Diluting 10% Baytril?

The rat guide says:
"*Note: If choosing to use Baytril 10%, keep in mind it has a concentration of 100 mg per 1 mL. Also, because the 10% concentration can be so caustic to tissue it must be diluted for all routes."

I recently got some Baytril and it is 10%. Debbie says the dose would be 0.1cc/lb if you're dosing at 10mg/lb but never mentions diluting it. I have emailed her, but I wanted to bring it up here.

How would I dilute it? I want to understand this completely before I administer anything to my rats.

Hmmmm .... I measure out the dose of baytril into a tiny dish, (along with any other meds the rattie is on,) add a few drops of strawberry quik, add a few drops of water, and thicken the liquid mixture with a bit of baby cereal. Sometimes I also add a couple of drops of olive oil. I mix it up and the rattie thinks it is a treat.
Then, after meds everyone gets a treat of vegs. :thumbup:

I didn't know I was suposed to dilute it .... :shock:
But the above mixture, devised by godmother, has worked well with my ratties for quite a few years.
.... and not only does it make it taste ok, I guess it does dilute the tiny amount of baytril becuase the mixture usually ends up being at least 2 or 3 (or 7 or 8 or ... ) mls in volumn.

Edit: use baby cereal that does not contain added formula (The package will usually instruct people to add formula as none is inluded.)

Thank you SQ. You really are very helpful!

Debbie responded already and said:

"It's actually not necessary to dilute it to give orally, but normally you would want to mix it in a yummy food or liquid as the plain Baytril tastes really bad."

I don't have any baby cereal but have a few other things I can mix it in.
One more question. Should I dose at 10mg/lb like she says to? Or should I dose at 5mg/lb and see how that works? The dose for my little Owl at 5mg/lb is .02, I need to get more 1/2cc syringes!

Just wanted double check Baytril should be dosed at 10mg/kg not lb I'm sure if you just made a spelling mistake

I am all confused now. :emb: Alright, I need dosage help.

The Baytril is 100mg/ml. Owl weighs 200g and Ed weighs 350g.

Actually there are a few different doses for baytril.
10 mg/kg is on the lower end and 10 mg/Ib is on the high end.
Personally, I have always dosed at 10 mg/Ib (1 Ib = 454.4 grams).
(Edit: To my knowlege, some members of this forum dose at 10mg/kg and some members dose at 10 mg/Ib)

If giving baytril (100 mg/ml) at 10mg/Ib (ie 10 mg/454.4 g).

Then Owl (200g) would get 0.044 ml of baytril (rounded off to 0.04 ml)
(200g/454.4g x 10mg = 4.4 mg)

and Ed (350g) would get 0.077 ml of baytril (rounded off to 0.08 ml)
(350g/454.4g x 10 mg = 7.7 mg)


(Edit: If you cut the doses in half, given the way it rounds off, each dose would be at 10 mg/kg)

Hope this helps

Thank you SQ.

SQ said:

Actually there are a few different doses for baytril.
10 mg/kg is on the lower end and 10 mg/Ib is on the high end.
Personally, I have always dosed at 10 mg/Ib (1 Ib = 454.4 grams).
(Edit: To my knowlege, some members of this forum dose at 10mg/kg and some members dose at 10 mg/Ib)

Click to expand...

That's not exactly correct. If you follow Debbie D's dosage guidelines, you give 10 mg/lb, if you follow the dosage most exotic vets follow, you give 10 mg/kg... the two are not the high and low ends of one dosage guideline, but two very different ones. What dosage did your vet prescribe?

As Victoria said, what I wrote wasn't exactly accurate.
While I have no idea what other vets prescribe, I assume that some prescribe 10 mg/kg since
many people on this forum give 10 mg/kg
The RMCA drug chart says

5mg/lb BID, PO ....
(INCREASED 4 TIMES)
2.5 to 5mg/lb BID, PO

Click to expand...

from http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

5 mg/Ib is a bit higher the 10 mg/kg
Debbie D.'s dosage guidelines (and some vets) prescribe 10 mg/kg

Your vet likely perscribed one of the above dosages for baytril.
I apologize for any misunderstanding I may have caused by simplifying things in my previous answer

.................................................................
Edit:
According to RatGuide.com, the following dosages (from various sources) are recomended:
5 mg/kg to 10 mg/kg , PO , IM
or 5 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg , PO , SQ,
or 5 mg/lb , PO , BID
or 2.5 mg/kg to 10 mg/kg , PO
or 10 mg/lb (20 mg/kg) , PO or SQ , BID
or 15 mg/kg, PO (oral), BID

http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_ ... aytril.php

I am not sure what my vet prescribed. When she gave me Baytril a couple weeks ago, I didn't ask the concentration, and I don't know what she was dosing at. She is aware, at least I told her staff that I bought some Baytril online since I can't afford to get another refill for Ed and Owl, so I don't know. What is the best to dose them at?

http://www.ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails106-c.html

Melts their tongues?

RattusNorvegicus said:

http://www.ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails106-c.html

Melts their tongues?

Click to expand...

OMG!

Is that a sarcastic OMG?

It sounds ridiculous, the tongue melting LOL, I am taking it they means it damages tongue tissue. So no?

RattusNorvegicus said:

Is that a sarcastic OMG?

It sounds ridiculous, the tongue melting LOL, I am taking it they means it damages tongue tissue. So no?

Click to expand...

Not sarcastic at all. That shocked me. It sounds like it's pretty bad, maybe it burns?

Hm, I wonder. There is info saying it needs to be diluted, and some it doesn't such as Debbie D. Four of my girls are on it and with two I need to mix it in something because they won't swallow it if I force it in their mouth or throat. The other two, Owl and Ellie, swallow it and I haven't noticed it bothering them or hurting their tongues.

Would it hurt if I were to put a couple drops on my tongue? Can humans ingest Baytril? I figure that's the closest I could come to a certain answer though my tongue may be less sensitive than theirs.

I know the stores vet (who only gives us oral baytril) it is never diluted at all. I have noticed recently the rats will always rub there chins after being medicated.

Specifically 10%?

Not sure, I will check today and reply tonight

Baytril is a neutral compound, meaning it is not acidic nor is it basic. This "melting of tongues" thing makes absolutely NO sense.
(The molecule is zwitterionic and the PKA values of the functional groups range from 6-8 for those who know what this means. For summary see above)

It likely tastes like hell, I mean, you smell the stuff and it stinks! Maybe this is what they are talking about. But seriously, melting tongues? Bayer would have to be a REALLY dumb company to sell a drug that could melt tongues and not make sure that a warning is on any of the info sheets available online.

Also, if you want to test anything, put a dab of it on your arm at the crease opposite the elbow and wait a couple minutes. I would NOT recommend testing it on your own tongue.