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Treating Chronic Diarrhea in Cats With Tylosin

Cats > Medicine > Treating Chronic Diarrhea in Cats With Tylosin

Tylosin is used in cats to treat bacterial infections, colitis and diarrhea. Tylosin is marketed as Tylan. Tylan is a broad spectrum antibiotic with insignificant side effects.

What is Tylosin?

Tylosin is an antibiotic that belongs to the class of macrolide drugs. It's a protein synthesis inhibitor, having a bacteriostatic effect. The same class of drugs includes mostly antibiotics such as erythromycin, clarithromycin or roxytromycin. The macrolides have a wider range of antimicrobial action than penicillin, and are used to treat respiratory and tissue infections. They've also been proven to help in cases of chronic diarrhea.

Tylan is available as tablets, intramuscular injections or capsules. The injections are recommended for a more effective treatment, due to the better absorption of the substance. The tablets may have a taste that cats don't like.

The dosage of tylosin depends on the weight of the cat. Typically 2.5 to 5 mg per pound of body weight is administered twice per day.

Chronic Diarrhea and Colitis

Tylosin can be a remedy for colitis. Tylan acts both as an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory medication.

Colitis is the inflammation of the lining of the large intestine and presents symptoms such as diarrhea. Colitis may be acute or chronic, if the diarrhea and the rest of the symptoms persist for longer than 10 days.

Chronic diarrhea may be caused by the presence of some parasites and intestinal worms or other bacteria. Diarrhea may be caused by cancer or pancreatitis. In case the diarrhea is caused by bacteria, the treatment may contain tylosin.

Tylosin Side Effects

If your cat is allergic to antibiotics or any of the macrolide drugs, tylosin is not recommended.
Tylan has no significant side effects, except for allergies and skin irritation in hypersensitive felines.
In rare cases, tylosin may cause gastrointestinal disturbance, which may lead to diarrhea. In this case, the vet will switch to a different type of medication. However, diarrhea as a side effect for tylosin has been mostly recorded in horses.
Tylan has a specific taste and odor that makes it difficult for cats to ingest. The cat may get tylosin intramuscular injections or capsules. The injections may cause irritations and allergies.
Tylosin may show false results in liver analysis such as serum AST or ALT.
Tylosin may have adverse reactions when your cat is under treatment with digitalis: choramphenicol or lincosamides.

Other Uses

Tylosin is effective against mycoplasma infections, which are immune to penicillin and other antibiotics. Mycoplasma is a type of bacteria that may cause different infections including pneumonia, respiratory diseases or genital infections.
Tylosin may be used to treat infections with the overgrowth of staphylococci bacteria or the streptococci.
Soft tissue infections may also be cured with tylan.
Tylosin may be used as a growth additive for food-producing animals.
Tylosin shouldn't be used for infections caused by unknown organisms.
Tylan is a prescription drug and shouldn't be administered without consulting a vet.

also see Preventing Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) Through Vaccination

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