Zoe's Medical Thread

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Lynx
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Post   » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:08 pm


7 days seems like a short time. Did he take an xray?

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Delaine
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Post   » Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:45 pm


What is the normal length of time an antibiotic should be given for a UTI Lynx?

I had a locum vet, not my usual vet, but she was very good and knowledgeable and has had experience with guinea pigs. If there was no bacteria present in her urine we were going to do an X-ray. Since bacteria did show up we are going to try the antibiotics and retest a few days after Zoe has completed them.

I have an appointment booked with her usual vet on July 26th. At that time we will retest the urine and discuss whether we should do an X-ray. Zoe had an X-ray in February which showed sludge but no stones. She has had more X-rays in her 5 years than I have had in my 64 years!

She is showing no pain and is eating and active. Her weight is stable and I am surprised she is acting so normal if she has a UTI. I have had more than one UTI in my life and they are not pleasant.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:09 am


All I can say is Bactrim is generally well tolerated and can be given for a couple weeks. In some stubborn cases, it is given long-term. It's just that a week doesn't seem all that long to me. Hopefully other members will chime in with their Bactrim treatment times.

Sounds reasonable then to try the antibiotic first. I hope it takes care of the problem!!

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Delaine
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Post   » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:56 am


I hope so too. I started them on Oxbow Vitamin C hay tabs shortly after her last X-ray. She only gets 1/4 tab but I am a bit concerned they may cause an issue. Because of this I am leaning towards another X-ray.

Talishan
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Post   » Sat Jul 16, 2016 6:04 pm


What's the concentration on the Bactrim? This sounds almost as if the vet may be giving a higher concentration for a shorter time, to try to 'hammer' the infection.

My gut hunch says use probiotics with this AB course, even though Bactrim is usually well tolerated.

UTIs can be all over the map. We have one little girl being treated right now, for 3 weeks -- the vet was surprised how severe it was. I took her in for weight loss -- no blood, no vocalization; pee smelled a bit off (in hindsight of course I should have noticed that), but nothing particularly alarming otherwise.

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Delaine
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Post   » Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:18 am


The concentration is Sulfa/Trim 200mg/40mg/ml strawberry. The antibiotic page says 0.625cc per one Kilo every twelve hours. Zoe is getting 0.8 ml every 12 hours. She weighs approximately 1170 grams. Unless I am reading it wrong it seems close what they are recommending in the Medication section.

She is getting probiotics two hours after her antibiotic.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sun Jul 17, 2016 7:09 am


Sounds about right to me too. There are nifty calculators on this page:

www.guinealynx.info/_dose.html

Talishan
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Post   » Sun Jul 17, 2016 5:20 pm


Mumble. I'd want at least a 10-day course, preferably 14 if she's tolerating it well. My $0.02 mutterings only.

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Delaine
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Post   » Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:31 pm


Thanks Lynx for the link on calculating dosage. The concentration Zoe is getting is the same as the Medication page so I calculated it by taking the 0.625 divided by 1 kilo (1,000 grams) X Zoe's weight (1170 grams). This gave me a dose of 0.731. It is a little under Zoe's dose of 0.8 but although the majority of the medication goes in I am sure there is a slight loss.

Thanks Talishan: I will contact her vet tomorrow. The locum I had seemed very good but her regular vet might recommend a longer treatment.

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Delaine
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Post   » Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:45 pm


Talishan: A big thank you for encouraging me to question the dose of Zoe's antibiotic. The label on my medication said the concentration was Sulfa/Trim 200mg/40mg/ml. It didn't say per how many ml so I assumed it was 200mg/40mg/5ml but apparently it is per 1ml so Zoe is getting 7 times the dose she should be getting. Grrrr!

I have to take her in for a sub-cue tomorrow morning to flush the medication and the vet (not mine) told me to stop the medication because she has had enough and watch for neurological issues. I am going to have an X-ray done since we are there anyways and it it is an hour drive each way.

I have concerns of course but I do worry if the bacteria is not totally gone we are setting her up for an antibiotic resistant bacteria. I was always told to finish a full course of antibiotics.

Any thoughts?

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Lynx
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Post   » Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:11 pm


It is extremely unusual to have it actually be 200mg/40mg/1ml. I'd also assume 5ml, like you did. I would look at their bottle. I think someone messed up there.

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Delaine
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Post   » Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:43 pm


I am going in tomorrow morning with Zoe so I will ask to see the bottle. I put a call in yesterday and asked to have Zoe's usual vet confirm the dosage and she then talked to the locum. The locum was horrified and apologized over and over. The thing is I really liked her. She was so good with Zoe and I liked what I heard.

In my mind it was simply just a mistake. She said she is usually so careful with medications and she read the bottle wrong. We are all human and mistakes happen. If I make a mistake at work at least I won't kill something or someone. I am sure she will be super careful from now on and I have learned to get ALL the information regarding medication so when I come onto Guinea Lynx I can compare apples to apples.

What I have noticed since she started the medication is her bleeding is getting worse. I am not sure if the overdose has anything to do with that or there is something else going on. Hopefully the X-ray will shine some light on this.

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