not 100% sure on dosage for rat meds

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julia_silve:)

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Joined
Nov 17, 2012
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Canada, richmond hill
my rat casper is sick with pneumonia and i just got a stronger antibiotic for him. since friday he has been on enrofloxacin. on the bottle it says "enrofloxacin suspension10mg\ml" and the vet told me to give him 0.2ml, on his new meds it says "doxycycline hyclate 10mg\ml chicken suspension mixture" since they both have the 10mg\ml does that mean i should be giving him 0.2ml for the new antibiotic as well, because i wasnt there when my mom got the new meds, she doesnt remember what the vet said and it doesnt say on the package> thanks for the help in advance,
and im back rat shack
 
you would give half the amount to Casper as baytril/enro is dosed at 10 mg./kg and doxy is dosed at 5 mg/kg.

BUT do you have a estimated weight on Casper so we can see if the dosages are correct for him?
 
Hmmmm.... that dose for enro is twice a day right?
Its low. I used the low weight of 320 grams and your vet is dosing at just a little over 6 mg/kg, when it should be 10 mg/kg

IF he is 320 grams,. his dose should be .32 cc twice a day, and the doxy would be half that, so .16 cc twice a day.
 
julia_silve:) said:
his dose was for once a day

Just doublechecking, low weight - 320 grams, enro concentration 10 mg/ml?

:emb:

that is much worse, they would be dosing him at 3 mg/kg then...do you have enough to give him the dosage I recommended?
 
but it was also only meant as a temporary med just to keep him okay until the doxy as ready so maybe it was a low dose because it wasnt good for his problem so it was a low dose? so until i can call my vet should i give him 0.15 or 0.2cc of doxy which is suposed to be the better med, right?
 
Maybe you could call them and ask for more if needed? If it is pneumonia treatment should be aggressive. I think I dose higher than Shelagh, I dose at 10mg/lb (which I do think is around 22mg/kg?) enro and 5mg/lb doxy. I've seen better results with those higher doses.

With antibiotics I think it's better to give too much rather than too little. If your vet is dosing too low, below or at the minimum dose, chances are higher the bacteria the antibiotics in higher levels can kill or inhibit can become resistant making that antibiotic or any other antibiotic in that same family ineffective.

Enro and doxy together both work very well for mycoplasma. Doxy should be given twice a day whereas enro CAN be given once a day, but if treating pneumonia it should be given twice a day.

I hope that was of some help.
 
The problem with under-dosing is that it will help cause resistant bacteria.
If you kill off all the weak bacteria with a low dose or short treatment, that leaves the strong/resistant bacteria to thrive. Then you have a superinfection that no longer responds to your antibiotic. You do not want this to happen. It is really important to dose correctly, this is the reason why we are faced with horrors like MRSA and other resistant infections.

I agree with RV and Shelagh.

Are you giving both doxy and baytril at the same time? I was a bit confused since you had mentioned the possibility of treating with the baytril until the doxy came in - did that mean you were going to stop the baytril when you got the doxy? It would be better to give them both at the same time, this is a common combination of meds given for respiratory infections.

I hope he is feeling better soon :)

ETA: Sorry, I just realized that you were calling baytril by the chemical name, baytril is just the brand name for enrofloxicin, they are the same thing.
 
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