My cat has an eye infection. Can I give gentamicin to treat it?

Question

My cat has a possible eye infection. I have gentamicin- would that be effective as an IM injection at 3mg per pound? Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Mediumhair | Female | spayed | 6 lbs

Jenna Beyer, DVM, MBA, cVMA · Accepted Answer

Unless the eye infection is caused by something else in the body, systemic antibiotics are rarely used or indicated. Ophthalmic antibiotics are much more likely to cure an infection of the eye in a timely manner. Sometimes what looks like an infection isn't actually caused by bacteria. It could also be caused by corneal abrasion or ulceration, allergies, foreign body, autoimmune disorder, etc. I also prefer other types of injectable antibiotics over gentamicin. It is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that can be kidney toxic and has a pretty long list of adverse effects. I only use it in cases that do not respond to safer antibiotics.

My cat has an eye infection. Can I give gentamicin to treat it?

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