Go Lizards - Thumbs down.

As I posted last year in another thread involving Go Lizards..

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=83786
post 42


I tried to bring up the fact that they were illegally selling Flagyl in a suspended form (in ads on KS). I also tried bringing that to the attention of the KS folks, but was told that they don't bother nor care to verify the legality of items being sold on their site (even when it was proof positive that selling flagyl without a prescription was a violation of federal law). In the US, flagyl is only available as a tablet. To get it in the "suspended form", you have to buy it from another country (i.e. usually mexico). For a person to suspend it themselves (i.e. crushing up tablets and putting it in liquid) is illegal . And having taken vet related classes I learned even a vet can't suspend flagyl into a suspended form unless they have a pharmacological license to prepare/combine medications. Yes, vets often combine some medications themselves illegally just as they also often prescribe drugs for "off label" use.


Metronidazole (Flagyl)

HOW SUPPLIED

Metronidazole Tablets, USP: 250 mg - White, round, convex, unscored tablets in bottles of 100 250, 500 and 1000.

Debossed: SL 333

500 mg - White, oblong, convex, unscored tablets in bottles of 100, 500 and 1000.

Debossed: SL 334

Dispense in a well-closed, light-resistant container as defined in the USP.

Store at controlled room temperature 15º- 30º C (59º- 86º F). Protect from light.

CAUTION: Federal law prohibits dispensing without prescription.

WARNING: Metronidazole has been shown to be carcinogenic in mice and rats (see PRECAUTIONS.) Unnecessary use of the drug should be avoided.

Metronidazole can cause birth defects if given to a pregnant patient. It should never be administered during pregnancy.

Metronidazole should be avoided or used with caution, at reduced doses, in animals with kidney or liver disease.

> To get it in the "suspended form", you have to buy it from another country (i.e. usually mexico).

Not completely true. My wife can get all she wants from the pharamcy in suspended form........as you allude to below, too.

> Yes, vets often combine some medications themselves illegally just as they also often prescribe drugs for "off label" use.

Yes, but licensed DVM's CAN use meds off label when appropriate....and they may need to justify that use if something happens. They have the legal ability to do some things that you and I can't. Duh.

KJ

Well now it makes sense why it was cheaper and the label was written in Spanish.
No wonder the vet was upset when I brought the bottle in to over the first dose and the following ones.

Metronidazole can be found on the shelf at any reputable aquarium shop. It is marketed by Seachem, and we sell a lot of it at my shop. As far as I know, we don't have any type of special license to sell it.

Erythromycin & Tetracycline are also readily available antibiotics sold in pet stores. They can be used for other animals with a little research into proper dosage just as you can use the same Ivermectin paste, or Panacur Paste I use on my horses.
Is there a risk? You bet!!
But the bottom line is that these meds are freely sold over the counter without a prescription and without requiring a special licence to sell them. Heck I can even get Penicillin at the feed store.
If the bottle says it is a prescription medication then that specific grade of that medication is regulated but that does not mean that all forms of that medication are regulated.

Good post John, like many Meds it depends on the concentration or dosage as to whether it is a prescription med or not.. .. Randy

Metronidazole can be found on the shelf at any reputable aquarium shop.

Really, in the liquid suspension form? I never knew that.

Originally Posted by SethsExotics

Metronidazole can be found on the shelf at any reputable aquarium shop. It is marketed by Seachem, and we sell a lot of it at my shop. As far as I know, we don't have any type of special license to sell it.

Per the Seachem website, it is NOT sold by them in a suspension form. I have been able to find it in tablet form elsewhere, but as has been stated before in this thread, it it is the SUSPENSION form that is to be sold by prescription only.

You are still violating the law by using it off label. It is sold for aqauria usage at a specific rate - not for snakes. Encouraging people to use it off label is encouraging people to violated federal law...and the person doing it deserves a hefty fine when we are talking about antibiotics. I could care less about panacur being misused.

This isn't unusual. Most organic farmers know that vinegar is a good herbicide under some conditions. Agricultural grade acetic acid is sold for such a purpose, and it is legal. Using household vinegar - which is NOT labeled as a herbicide - to spray on plants is illegal. Off label no matter how stupid this sounds to me. Look at Round-Up. It is labeled at a certain concentration. Let's say you mix up a batch twice as strong as the label says - yep, the feds could bust you: you broke the law. At least this example makes a lot of since to me.

I could go on and on. Lots of things that are legal to sell are still illegal to use - by federal law - except as specifically approved and printed on the label. The uses on those labels HAVE to be approved by the feds and, in many cases, the state where it is being sold.

Good, bad, or neutral - that's the law. Right, wrong, or amoral - there is a good reason antibiotics are controlled!
KJ

Originally Posted by John E Dove

Erythromycin & Tetracycline are also readily available antibiotics sold in pet stores. They can be used for other animals with a little research into proper dosage just as you can use the same Ivermectin paste, or Panacur Paste I use on my horses.
Is there a risk? You bet!!
But the bottom line is that these meds are freely sold over the counter without a prescription and without requiring a special licence to sell them. Heck I can even get Penicillin at the feed store.
If the bottle says it is a prescription medication then that specific grade of that medication is regulated but that does not mean that all forms of that medication are regulated.

To take this a step further....a "suspension" is not simply dissolving a drug in liquid. The idea behind a suspension is to have the medication "suspended" yet not dissolved in the base liquid, to ensure an even and accurate dosage with each measure (why you must shake well before use, lol). To accomplish this, the medication must be divided into even and equally sized particles, and then the computations needed to ensure the drug is given in the typical small (as well as accurate) dose required for many herps and small animals is something which the layman simply crushing tablets and dumping them into a liquid cannot ensure.

Secondly....the metronidazole that is in the tablet/powder form will simply dissolve in the liquid, therefore a different, insoluble form of metronidazole is used to create the suspension, metronidazole benzoate. The possible toxicity of the benzoates in some animals such as cats is a concern.

All of these things combined, as well as the general reasoning behind the proper regulation of use of ANY kind of antibiotic type med, are the reason why the suspension is to be sold BY PRESCRIPTION ONLY.