First time Baytril user

Baby boy Godzilla (and by baby, I mean my sweet little 4-year-old) came down with some kind of respiratory infection. :sick1:

I noticed that his breathing was a bit labored and "wheezy" sounding, so we set up a vet appointment (Dr. Rosskopf at the Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital in Hawthorne, for those of you in S. California - Dr. Greek in Yorba Linda is a bit too far of a drive for me), and my husband took him in today. Baby boy got a "doxcycline/dex" injection and was sent home with oral Bayril. His Baytril instructions say to give him 0.15cc twice a day for 10 days orally. Does that seem like normal instructions?

This is the first time one of my chins has gotten sick and it's the first time I've ever had to give Baytril.

I've been reading up on Baytril here on the forum, and it seems as though I can expect Godzilla's appetite to depress once he starts on Baytril. To combat this, I've also read that I should mix up his pellets, perhaps mixing it with a bit of water and/or baby applesauce and feed him this way through a syringe? Should I also mix some acidophilus to this mix, as well, or is that overkill?

I have Critical Care stored in the freezer, too. Should I dip into this? How and how often should I feed him CC?

Just want to cover all of my bases before I become Godzilla's full-time nurse. I've read some great suggestions on how to burrito and hold him before giving medication. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

The best thing you can do is follow the oral baytril with a raisin. It isn't that baytril upsets the stomach it is the flavor that makes them not want to eat their pellets. So follow the baytril with a raisin or craisin and then closely monitor pellet eating. If he is eating on his own don't mess with that. Sometimes we cause more issues than are initially there when we intervene too much. Some chinchillas do absoulutly fine with baytril.

Hope he feels better soon!! Do you have a scale so you can monitor his weight as well as watching him eat his pellets?

That would be 2 raisins a day - to me, that's quite a bit. I would just give him the Baytril and then the CC or a rosehip. It just needs to flush the taste out of his mouth. You're also going to be having a battle with possible stomach upset from the Baytril (as well as from the taste) so I personally wouldn't aggravate it with a sugary treat twice a day. I'm just realllly anti-raisin though.

As far as the "dex" part of that - I'm assuming dexamethasone? If so, dexamethasone is a steroid and chins should not have them. I doubt that one dose will do any harm, but I've been told not to use steroids as they can cause ulcers in a chin's stomach. I wonder why he gave Doxycycline and then Baytril at home, instead of just injecting him with Baytril at the vets?

That's another thing, if you can have the vet show you how to safely administer Baytril, you don't have to screw around with digestive anything if you can give it by injection. You just have to be sure to cut it with a sterile solution as well as rotate injection sites, but it goes in pretty easily.

tunes said:

As far as the "dex" part of that - I'm assuming dexamethasone? If so, dexamethasone is a steroid and chins should not have them. I doubt that one dose will do any harm, but I've been told not to use steroids as they can cause ulcers in a chin's stomach. I wonder why he gave Doxycycline and then Baytril at home, instead of just injecting him with Baytril at the vets?

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This upsets me. I don't know why he wasn't given Baytril at the vet's. Since it was my husband who took Godzilla in, I asked him if the doctor mentioned why he gave the little guy this injection rather than Baytril, and he says that the doctor said it was "for his infection." I'll be sure to call the vet tomorrow and inquire.

But thank you for the suggestions. Should I start his Baytril tonight, even though he got an injection today, or would it be okay to start him on it tomorrow?

It's no biggie on the antibiotics. I was just curious as to his reasoning for giving both antibiotics.

I would start the Baytril tonight. First, upper respiratory tract infections can be tough to treat, and second, they are not the same antibiotic, so it's not like you're giving a double dose of the one kind.

Some chins like baytril...so maybe you'll get lucky with different flavors. My gizmo has been on baytril numerous times..he HATES the raspberry but absolutely LOVES the bananna flavored one. His appetite was never affected, i've been extrememly lucky!

when possible get injectable. I am not as anti rasin. They don't get them often but if I think there is a problem or if they are on oral meds they do. I find an animal in question I give them a treat they rarely get if they don't snatch it up there is usually a problem

Sorry about Godzilla hopefully he gets better soon. I was just hold him and put the syringe to his mouth. This always worked for me so far.

Success! He took the Baytril just now and I fed him a rosehip immediately afterward to get rid of the taste. I'll keep my eye on him to make sure his appetite stays up.

Thanks for the help!

I have just finished giving baytril and handfeeding two of my boys, it was my first time also, Here is what we did. First, I didn't have a coffee grinder but a 1 cup chopper from Wal-mart. I worked fine if I only chopped a very small amount at one time, like 1/8 of a cup of their pellets. Kept those in a sandwich baggie. I didn't measure out the ingredients, just added about 1+ TBS prune puree from human baby food, 1+TBS plain pumpkin puree, 1 TBS molasses and about 1/2 cup chopped chin pellets. I mixed it with distilled water, a dash at a time to get the consistency just right. That will make plenty of food for several feedings, kept in the fridge up to two days. The 60 ml syringe has a bigger "spout? hole?" at the bottom that I liked much better then the smaller syringes. Adding water made the food so cold I decided I would heat the mixture a little. I had a large plastic tumbler 32oz maybe which I half filled with warm water then I nuked it for 1 minute. I put the food filled syringe in the plastic "container thingy" in came in and I put it in the hot water for about 5 minutes. Always squirt out the food from the tip of the syringe because it will be hotter, then test the food temp on the inside of your wrist, it should only be slightly warm. Never microwave the food, that can make scorching hot spots!! Tibbit and Joey said they want to give advice also.
Tibbit: I heard mommy talking on the phone with someone who said after awhile their chins just flipped over waiting to be fed. Oohh I flipped over alright, but only to bite the crud out of mommy....Hehehe I am soooo BAD!
Joey: Mommy used a fleece blanket to wrap me for feeding, she said I was a very lucky chin to have my very own snuggie and very stylish. Oh reeaally! I kack every time I see a snuggie commercial, they should be outlawed!