Help with treating URI

[ArmyWife]

Monday morning I was sitting next to Jade's cage and could hear her making little wheezing sounds and when I held her chest against my ear I could her some slight wheezing. We immediately brought her to the emergency exotic vet. The doctor heard a little wheezing in her chest but her teeth looked fine and the x-ray came out normal. He put her on a course of .3 ml twice a day of baytril and .05ml of metacam twice a day. She's received 8 treatments so far. I just went downstairs to check on her and the wheezing sounds worse, very squeaking coming from her nose and she was sneezing some. She doesn't appear to be lethargic at all, still her crazy self. Her pelts are decreasing in her food bowl and she will take treats from me so she's still eating. She goes in her dust bath when I put it in the cage. I'm very scared that it's going downhill and that the antibiotics aren't working. My husband and I are leaving tomorrow morning for our honeymoon so my Mom will be taking care of our little guys and giving Jade her meds everyday. Should she continue with the course of antibiotics after the full 8 days is complete? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[ticklechin]

Baytril resistant bacteria is a real problem, its one of the reasons I don't use it anymore unless I am using it synergistically with another antibiotic. For URIs I use chloramphenicol since to be honest I have had squat luck with baytril on its own.

 

[ArmyWife]

So you're recommending I try that instead? Should I do the 8 day course first before changing? I've never had to give my chins medicine before so I'm unfamiliar to all of this

 

[ticklechin]

If I was in your shoes, I would call the vet and tell them the chin is getting worse after the 4 days on baytril and should you switch to another family of antibiotic. I personally would switch to another antibiotic since I know that URIs can go wrong very fast and can be fatal is a short time and if I saw the chin going down hill, I would be all over my vet.

 

[Chinchilla63]

Going through it right now, too...

I've been treating one of my chins for a URI for the last 8 days. We're coming off a UTI a few weeks ago the vet gave Sulfatrim for. She gave Baytril this time because we'd just had Sulfatrim.
Pain meds made a BIG difference for my little girl. She'd gotten very lethargic and stopped eating/pooping. Also, the pain med (sorry, forgetting the name) is anti-inflammatory so if the nasal passages are swollen it can help with breathing.
I was told not to give dust baths with a URI because if the dust gets into the nose it can become clumped and make things worse.
She is doing another week of meds because she was pretty wiped out. I'm going to x-ray her next week to see if there's anything else going on if she's not better.
I'd have your vet check her one more time and leave very specific instructions for your mom.
Happy honeymoon!!!

 

[ArmyWife]

The vet prescribed her smz tmp instead. I had no idea that I shouldn't be giving her dust baths, thats really good to know. I'm really relieved that she's still playful and eating. My mom is going to take her back immediately if it gets worse. I think the dust baths had a big impact on the squeaky wheezing coming from her nose.

 

[ArmyWife]

They only had chloramphenicol in injectable and there is no way id have my mom do that. I just hope I don't stress out too much while on our trip!

 

[Luci]

If you're going to be out, and the wheezing is progressing, have you thought of maybe keeping her at the vets office? I would feel more secure knowing that my chin was in a place that could quickly care for her on a constant basis.

When Gizmo has a URI last year, it got worse before it got better- mostly because we caught it early (on my hunch) and he was prescribed meds. I think the fact that it got worse was jsut the bacteria running its course.

 

[ArmyWife]

It's definitely an option if she continues to wheeze. Thankfully we caught it early as well otherwise who knows what would have happened. I can't even think about losing my little girl.

 

[ticklechin]

Sending your chin healing thoughts!