Doxycycline hyclate shortage and prices - Page 1

My GSD came up with an active Lyme disease flareup last week. It's ugly when that happens: fever, lethargy, his normally shiny coat went to hell within hours, he could not get up without help and needed a sling for the first several steps. Very scary!
Of course, this happened late at night. ER time. X-rays, ultrasound, blood tests, subQ fluids. It's only money. Since he had tested positive for Lyme in the past the ER's best guess, in the absence of any other indicators, was "active Lyme disease" and they sent us home with 5 days worth of Minocycline. So far, so good.

We saw our own vet two days later. Another ultrasound was done (because the ER vet suggested it, saying she isn't an U/S expert). All was well, spleen slightly enlarged but surface is normal. Enlargement due to age (the dog is 9) and Prednisone (for allergies). Our vet agreed that he most likely has an active Lyme disease flareup.

Treatment is a little problematic. The Minocycline is a fine alternative to Doxy for the short term but it does have problems. Whereas Doxy is soluble in water, Mino is soluble in lipids which means it crosses the blood-brain barrier and raises hell with the grey cells, causing CNS issues we'd rather not have.

We really want Doxycycline but, as all dog people know, it's in very short supply and somewhat pricey, if you can get it. I phoned my regular pharmacy and asked about it. Yes, they have it. A 45 day supply of 100 mg tablets at a dosage appropriate to my dog's weight will cost . . .  are you sitting down??? . . .  $700.00. Seven-hundred dollars.

Yikes!

There is a generic, Vibramycin, which I'm researching now, availability, cost, efficacy and such.

In the meantime, my vet, who gets Angel Points for this, is sharing her personal stash of Doxy. She and her clinic were proactive when it became known that there would be a shortage. It's not cheap but far more affordable than what the pharmacy wants.

While we might all be tempted to stock up on Doxy or Keflex or Amoxy or any of the common drugs our dogs have to have now and then it really is not a good idea to do so. Many (most) antibiotics have an expiration date after which the compounds break down and often the products of the chemical degradation are toxic to kidneys and/or the liver. Nonetheless, had I paid attention last January I would definitely have picked up a couple dogs's worth of Doxy supplies.

I'm just venting. Thanks for reading.



 

In a lot of cases people can find drug and antibiotics in the places you may least expect. 

Look in other realms that are less popular. Such as you can get doxy for next to nothing made by bird biotics.



 

I had looked at that but the pricing is pretty high for the dosage needed by a GSD. It would come to about $180 for the 45 day treatment, way better than what the pharmacy wants, that's for sure.

Thank you for your response and the pointer to alternative sources.

I just went online to try and find where I bought mine.. Doxycycline for fish tanks and I know it wasn't more then $30.00 with shipping for 100ct 100mg bottle. The problem that I'm seeing, is that they no longer sell it in capsule form, but do sell it in 100mg powder packets.

Melissa

PM'd you

Melissa

melba probably fish flex products.

Doxy has a very strong flavor/scent. I use liverwurst to get him to take it. I don't know how I'd get the powder down him. He's onto applesauce and margarine and you cn't give Doxy with dairy products like yogurt.

Aqua I put it in peanut butter. take a spoon with pb and poor the powder on it/in the divot you make and then put some peanut butter over the top. then i would put it on back of dogs tongue. worked every time.

If your vet will write a prescription its $40.00 for 500ct 100mg capsules

http://www.agri-med.com/p-1793-doxycycline-capsules.aspx

Thank you for all your input and PMs. I really appreciate your leads. As it turns out, my vet has a supply necessary to treat my dog at the normal price. We're covered, whew!