Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Zonisamide drug effects and safety in cats after oral doses
By Hasegawa, Daisuke et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2008·Department of Veterinary Radiology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Pharmacokinetics and toxicity of zonisamide in cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy cats were given a new epilepsy medication called zonisamide to see how well it worked and if it was safe. After a single dose, the drug reached its highest level in the blood after about 4 hours, and it stayed in their system for a long time. However, when given daily for nine weeks, some cats experienced side effects like loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, sleepiness, and trouble walking. Despite these reactions, the overall toxicity was low, suggesting zonisamide could be a potential treatment for cats with epilepsy, but careful monitoring is needed.
People also search for: cat epilepsy treatment · zonisamide side effects in cats · cat vomiting after medication
Abstract
With the eventual goal of making zonisamide (ZNS), a relatively new antiepileptic drug, available for the treatment of epilepsy in cats, the pharmacokinetics after a single oral administration at 10mg/kg and the toxicity after 9-week daily administration of 20mg/kg/day of ZNS were studied in healthy cats. Pharmacokinetic parameters obtained with a single administration of ZNS at 10mg/day were as follows: Cmax=13.1microg/ml; Tmax=4.0h; T(1/2)=33.0h; areas under the curves (AUCs)=720.3microg/mlh (values represent the medians). The study with daily administrations revealed that the toxicity of ZNS was comparatively low in cats, suggesting that it may be an available drug for cats. However, half of the cats that were administered 20mg/kg/day daily showed adverse reactions such as anorexia, diarrhoea, vomiting, somnolence and locomotor ataxia.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18372205/