Chloramphenicol and rats???

Hello people,
I have two rats (one castrated male Marthe who's 2 years old and one female Blanchette who's 2 years and 3 months) and both have respiratory infections at the moment
Blanchette has had chronic rhinitis ever since I adopted her (every few months or so it flares up a bit: she sneezes from time to time & her breathing sounds like a pigeon cooing... 10 days of baytril clears it up usually and she's fine for another few months).
She finished her most recent course of baytril 5 days ago.
But this time, Marthe caught it!! He'd never been ill before and he went downhill really fast; noticed he was ill on friday at lunch (hardly any cooing or sneezing, but he was hanging his head over a ledge in his cage which I know is a sign of breathing trouble, was very lethargic and very warm to the touch); I didn't think he'd survive the night friday-saturday he looked so ill. Got him to a vet on saturday (a different vet than I normally go to--usual vet isn't open on saturdays) and the vet gave me chloramphenicol.
I'd never heard of it, was a bit upset at first because baytril always works for Blanchette. But I just read about chloramphenicol and apparently it's a miracle antibiotic for rats with myco!
So far Marthe seems ok, better than he was but still a bit poofy still and generally tired and sticky-looking (needs a wipe down but I don't want to put him through that until he's better). He's eating fine though and has more energy.
When should the chloramphenicol start to take effect? (He's had 6 doses so far out of 20). Is it a really strong drug? Internet says wear gloves & wash hands after touching it; the vet never mentioned any of this and neither does the leaflet that came with the bottle... (I kiss my rats all the time so this is worrying to me haha).
And should I get some for Blanchette? Would it be good for her rhinitis?
Can Marthe have it with Metacam?
Should I get Marthe some of those tablets that help restore gut flora or is yogurt enough?
I suppose I'm just looking for any info about this chloramphenicol because I know nothing about it.
Thank you =)

I've never used Chlorpalm for myco an actually, never though it was good for myco either. Where did you read that it was a miracle drug for myco?
if it works, it should start to work within 5 days. He needs to remain on abs for at least 4 weeks. And yes, I'd also get him some probiotics for his gut flora, that's important with chlorpalm.

I never really digged it up, but I know my old vet whom I really, really loved, came back from a seminar and told me " I know you don't really like to use chlor palm, but expect me to prescribe it more often, it turns out it is an great abs!". I cannot say why, though, but she really was impressed from what she learned, apparently!

For myco though, I still get mostly Baytril and/or Doxy.

And the reason I "don't like" Chlor Palm is simply that it is thicker, so it takes a bit longer to drip from the syringe and allow me to measure the dose properly :giggle:

I am not a fan of chlorpalm (short for chloramphenicol palmitate) because it has to be given in large doses 2-3 times a day. The rats don't really like the taste or if they do like it in the beginning, grow sick of it quickly. Unless you can get your vet to compound you a more concentrated version of it (the standard is 50 mg/ml) then you are fighting to syringe in the antibiotic.

It is effective against myco, which is good but not a first choice for respiratory issues. I would use this for penetrating tissues or infections that are more persistent or deep inside the body more than for respiratory but it might work for you.

from http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_agents/chloramphenicol.php

To treat serious infections due to organisms resistant to other less toxic antibiotics, or when its penetration into the site of infection is clinically superior to other antibiotics. Those bacteria sensitive to this drug include clostridium, chlamydia, mycoplasma, salmonella.

Wonder if it would be good for abscesses if it can penetrate better than the others...

BlueSkyy said:

Wonder if it would be good for abscesses if it can penetrate better than the others...

Click to expand...

Its very good for abscesses!

Thank you everyone, I'm thinking maybe I should get a different antibiotic for Marthe if chlorpalm isn't the best for respiratory infections... What do you think? It's been 4 days and he still looks really ill... Is that normal? When should he start getting better if the chlorpalm works?
My other rat is also sniffling again!!!!! anic:
I've taken my rats to the vets 4 times this month after almost a year with no problems, and I am absolutely BROKE, I have no money left for this month (even resorted to lying about treading on and destroying the bottle of chlorpalm today so that I could go get another one for my other rat without having to take her in for an appointment!) I really really need the chlorpalm to WORK... ahhhhh... If I do end up needing to take them back to the vet to get a different antibiotic I can always borrow from parents but meh, not my fave thing to do...

My first vet prescribed it for everything (if it didn't work, then she would give Baytril) but my rats never really got better. When I moved and found another rat vet that gave me Baytril + Doxy, then I actually saw an improvement.

To add to what Shelagh said about the large Chlorpalm doses being hard to give, I find it gives rats terrible diarrhea and once it does, it's incredibly hard to get the meds in. I strongly suggest giving a probiotic to try to prevent diarrhea, although I haven't ever been able to prevent it for more than a few weeks.

If you can get it, Baytril and Doxy will probably be more effective.

We recently used it for one of our boys after the bactrim didn't seem to be effective on his head tilt. He still has the head tilt - we think its possible though he might have been born that way. The gloves are because if we get it in our system it can cause aplastic anemia - you can google it so you don't want it one your skin. Good to know it works for abscesses. Hope your boy gets better. You really should treat for 6-8 weeks

I have used chlorpalm and found it to be a good med to use ... but it has not been my first choice for myco either.
I did not bother using gloves etc but have also read that it is suggested to do so
With respire infections or myco you need to treat for at least 6 weeks

My first choice for myco is baytril and if a rat does not respond quickly, azithromycin (10 mg/Ib) is add to the baytril (twice a day for each med)
My vet writes a prescription for azithromycin which I fill at the local pharmacy.

Hope they are soon feeling better.

So Marthe is still looking really ill this morning, I rang 3 different vets and, what a surprise, none of them are there on wednesday afternoons! (I hate this country...) but one of them was kind enough to leave some baytril for me in the clinic's letter box that I can go and pick up this afternoon.
Marthe is really poofy and stiff, covered in porphyrin, squinty-eyed, snotty, won't come out of his nest, but still eats his yogurt & antibiotics if I put the plate right under his nose in his nest...
I didn't think he'd be alive when I went to check on him this morning
If he looks this bad on chlorpalm will baytril make him any better? How long will it take for him to improve? I know the only thing wrong with him is a respiratory infection, but it's been such a struggle to get the vets to believe me and give him the right meds!!!!!!! it would be so unfair if he died just because the vets over here know nothing about rats!!!!

Are you giving the antibiotics IN yogurt? That could be a big problem right there. Probiotics will really affect the efficacy of antibiotics if given within 2 hours of the antibiotics being given.

Chlorpalm and baytril can be used together.

Fingers crossed for your wee man

Ohh... I never realised that! I'll give it to him in a chocolate dessert thing instead of yogurt then
The vet didn't actually give me baytril (they're having production problems over here so my vet didn't have any--wtf?!), she gave me marbofloxacin... hope it works.
He's eaten the marbofloxacin and some egg (he loves egg).
I really hope he gets better... and I'll carry on with the chlorpalm too for another 2 days (or is chlorpalm+marbofloxacin bad?)

squishy said:

Ohh... I never realised that! I'll give it to him in a chocolate dessert thing instead of yogurt then
The vet didn't actually give me baytril (they're having production problems over here so my vet didn't have any--wtf?!), she gave me marbofloxacin... hope it works.
He's eaten the marbofloxacin and some egg (he loves egg).
I really hope he gets better... and I'll carry on with the chlorpalm too for another 2 days (or is chlorpalm+marbofloxacin bad?)

Click to expand...

marbofloxacin is of the same family as baytril (enrofloxacin) and a flouroquinolone so should be fine.

thank you for all your replies
Marthe is doing a lot better now! On his 11th day of marbofloxacin and he's still sneezing a bit but that's it. He was on death's door after the 5th day of chlorpalm not working but is now almost 100% cured of his respiratory infection!
BUT: Now he has another problem... He had an ear infection recently and I think it's come back, his left ear smells, his left eye & nose have porphyrin, and it looks as though he's in pain when he eats--a lot of paw shaking and backing away from his food... here's a video:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfYsfpGy3hI[/ame]
I took him to the vet earlier today and she said it's a tooth ache... but she also said that he had blood in his nose (don't think she knows it's porphyrin, or maybe she thought I didn't know? anyway... doesn't inspire much confidence).
Does marthe look like he has an ear infection?
I'm sorry for asking all these questions, I just feel like I can't trust my vet and I don't know what's wrong with Marthe...
Thank you