hi there

one of my girls has a respiratory infection - sniffles, sneezes, struggles to breathe at times, so a friend of mine is going to go to the local vet to pick up some baytril.

i just want to check that i am going to give the correct doseage.

when tom was castrated and came home, the vet supplied baytril to be given at a dose of 0.2cc once a day, and i was thinking that is what i should do with my girl rat with respiratory infection.

is this ok?   

is the rats weight important?  tom (who is still underweight) weights 310g and Jane (the ill female) weighs 410g.

how can i be sure im giving the correct dose of baytril to Jane.

it will be in liquid form, applied orally with a needle-free syringe.

thanks in advance

OW

thanks for the advice.

the vet did prescribe the baytril at 0.2cc once per day for 5 days only, and she said that was the norm... 

i spoke to the vet on the phone and she seemed to think this would be fine.

now youve got me worried..

My first response is "Can you get a new vet?!" Alternatively is your vet willing to listen, look at the drug info sheet I posted above?




ok. Are you giving 2.0cc per day or 0.2cc per day?

I'm going to assume (not a good thing, but it's the best I can do) that the Baytril is a standard concentration of (25mg/100cc).
Jane is 410g.
Dose is 15mg/kg of rat

Thus Jane needs 6.2mg of Baytril twice a day.

So....

Jane should be getting 0.25cc of Baytril twice a day (or 0.5cc once a day) for at least 14 days.
So you would need at least 7.0cc of Baytril.

Now, if you're giving 2.0cc a day then the Baytril your vet has is less concentrated or she's prescribed way too much or it's a typo... If it is a typo and you have 10cc of the typical concentration of Baytril you should have enough to do 14 days - if you give 0.5cc a day. Or do you have 1.0cc of Baytril and you were told to give 0.2cc a day?!


I'm sorry to hear this but there will come a time when your rats will have to be seen by a vet, so I would strongly urge you to have some plan in place for when the time comes.

I hope this is clear enough, it's so hot here my brain is all gloopy 

Beth

hi beth

ive just checked the syringe again, and i was confusing cc with ml... its a 1ml syringe, dose to give is 0.2ml per day.

so i should ask for a 14 day dose then?

how do i, without patronising this woman (vet), tell her she hasnt prescribed for long enough?



edit: i dont know what the diff is between cc and ml, being a right old thicko!

edit2: as for getting another vet, well, thats hard as im already puttting someone out to go get the meds for me, and this is the only vet nearby.

also, could it be that the strength of the baytril is strong, and this is why she has only prescribed for 5 days?

i live in switzerland (europe), perhaps they do things differently here.... 

It may be that things are done differently in Switzerland... but that doesn't mean they're done right. I don't mean that in an offensive way (please please don't take it that way...   ) ... just that there is always room for learning, and I'd wager rats are a little more popular here in the States, so maybe more work has been done to figure out how long antibiotics should be given for best effect?

I don't think the strength should make a difference... antibiotics need time to work their magic, and a longer course helps prevent tolerances that make them less useful for future needs. Too short a course of antibiotics can do far more harm than good.

And ask for a bottle this time. 

defiitely will do..

The dosage is all depending on the strength of the baytril itself.  If you can find that out as well people could help you.  For example my 600 gram girl is getting .15 cc's twice a day at the 50 mg strength.

hi beth

unfortunately, there is just no way i can get this sorted today, as the vet closes in half an hour and i wont be able to get anyone there to pick it up for me.

i will continue to give the dose the vet recommended and then try and get the vet to increase the dose and the length of treatment time on monday.  at least Jane is getting some antibiotics into her system over the next 2 days - the vet isnt open over the weekend either.

i will ask her for her email address and send the link about baytril to her if she contests anything i say, as advised from this thread.

i think thats the best i can do under the circumstances.

thanks again everyone.

you said mL before and now you are saying Mg?  On most syringes one side is Mg and the other is cc...go by the cc side.  Mg is different.

just typos, i DO mean ml...

i type fast and think slow! :p

(and its probly because most medications are in mg, not ml's too)


edit: i'll have to be careful not to make the same mistake tomorrow with the vet or she'll think im an idiot and may not be so helpful... lol

edit2: i asked if they have email, but no they dont, only fax, which i dont have...