Shelf life of compounded meds for our critters

[Godmother]

SQ was told by a pharmacist that meds mixed in Orasweet would be good for only a month. We've both been getting preparations of Fortekor mixed with Orasweet in quantities to last three months.

Now I am concerned. Is this the real reason that my Georgie is getting worse and needing higher doses?

Anybody know anything about this issue? I found a link that talked about how little is known about "extemporaneously compounded" medications:
http://www.pjonline.com/news/how_to_ens ... _medicines

I found a link that had studied several drugs mixed with Orasweet (for people), and they were good up to 60 days.
http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/ajhp/abstr ... 28!8091!-1

Wow, I just found this handy-dandy web page, in which you can look up stability studies on specific drugs.
http://www.paddocklabs.com/biblog_working.html

 

[MumsyRat]

What I want to know is: where can I get this Orasweet? I mix up my meds in 14 day batches and then refrigerate them but my Arthur is being a real butthead about taking his meds and I've been looking for something that he might like the taste of.

Do you depend on your vet to mix the meds? Maybe you could convince him/her to just sell you the tablets or the base liquid and then make up your own smaller batches as needed. Then the shelf life wouldn't be a concern.

 

[jorats]

We've been having a similar issue here. Ordinarily, I would order 30mls of Baytril and it would last a while, same as my mom and Nic. Then we noticed our rats were not doing better on Baytril. We thought it was because our rats were building a resistance to it. So then we decided to share our Baytril order, now we get Baytril every 2 weeks and it seems to be working again on our rats. My vet says it's still good even after expiry, just not as potent... but when you are dealing with life threatening myco, I'd like my Baytril as potent as can be.

 

[Godmother]

I mix some of my own stuff, e.g. digoxin. I don't have Orasweet, but it would probably be easy to buy at a pharmacy.

I just found an article that makes me doubt the stability of the Atenolol I've been using. It is mixed by the pharmacist with distilled water, and I've been keeping it fridged for more than two months. I am sure that it isn't effective for that long, judging from this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1771 ... d_RVDocSum

I could easily get benazepril in tablet form. I used to crush pills and make little balls of nummy stuff to disguise the taste for SQ's Caleb. They were supposed to be good for about 8 days. Now I think I will get tablets and mix up all my own stuff, except for Lasix and Ventipulmin, which I get from the vet.

Mumsyrat, I have found a reliable way to get my ratties to eat their meds... they fight to get at the dish! I mash a banana, add some Strawberry Nesquick, some olive oil and some low-sodium baby cereal. It keeps for more than a week in the frig, and I add a dollop to each set of meds.

 

[SQ]

The pharmacist has been mixing meds up in Orasweet ... but I don't know that it tastes great.
I usually ad a drop of strawberry quick to it ... and sometimes olive oil and baby cereal too.

The pharmacist in the past has said the heart meds (digoxin, atenolol, & benazepril) in orasweet are good in the fridge for up to 3 months and so has always mixed up 3 months worth.
He wasn't there when I went in to get my last perscription and the pharmacist who made it up said it would only be good for 1 month .... makes everything much more expensive May have to get pills and mix it myself.