Injectable Baytril dosage needed asap

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:26 pm


If you do an xray, you should be able to tell something about the state of his joints along with checking how extensive his ear infection is.

Good luck!

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:35 pm


I feel like I should probably start him on something for the arthritis, because I wonder if that contributes to his difficulty maintaining his weight (if he's uncomfortable all the time).
My arthritic pigs do very well on daily doses of metacam (long-term).

I'm glad he seems perkier.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:53 pm


Benji is on Metacam right now, but it makes me worry to have him on it long-term. He's on a higher-end dose and I worry about side effects from long-term use...

Also, question-- he's still not able to move around much/well and frankly, he's getting quite nasty from sitting in his own poop and pee. I move him around and clean the spot under his pigloo, but he gets really gross just overnight. I've also been putting a towel under there to absorb the pee, and it helps some, but he still gets pee on his underside (especially since he's getting fluids and is peeing more than usual). Do you think it would be detrimental for me to give him a bath or a belly/butt bath? I don't want to risk him getting chilled, but I'm also worried about urine scald. Of course, if I did bathe him, he'd probably be dirty again by the next day. What would you guys do?

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:23 pm


When we've encountered this, we've taken a clean cloth, rinsed it in warm water and gently cleaned off his underside. He lost hair, but we never saw urine scald.

We would put baby diaper rash cream on him occasionally, or KY jelly (glycerin-based, so it soaks in and doesn't glob or crud up on the skin over multiple applications).

We also would microwave a damp, clean cloth (not too hot), put it on a lap pad on a pillow, and put him on it with a light cloth over him. We did this twice a day and he seemed to enjoy it. It also kept him pretty well clean.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:04 pm


Thanks, Talishan. I'll try that. He really seems to like the warmth from the Snuggle Safe, so I bet he'll like your warm, damp cloth idea. It sounds kind of like a piggy sauna. :)

The more reading I do, the more it sounds like his movement problems could be related to vitamin C deficiency. It doesn't make sense though, since he eats the same stuff as our other pigs, plus we give him regular supplements on top of that ever since he started having these weird episodes a couple of years ago. He's now getting at least 50mg of vitamin C a day if not more in supplements alone. I read somewhere that vitamin C injections could be more effective than oral... has anyone else ever heard of that? I suppose it makes sense if he potentially had some kind of problem that prevents him from properly absorbing nutrients (didn't Einy have something like this?). This could also explain why he hasn't gained a significant amount of weight despite hand feedings... he's gained, but not nearly as much as I would have expected given how much CC I'm feeding him. Should I try vitamin C injections? We don't have any injectable C at the clinic, but I'm sure I could get some. And if he has trouble absorbing nutrition from his food, is there anything I can do to help this? He's currently maintaining his weight and has gained a little over the last few days, but it seems like it takes a lot to get him to gain anything. Should I perhaps add alfalfa pellets and hay to his diet as if he were a growing pig? I know it's awful in terms of calcium, but I wonder if it would help him bring up and maintain his weight.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:18 am


Arthritis should show up on xray - have you had one done recently?

What about a heart xray? This could explain the weight loss too.

Just throwing ideas out!

pinta

Post   » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:40 am


As far as I understand, C is better absorbed orally rather than by injection.

More likely he has arthritis than a C deficiency.

Arthur has trouble keeping on weight due to arthritis. He has it in both knees. Because he can't move as fast as the other pigs, he doesn't get as much food. We put him in a basket for separate feeding of veggies and he quickly picks up an onuce at a time whem he doesn't have to compete for greens. Arthur is also a heart pig.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:42 pm


Injectable C hurts like 400 hell, too. I don't know that I'd do that unless you know for sure he has a C deficiency.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:29 pm


I can't imagine that he has a C deficiency unless he can't absorb nutrients properly. He's been getting tons of it.

We did x-rays a few months ago (everything looked normal), but not yet this time around. I've been hesitant to take him in and put him through that... I was hoping he'd perk up some and then we'd do it, but I guess we may just have to suck it up and do it. He just seems so uncomfortable, I can't imagine that trying to stretch him out on an x-ray plate will feel anything short of painful. :(

Could he have arthritis so bad that he can't even walk properly? It really concerns me...

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slfalzone

Post   » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:36 pm


chii, no advice - I'm still learning. I sure hope this little boy starts feeling better.

Are you using any pedialyte?

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:39 pm


Could he have arthritis so bad that he can't even walk properly?
Absolutely he could.

But I would have thought you would have seen at least some signs of it on the xrays you had a few months ago.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:11 pm


Benji's at the exotics clinic today. (We're trying a different clinic than in the past just because they're closer and I wanted to try someone new, so we'll see how that goes.)

The vet just called me and is going to do sedated x-rays and a sedated mouth exam. He saw a little malocclusion on a non-sedated mouth exam, but he didn't think it was awful... it could be a result of being sick and not eating a lot on his own. Regardless, he may want to trim his teeth.

He only suggested two options for why Benji doesn't want to walk, those being either a spinal injury (which I think is extremely unlikely) or a slipped disc (I forget the exact term he used). He said that neither is good (of course), and he suggested that even if he had no trauma that I know of, he could have hurt himself running around his cage or jumping off his house (neither of which he ever does, so I'm really skeptical). He doesn't seem to think it's a vitamin C deficiency because of his diet. I asked if he could be not absorbing nutrients properly or something, to which he basically said "no".

He wanted to make sure I know that he's on what he considers an extremely high dose of Metacam, but we discussed how he hasn't responded to the lower doses, and he OKed us to continue it as we're not seeing any symptoms of the potential side effects of using a high dose. He also wants me to add Buprenex.

So... now we wait and see what they find. He said it'll take about half an hour and he'll call me back. I hope Benji does OK with the anesthesia. It makes me nervous, but the doctor didn't seem to think he was at any extreme risk if we put him under.

Now my question is this-- of these two problems he suggested, are either of them treatable, and if so, how invasive will these treatments be? I'll obviously discuss options with the vet when he knows for sure what's wrong, but I'm worried about that. Has anyone here had experience with either of these problems?

He also did mention that a spinal tumor is possible, but he felt that it is extremely unlikely at his age (he's around 5, we think).

slfalzone, I'm not using Pedialyte, but he's getting subcue fluids twice a day.

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