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Baytril dosage

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scottymac

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Hi,
One of my guinea pigs seems to got both a uri and cystitis at the same time and has been prescribed both metacam and Baytril 2.5% (1mg, once a day).
My query is with the dosage of Baytril. 1mg a day seems to be almost double the recommended dose, is it too much? Admittedly, he is a large lad (to my horror the vet weighed him in at 1.3kg, saying she would like to see him at less than 1kg, although this contradicts our old vet who said she would expect him to be about 1.2kg when fully grown), I'm just worried this will do him more harm than good?
My second question is possibly a stupid one but i'll ask anyway:
He absolutely hates baytril and getting it into him is a nightmare. On the flipside, he loves metacam, came running back to the syringe for more this morning! Is it safe to mix the 2 together and hope the banana flavour of the metacam outweighs the yukkiness of the Baytrill?
We've tried all the various methods such as wrapping in a towel but he does everything to avoid it. Managed to distract him with a bit of lettuce last night then slip the syringe in but it took forever, just wondered if mixing the 2 might be the answer?
 
Hi, when you say 1mg of baytril do you actually mean 1ml, volume? This dose is fine for a hefty piggy though I would expect it more usually to be given as 0.5ml twice a day. We currently have a chubby 1.2kg girl having that dose for a URI.
All piggies hate baytril and it does taste disgusting, as I found out once after kissing a piggy on the nose for being good taking her medicine and she sank her baytril-flavoured teeth into my lip!

Some people advise mixing baytril with a little fruit juice or sugar-free ribena in the syringe, but it doesnt really hide the taste mych then you just have twice as much liquid to make them drink lol. There's no medical reason not to mix it with the baytril in the syringe... is there anyone who can help you give the baytril? I find it is a 2 person job usually, I hold the piggy while my husband squirts the medicine in!

Best of luck, and in answer to your weight question, 1.3kg is a bit hefty perhaps but still at the upper end of a normal weight range, piggy certainly shouldnt be slimming down to under a kilo, that would be far too thin for a naturally large built piggy! No harm in reducing the amount of pellets you feed and scatter feeding his veg to make him exercise a bit more, once he is well, if he is a little too plump x
 
Hi, thanks for that. Yeah, definitely 1mg, once per day. May try doing it twice daily at half the dose and do the metacam first, so he thinks its anice banana flavoured syringe 😂
We've already tried the 2 person manoeuvre but, if anything, he's worse because he gets stressed at being held too firmly. Last night I'm pretty certain he wore more on his chest than got in his mouth!
Ouch, being bitten on the lip must have hurt!
We'll get his weight down. Ive now put my missus on a ban from giving them more than 1 or 2 pea flakes a week, it was at least that many per day, if not more! Today's day 3 of pea flake cold turkey and they're not happy 😂. In fairness, the meds will probably get his weight down a bit too. They get more hay than they could ever eat, plenty of nuggets and a small amount of veg, so I'm pretty certain its the pea flakes giving the weight issues. On the plus side, no sign of bloat and no kidney stones.
 
I once mixed baytril and metacam (sucking the baytril up first so the piggy tasted the metacam first before the nasty surprise of baytril at the end. I hope your piggy recovers soon x
 
scottymac said:
Hi, thanks for that. Yeah, definitely 1mg, once per day. May try doing it twice daily at half the dose and do the metacam first, so he thinks its anice banana flavoured syringe 😂
We've already tried the 2 person manoeuvre but, if anything, he's worse because he gets stressed at being held too firmly. Last night I'm pretty certain he wore more on his chest than got in his mouth!
Ouch, being bitten on the lip must have hurt!
We'll get his weight down. Ive now put my missus on a ban from giving them more than 1 or 2 pea flakes a week, it was at least that many per day, if not more! Today's day 3 of pea flake cold turkey and they're not happy 😂. In fairness, the meds will probably get his weight down a bit too. They get more hay than they could ever eat, plenty of nuggets and a small amount of veg, so I'm pretty certain its the pea flakes giving the weight issues. On the plus side, no sign of bloat and no kidney stones.
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I note you say ‘plenty of nuggets’ - of course it depends what you mean by that but one tablespoon each per day only is the recommended amount. More than one tablespoon of pellets per day will also be a major contributor to unhealthy weight gain (as well as being a cause of excess calcium intake which can lead to bladder stones)
Have you checked his heft yourself? Of course your vet is the best person to advise with a hands on check but one of my boy’s weighs 1.3kg which is perfectly healthy for him
 
By plenty, i meant enough to meet their need (roughly 1/2 a table spoon each, twice a day. Tbh, if we do accidentally put too many in they dont eat them anyway.
He got xrayed for stones and was all clear for bloat too. We actually dont give them much food, just my other half was sneaking them pea flakes when i wasnt looking 😂.
Interestingly, the vet said we should look at switching them from 2nd cut timothy hay to meadow hay as it's lower in calcium.
already mix it with a bit of meadow hay anyway, just to give variety.
To be honest, he does look overweight, ive been saying this to my partner for a few weeks, he looks like a butternut squash, but its taken the vet saying it for her to listen and the treats have massively reduced (i do most of the other feeding so can regulate how much they get).
Anyway, gave baytrill with a bit of metacam bit still didnt work, eventually got (some of) it in. Only a few more days of this...
 
How much does he weigh and what is his heft like? That’s the best way to tell whether the weight is right. It’s individual. Yes your partner needs to stop the sneaky pea flakes 😁

I also don’t think timothy has more calcium than meadow. Plenty of people on here (myself included) feed timothy.
 
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