Are your dog’s antibiotic feeding schedule and your working routine crashing badly? Wondering can I give my dog his antibiotic 2 hours early? In most cases, you can. However, it varies depending on a dog’s weight, type of antibiotics, and infection, as well as having some side effects. Read on to get the detailed consequences, time to maintain the right schedule, and process of giving antibiotics properly.
Can I Give My Dog His Antibiotic 2 hours early?
Whether you’ll be busy or out of the house, you can give antibiotics to your pooch 2 hours earlier than recommended. Fortunately, medical research doesn’t yet find any obvious side effects of giving antibiotics earlier. However, you should maintain the perfect timing as recommended in the prescription. If you want to change the schedule, consult with your vet to clear up your doubts.
Potential Consequences of Giving Antibiotics Earlier
Giving antibiotics to your dog earlier has both advantages and disadvantages. This practice can help prevent the improvement of secondary infections. This can also cut down on the time needed for the antibiotics to take effect. Furthermore, this can save your dog from having to go through multiple rounds of medication and shorten his recovery time.
In contrast, it can increase the medication cost in the long run if your dog can’t absorb the antibiotic properly or suffers adverse side effects from getting the drug earlier. Antibiotics can also cause infection in your dog, which can be difficult to treat. As a result, it’s always best to consult with a vet to get the best advice so you can confidently administer antibiotics to your dog.
How Early Can You Give Antibiotics to Your Dog?
It depends on the type of antibiotic and the time between the intervals. For instance, if a vet recommends you give antibiotics every 12 hours, you can cut it down to 10 hours. But if the antibiotic is prescribed to be given every 6 hours, you shouldn’t give it earlier than 5 hours.
So after getting the prescription, make a proper schedule that you can follow to avoid messing up. But what if you miss a dose? Don’t give a double dose to make up for the missed one. Otherwise, it can cause those potential side effects.
Instead, wait for the next recommended time to give the antibiotic. You can also give the missed antibiotic instantly and re-adjust the time with the next dose. but if more than 50% time has passed, then you should wait for the next allotted time.
Another thing to consider is the type of illness you are treated for. For example, if you are giving antibiotics to your dog for a deadly illness like pneumonia, you must maintain an accurate schedule. So if you accidentally missed a dose or need to give it too early, discuss it with the vet.
How to Give Antibiotics to Your Dog on Time?
Consider these tips to maintain the proper antibiotic schedule:
Create a Medication Time Sheet
It’s the easiest thing you can do to determine when to give antibiotics to your dog. Fill out the timesheet with the specific times and days you require medication. You can either place it in a commonly visited area or make a reminder on your phone.
This will keep you from forgetting even if you are preoccupied with other tasks. You can also set the remainder 30 minutes or an hour ahead of time so you have enough time to get home or finish the ongoing task of administering antibiotics to your dog.
Take the Aid of a Friend or Family
If you intend to leave the house, ask a friend or family member to administer an antibiotic to your dog. This will also eliminate the need to give the dose earlier than recommended. However, you should hand over the job to a responsible person so your dog doesn’t miss the dose. Furthermore, the person should be friendly with your dog so that your dog can get the drug from him or her.
How to Give a Dog Antibiotic Properly?
Vets often recommend giving antibiotics orally as a capsule, tablet, or liquid. However, most antibiotics are prescribed to be given once or twice per day. Some may need to give frequently. Generally, it’s better to give drugs with food to lower the risk of causing gastrointestinal effects. Capsules and tablets, on the other hand, can be given by wrapping them in pill pockets for easier feeding.
You can place the pill on the back of the tongue by hand. At a time, hold your pet’s mouth closed gently and rub the throat to encourage swallowing. In addition, you can drip the liquid directly into the mouth’s side using a dropper or syringe, or feed your dog by mixing it with food.
On the other hand, it is necessary to apply topical antibiotics to the source of the infection, like ears, skin, or eyes. After applying the antibiotics, make sure your pooch doesn’t lick them off. Otherwise, the antibiotic won’t threaten the wound but can be deadly for your dog.
Injectable antibiotics need to be used in veterinary facilities during surgery, hospitalization, and various procedures. Though you can hardly apply it at home, you still need to get detailed instructions from the vet.
FAQs
1. How long should a dog be on antibiotics?
The vet usually uses the typical dosage of 5 to 10 mg per pound. It means if you have a 50-pound dog, it’ll require around 500 mg two times a day for 10 to 14 days. It may also take the longer typical dosage of 5 to 10 mg per pound. It means if you have a 50-pound dog, it’ll require around 500 mg two times a day for 10 to 14 days. It may also take longer. One of the longest courses of antibiotics is doxycycline, which needs to be applied at 10 mg per kg of the dog’s body weight. It takes approximately 28 days to complete. Antibiotics for skin infections take two weeks as well.
2. Can you give antibiotics to your dogs less than 12 hours apart?
If the antibiotics are prescribed twice a day, you can give them to your dog every 12 hours. But if the antibiotic is prescribed to be given three times a day, you should give it every 8 hours.
3. How far apart should dog antibiotics be?
Based on the weight of your dog, type of disease, and antibiotics, the vet recommends giving the drugs every 6, 8, or even 24 hours. In addition, some antibiotics need to be given with food, while others need to be fed on an empty stomach.
4. How long does it take for a dog to absorb antibiotics?
The absorption time of antibiotic mats varies from dog to dog and their immune systems. Typically, dogs can absorb antibiotics within 15 to 30 minutes.
Final Words
Antibiotics are mostly used to treat bacterial infections in dogs in severe cases. So as a caring pet parent, you should be very alert to give drugs to your dog on time. If you have an important meeting or a flight to catch, you can give the antibiotic one or two hours ahead of time. But adjust the time to the next allotted time and don’t repeat it frequently. If you have a busy schedule, hand over the job to a responsible person for the sake of your dog’s health and happiness.