Reaction to Baytril?

[Leigh P]

As per my previous threads, I have just lost my lovely boar piggie after a very short illness.

My question is the amount of Baytril that I was advised (by the vet) to give him. I was told a 1.1ml dose once a day... but have been prompted that this may have been rather a lot? My gp was 1.45kg in weight when we went to the vets. I have tried to look up dosage but can only find this in mg's.

If this had been too much, would the dose have been fatal? I am just going around in circles with what happened.

 

[Toffeewoffee]

Oh sweetie, i asume you are referring to my post, i am no expert so i am only going by the fact usually on here (and the doses i have had to give to my piggies) have at most been 0.4mls twice daily, but he was a fair size so this may have been why a larger dose was precrived i am not sure, but i wuld think if the Baytril had of been to blame he would have passed quicker than he did.

xx

 

[Midge&Panda]

I'm very sorry that you have lost your boy, as for the dose of baytril I lave a large girl -Panda who weighs in at about 1500g and she has been suffering from chest/ breathing problems. (now diagnosed as asthma). At it's worst she was on 0.6ml of baytril twice a day.

 

[Pebble]

I'm very sorry you lost little Chip- and I'm also very sorry that, in trying to look to the "what if's" (as we all do when we lose one of our piggies) , you are perhaps being steered in the wrong direction.

DOSE RANGE.
Firstly I'm going to assume that you had the most common strength of baytril which is 2.5% or 25mg/ml. 1.1ml therefore contains 27.5mg of active ingredient.

Most people are instructed to give baytril twice daily but you are giving once daily so we will work out the once daily total amount that can be given for a guinea pig weighing 1.45kg.

The British Small animal formulary recommends up to 20mg/kg every 24 hours - guinea pigs are thought to have a higher metabolic rate and can accept a dose more similar to a rabbit dose (10-30mg/kg) than a rat dose (5-10mg/kg) so 20mg/kg is reasonable.

So the total 24hr dose range (5-20mg/kg) for a guinea pig weighing 1.45kg would be from 7.25mg to 29mg (ie 0.29ml to 1.1ml). This can be given once a day or the amount can be split in half and given twice a day.

So the short answer is No - you haven;t overdosed your guinea pig. Although the dose is the high end of the recommended dose range, baytril is a very safe antibiotic and some vets give even higher doses becuase guinea pigs are known to have a higher metabolic rate than other rodents/rabbits so process/break down the drug more quickly. Given the symtoms the vet probably decided not to muck around and prescribed the highest dose to try and knock out the bugs.

WHAT IF'S
The only issue with giving baytril is it can sometimes upset the gut flora and the guinea pig may not want to eat so needs to be given extra syringe food and probioitics. However people need to bear in mind that an ill guinea pig will already have stopped eating properly before the illness is noticed and is developing gut problems as a result. It takes 24hours or more for the effects on the gut to start to show following reduced intake of food. By the time the gut is showing it is upset, the piggie is being given baytril by the vet and poor baytril tends to get the blame when it is actually the illness that has started the process. Chip did not live long enough for any gut symptoms to start to show properly from any effect of baytril.

Bacterial diseases can hit piggies very hard and very fast as, being prey animals, they are good at hiding symptoms until it is almost too late. It sounds to me like unfortunately your piggie had picked up a particularly nasty and quick-acting infection (probably respiratory that may have then spread into the blood stream). The injection followed by high dose of oral antbioitic was his best chance to see off the bug before it spread/multipled any further but sadly the bug was too quick acting.

The symptoms you describe for Chip sounds like he either suffered from lung congestion or heart/organ failure owing to the bug spreading quickly into his bloodstream. There was nothing more you could do for him and by getting him to the vet so quickly, you really did give him his best chance.

I'm very sorry you have lost Chip - I hope the above will go some way to putting your mind at rest about the "What If's".

Hugs
ccc

 

[flintstones]

Thank You Pebbles, for such a detailed post. This thread has highlighted a very important point just how much Baytril doses can vary, I do believe if people are indoubt about dosages we should be asking the experts (ie vets). I for one would hate to worry people unnecessary just because we haven't given the 'stated' dose, does not mean it's incorrect.

I'm very sorry you lost Chip, sleep well little one. x

 

[Toffeewoffee]

If that is with reference to my message, i would just like to say, i did not say it was incorrect or wrong, too much etc, i said i hadn't heard of such a high dose before, but as he was a big pig this could be the reason for a higher dose. x

 

[biscandmatt]

i think when one of my two had baytril is was 0.7ml twice a day. your vet has gone with the once a day treatment so it's probably fine. alot of exotics vets will start off high to get the illness under control and then reduce down as time goes on as they recover.

hugs x

 

[Pebble]

If that is with reference to my message, i would just like to say, i did not say it was incorrect or wrong, too much etc, i said i hadn't heard of such a high dose before, but as he was a big pig this could be the reason for a higher dose. x

Pardon?

I will address this post later tonight if deemed appropriate

x

 

[Claire W]

I know it isn't the same thing but when my Eliza had a stubborn UTI nearly two years ago, she was on a very high dose of Septrin. Quite a lot higher than what most people on here use.

I was extremely worried that the dose was two high and rang my vets twice before I gave it to her as I thought they had made a mistake.

It turns out that due to her weight at the time and other things, the dose they had advised was correct. I think that other factors do come in to the equation when stating a dose of medication although I could be wrong.

 

[Leigh P]

Dear All

Thank you for all your posts. I was worried that I had given Chip a high dose of Baytril and that I had, in some way, hurt his insides. This was not due to anyones posts, but due to the fact that I have never given such a high dose before. I am relieved to hear that this is not the case and that I had done all I could. I just needed some back up information to put my mind at rest.

It is great to have this forum to fall back on when you need a query answered... the vets don't alway have your best interests at heart and will drag you into the surgery at any possible chance. I always feel that to ask people with experience first is the best step... always a vet when there is a medical problem.

Thanks again for putting my mind at rest and for all your supportive posts. We will miss Chip as he was a lovely natured boy, but I know we did all we could for him when he needed it, and gave him a happy (if but short) life.

Thanks again and hugs to all
x