How long do you give meds - Paw Talk

luvboyrats · #1 07-23-2007, 12:43 PM

Okay my vet said to give antibiotics to my rats with RI for one week. It has been one week. I do have a refill on the meds so I can continue if necessary. My question is since there are still some symptoms should I stop now or continue the meds. My vet said something vague like it's up to my judgment as to whether or not they are doing better (the vet was recommended for rat care but I'm not impressed and I'm seeking a new one.) Do you usually continue meds until all symptoms have ceased?

They are eating me out of house and home. They're soo active they're hard to hold onto and keeping me awake at night, and they sound a lot better. However, there is still quite a bit of sneezing and the occasional rattling sound. So what does everyone think?

luvnature · #2 07-23-2007, 01:19 PM

You should call your vet and seek his advice. I understand your not happy with him but its his or another vets advice you should seek or make the decision yourself. They advise that we do not give medical advice here on PT.

http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/f5/re...ice-28047.html

I do realize this is probably not what you really wanted to hear and I do not have rats but I do wish you and your ratties the best

luvboyrats · #3 07-23-2007, 02:22 PM

No I understand where you're coming from. It's just that I've tried that. The vet I took them too says that decision is based on how much better they're doing. Well, that's vague. They won't tell me without seeing them again. Which is why I'm not pleased with them. They've been giving me vague advice and half-hearted care and any little thing costs more money. $90 for the original vet bill, $30 on med refill and it will be another $30 for another visit before they will advise me on whether or not to continue meds. This is all within two weeks of getting them and spending $150 on their original setup. I'm broke. I just can't do it anymore. I do not have another $30 for a follow-up visit. I went ahead and called the vet I'm considering using in the future. He said that without a similarly priced visit he does not feel comfortable giving advice about continuing or discontinuing another vets prescribed treatment, also understandable. But no matter how much I'd like to do what's best I'm just broke.

So all I'm really looking for her is maybe some info about what other vets have recommended before. In general is it typically recommended to give antibiotics for a given amount of time or for the entire duration of symptoms. I just don't have anymore money to throw at this problem. I have the refill on meds already. But I'm worried that I may either make them sick by offering too much for too long or make the infection come back by stopping too soon.

lilspaz68 · #4 07-23-2007, 03:20 PM

Your rat(s) should show signs of improvement 3-5 days starting meds. The improvement should continue til they are better. If not you can add an antibiotic or change outright. Combo treatments are most effective by far. 2-3 weeks with 3 weeks being best is a standard course of antibiotics. 7 days is never enough.

Another rule of thumb is once the symptoms are all gone, continue to treat for 1 more week.

Go get your refill, if its working. And yeah find another vet.

luvboyrats · #5 07-23-2007, 04:32 PM

Oh thanks that's what I needed to know. I actually already have the refill I just couldn't find out whether to keep on using it. I was so afraid of OD'ing them. And yes I've already found a better vet, the one that was recommended to me has not worked with me at all and has used every opportunity to bleed a little more money out of me. Thanks so much for the advice!

lilspaz68 · #6 07-24-2007, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvboyrats


	Oh thanks that's what I needed to know. I actually already have the refill I just couldn't find out whether to keep on using it. I was so afraid of OD'ing them. And yes I've already found a better vet, the one that was recommended to me has not worked with me at all and has used every opportunity to bleed a little more money out of me. Thanks so much for the advice!

Your very welcome, glad to hear about the new vet (hope this one makes you feel more confident in their abilities) and good luck with your rats. Healing vibes from Toronto.

pinkie1205 · #7 07-24-2007, 02:03 PM

When my rats were on meds for URI I ran out...I think the vet told me to give them until they did run out but they ran out FAST. I called back and the original vet wasnt there. I said it was an emergency (Scofield was going down hill FAST) and a different vet called back. He let me tell him how long I wanted them on antibiotics for. I think Spaz you told me in Ratsrule that 3 weeks was minimum and 4 weeks was best, so he gave me meds for 4 weeks.

luvboyrats · #8 07-24-2007, 03:04 PM

The good news is that I've had them for a couple of weeks now and they're calming down a little. One of the tough and expensive things is that the first time the antibiotics ran out so quickly. They were so nervous and squirmy about me holding them down to give them medicine that it took about 20 drops flung all over the room to get the required 5 drops actually in their mouths. The second round of antibiotic is spreading much further. Everyone gave me such good advice about things to mix it in so they'd just eat it. I wish they'd do that. No matter what I try, even their favorite (peach yogurt), if I mix the medicine in it they just smell it and then look at me like "What am I retarded?"

pinkie1205 · #9 07-24-2007, 03:18 PM

I used ensure. Did the vet give you syringes without the needless? You might be able to buy those at a pharmacy, just ask the pharmacist.

What I did was sucked up the right amount of medicine in the syringe, then sucked up ensure to fill the syringe the rest of the way. I pushed it quickly enough (not a lot comes out of those small syringes) and by the time they got done with the ensure they didnt even realize they were getting medicine. Did you get the new antibiotics yet? Ask the vet to compound them for you. My rats liked the grape flavor.

lilspaz68 · #10 07-25-2007, 01:08 AM

What antibiotics are you giving to your rats?

You should've been given a medicating syringe with your meds and an accurate dose.

If you are using doxycycline or any of the 'cyclines you cannot give them their meds with calcium. (dairy)

pinkie1205 · #11 07-25-2007, 01:30 AM

the vet told me ensure was fine.

lilspaz68 · #12 07-25-2007, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinkie1205


	the vet told me ensure was fine.

Ensure is awesome stuff (only strawberry will be touched with my crew) but if you are using it within 2 hours of giving doxycycline, tetracycline you are nullifying its effects since the calcium binds to the doxy and renders it pretty ineffective. You can use baby food,baby cereal etc as a med mix instead of dairy/calcium products. If you are using baytril its fine.

luvboyrats · #13 07-25-2007, 01:37 PM

Hmm medicating syringe? not exactly. I have a dropper and instructions to give five drops to each rat twice a day. Well that's kinda vague and inaccurate since drops vary in size, and the rats vary in size so I don't understand why their dosage would be the same. I am no longer medicating twice a day because their respiratory symptoms are better and they were experiencing diarrhea and not eating because of the medicine. So I took it down to one dose a day which still seems to be improving their respiratory problems. I also have been giving them very small amounts of yogurt since my vet is no longer giving free advice and they had pretty bad tummy aches. I know yogurt works with little kids on antibiotics to replenish their natural tummy bacteria so that's what I did. It's working beautifully. Now they're respiratory infections are improving daily. They don't have diarrhea, and they're eating. I have since been able to discontinue the yogurt which I did as soon as possible due to the dairy and fat content.

The antibiotic is amoxycillin. I checked it out on the internet before mixing it into anything and didn't find anything that talked about any danger in mixing amoxycillin so I went ahead.

I do feel a little nervous and uncomfortable changing their dosage and treatment on my own I must admit. But I have an old vet that won't tell me what to do until they come back for a checkup which I can't afford and another very reputable vet who has agreed to take me on in the future and would love to help but has a policy of not giving advice about an animal he's never seen which is understandable, but still, at least until I get paid again, I can't afford another vet visit. Luckily, they seem to be responding to everything very well. We thought we got the calm boring sleepy ones at the store. We actually just got the sick ones apparently. For the last few days they've been so active and playful they're hard to hold onto. They're eating us out of house and home. The porphyrin we were seeing around their noses is gone. And we're only hearing very small occasional noises from their breathing, absolutely a huge improvement.

lilspaz68 · #14 07-25-2007, 08:20 PM

Well if you can you should put your rats back on the amoxi twice a day, once just won't cut it and they will most likely get ill again since the dosage is too low. Make sure to give them live culture yogurt as the probiotic for their tums. Or you can give them Benebac (pet supply places/some pet stores), or some powder from acidophilus capsules. If their diarrhea just won't stop you can put them on the BRAT diet. Bananas, rice (brown is best), applesauce and toast. Its easy for them to digest and really can "stop" them up.

luvboyrats · #15 07-26-2007, 09:10 AM

Thanks for the tips. I will certainly try those options. I was using the live culture yogurt and it helped, but I didn't want to keep using it because of dairy and fat content. Is it okay to use it for the next couple of weeks while they're still on medicine?

I've been trying to walk the line between making the RI better, preventing weakness due to diarrhea and not eating, and giving them foods that really aren't good for them. I will try the Brat diet too. They loved the other fruit I gave them so they'll probably love bananas and applesauce mixed in with some other stuff. I've heard that fruit in high quantities can actually give them diarrhea though. I wouldn't have thought a mix like that would actually help the matter.