Injectable Baytril dosage needed asap

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Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:23 pm


It's Dr. Dan's practice -- to be seen by the vet who's established the practice is generally in my experience a good thing.

Keep us posted.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:20 pm


It is a herniated disc. We're starting him on steroids and Buprenex (discontinuing Metacam). He said it could take up to a couple of weeks to see improvement if he's going to improve. He said if we don't see it in a couple of weeks, there's really nothing else we can do.

I'm going to pick him up now.

PS- I think he said this disc was around vertebrae 10, which is higher than he would expect to see one on a guinea pig. Not that it really means anything.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:15 pm


How old is Benji?

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:46 pm


Funny you should ask that, Talishan. I adopted Benji in 2003 and we assumed he was about a year old then. Dr. Dan told me tonight that he thinks Benji is probably 1-2 years older than I think he is, for a couple of reasons-- He is developing arthritis in his knee joints AND he has some osteoarthritis developing in his lower spine. He says that even if he recovers (well, as best he can) from this slipped disc, he expects that "he'll always be a gimpy pig".

We talked for a long time, and I absolutely ADORE this vet. He does tons of continuing education and publishes a lot of articles. Apparently our animal shelter uses him exclusively for exotic neuters. We talked about my old vet (who will remain unnamed) that killed one of my pigs when she knicked his urethra during a neuter... I explained to him that part of the reason I came to him with Benji is because I wanted to try someone new after that episode. He said he wouldn't say anything bad about another vet, but he admitted that he won't refer people to her.

This guy really knows his stuff. I think once we talked some and he realized how serious I am about pigs, he said that if Benji doesn't respond to the treatment we're trying now to please call him and he WILL give me some other things to try, though nothing is a sure bet. He says that unfortunately, while he could do surgery on a rat with a slipped disc, he won't try it on a guinea pig (and I wouldn't have him try), and that especially considering where Benji's injury is located, he'd never survive a surgery to try to repair it (it would be open-chest surgery).

He was the sweetest, most caring and intelligent man, and he went in and gave me a 30% discount when he found out I work for a vet. Totally awesome vet, that fella is! He's positively overflowing with information and insisted that I call him ANYTIME for anything. He also kept apologizing profusely about how long it took with Benji today, even though I told him not to worry about it one bit. I was just glad they fit him in today!

I know that Benji's situation is potentially very grave depending on how he reacts to the medications, but just talking to Dr. Dan makes me feel SO much better. I'll definitely be recommending him to others. I'm also going to schedule a check-up for my other pigs with him sometime soon. I especially need to get my sows palpated to check for cysts.

Also, he does nearly every surgery at their clinic, and has not once had a botched spay or neuter.

I'll stop gooing and gahing now. Can you tell I'm impressed?

As for Benji, he's a little drooly tonight from having his teeth trimmed, but he's looking as good as I've seen him throughout all this, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and staying optimistic.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:49 pm


Sounds like you found a good vet. I hope things work out as well as they can in the guinea pig health department.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:42 am


Dammit! Despite triple-checking myself (or at least thinking I was-- the vet gave me syringes in units to dose Benji's Buprenex), I dosed the Buprenex wrong. I gave Benji 0.2ml when his dosage range listed on the bottle is 0.02-0.06ml (we wanted to start at the low end). This is 0.3mg/ml concentration, and from what I'm reading on the medications page here as well as on other sites, dosing for guinea pigs can go as high as 0.1mg/kg. So, given that (please correct my math if I'm wrong), Benji received 0.06mg, still within the safe range for his weight of just under a kilo.

Can someone please confirm that I haven't given my pig a lethal dose of Buprenex? I gave it around 6:30pm (it's now almost 11pm) and just now, as I glanced at the bottle while walking by realized in horror my mistake. God, and I seriously stood there for five minutes with that syringe making SURE that I was dosing it correctly. I guess I was concentrating so hard on making sure I was certain about the ml equivalents (one unit = 1/100th of a ml), I misplaced a decimal when I actually measured the dose.

If it were going to cause any severe reaction, wouldn't it have done so by now? He looks very out of it, but he's still eating.

Ahhhg, I am SO furious with myself right now!

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:00 am


Anyone? :( I just need someone to recheck my math here...

Kellyjo

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:18 am


I wish I knew Chii, maybe someone will come on soon who knows. Good luck.

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:23 am


He seems OK, but realllllly out of it. I've been going over the math again and again, and I'm still getting that I gave him 0.06mg, which is supposedly an acceptable dose according to the guidelines on the medications pages (which states that 0.05-0.1mg/kg is safe). I'm just horrified because the dose I gave him is SO much higher than what the vet prescribed. And if the dosing guidelines here say the proper dose is so much higher than what the vet says to give, then... well then AGG, I'm just confused now!

Kellyjo

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:26 am


Is it according to his weight maybe?

chii
I Love Lucy

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:39 am


Can't be... or rather, it can't be based on the dosing guidelines here. According to my math, the 0.02ml dose that's at the bottom of my range that he can have is equal to 0.006mg. The high end of his dose (0.06ml) would be 0.018mg. Neither of those is even anywhere close to the 0.05-0.1mg/kg dose range, even given that he weighs less than a kilo. So now I wonder where the vet got his dosages. I guess maybe the doses I've been finding here and online could be post-surgery doses, which are usually much, much higher, but I have no idea.

I hate math.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:47 am


You have some Cavy Health Record Books around, no? I have a page to aid calculations. Don't know if it will help you but I tried my best to make it understandable.

What I often find is after I calculate a dose, I go at it in reverse to check if it is correct. Sorry I wasn't up to help you.

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