Survey for agility dog owners (was: Tendon issues with Fluoroquinolones)

[Guest guest]

Given the recent article in the AVMA journal, another important piece of information may be the age at which the dog was spayed/neutered.

This could turn into a very long survey

Regards,

Carol Helfer, DVM

Portland, OR

To: VetRehab From: evelynvet@...Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 11:13:49 -0500Subject: RE: Tendon issues with Fluoroquinolones

Laurie,

I am not a researcher either but my husband is a PhD student finishing his dissertation and he’s all about the research at the moment so I asked for his input.

I think the survey is an excellent idea. It will be asking all the right questions that will make it worthwhile or not. You may find that the incidence of cruciate rupture 2’ to abx use in the canine athlete population in general is not statistically significant but that it is significant in male dogs over 5 yrs of age, or whatever. So, making sure you get all the info on each dog is crucial. This may be dose dependent so the survey will probably need a secondary step to try to obtain veterinary records. Etc, etc. You get the idea.

I am sure there are many more people out there who know much more than me and I will let them go further with it.

This could be the beginning of a lot of potential research. This group of clients tend to be very willing to give information for the betterment of canine health and medicine.

Orenbuch

evelynvetcomcast (DOT) net

www.evelynvet.com

From: VetRehab [mailto:VetRehab ] On Behalf Of Dr. Laurie McCauleySent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 10:21 AMTo: VetRehab Subject: RE: Tendon issues with Fluoroquinolones

Hi All,

If we come up with a survey, Clean run may be willing to put it up on their website. Clean run is “the” magazine company for agility people. This way we could reach a large percentage of canine athlete owners.

I am not a researcher so I would need some help. What I was thinking was to ask people:

Has your athlete torn his or her cruciate?

Was your athlete on any medication just prior to or when this happened?

If yes, was an antibiotic or NSAID? (this way people will not freak out thinking ab’s are going to cause cruciate damage?????)

If your dog has torn their cruciate and was on or recently on an antibiotic, which antibiotic (list 10 or more)

Maybe a similar question with NSAIDs

Again, any thoughts/help or letting me know this would mot be a good thing to do would be appreciated J

Laurie McCauley, DVM

TOPS Veterinary Rehabilitation

Grayslake, IL

drmctops-vet-rehab

www.tops-vet-rehab.com

From: VetRehab [mailto:VetRehab ] On Behalf Of dogptSent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 8:14 PMTo: VetRehab Subject: Re: Tendon issues with Fluoroquinolones

Mark,

Quinolone induced tendon ruptures have been described in the literature dating back to the early and mid 80's. A medline search will reveal many cited references. These cases are rare, although I have treated one patient with an achilles tendon rupture and had a co-worker rupture both achilles tendons while on quinolones. I have not heard this mentioned occuring in the canine population, however, much of the phase I and II studies were performed on dogs.

Ria Acciani MPT

Acciani PT

Advanced Canine Rehabilitation

6 Kenquit Road

Happy New Year!I just have to stick my 2 cents in on this topic. I don't think that we can extrapolate from human medicine and condemn fluoroquinolones in dogs. Additionally, both of the drugs cited are not the commonly used fluoroquinolones in veterinary medicine. I think that until there is hard evidence that supports discontinuing using them in dogs, we should not make make suggestions to avoid their usage. Experience wise, since Baytril hit the market (15 - 20 years ago?) I have not seen any tendon injury associated with their usage, nor have I seen any tendon injury after their usage. Does anyone on this list know of any citation or reference addressing this human problem? By the way, I do not work for Bayer nor am I getting paid to say this (I wish I was though). Mark B. Parchman, DVM, DACVS, CVA

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1245 SE 3rd St., Suite C3 Tel Bend, Oregon 97702 Fax tomlinson wrote:

Hi Laurie

It is something we always talked about when I used to treat horses, not sure in the small animal world but I avoid them in canine athletes

Tomlinson BVSc MS PhD DACVS CCRP

Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

Twin Cities Animal Rehabilitation Clinic

12010 Riverwood Dr, Burnsville MN 55337

www.tcrehab.com

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From: VetRehab [mailto:VetRehab ] On Behalf Of Dr. Laurie McCauleySent: Friday, January 04, 2008 3:15 PMTo: VetRehab Subject: Tendon issues with Ab'sl?

I saw this come across another list that I belong to and was wondering if anyone had heard anything about it?

Group Sues FDA for Stronger Warnings

Jan 3, 7:16 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (AP) - A consumer group sued the Food and Drug Administration Thursday, charging the agency is ignoring calls for stronger warnings that Cipro and similar antibiotics may cause serious tendon injuries.

Labels of the fluoroquinolone family of antibiotics - drugs that include the popular Cipro and Levaquin - already warn about rupture of tendons and other tendon injuries, but at the bottom of a list of other side effects.

The consumer group Public Citizen wants those warnings upgraded to the FDA's most severe type, a so-called black-box warning - and for patients to get pamphlets with every bottle that describe the risk. It argues that too few patients know they're supposed to quit using the drugs if they experience symptoms such as pain or inflammation, before the tendon actually ruptures.

Public Citizen filed a petition seeking the stronger warning in August 2006.

The state of Illinois had filed a similar petition the previous year.

The FDA is violating its own statutes and putting patients at risk in taking so long to settle the issue, Public Citizen said in the suit filed in U.S.

District Court for the District of Columbia.

When Public Citizen first filed the petition, FDA's database showed 262 reports of tendon ruptures between November 1997 and December 2005, along with hundreds of other tendon problems in users of these antibiotics. Since then, the FDA has received an additional 74 reports of tendon ruptures, said Public Citizen's Dr. Sidney Wolfe. Only a fraction of drug side effects typically are reported to the agency, he noted.

An FDA spokesman said the agency was evaluating the lawsuit and declined comment.

Warren, NJ 07059