Emergency: Vet wants to give penicillin!!

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Thu Dec 25, 2014 11:53 pm


"I asked the vet about bactrim and she said that you cannot find it in Greece any more in the syrup form but she can prepare the syrup herself from the tablets."

This is a common pediatric drug here, so it is also possible that the syrup can be found at a human pharmacy. I agree that Bactrim is the better choice for UTI. I have had pigs on Baytril for UTI with no improvement whatsoever. Bactrim is usually easier on the GI system than Baytril, in my experience.

Pitzotl

Post   » Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:38 am


Thank you for your answers!

Unfortunately, the vet was correct, I googled it and the Bactrim syrup was discontinued a year ago for commercial reasons. I can still call the pharmacies to double check but today it's a holiday and most of them are closed. In any way I will ask the vet if she can prepare it herself using the tablets.

I knew that penicillin is lethal, not only from guinea pig sites but also historically from medical experiments that have used guinea pigs and rabbits. The thing is that I really trust the vet and she has been very helpful to us until now. She is also the only exotics vet here and seems really knowledgable. This is why I was so surprised to learn that some vets do use penicillin injections while knowing the risks.

In any case, Freya GI is not working properly because she is not eating by herself so I guess amoxicillin is out of the question. I will talk to the vet soon and see if we can use Bactrim or something less dangerous.

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:48 am


I saw the 1ml of Baytril - but that doesn't tell me what the concentration was (mg/ml). I was just trying to understand how strong of a dose of Baytril your pig was getting.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Dec 26, 2014 9:25 am


Find out what the smallest concentration of trimethoprim sulfamethoxizole pill is and work with that. Can be crushed, quartered, put in a suspension and properly measured.

Pitzotl

Post   » Fri Dec 26, 2014 9:48 am


The Baytril was the standard syrup 0.5%. The concentration was 5mg of enrofloxacin in 1 ml. So she was getting 5mg every 12 hours. According to the second vet the dosage was too low and should have been 2ml every 12 hours.

I managed to find Bactrim under different brand name. The concentration is 480mg/5ml (400mg sulfamethoxazol and 80 mg trimethoprim) and her weight is 1080g. The vet instructed me to give her 0.6 ml every 12 hours. Is this correct?

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:54 pm


480mg/5ml is 96mg/ml. Bactrim is dosage is 30mg/kg, which works out to be about 32mg for your pig. That's 0.34 ml for this strength of bactrim. Or at least that's what my math is getting me.

The 1ml of Baytril for your pig is on the low side or the normal Baytril range. Hopefully she'll improve on the higher dose?

Pitzotl

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 2:35 am


That's what my math is also getting to, 0.3 ml but the vet says 0.6 is the correct dosage. I gave her 0.6 in the end.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:52 am


Ditto on both of your calculations.

The higher dose will likely not hurt but do watch for diarrhea.

www.guinealynx.info/_advice.html

Pitzotl

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:02 pm


I gave Freya the probiotics plus poop soup for two days. I think it helped because her appetite increased a little bit (although she is still not eating completely by herself). It's been the 8th day on critical care (40-50g daily). Also, her bactrim dosage is 0.6ml and she is taking megadoses of Vit C (as instructed by the vet).

Freya doesn't have diarrhoea but her poop changed a bit to bigger softer lighter coloured pellets that are really smelly(for the record, last week her poop wasn't exactly normal pig poop because she was on CC and wasn't eating by herself). They are formed but have more water and unlike the usual pip poop and they smell a lot. She is eating some of them.

I don't know whether this change is cause by bactrim or the probiotics or the Vit C.... All these 3 can cause poop to be softer and smellier to my knowledge. I will ask the vet tomorrow.

Any thoughts?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:36 pm


It may be she is not able to form her cecal pellets in the same way that is partly responsible for the added smell.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:44 pm


Ditto Lynx. If she is clearing some ileus (stalled digestive material, or pre-cecotrope) material from her GI, it could be that. If she's eating some of them, that would tend to confirm that guess.

Probiotics and vitamin C generally won't affect feces, except beneficially. Baytril and Bactrim can cause loose, smelly stool.

Pitzotl

Post   » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:17 pm


Thanks a lot!!! I really appreciate it!

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