Baytril - Woe is me..

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AmandaDi

AmandaDi

You Have No Idea!
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
389
Location
Central Texas
Okay, so we all know how we feel about Baytril!

You can see posts about Skylar's tail injury in this forum. Short story, she cut the tip, for almost two months I couldn't get it to heal. Got infected so he amputated half of the tail. By the 5th day, the tail was not healing and looked bad so he had to amputate the whole tail.

She WAS on sulfatrim after the first amputation. She liked it and I am not against it. This time he said we needed to go hard core and he gave me Baytril. I hate the experiences I have had with Baytril in the past. I did injectable Bayril on one chin but I do not feel like that type of stress (getting her out twice a day and trying to properly hold her without a tail to stabilize my holding) is not good for her. She is 10. I am honestly surprised she has survived all this stress. She hates the taste of it too, so it isn't easy convincing her to take it orally either.

Suggestions? Is there another med she could take that is just as strong but not as hard on her GI system? What should I be doing to help supplement her while she is on these antibiotics. I am already giving a probiotic paste everyday that she loves.

Fluids - anyone think I should add a tiny bit of cran juice to the water to try to keep her drinking?

Its been YEARS since I have had to deal with antibiotics and keeping a chin healthy while on them... so I have forgotten a lot!

Advice please!
 
I was given cefadroxyl? (cefa drops) for a stubborn URI about a decade ago. I quit using it when I had a chin have an allergic reaction to it.

You'll know if they have an allergic reaction to it right away, they swell up, otherwise it worked fine.

I would see if she will drink water with apple cider vinegar in it - it will help with the infection as well. Maybe a drop or two to the whole bottle.

Apple juice is just pure sugar and bacteria (good and bad) flourish on it.

Good luck with her!
 
So sorry to hear that poor Skylar's tail won't heal! I wold say definitely keep giving the probiotic paste, good thing she likes it! I honestly can't think of another antibiotic that's just as strong but less harsh on the GI tract. There could be some that I'm not aware of, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Try and see if she will drink water with the apple cider vinegar like Spoof suggested. To monitor her drinking levels, take a piece of clear tape and draw a straight line across the width of the tape and stick it to her bottle where the water line is. You can even fold the tape over a bit so you can easily remove it from the water bottle later (folding it makes a little flap you can easily grab off later). I use this technique when I've got sick chins and it helps you see exactly how much they drank when you are not around/sleeping etc. It will give you peace of mind knowing you can have an accurate measure of fluid intake.

As far as getting her to take her medicine, is there any way you can sneak it a small amount of the apple-banana critical care? I've had to do that in the past. You just have to make sure that they eat it all (so don't mix a huge amount), and be sure not to spill any (easier said than done I know! Just take it slow and that helps with spills).

Monitor any changes in poop of course. Often times when chins are on antibiotics they don't like to eat as much and the last thing you want or need is GI issues on top of any original illness.

Hope that helps refresh your memory a bit, hope Skylar gets better soon!
 
Thanks Spoof and Asha.

Yesterday I added a few drops of the apple cider vinegar to the water. It looks like she might have had some of it, but I can't account for dripping.

Today I added a few drops of straight cranberry juice and I actually watched her drink that. Tomorrow I will do plain water then start the cycle over.

I've seen her eat some hay but Im not sure on the pellets. I think tonight I will count them! She is on a padding instead of shavings, so it will be easier to find if she just tossed the food.

She still does not like the taste of the meds. I know she is getting SOME of it in, but not all of it.

I don't have any critical left around here so I will have to find somewhere to order it. Of course by the time it got here she would almost be off her meds. Hmmm. He added a little flavoring to the meds, but I dont guess she likes that flavor either. Wonder if I can come up with something else.
 
Hi Amanda, one of my little guys was just on a 10 day course of oral Baytril. He was already not eating, so I was handfeeding anyway.

I found it helpful to burrito him, give him the Baytril, then give him the CC (mixed with a probiotic) to wash the taste down. He actually ended up eating on his own again while he was on the Baytril, but I would give him a chaser of 10 mL of CC and probiotic after the Baytril anyway just to help things.

As for the Critical Care Amazon sells it (what DON'T they sell?!) and they have pretty fast shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Oxbow-Critica...&qid=1379266882&sr=8-2&keywords=critical+care
 
Some people recommend weighing the food bowl every day to see how much food is gone. It would probably save you time too so you don't have to count pellets! Since you don't have any CC, you can also crush the pellets up with a coffee grinder/blender and add some water to make your own recovery food until the CC arrives. This is a good "getcha by" technique when you are in a pinch.

My other suggestion to you as far as the meds flavoring, is maybe add it to some baby gas drops? Since she doesn't sound like she is eating much, it would probably help keep any gas bubbles trying to form down as well. I have used baby gas drops on my chins several times when ill and they loooove the flavor. No fighting that stuff at all. I've read from alot of members that baby gas drops are safe and good for chins who have bloat, but I've also heard read in different places that its ok to use as a preventative too when a chin is already sick with something else and you want to avoid GI issues. Just a thought.

I hear you on the drippy water bottles! I use glass ones myself and sometimes if you unscrew the spout and look inside, you will see the gasket is a bit out of place. I always make sure to fill all the way to the top, check the gasket, and screw on tight! Seems to do the trick pretty well until I have a bottle that gets old and worn out, then I just buy a new one if it gets too bad.
 
Tried to mix a little juice with her meds tonight and she wasn't having it. Tried to shoot it in her mouth since she wouldn't cooperate, but I am pretty sure most of it ended up on her chin! I am always so worried about them aspirating when I have to force it in. Gotta try something else tomorrow.

I personally think the stump still looks good. Curious to see if my vet agrees when I send a pic tomorrow!
 
The vet looked at her tail in the pic I took and told me I could try to go back to sulfatrim and stop the bayril. No poo in the cage today, so that bothers me!
 
Glad to hear the tail is better! If I were you, I would go ahead and call your vet to inform them about there not being any poop since that could be a sign of beginning bloat/stasis. At least give them a call to make sure they are aware and they can guide you from there. Since you are going back to sulfatrim, hopefully that will encourage your chin to eat more (thus poop more!) since it won't be so harsh on her system.
 
Asha, thanks! Fingers are crossed that it continues to heal when I stop the baytril. I told the vet no poo today and that's why he agreed to let me stop the baytril. She was on it for 72 hours, so I hope it kicked the germs in the butt!
I went ahead and ordered the Critical Care anyhow just so I can add it to her food or hand feed her if she isn't improving. It won't get here till Wed/Thur though.
Will keep yall updated.
 
Skylar has been off Baytril for 24 hours now. No poo in two days though! UGH!

She will eat crushed up food (almost a powder) mixed with water and probiotic paste off of a spoon. I've seen her drinking. So ideally I should be getting SOME poo by now right?

Should I ask the vet to give me some reglan?
 
I would be very concerned if there hadn't been poo in two days.

In my experience, it takes about 10-12 hours for food to completely pass through. Example: When Max first stopped eating and pooing I gave him some CC. When we were at the vet about 10 hours later, he did some great looking poos, that could only have been the result of the CC I had given him the night before.

Without knowing for sure what's going on in her gut, I don't know that I would ask for Reglan. I THINK a gut X-ray might be better, so you can see if there is blockage or not. Other members might be able to tell you better what your next step should be. I can definitely say that if she's been eating over the past two days, she should have pood by now.

I'll be keeping you and Skylar in my thoughts.
 
Thanks - I took her to the vet today and he said she is not dehydrated and her stomach feels and sounds good. He said that the little bit I have been getting her to eat just isn't enough to produce anything at this point. He said to continue doing what I am doing and just keep trying to get her to eat. Gotta take her back Friday if I see no improvement. He said her tail looked great BUT she has a sore spot by her privates where he thinks she is licking due to stress.... just what I need!
 
Trying to decide if I should start a new thread in food!

Today I started baby rice cereal in a syringe. She didn't eat a lot of it, but some is better than nothing. She ate the whole little spoon filled with her other mix I make though. STILL waiting on that Critical Care to get here.

Trying to get her to remember what it feels like to be hungry so she will eat!

Still alternating her water bottles with plain water and water with a hint of cranberry juice.

Any other ideas on what I can try to feed her to get her tummy full enough to start pooping!? She was pooping right after surgery so I know that nothing "didn't wake up".
 
Did you get gut stimulants from the vet? They should have given you some.
 
I asked about getting Reglan and he said that studies are showing that it actually doesn't stimulate the gut. So, he didn't give it to me.

Is there some sort of natural stuff that would help with that?
 
I'm a bit surprised that the vet did not give you any Reglan. This is the first time that I have heard of any studies suggesting that it doesn't really stimulate the gut, but then again I'm no vet! I just read alot! To be honest, I can't say that I have heard of any natural cures for this sort of thing, nothing I can think of that would be safe anyway. Perhaps another member here would have better knowledge of this.

Glad to hear the CC finally arrived for you! I do know that if you are hand feeding a chin and dealing with gut issues, you need to feed them alot! I believe most people here recommend 60ml per day which is spread out across multiple feedings throughout the day and even the night. It can be difficult because they don't wanna eat when sick, hence why we make them eat anyway! If your chin won't eat much during one feeding, then just try again in like an hour or so. When one of my chins was sick, I fed her about 6ish (can't remember the exact number) times per day/night. I tried to feed her every few hours and if she would not eat much, then I would try again sooner than her next scheduled feeding to make sure to get enough CC down her.

You will probably want to contact your vet again if things remain unchanged by tomorrow (or even call this evening if they are still open) and just ask if they would be willing to do a gut x-ray. Its tough to know what to do when you aren't completely sure if its just some gas or something worse like a blockage. Trying to help you the best I can! Typically I've always heard an x-ray, meds, or both is usually in order when they don't poop for an extended period. I don't want to give you any incorrect info on this one!
 
Asha, I posted a pic of her xray. It shows gas pockets, but that was it according to the vet. He gave her fluids, but still didn't give me reglan! He usually gives me whatever I want, so I dont know what is going on! I just started gas drops too.
 
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