Cephalexin side effects?

Hi all, I've been away for awhile, but I needed some advice on Cephalexin and I did a quick search and saw a couple of the "regulars" have used it in the past.

BB somehow got a small cut (thorn?) where his testicles used to be. We noticed him licking it a couple days ago, and saw a tiny cut but then thursday night it looked red and terribly swollen. It seemed mostly irritation from the licking (like a hot spot). We put boxers on him to dissuade him from licking overnight and called our vet first thing on Friday morning. Without licking the swelling went down a bit, but at the vet they shaved his underparts, found the initial cut which oozed a bit of fluid, then they made a small incision to drain the fluid build up. They tested the fluid which indicated the fluid contained some puss. They gave him an anti-inflammatory shot and 750 mg Cephalexin for us to give him 2x a day for 14 days.

Good news is that about 48 hours later the wound is looking good. And BB is not obsessively trying to lick it like he was on Friday.

However, the antibiotics don't seem to be sitting well with him: he is incredibly lethargic, and overall seems somewhat "dazed and spacey." His expression clearly says, "I don't feel well, mommy, what is wrong with me?"

We have been giving him his pills in his meals, but we were wondering if it might be easier on him if we give them to him shortly AFTER meals instead of with his meals? Or if there was any other thing we can do that might make him tolerate the meds better?

He currently weights 64lbs. It seems like his dosage is a bit on the high end. I plan to call the vet on Monday morning to see if we can reduce the dosage. But any feedback on managing this would be helpful from the community.

Thanks!

(A couple of quick cellphone pics are attached for fun, because I always love seeing the doodles.)

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Permalink Reply by Bonne Bouche on February 15, 2015 at 2:40pm

Lori, how funny -- BB was also given 2 pills the same as you (500 and 250). My husband said it was because they didn't have the 750 mg pills in stock.