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Specialist Zithromax instead of Baytril for abscess?

Swissgreys

Swissgreys

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I really need help from our abscess experts.
We are currently trying to deal with a very large dental abscess.
My well respected exotics vet is going above and beyond to help with this.
She knows her stuff, and is always happy to listen to my suggestions, calls me out of hours to discuss, sends x-rays for a second opinion, etc.

Eddi will have surgery to drain/remove the abscess on Friday morning, and has been put on Baytril until then.
My vet insists that this is the antibiotic of choice for abscesses that haven’t been cultured.
I told her I had heard Zithromax was better and was the current antibiotic of choice, so she produced a text book (Small Animal Dentistry) and a scientific paper from 2016, both of which point to Baytril as a good antibiotic for dental abscesses.
This is the link to an Abstract from the paper if anyone is interested:
Microbial flora of odontogenic abscesses in pet guinea pigs. - PubMed - NCBI

She said she had not heard of Zithromax being used widely, but if I could show her some research she would happily consider it for me.
But several hours on the Internet hasn’t turned up anything (except a whole bunch of threads here and a few anecdotal stories).
I need a paper or reference if possible.

Does anyone know why Zithromax is considered to be better than Baytril.
I am extremely worried about putting Eddi through some pretty major surgery, if the infection will return because he is on the wrong antibiotic.

Can anyone help?
 
Swissgreys said:
I really need help from our abscess experts.
We are currently trying to deal with a very large dental abscess.
My well respected exotics vet is going above and beyond to help with this.
She knows her stuff, and is always happy to listen to my suggestions, calls me out of hours to discuss, sends x-rays for a second opinion, etc.

Eddi will have surgery to drain/remove the abscess on Friday morning, and has been put on Baytril until then.
My vet insists that this is the antibiotic of choice for abscesses that haven’t been cultured.
I told her I had heard Zithromax was better and was the current antibiotic of choice, so she produced a text book (Small Animal Dentistry) and a scientific paper from 2016, both of which point to Baytril as a good antibiotic for dental abscesses.
This is the link to an Abstract from the paper if anyone is interested:
Microbial flora of odontogenic abscesses in pet guinea pigs. - PubMed - NCBI

She said she had not heard of Zithromax being used widely, but if I could show her some research she would happily consider it for me.
But several hours on the Internet hasn’t turned up anything (except a whole bunch of threads here and a few anecdotal stories).
I need a paper or reference if possible.

Does anyone know why Zithromax is considered to be better than Baytril.
I am extremely worried about putting Eddi through some pretty major surgery, if the infection will return because he is on the wrong antibiotic.

Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
@furryfriends (TEAS) is your best bet to know this. I have been told zythromax is a good strong antibiotic. It was the one of choice when my old boar sky had two "abscesses" under his chin . Turned out to be cancer, but my vet prescribed this before the test results came back, just incase it sorted the problem out before we knew what was really going on.

I have used zyrhromax for two of my guinea pigs now and hasn't upset the gut flora ever
 
I know it's anecdotal, but isn't part of the reason that Zithromax tends to be better tolerated than Baytril and generally easier on the gut? Because that's a big thing for a guinea pig. Google seems to say something similar - I know that in itself doesn't help but maybe gives something else to search for?
 
Swissgreys said:
I really need help from our abscess experts.
We are currently trying to deal with a very large dental abscess.
My well respected exotics vet is going above and beyond to help with this.
She knows her stuff, and is always happy to listen to my suggestions, calls me out of hours to discuss, sends x-rays for a second opinion, etc.

Eddi will have surgery to drain/remove the abscess on Friday morning, and has been put on Baytril until then.
My vet insists that this is the antibiotic of choice for abscesses that haven’t been cultured.
I told her I had heard Zithromax was better and was the current antibiotic of choice, so she produced a text book (Small Animal Dentistry) and a scientific paper from 2016, both of which point to Baytril as a good antibiotic for dental abscesses.
This is the link to an Abstract from the paper if anyone is interested:
Microbial flora of odontogenic abscesses in pet guinea pigs. - PubMed - NCBI

She said she had not heard of Zithromax being used widely, but if I could show her some research she would happily consider it for me.
But several hours on the Internet hasn’t turned up anything (except a whole bunch of threads here and a few anecdotal stories).
I need a paper or reference if possible.

Does anyone know why Zithromax is considered to be better than Baytril.
I am extremely worried about putting Eddi through some pretty major surgery, if the infection will return because he is on the wrong antibiotic.

Can anyone help?
Click to expand...

Simon always uses Zithromax, or occasionally Marbocyl, when dealing with abscesses. Guinea pigs who have been on baytril for weeks, with no real improvement, have come on in leaps and bounds after changing to Zithromax. I am sure Simon would be willing to speak on the phone to your vet, or communicate via email.

Email [email protected]
Phone +441604 478888
 
I was going to suggest what Debbie said which is for your vet to speak with Simon. I'm not sure there will be much research on different antibiotics with guinea pigs especially with Baytril being about the only licenced product.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Simon always uses Zithromax, or occasionally Marbocyl, when dealing with abscesses. Guinea pigs who have been on baytril for weeks, with no real improvement, have come on in leaps and bounds after changing to Zithromax. I am sure Simon would be willing to speak on the phone to your vet, or communicate via email.

Email [email protected]
Phone +441604 478888
Click to expand...

Thank you so much everyone for your fast responses - I am so worried about Eddi right now, and I just want to give him the absolute best chance.

@furryfriends (TEAS) do you think I could e-mail Simon - I am sure he could direct me to some scientific evidence I can show her.
Direct communication might be difficult becasue obviously English is not her mother tongue.
 
Swissgreys said:
Thank you so much everyone for your fast responses - I am so worried about Eddi right now, and I just want to give him the absolute best chance.

@furryfriends (TEAS) do you think I could e-mail Simon - I am sure he could direct me to some scientific evidence I can show her.
Direct communication might be difficult becasue obviously English is not her mother tongue.
Click to expand...

Yes definitely send an email. I am seeing him on Friday afternoon, so can ask him too, if you haven't had a reply by then xx
 
Thank you again everyone - I so appreciate all of the advice and support.

E-mail has been sent, so fingers crossed they will have time to reply to someone who isn't even their patient.
 
Can’t add to the advice but want to assure you that you and Eddi are in my thoughts.
Hope all goes well on Friday
 
Best of luck to you and Eddi. I'm pretty sure Simon's spoken to vets outside the country before (I believe it was Denmark)...tell Eddi I'd send him some blueberries if I could!
 
Posyrose said:
I hadn't heard that Eddi was poorly - I hope your pirate piggy is better soon. He's a forum star 🌟
Click to expand...
Thank you @Posyrose
You hadn't heard about it becasue I hadn't mentioned it to be honest.

It has all come on very suddenly, and Eddi was planning to post an update on his fabulous recovery once we have all had time to catch our breath a bit (and once he has actually recovered).
But I am deeply worried about the impending surgery (which I know he desperately needs) and just wanted to try and find out as much as possible to give him every chance.
As usual the Forum has risen to the challenge, and no doubt the pirate piggy Eddi will be regailing all of you with his stories again very soon.
 
I do hope you get some expert advice from Simon to help Eddi on his road to recovery. We will miss his unique views on life with his piggy and human family xx

I'm sure that Eddi would want me to remind you that poorly piggies need extra vitamin C in the form of blueberries! ;)
 
Swissgreys said:
I really need help from our abscess experts.
We are currently trying to deal with a very large dental abscess.
My well respected exotics vet is going above and beyond to help with this.
She knows her stuff, and is always happy to listen to my suggestions, calls me out of hours to discuss, sends x-rays for a second opinion, etc.

Eddi will have surgery to drain/remove the abscess on Friday morning, and has been put on Baytril until then.
My vet insists that this is the antibiotic of choice for abscesses that haven’t been cultured.
I told her I had heard Zithromax was better and was the current antibiotic of choice, so she produced a text book (Small Animal Dentistry) and a scientific paper from 2016, both of which point to Baytril as a good antibiotic for dental abscesses.
This is the link to an Abstract from the paper if anyone is interested:
Microbial flora of odontogenic abscesses in pet guinea pigs. - PubMed - NCBI

She said she had not heard of Zithromax being used widely, but if I could show her some research she would happily consider it for me.
But several hours on the Internet hasn’t turned up anything (except a whole bunch of threads here and a few anecdotal stories).
I need a paper or reference if possible.

Does anyone know why Zithromax is considered to be better than Baytril.
I am extremely worried about putting Eddi through some pretty major surgery, if the infection will return because he is on the wrong antibiotic.

Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
The article you linked to states using Baytril with Metronidazole (Flagyl), a large number of bacteria in dental abscesses are anaerobic bacteria which are not sensitive to Baytril. Looking at Azithromycin it doesn't seem to be particularly good for anaerobes either.
I think as stated above it just seems to be better tolerated by piggies as far as their guts are concerned.
Personally I have never found Baytril alone any use, but both Metronidazole and Azithromycin seem effective. My vet used Azithromycin and Metronidazole together for a particularly stubborn abscess, it was effective and well tolerated by the piggy.
Sending best wishes for dear little Eddi x
 
Swissgreys said:
I really need help from our abscess experts.
We are currently trying to deal with a very large dental abscess.
My well respected exotics vet is going above and beyond to help with this.
She knows her stuff, and is always happy to listen to my suggestions, calls me out of hours to discuss, sends x-rays for a second opinion, etc.

Eddi will have surgery to drain/remove the abscess on Friday morning, and has been put on Baytril until then.
My vet insists that this is the antibiotic of choice for abscesses that haven’t been cultured.
I told her I had heard Zithromax was better and was the current antibiotic of choice, so she produced a text book (Small Animal Dentistry) and a scientific paper from 2016, both of which point to Baytril as a good antibiotic for dental abscesses.
This is the link to an Abstract from the paper if anyone is interested:
Microbial flora of odontogenic abscesses in pet guinea pigs. - PubMed - NCBI

She said she had not heard of Zithromax being used widely, but if I could show her some research she would happily consider it for me.
But several hours on the Internet hasn’t turned up anything (except a whole bunch of threads here and a few anecdotal stories).
I need a paper or reference if possible.

Does anyone know why Zithromax is considered to be better than Baytril.
I am extremely worried about putting Eddi through some pretty major surgery, if the infection will return because he is on the wrong antibiotic.

Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
The article you linked to states using Baytril with Metronidazole (Flagyl), a large number of bacteria in dental abscesses are anaerobic bacteria which are not sensitive to Baytril. Looking at Azithromycin it doesn't seem to be particularly good for anaerobes either.
I think as stated above it just seems to be better tolerated by piggies as far as their guts are concerned.
Personally I have never found Baytril alone any use, but both Metronidazole and Azithromycin seem effective. My vet used Azithromycin and Metronidazole together for a particularly stubborn abscess, it was effective and well tolerated by the piggy.
Sending best wishes for dear little Eddi x
 
I have had great results with baytril for treating a u.r.i . But thats all
 
Good luck Eddi, I hope it all goes smoothly! Iggy send his love, he’s poorly too atm so he knows how Eddi feels. He says it’s a good way to get extra veg and cuddles out of the humans though so milk it for what it’s worth! That’s what he’s doing!

We’ve found great success for various ailments with co-trimoxazole as an AB but I’m unsure about its use with abscesses. It’s previously worked well with URI’s and UTI’s and is well tolerated. It’s also banana flavoured so they seem to enjoy it!

Big hugs to you all x
 
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