Rocky Has Pulmonary Abscesses

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Haha Dspch, thread jack by all means.
I'm curious too.
The bit of reading I did seemed like Zithro is usually paired with Doxy rather than Baytril?

I don't know anymore. Just waiting to see what the vet says. I still haven't received a call back, which worries me because last time I didn't get a call it was because she didn't want to give me more meds.

I'd like to try the Zithro in some way, he's clearly not doing well, it's not enough. v_v

Your doxy may be being under-dosed too Dspch, from what I understand Doxy is nearly useless when it's dosed at 2.5mg/kg.
 
I just called, I guess she hasn't had a chance to even read the message. Hopefully I'll hear something by 6 when they close. Just not sure what else to do for him. v_v
 
I thought he was doing better. Seems they ordered the wrong stuff and have to reorder pills. She had some pills though so I did get a bottle. I'm not sure what our doxy is dosed at, but its probably the same as your's. I feel better that you have read that too and I feel more confident stopping the baytril.
 
He was doing better, but these past two days he is worse again. His whole body is moving when he breathes.

Not sure if nebulizing would help or hurt as of this point.

No call back but I doubt it matters much if they don't have any to give anyway.

Maybe the bronchodilator is too low of a dose...
 
My vet had some chicken(?) flavoured Azithrimycin on hand. I think they compound it themselves. It is a high concentration so the dose is only 0.12ml. They use it for dogs, etc.
I get my Doxycycline compounded at my local pharmacy at 5 mg/ml.
 
Hate to say it, but your going to have to get used to him using different muscles to breathe. As long as he's not open mouth breathing, tongue/mouth isn't blue/purple, tail is warm, and feet aren't blue/purple. Your doing good. He will mostly likely start hanging his head over the shelf too. It all comes down to quality of life. Playing, eating, drinking - he's doing good. He might not play as hard and need to rest often, but he'll learn to compensate for the abscesses. Unfortunately he's never going to breathe normal again. You can keep him happy on the meds.
 
Joanne said:
My vet had some chicken(?) flavoured Azithrimycin on hand. I think they compound it themselves. It is a high concentration so the dose is only 0.12ml. They use it for dogs, etc.
I get my Doxycycline compounded at my local pharmacy at 5 mg/ml.
Click to expand...
Our dose is .23 once a day hope that's not too much. Its 2 tabs in 8 ml formulated to 62.5 mg/ml. Each tab is 250mg
 
Perhaps it's as simple as that. He was breathing much better Mon-Wed but maybe that was just a coincidence. I'd still prefer to try the zithro since it seems to be so popular but for now it really doesn't matter, as I can't get my hands on it.

I just tried to reverse check those doses and confused myself haha. XP how much do they weigh? I can check what it's dosed at?

You may want to up your doxy to 5mg/kg if it's not too. Not sure if anyone can confirm that 2.5 is too low?
 
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By all means try the zithro I wasn't trying to discourage that. I will be in Montgomery tomorrow if you want some of mine. I can prefill syringes if you get me a dose for Rocky.
Our doxy is 50 mg/ml in a 15 ml bottle if that helps Streaker is 496 grams Hank is bigger I'd have to get on my computer to look up his weight
 
No I don't think it's really that dire. I'm gonna call again tomorrow and figure out what is up. I'm shocked I didn't get a call back. \:

Let's see doxy should be at .05 2x a day if you're doing 5mg/kg. Rocky is close in weight and they had told me .02 2x a day, I brought it up to .05.
Idk the right dose for zithro. SQ said 10mg/lb 2x a day... that would be .35 if you were giving it once a day. Ratguide said 4-8mg/lb and the dose they are getting now if 6.5mg/lb. Seems to be in a normal range. Not sure if that helped you though. XD
 
Sometimes they don't call back the same day or they call after hours. I think I will up the doxy dose since we're giving .03 now. Thanks
 
I've been treating rats for URIs and pulmonary abscesses since pretty much 2002. My vet no longer uses doxy, it's been pretty much useless with our rats. I've since tried it and again, I'm always disappointed with the outcome. Nothing beats Baytril and Zithro combo for my guys. I start with Baytril and if Baytril alone doesn't do the trick, I add Zithro and within a month, they do much better and I continue with just Baytril. Baytril is usually continued for months after. Once, a three months treatment of just Baytril totally cured crap lungs. Another time, we saw in a necropsy that long term Zithro actually shrunk lung abscesses. When the rats are doing very poorly, adding metacam or even dex to their combo seems to give quite a boost. The dex is done once to twice a week.
 
I did also ask for dex when I called. Thanks for the info jo.
I shoulda called again before they closed tonight. u_u

What do you dose your baytril (10mg/kg bid?) and zithro at?

If she doesn't want to do the zithro/baytril, maybe your vet can send her the necropsy info? I'm not sure if she's against it or not of course, just a thought
 
I use 10 mg/kg for both baytril and zithro. Your vet is welcome to contact my vet. I can send you the clinic info if your vet is willing. I'll try to dig up the date of our necropsy about zithro and PA... this was many years ago.
 
Thanks, maybe if you can send me the clinic info?

I'm gonna have to push for some kind of answer tomorrow, they aren't open Sunday and I highly doubt they are Monday for the holiday so if I want to get anywhere with it, it'll be tomorrow.

He doesn't have interest in food unless he can lick it off my finger or I hand feed it to him. I think he may be taking advantage of that though. I know I saw him eat an oxbow yesterday and the day before on rat cam. [Okay yes I think he is taking advantage, he grabbed and ate a soaked oxbow when I was typing this]
I noticed he is dribbling pee too and he seems to have a hard time pooping. I'm gonna get him some pumpkin tomorrow...
 
Yes he wouldn't take a yogie before the vet. That was horrifying. He does now though. It gets hard for him to eat those, he gets excited and his breathing goes nuts.
Of course now he's eating a lot of rice/corn/kale. I'm gonna weigh him tomorrow so I know for sure what's going on with the eating.
 
The dose for azithromycin is 5 mg/Ib to 15 mg/Ib, twice a day. I have found that 10 mg/Ib is a good dose to give.
This is about twice what Jorats suggested.
I have also found that rats need it with baytril for at least 6 weeks.

If fluid is accumulating in the lungs, then Lasix is needed
(Have your vet teach you how to give sub-Q fluids and buy the needed supplies as dehydration kills. http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5076)

I agree with Jorats, I have found baytril + doxy to be pretty much useless
 
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