Salem on Baytril and not eating as much..

[Lady Barnosky]

One of my chins has a vaginal infection and the vet had given her Baytril once a day. Salem is not eating pellets at all, only a little hay and her poops are tiny.Salem is drinking still.

Obviously we do not want her to go into stasis so i am getting Acidpohilus first thing in the morning. My husband and I already have some critical care.

What we would like to know is does critical care interfere with the Baytril?
We know that Acidpohilus does so we need to give that at least 3 hours after the Baytril.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[tunes]

A lot of people use critical care as a chaser to take away the horrible taste of the Baytril. You could also try a cheerio or half of a bite sized shredded wheat.

Are you able to give injections? Most people who give Baytril by injection have no issue with their chins going off their diets.

 

[ticklechin]

I just used oral baytril on three chins and all went off feed, I usually do injectable but since I was sick also, it just was not something I wanted to do. The first one started eating a couple of days after stopping baytril, the second one started eating 6-7 days after and the third one took three weeks to start eating, all did not eat during taking it. You need to hand/syringe feed a full ration of food during baytril being administered, that means at least 60ml of critical care a day, broken up into several feedings. Critical care made to a milkshake consistency will have enough water in it so you don't have to feed water. Be prepared for a fight, baytril fed chins are very hard to feed, their tummies feel sick, there is no appetite and they will fight feeding, patience is needed.

 

[Lady Barnosky]

Thank you so much this is very helpful. The vets here are the only one's who will do injectable Baytril and our only exotic pet vet does not offer this. I managed to give her some critical care today and her poops are noticbly bigger already. Salem is still eating hay also and drinking water fine. Salem is also alot more active today and alert.

 

[Lady Barnosky]

After 6 days on baytril Salem is now eating normally and drinking. Her vaginal area is clean and dry with no mucas. I gave somw critical care for a few days which really helped.

Last day of Baytril on sunday. Salem is alot more active and strong. Thanks for all your advice.

 

[tunes]

I'm glad to hear Salem is doing well. Hopefully once she is done with it on Sunday she'll never need it again. I do want to congratulate you on finding the pyometria and getting it treated quickly. Many chins don't make it through this.

 

[Lady Barnosky]

Just to clarify, the vet said it was a vaginal infection and not pyrometra.
The discharge was white and was not brown/red like it would be if it was pyrometra....

Throughout this round of Baytril, Salem has kept up an appetite and while i am not sure that she was/is eating as much as usual she is definitely still eating. I have watched her from the time i got home from work to the time i went to sleep for the last 5 days. I have tried to keep her appetite stimulated by using different foods throughout this week and i dont know if that has anything to do with it or maybe she is just a strong chin? Or maybe the infection was not too bad and we caught it early enough.

I am curious is it normal in some cases for a chinchilla to still eat while on Baytril?
This seems to go against everything i have read about a chinchilla on Baytril/every situation i have read about.

This is lady barnoskys husband by the way.

Salem is active and running around as normal now as well. Also, can anyone give advice on when it is safe to give a dust bath again?

The vet we went to knew about chins and how to handle them/signs to look for to indicate sickness or teeth problems but the best advice comes from the people that have actually been through these situations.

Also, should i be concerned that the vet did not swab the discharge and analyze it to find out exactly what strain of bacteria we are dealing with? or is Baytril effective enough to kill off any strain?

thanks in advance for the advice

 

[Newt]

One of my old chins, Poppy, had pyometra, and her discharge was creamy white. Another of my old chins, Jasmine, had a vaginal infection that presented exactly like Poppy's pyometra. Creamy/white discharge. I've never heard of a chin having red/brown discharge with a pyo infection....maybe someone else has??

We only found out the difference in Poppy and Jasmine's cases after pathological/histological analysis of the uterine tissue, following emergency spays. I should mention that they didn't have the infections at the same time: the cases happened nearly two years apart.
We chose to take the more aggressive route of surgical treatment when a week of antibiotic treatment was not enough to clear the infections completely. We were worried about the infection becoming "closed", and the pus building up.

Umm yeah, your vet really should have taken swabs and had them analysed for drug resistance.

Both our girls had high counts of Staph cocci.... you could see the clusters of bacteria so easily with gram stain and a light microscope. We ended up using Trisul (trimetheprim sulphate, excuse spelling), as the bacteria were analysed and found to be susceptible, plus the drug was much gentler on the chin's tummies than the baytril.

Are you keeping a chart of her weight? I'd weigh her every night during this infection (once a week when healthy) just to keep track of the weight loss. Both my girls hid the signs of illness very well....they acted normally, and ate normally, right up until the surgery.