are produced for the synthesis of white blood cells, thus causing immunosuppression. " Azathioprine - Wikipedia
Any drug that alters DNA / RNA synthesis, as many chemo drugs do, are very serious drugs with very, very serious potential side effects. They are not used for a bladder infection , but only for life threatening disease.
You are completely wrong. Convenia played a big role in her death- it has caused many deaths in cats and dogs and it should be removed from the market. The fact that you are a dvm and you are one not aware of how dangerous this drug is, and are two trying ti diagnose what happened with my girl from an online post says a lot about you and your ability to practice and to do no harm to your patients. This drug needs to be taken off the market. There are plenty of other antibiotics which are safe and which can be stopped if there is a reaction. Convenia will never be safe so I urge everyone to spread this info and to never use it.
Editing this to add that dvm, such as you say you are, are giving it without âinformedâ consent everyday, which is malpractice, by failing to tell their clients of the numerous serious side effects Including death. They are also giving it without consent at all which is pretty common and which is also malpractice and which should be illegal. Unfortunately convenia is a moneymaker. One it is very expensive, and two, If it is not used quickly after it is prepared it will go bad, thus dvm office are pushing it in their clients. My dvmâs office were pushing it on me and others and they tried to get me to use it at least twice before diagnosing my girlâs condition, something which was never done until I did a necropsy on her at Cornell after her death from this drug.
Convenia is frequently given to cats and dogs who are very ill, often with an undiagnosed or several undiagnosed conditions and who are already very compromised which is even more dangerous, but it has also been given to cats and dogs who have a minor issue such as a scratch or who are having a dental, and many of them have had serious consequences including death.
I learned a few years ago that my now former dvm later gave it to another cat at the practice without informed consent and pushed it on them even though the owner said their pet sitter could give a daily pill in pill pockets. She also lied to them saying she had never had any convenia reactions and she thought it was all stories. I specifically discussed with her what had happened and that she should not use this drug anymore, she was very upset and asked what she could use- I said the antibiotics which are proven to be safe and which can be stopped if there is a reaction. It is a shame she did not listen and ended up causing the death of another cat who was not very ill to start with. The owner told me she planned to make a complaint but I donât know if she did and I know the system is stacked against the patient in such cases even when grave harm has been caused.
Anyone who uses any logic will know that a drug such as this which can cause frequent adverse reactions and which stays in the system too long will never be safe.
@MRB-DVM I never said Azathioprine was for a bladder infection. It was an auto immune blood disorder. And yes I know immune suppressing drugs can be dangerous. In this case Azathioprine causes 10% of dogs who receive the drug to get bone marrow suppression and it is recommended initially when given the drug to have reticulocyte testing done weekly at first so it can be caught before it causes death from the drug.
The very first blood work that showed she had a blood disease she had a healthy reticulocyte count and his first test for reticulocyte levels was 3 weeks later and it was almost 0 and he never said a word about it or suggest Azathioprine even be stopped. But because my dog was doing poorly I took her to a specialist that immediately pointed out the problem, I even had a bone biopsy done but it was too late,
The vet with his negligence was the cause of the death of my dog, and there is no one that seems to be overseeing vets on a regular basis unless once they do something wrong you then can turn them into the veterinary board who will at least watch what they do while under investigation.
If you are going to use dangerous drugs on our beloved pets, the least you can do is learn about the drugs you prescribe. Especially when that drug isnât even on the ok to use veterinary list of drugs.
I did that and I suggest anyone that is suspicious about their vet not doing something right, turn them in to help protect other peoples pets.
I am not wrong and your cyber bashing will not stand against my 38 yrs of clinical experience. I didnât try to diagnose your pet from an online post. You posted the necropsy result. That is the diagnosis. I spend my whole entire life learning about the drugs I use and I do not use them indiscriminately. Every drug has potential side effects. Every single one. There is not one single drug in human or vet med that has not been linked to a serious event. I know that parents of a child that died from a sulfa or penicillin reaction would consider these drugs unsafe, but can you possibly say we would be better off without them as a population? I know more about these drugs than you assume I do because I am not just a Dvm but have taught pharmacology for nearly a decade.
It is sad that you feel the need to say I am bashing you instead of trying to learn something about a drug that you apparently donât know very much about even after studying and practicing for so long. I come from a family of medical and scientific background and even though I am not a trained professional in those areas, I still clearly know a lot more about it than you do. This is my last reply to you and I would ask that you stop posting to this post. You are not welcome.
Thanks meee!! I for one am very glad you bought this to my attention. Vetenery mal practice (for lack of a better term) is worse only than human medicine. There are so many dangerous drugs given to dogs and cats its unbelievable. I am certain I know the reason for this , in fact you can trace most of the truly bad back to one cause, of which I wont talk about here in public. I am adding covenia to the list of drugs my cat is âalergicâ to. I have done some research now on it and never want it near mt cat (or anyones cat). Thanks again meee.
It doesnt matter how much experience you have if you donât have the wherewithal to process the information. As is the case far too often in science, your stance essentually amounts to an argumentum ab auctoritate, or an argument to authority, a logical fallacy. Like the derivative in mathematical calculus, we can train a machine to find the slope of a curve, what we canât do is have a machine physically draw a tangent line to a curve and interpret that result intuitively. Your of the first kind, trained, for good or bad, unlike newton a true genius who discovered the calculus. Your not even a developer of the drug, let alone a scientist in charge of a double blind study. Youâve given some animals the drug, lets not equate that to giving you any authority on the matter now shall we. You also clearly lack any tact, even if you were correct (your not) your morally indefensible.