Cystorelin® is a sterile solution containing 50 mcg/mL gonadorelin (GnRH) suitable for intramuscular or intravenous administration. Gonadorelin is the hypothalamic releasing factor responsible for release of gonadotropins (e.g., LH, FSH) from the anterior pituitary. Synthetic gonadorelin is physiologically and chemically identical to the endogenous bovine hypothalamic releasing factor.
Fertagyl® is manufactured for Intervet Schering-Plough by Intervet International GmbH of Unterschleissheim, Germany.I wonder if the gonadorelin manufacturers hold T.V advertising duels touting benefits of Sister Ellen vs. Fergie Girl.
Baytril ®manufactured by Bayer of Germany is a fluoroquinolone, enrofloxacin, an antibiotic for veterinary use and its range of applications in companion animals such as dogs, cats, exotic animals and food animals such as poultry, cattle, pigs and sheep.
VetaMeg ® flunixin 50 mg/mL is a prescription-only veterinary non-steroidal, non-narcotic anti-inflammatory analgesic agent with antipyretic activity, funnily listed as more potent than 'pentazocine, meperidine, and codeine' as analgesics as demonstrated in the rat yeast paw test.
What is funny is that the drug's mechanism of action is non-narcotic yet the analgesia effects are compared to narcotics and not very effective ones at that, specifically pentazocine and codeine. Maybe, pentazocine and codeine work better in relieving inflammation in sheep, but they don't do a darn thing for human animals.
What do the three drugs above have in common? First, they are used exclusively in non-human animals, and second, they are prescription-only drugs that must be ordered by a veterinarian, and dispensed only by pharmacists, the profession legally allowed to fill prescription medications in the US.
Guess. What was I doing last week in my job as an agent pharmacist? Dispensing the drugs listed above; I found myself working for a animal health supplies warehouse filling prescriptions for herds of dairy cattle and pig farms from all over in the mid-eastern cornfields. Walking up and down concrete floors of a large warehouse in my dress shoes, climbing ladders, pulling boxes of drugs from shelves high above my head; checking product names of drugs I'd never heard of before, ripping open cardboard boxes, verifying expiration dates and lot numbers of product to send out; slapping prescription labels on bottles of cyanocobalamin, ceftiofur and dinoprost.
I dreaded the called-in prescription: 'Hello, this is Dr. Heffer calling for Ladonnabella Dairy Farm in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Please dispense Excede (ceftiofur) 200 mg/mL # 3 x 100 mL bottles. Label: For treatment of foot rot. Give to the lactating cow 1 dose of 6.6 mg/Kg or 1.5 mL per 46 Kg body weight, subcutaneously at base of ear. If no improvement after 5 days, call back.
Animals as customer are quite different than human customers. For one thing ... the quantity prescribed might be somewhat different doses seen in humans, but the amount dispensed is quite a bit larger considering drugs are dispensed to similarly aged animals in herds. Vitamin K (phytonadione) doses for human adults come in 1 mL ampules of 10 mg/mL For dairy herds, the stuff comes in 100 mL bottles. Another thing, though the injectable medications come in pint-size quantities, there is no sterile rubber stopper.
It is a sobering thought that perhaps the vet or tech administering the vaccines probably does not carefully shave and swab the site of injection with antiseptic and the rubber stopper with alcohol using aseptic technique to mass immunize the herd.
Another thing, the pharmacist dispenses drugs to human herd owners, so there is no foot-stomping (hoof-stomping?) displays of temper tantrums when the prescription is not filled in 5 minutes or the patient's health insurance plan doesn't cover the cost of the drug.
For veterinary use, amoxicillin still comes in bubblegum flavor, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim is still a cherry-flavored suspension for cattle, but I have my doubts about how palatable or patient-acceptable is VetaMeg which is labeled for use in animals only.
Flunixin, a fluoroquinolone... do the same limitations exist about using the antibiotic in pregnant animals, exposure to the sun, and avoiding co-administration with multi-valent cations as humans?
There are a number of adverse reactions we pharmacists counsel our human patients about the fluoroquinolones, are a highly effective broad-spectrum antibiotics with a unique mechanism of action; interference of DNA-gyrase in replication of the bacteria. Broad-spectrum refers to a highly effective mechanism of action providing potent antibiotic effect on a broad range of different types of bacteria including both those with and without cell walls.
This broad range of efficacy provokes several public health issues; emergence of resistance crosses with highly effective ciprofloxacin considered a major agent for inclusion in disaster preparedness for anthrax and other public health menaces, and in comparison to other antibiotic classes rank amongst the highest for risk of causing colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile infections, both highly resistant to conventional treatments and difficult to treat inexpensively and completely and highly transmissible.
I have seen prescriptions for these types of drugs for urinary tract and upper and lower respiratory tract infections because it often covers the likely pathogens that might normally require administration of two antibiotics. When it first came out, it was of interest that concentration in prostate tissue approached concentrations in the blood, a viable alternative to the highly polar aminoglycosides remaining in the bloodstream, and providing a serious contender in hard-to-treat male urinary tract infections.
Dependence on a singe antimicrobial agent for serious infection pushes usage patterns to maximal public exposure. When resistance emerges, the micro-organism involved is a more formidable to recognize as well as treat.
The potent fluoroquinolones must be used judiciously. And, they are not without possible adverse reactions. They are not innocuous antibiotics. This type of drug is often classified as category C because no adequate and well-controlled studies have been conducted in pregnant women, and therefore should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit outweighs potential risk to the fetus, however, at one time when I dispensed the drugs I advised against use in pregnancy as well as in pediatric patients less than age 18 because of effects on birthweight and delayed calcification in rodent trials.
I recall one little old woman who'd been seen in the E.R. two days prior and prescribed levofloxacin once a day for a urinary tract infection. By the third day, she had no idea of who or where she was and was found wandering in her neighborhood; altered mental status was the reason for admission to the hospital medical unit. It took several days for the drug to be fully eliminated and the central nervous system effects to diminish.
Use of fluoroquinolones may be associated with central nervous system toxicity including peripheral neuropathy, sunlight sensitization with sunburns on exposure to light through windowpane for some fluoroquinolones, effects on heart, joints and tendons. Human children and the elderly are at greater risk. These adverse effects may show up during the course of therapy, to sometime after the drug has been discontinued. Doubt the human administrator will be so picky about adverse effects on animals. Pre-tenderized veal may be a marketing gimmick.
I thought it also interesting to note what kind of vaccines were available. One product that I dispensed quite a bit was Newport Salmonella. I went to PubMed to find something about this particular vaccine. Following is the synopsis in PubMed.
"Hermesch DR et al. Effects of a commercially available vaccine against Salmonella enterica serotype Newport on milk production etc. American Journal of Veterinary Resarch. 2008 Sep;69(9):1229-34.
Objective: to determine effects of vaccination with siderophore receptor and porin (SRP) proteins derived from Salmonella enterica serotype Newport on milk production, somatic cell count, and shedding of Salmonella organisms in 180 female dairy Holsteins.
Procedures: cattle were randomly assigned to receive Salmonella Newport SRP vaccine or control solution. Vaccine or control solution was injected 45-60 days before parturition, and cattle received a second dose 14-21 days before parturition. Milk production was monitored for the first 90 days of lactation. Feces for isolation of Salmonella and blood samples for detection of antibodies against Salmonella Newport were collected at day of first injection and at days 7-14 and 28-35 of lactation.
Results: cattle inoculated with Salmonella Newport vaccine produced significantly more milk (1.14 Kg/day), compared with cattle injected with the control solution. Cattle administered vaccine had significantly higher concentrations of circulating antibody against Salmonella Newport SRP proteins at 7-14 days and 28-35 days of lactation. Salmonella Newport was not recovered; however, Salmonella enterica serotype Agona was recovered from 31 (20.3%) cattle, but likelihood of recovery did not differ significantly between vaccinates and control cattle.
Conclusions and clinical relevance: administration of a vaccine against Salmonella Newport SRP proteins to healthy dairy cattle prior to parturition increased milk production, even in cattle without detectable shedding of Salmonella Newport or clinical signs of salmonellosis. Additional research is needed to clarify the mechanisms by which productivity was improved. PMID: 18764698 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
DONNA, DONNA or (Secunda/Zeitlein/Secunda)
On a wagon bound for market, there's a calf with a mournful eye. High above him there's a swallow, winging swiftly through the sky.How the winds are laughing. They laugh with all their might. Laugh and laugh the whole day through ad half the summer's night.
Donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don.
"Stop complaining", said the farmer, "who told you a calf to be? Why don't you have wings to fly with like the swallow so proud and free?
How the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might. Laugh and laugh the whole day through, and half the summer's night.
Donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don.
Calves are easily bound and slaughtered, never knowing the reason why, but whoever treasures freedom, like the swallow has learned to fly.
How the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might. Laugh and laugh the whole day through, and half the summer's night.
Donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, donna, don.
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