I need help with medicine dosing for my rats

[lilspaz68]

Are they all symptomatic? How sick.are they now?

To mix the Enro 10% you will want to use a ratio of 1:3, or 1 ml of Enro to 3 ml of syrup. I use Smuckers caramel ice cream syrup myself.

Pull up the Enro and put it in a small bottle with a tight lid or cap (small pill bottles work great), then draw up the syrup. Shake well before use. This gives you 20 mg/ml Enrofloxacin

For the Doxyvet you use a 1:1 ratio. 1 ml of Doxyvet to.1 ml.of syrup. This gives you 25 mg/ml doxy solution.

 

[lilspaz68]

Emolga: 447 g - 0.27 ml.enro, 0.18 ml doxy (both are twice a day)
Pikachu: 426 g - 0.26 ml enro, 0.17 ml doxy
Pachirisu: 365 g - 0.22 ml enro, 0.15 ml doxy
Shaymin: 237 g - 0.14 ml enro, 0.09 ml
doxy
Mew: 365 g - same as Pachirisu

 

[Zeph]

Are they all symptomatic? How sick.are they now?

To mix the Enro 10% you will want to use a ratio of 1:3, or 1 ml of Enro to 3 ml of syrup. I use Smuckers caramel ice cream syrup myself.

Pull up the Enro and put it in a small bottle with a tight lid or cap (small pill bottles work great), then draw up the syrup. Shake well before use. This gives you 20 mg/ml Enrofloxacin

For the Doxyvet you use a 1:1 ratio. 1 ml of Doxyvet to.1 ml.of syrup. This gives you 25 mg/ml doxy solution.

They're not looking too bad, but not good enough to where I feel medicine isn't necessary. a few have excessive porphyrin, clicking when they breathe, and heavy breathing. They haven't reduced food or water intake.

And I'm sorry, but numbers and things like that kind of confuse me. Say I'm doing emolga's dose. .27 ml of enro and .81 ml of syrup? would the doxy just be .18 and .18 of syrup? Would watered down peanut butter work? (it's their universal favourite)

 

[Rocket99]

If possible get a digital scale that has a tare function and weighs accurately to 1 gram

I prefer a kitchen scale with a big removable bowl on top that is perfect to put a rat in. I got mine off Craigslist so idk where to get them, but it's great. I tried to find a photo online of mine but couldn't, it's the best and cheapest I know, so I will take a pic later

 

[lilspaz68]

You mix up the antibiotics and syrup like I said in a bottle (shake well before using and refrigerate) then draw up each dose for the rats. 10% enro is 100 mg/ml so when you mix 5 ml of fluid with it, it becomes 20 mg/ml.

 

[Zeph]

You mix up the antibiotics and syrup like I said in a bottle (shake well before using and refrigerate) then draw up each dose for the rats. 10% enro is 100 mg/ml so when you mix 5 ml of fluid with it, it becomes 20 mg/ml.

Okay! I think I get it. So I measure up 1 ml of enro in a syringe and put it in a medicine container, then measure 3 ml of syrup and mix that into it, and use that solution for the rats with the doses you gave me, right? Then the doxy is 1ml:1ml. Sorry for any inconvenience, sometimes I have trouble understanding things.

 

[lilspaz68]

Let's start again.

Use 3 ml of Enro 10% with 9 ml of sweet syrup. Put it all in one bottle. Shake well before drawing up each rats dose mentioned above.

Use 5 ml of Doxyvet and 5 ml of syrup in another bottle for the Doxycycline solution and draw the doses up from that.

These are the doses for each antibiotic for each rat.
Emolga: 447 g - 0.27 ml.enro, 0.18 ml doxy (both are twice a day)
Pikachu: 426 g - 0.26 ml enro, 0.17 ml doxy
Pachirisu: 365 g - 0.22 ml enro, 0.15 ml doxy
Shaymin: 237 g - 0.14 ml enro, 0.09 ml
doxy
Mew: 365 g - same as Pachirisu

 

[Zeph]

Let's start again.

Use 3 ml of Enro 10% with 9 ml of sweet syrup. Put it all in one bottle. Shake well before drawing up each rats dose mentioned above.

Use 5 ml of Doxyvet and 5 ml of syrup in another bottle for the Doxycycline solution and draw the doses up from that.

These are the doses for each antibiotic for each rat.
Emolga: 447 g - 0.27 ml.enro, 0.18 ml doxy (both are twice a day)
Pikachu: 426 g - 0.26 ml enro, 0.17 ml doxy
Pachirisu: 365 g - 0.22 ml enro, 0.15 ml doxy
Shaymin: 237 g - 0.14 ml enro, 0.09 ml
doxy
Mew: 365 g - same as Pachirisu

Okay. Thank you so much.

 

[Zeph]

Let's start again.

Use 3 ml of Enro 10% with 9 ml of sweet syrup. Put it all in one bottle. Shake well before drawing up each rats dose mentioned above.

Use 5 ml of Doxyvet and 5 ml of syrup in another bottle for the Doxycycline solution and draw the doses up from that.

These are the doses for each antibiotic for each rat.
Emolga: 447 g - 0.27 ml.enro, 0.18 ml doxy (both are twice a day)
Pikachu: 426 g - 0.26 ml enro, 0.17 ml doxy
Pachirisu: 365 g - 0.22 ml enro, 0.15 ml doxy
Shaymin: 237 g - 0.14 ml enro, 0.09 ml
doxy
Mew: 365 g - same as Pachirisu

Also! I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but how long is the medicine good for once refrigerated, and how long do I keep them on the meds for?

 

[Rocket99]

They're not looking too bad, but not good enough to where I feel medicine isn't necessary. a few have excessive porphyrin, clicking when they breathe, and heavy breathing. They haven't reduced food or water intake.

And I'm sorry, but numbers and things like that kind of confuse me. Say I'm doing emolga's dose. .27 ml of enro and .81 ml of syrup? would the doxy just be .18 and .18 of syrup? Would watered down peanut butter work? (it's their universal favourite)

No no no, you mix the 1:3 Enro and 1:1 Doxy BEFORE you figure the dosages by weights. In other words... The 0.27 ml of Enro IS the dosage of the 1:3 mixture, which could be any amount as long as they are 1:3, so for instance 1 ml (or 1cc. since 1ml =1cc) of Enro to 3ml (or 3cc) of syrup. THEN you give the dosage of 0.27 ml of THAT mixture, or compound. That make more sense? And if it is still confusing is there someone who can help you with this? You dont want to get it wrong because medicines can be overdosed easily, if not by confusion, by any of a bunch of little mistakes, with the math being just one of them. When in doubt, get help.

 

[Rocket99]

Here is a picture of my kitchen scale. I know you already got a scale, but a picture is worth a thousand words, and the removable bowl is awesome, it has a ring on bottom that holds it in place on the scale, so ratties won't tip it off. It's such a perfect size!

 

[Rocket99]

BTW... Give antibiotics for a minimum of 2 weeks, or a rule of thumb I use is 2 weeks continued AFTER symptoms have been observed making significant improvement. It is usually relative to the severity of the illness. If they are old and have never been treated and are in very poor shape due to the unchecked progression of the disease, then I usually put them on permanent treatment or a cycling of on/off treatment, but of course there are many other meds when the severity gets bad, and fortunately you are a good rattie caretaker and this will almost certainly never happen, except with rats that don't respond to treatment, and unfortunately I have had a few, but they all came to me already in poor condition, so idk. Anyway, glad you have things sorted, and best luck to you all.

 

[Rocket99]

No no no, you mix the 1:3 Enro and 1:1 Doxy BEFORE you figure the dosages by weights. In other words... The 0.27 ml of Enro IS the dosage of the 1:3 mixture, which could be any amount as long as they are 1:3, so for instance 1 ml (or 1cc. since 1ml =1cc) of Enro to 3ml (or 3cc) of syrup. THEN you give the dosage of 0.27 ml of THAT mixture, or compound. That make more sense? And if it is still confusing is there someone who can help you with this? You dont want to get it wrong because medicines can be overdosed easily, if not by confusion, by any of a bunch of little mistakes, with the math being just one of them. When in doubt, get help.

Oops, nevermind, I'm a bit late to the table. Sorry, disregard, ty.

 

[SQ]

Also! I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but how long is the medicine good for once refrigerated, and how long do I keep them on the meds for?

Rats need to be on antibiotics for at least 4 to 6 weeks, if the antibiotics are helping. If they are not helping then the vet needs to change the antibiotics.
Lilspaz68 will need to answer your question as to how long the meds are good for once mixed up, as it can vary

 

[lilspaz68]

If you refrigerate the antibiotics should be ok for 2 weeks, then discard and make new batches

 

[lilspaz68]

I use a flat food scale and put the rat in a Tupperware container to keep them on. If your scale has the option put the container on then Tare it out to 0 then add rat. If you don't have the tare function, just weigh the container and subtract that weight from the total.

 

[Zeph]

I use a flat food scale and put the rat in a Tupperware container to keep them on. If your scale has the option put the container on then Tare it out to 0 then add rat. If you don't have the tare function, just weigh the container and subtract that weight from the total.

Yep! I got all that. The only problem is that they will not eat it. I tried liquid peanut butter and caramel syrup. How do I get them to take it?

 

[lilspaz68]

Did you try offering the syringe alone? Most of my rats fight over the tasty "treat" in the syringe. They may bite at it and stop then try again too they are taking their dose. If they try it and then turn their nose up and refuse to go near the syringe then you'll need to syringe it into them. I created this terrible video showing how I do it myself so maybe it will help you figure out a way that works for you.

 

[Zeph]

Did you try offering the syringe alone? Most of my rats fight over the tasty "treat" in the syringe. They may bite at it and stop then try again too they are taking their dose. If they try it and then turn their nose up and refuse to go near the syringe then you'll need to syringe it into them. I created this terrible video showing how I do it myself so maybe it will help you figure out a way that works for you.

yeah. The only one who willingly eats it is emolga, and he's the one I'm least worried about, he's also the only one I wouldn't be worried about force-feeding because he's very people-oriented. The other ones very much dislike being handled, and will do anything to get away from my hands (except when the treats come out). Does your method restrict them from squirming at all? Will it make them dislike me?

 

[lilspaz68]

You would have to do it quick then give them a treat after. Practice on healthy rats with a bit of sugar water til you gave a good feel for it.