Help with medications?

[tillowiz]

Hi, so earlier this afternoon my 6 year old chinchilla,Tiller (I an say 6 now because it's after midnight and now it's her birthday!) had dental surgery for a potential root disease.
She ended up just having her molars trimmed but the vet noted that she had what's known as "wave mouth" and did what she could to trim and remove points.

Anyway, she prescribed 3 medications, and I forgot to ask about possible side effects and whether or not they can be used together:

*Baytril .43ml 2x daily
*Metronidazole .09ml 2x daily
*Meloxicam .28ml once daily

Anyone have experience with any of this? Thank you in advance!

 

[tunes]

The problem child in that list is Baytril. Dental surgery generally already causes chins to go off their feed and Baytril does as well. I use Baytril only as a last resort drug because of how harsh it is on a chin. If I do use it, I prefer to use the injectable dosing rather than orally because it is a lot easier on the chin. Some folks say it causes loss of appetite once it hits the stomach. Others say it is because it tastes so vile (and it does, it is just disgusting) that it causes the chin to go off their feed. I have found that I have no issue either way with the injectable OR when it is compounded at a pharmacy into a strawberry or grape flavor - so I tend to go more with the taste being the issue.

Baytril also causes loss of bone growth in kits, which would not be a problem in your situation.

 

[ticklechin]

Baytril does squat on its own for dental issues, its anerobic and the bacteria you need to deal with with "Root disease", meaning periodontal disease is aerobic. Vets who deal with a lot of malocclusion will RX baytril and flagyl together. Flagyl works on aerobic bacteria, the actual infection in the mouth, baytril is used for collateral damage-upper respiratory infections are common in malo chins, the baytril is used to fight that. Wave mouth is difficult to deal with since it involves chewing behavior which precipitates the issue. A result is repeated reoccurences and root elongation is a side effect.

 

[tillowiz]

Yes, I can definitely tell her appetite is suppressed. She eats a little bit during the night but in the morning there are significantly fewer poops. I try to help by offering her a Cheerio after medicine time (especially because the Meloxicam says to take with food!) but she won't take it when they're usually her favorite treat. I don't want to make her sick. =(