{"id":24048,"date":"2023-06-01T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=24048"},"modified":"2023-07-02T19:05:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T19:05:24","slug":"wielding-the-perfect-potion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/wielding-the-perfect-potion\/","title":{"rendered":"Wielding the Perfect Potion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Y<\/span>ou wake up smiling on Monday morning. It\u2019s 75 degrees and sunny outside. You have a full day of cat appointments on the schedule. You oh so love your feline patients because each is cooperative and easy to handle, making your job enjoyable. As you walk into work, the veterinary practice is fully staffed, and you know you\u2019ll have plenty of support to cruise through your appointments and finish in time to make your son\u2019s 4 p.m. soccer game. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBEEEEEEEEP!\u201d Your alarm clock goes off. It\u2019s wake-up time for real. As your wonderful dream fades into the background, you\u2019re thrust into another Monday, aware that real life is not what you dreamed. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a bright side, though. You securely stored a bit of magic in the treatment room. It\u2019s inside a small, inconspicuous vial wrapped with a DIY label and the words \u201cKitty Magic\u201d in purple marker. You know that a tiny amount of this potion will tame the most fractious feline patients. However, you\u2019re unaware that your patient-focused concerns made you oblivious to a plethora of potential regulatory violations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kitty Magic is a clinic-concocted combination of agents mixed for use in feline sedation. The drugs and their amounts can vary from one hospital to the next in an attempt to create the \u201cpurrfect\u201d potion. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kitty Magic essentially combines ketamine, telazol, dexdomitor and buprenorphine (or butorphanol). You might call it Kitty Magic, TTDex, TKD or something else. The name and combination of ingredients aren\u2019t what matters. What does matter is your potion includes at least one controlled substance mixed with something else. <\/span><\/p>\n

Feline patients are notoriously difficult to handle. A bit of sedation can make a world of difference in examining and treating them effectively and safely. However, a single drug might not be ideal due to the potential side effects and desired duration, so you might use a combination of agents. <\/span><\/p>\n

Theoretically, you could calculate the amount of each ingredient and draw it up individually. The problem is that some cats are extra small and the doses needed are minuscule, resulting in volumes difficult to measure accurately. In those cases, you could dilute the drugs, but that falls into compounding and creates additional math, leading to an increased risk of overdosing or underdosing a patient. Also, the multiple drugs must be combined into a single syringe, or you\u2019ll need to inject the patient numerous times. All this adds to the opportunity for error. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kitty Magic is desirable at practices that frequently see feline patients because preparing a mixture in advance is much easier than concocting one on a busy day. However, we don\u2019t have benefits without risk, and we don\u2019t have magic without a dark side.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dark Side: Drug Diversion<\/span><\/h3>\n

As all good science fiction readers know, magic has a dark side, and Kitty Magic is no different. Its power comes from mixing substances. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dexdomitor is not a federally controlled substance, but ketamine,\u00a0 <\/span>buprenorphine, telazol and butorphanol are. Therefore, the standalone controlled substances used in Kitty Magic, in addition to the mixture itself, are at risk for diversion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s briefly recap the drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n