Has anyone used 50 cc of penicillin (1200# horse) per day ? Vet wants this dose, split to 25cc am & pm for 5 days. Horse has a fresh barbed wire injury. I’ve used this amount for a loading dose but not for 5 days…comments ??
Not excessive-- even a little on the low side.
(I am assuming the standard 300,000 IU/ml procaine penicillin G preparation).
Thank you…
60cc has been a typical dosage for me, twice a day, split into 2 each time, for 5-7 days depending on the issue.
Same assumption as Ghazzu
CYA, got it…just questioned dosage as the vet seemed to have to think about it and seemed unsure at first…brand new just out of vet school. Did a nice job with sutures but lousy at bandaging, pastern wrap was rolled up by the time we got home, not a big issue, easy to re-do. Horse is doing fine at day 3.
So at the fear of getting beat up here. Why would a vet prefer penicillin over orals such as Uniprim,Tuciprim or other injectables like Naxcel? I think we all now how dangerous it can be to give penicillin and I haven’t heard a vet in this area recommend it for years. (ok, except for one old cowboy vet that didn’t seem to care if the horse dropped dead) Is it just old medicine that some people still use it? Or just because it is cheap? Or better then others?
When I was doing rehab for a horse that had a major run-in with a smooth wire fence- vet hospital had me doing 60cc split in two twice a day.
[QUOTE=davistina67;5813184]
So at the fear of getting beat up here. Why would a vet prefer penicillin over orals such as Uniprim,Tuciprim or other injectables like Naxcel? I think we all now how dangerous it can be to give penicillin and I haven’t heard a vet in this area recommend it for years. (ok, except for one old cowboy vet that didn’t seem to care if the horse dropped dead) Is it just old medicine that some people still use it? Or just because it is cheap? Or better then others?[/QUOTE]
My vet wanted to use penicillin on my mare for a puncture wound that she had in her shoulder from a tree branch. The vet said she felt the penicillin would be the best and most affective for that type of injury. Unfortunately though my mare had a scary procaine reaction, and now the vet says this mare should never be given penicillin again. So we went with the oral pills, and thankfully the wound is now completely healed and the mare is sound 
[QUOTE=Firefilly;5818806]
My vet wanted to use penicillin on my mare for a puncture wound that she had in her shoulder from a tree branch. The vet said she felt the penicillin would be the best and most affective for that type of injury. Unfortunately though my mare had a scary procaine reaction, and now the vet says this mare should never be given penicillin again. So we went with the oral pills, and thankfully the wound is now completely healed and the mare is sound :)[/QUOTE]
I am just curious how many vets still use it and why. To my knowledge, and I’m not expert but there are as good and better antibiotics out there that don’t have the reactions. When I was young I saw two horses have reactions. SCARY! One died and the other lived but it ran through two fences and was all beat up. I remember the vet saying he had several horses die from penicillin shots. (vet was like 70 yrs old!)That was many many years ago. As a tech, we never used it as it was just too dangerous for the vets to risk it but didn’t know if it was a regional thing or what.
How did this work out for you? the vet had me give 50cc twice a day, she died after the first dose of 50cc… she was a 1800 pound horse so i guess thats why so much. she wasn’t tested to see if she had an allergy to the penicillin… I’ll never give another horse any though.
[QUOTE=Firefilly;5818806]
My vet wanted to use penicillin on my mare for a puncture wound that she had in her shoulder from a tree branch. The vet said she felt the penicillin would be the best and most affective for that type of injury. Unfortunately though my mare had a scary procaine reaction, and now the vet says this mare should never be given penicillin again. So we went with the oral pills, and thankfully the wound is now completely healed and the mare is sound :)[/QUOTE]
I too had a mare react violently to a shot of penicillin and will never administer it to another horse EVER. It was for some respiratory infection, I cannot recall now. Anywho, it was awful. I called the vet after (a person experienced in giving IM shots is who gave the shot) and when I told him whta happened, his response was “What is she doing now, is she still alive?” and I said “yes, she is up on her feet again.” and his advice: “Good, now make sure you never give that horse penicillin again…”
Instead of chancing it, I would do orals. Period.
My mare’s reaction was a violent seizure like response, instantly broke out in a sweat, increased respiratory rate, and she literally flipped over backwards, threw herself on the ground and was thrashing wildly for probably a few minutes. There were a bunch of us there, who were able to restrain her from getting up and doing it again. Once the violent seizuring stopped, she layed there for a minute, then shakily got up, and seemed exhausted. It was the scariest thing ever.
My mare died, too. I will never give ANY shot ever again. My heart just could not take that kind of pain of watching another horse die. :no:
Nobody just tests to see if a horse or human is allergic to penicillin (unless maybe it’s already known the creature is allergic to a great many things, and even then I don’t know if you CAN test for this allergy).
Animals can be allergic to all sorts for things and have an anaphylatic reaction and die. Peanuts can cause death in people highly allergic - did you get tested to see if you were allergic before you ever ate one? 
A “procaine reaction” could be from an allergic response (I don’t know) but usually it’s because some of it entered the blood stream, and when that’s the case, that’s not a reason not to give it again - just a good reason to make sure you’re in the muscle and only the muscle- aspiration is a good thing
Having a given horse die from a given antibiotic is not a reason to never use that again.
Since this thread was resurrected-- I have a question about dosing. It’s been eons since I’ve had to give penicillin, but I was always told not give more than 20cc in any one injection site. If you have to administer more than that, to split the dosage and give other half in different part of body. And I always rotated anyway since the meds would make the injection site so sore. (left neck, left butt, right butt, right neck, repeat) Is this still the “rule of thumb”, was it ever, or what is the recommended administration these days? (and knock on wood I don’t need the info anytime soon! :D)
[QUOTE=JB;6744541]
Having a given horse die from a given antibiotic is not a reason to never use that again.[/QUOTE]
I agree, but there are safer methods, like oral SMZs that eliminate the concern about getting the drug into the bloodstream versus only in the muscle with an IM injection.
When giving any medication, it is advisable to pull back in the plunger of the syringe after inserting the needle. If blood shows, back the needle out and use another angle. This avoids a separate “stick”. Again before injecting, pull back on the plunger. Anything else is bad technique.
Sadly, there is a lot of bad technique used giving injections, and the medication is blamed.
However, I will admit that if I can give a medication sublingually, I will. Penicillin cannot be given that way.
I’ve had two horses prescribed penicillan. The vet told me to alternate sites because it is painful. The first time I ever gave an injection of it was the last time. The stuff is like shooting your horse up with peanut butter. It was obviously painful. I asked the vet for something oral instead and was given it…the next time a vet tried to prescribe PC I again asked for an oral alternative. It’s not that hard to to mix it up in applesauce and give it to the horse via a dosing syringe.
The only time I’ve had it prescribed in recent memory was when the alternative orals were not working. It didn’t work either, unfortunately, but that’s a long story and unrelated to the matter in hand.
I absolutely hated having to give those awful, painful injections to a horse who was already suffering, and frankly, I think the only reason she didn’t kick my head off was that she was feeling so utterly grim.
For “simple” lacerations (har, har…), unless there’s a complication we don’t know about, I’d be asking for tucoprim or the like if I were you, OP.
I have no idea while people would give pen or better yet why a vet would use it. Pretty much any vet in practice that uses it has had at least one die from it. There are many other, safer choices out there.
