What your vet wishes you knew… Why we are making a shift towards injectable medications for pets.

If you are a client at Broadway Veterinary Hospital, you might have noticed we are shifting most of our medications over to injectable versions. We want to let you in on the reasons why we are making this shift. If your pet needs antibiotics, allergy medications, heartworm prevention or even some pain medications, we are now making more recommendations than ever with injectable versions of those medications.

Two years ago we made the switch from recommending Heartgard Plus for dogs to Proheart6 (for dogs 6 months or older). Here are some reasons why: Proheart6 is more effective than Heartgard in clinical studies! We get it, even us here at Broadway Veterinary Hospital have missed a dose or two of Heartgard for their own pets. With Proheart6, we never have to worry that we might miss a dose. Proheart6 is a Zoetis product that carries a product guarantee- if given by a veterinarian and the pet becomes positive for heartworm, hookworm or roundworms during the 6 months, Zoetis will pay* for the treatment! We know Proheart is safe and give it to our own pets and just like vaccinations there is the risk of a reaction. Click here (https://bit.ly/2vx45oH) to see the client safety handout.

Another reason for this conversion to injectables is to make sure that in most circumstances your pet will get better. With oral medication administration done at home, we cannot guarantee that every dose will be given exactly at certain intervals that doctor prescribed. We know things at home get busy, sometimes doses are missed or forgotten. Antibiotic resistance occur from not giving a full course of antibiotics and poorly timed or missed doses during treatment. We see more and more antibiotic resistant infections every week on pets. The injectable antibiotic Convenia is safe to use on dogs and cats for certain infections. It is a great medication because it lasts in your pet's system for 10-14 days. Convenia is also really great to use on pet's that already have upset stomach issues and need antibiotics.

Is your pet itchy? Wouldn't it be nice to have a shot given to your pet that lasts up to 8 weeks or more to help your pet stop being so itchy? Well, we carry Cytopoint at Broadway Veterinary Hospital. The Cytopoint injection lasts 4 to 8 weeks (and sometimes longer in some of our patients) and blocks the itchy receptor in your dog's body. Isn't that convenient?
Have you heard of Adequan? Adequan has been clinically shown to help treat arthritis while simultaneously relieving joint pain. Adequan slows the progression of arthritis and improves the quality of life by relieving painful symptoms. Adequan is one more injectable medication that Broadway Veterinary Hospital carries for pets.

Getting pet medications at your pet's veterinarian also means your pets are getting the correct medications. Counterfeit and fraudulent products/medications cases against online pharmacies are on the rise! A lot of pet owners are finding that products received from online pharmacies are past or close to expiration dates or improperly stored which renders the medications completely ineffective and sometimes unsafe for your pet. The medications from online pharmacies are sometimes not bound by the same pharmacy laws when based in other countries. Getting pet medication from a veterinarian is the safer option for your pet and product guaranteed by the manufacturer.

And those are all the reason why Broadway Veterinary Hospital has made the shift towards injectable medications, because Broadway Veterinary Hospital Loves Your Pet!

Photo by Celine Sayuri Tagami

Photo by Celine Sayuri Tagami on Unsplash