In both cats and dogs, metronidazole may be useful to treat cases of gastritis caused by Helicobacter bacteria (such as H. diff), which is a well-known cause of diarrhea in humans and animals. Metronidazole also works well against Clostridioides-a group of bacteria that includes Clostridium difficile (C. Metronidazole is also used to treat infections of the gallbladder and bile ducts, and because it can enter bone, it’s useful for dental infections involving the jaw. Metronidazole is effective against Bacteroides fragilis, for example, which is a normal bacterial member of the gut and mouth microbiomes but can also be a culprit in wound infection, abscesses, chest infection (often associated with pneumonia), and liver infection. Since it kills the bacteria, rather than simply halting their growth, metronidazole has the potential to work faster and more efficiently than other antibiotics (such as clindamycin) that also target anaerobic bacteria. In both human and veterinary medicine, it’s used to treat infections caused by anaerobic bacteria (bacteria that don’t need oxygen to survive). Metronidazole is an extremely useful antibiotic and antiprotozoal medication that’s been around since the 1950s. Here we discuss some appropriate and inappropriate uses of this drug, provide some current research that contradicts older assumptions, and give you some questions to ask if your veterinarian suggests metronidazole for your dog. So is metronidazole the right diarrhea treatment for your dog? Or will it do more harm than good? We’re here to help. Several studies have found, for instance, that metronidazole doesn’t actually help inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or acute diarrhea in dogs, and its use negatively affects good bacteria in the gut. But in many of these cases, metronidazole may be the wrong choice. diff infections), it’s become the most frequently used antibiotic for dog diarrhea in general. And now we know that in addition to causing troubling side effects, metronidazole can cause unhealthy long-term changes in your dog’s gut microbiome.īecause metronidazole works well for certain conditions that cause diarrhea (such as C. A growing body of research suggests that metronidazole is much less effective for some gastrointestinal (GI) conditions than was previously thought. But for many veterinarians, use of this antibiotic has become a knee-jerk response to dog diarrhea based on historical practice rather than scientific evidence. If your dog has diarrhea, a course of metronidazole (also known by the brand name Flagyl®) might be the appropriate treatment.
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