Question about Baytril cost from vet

[AnnabananaMarie]

Hi guys! First time rat owner and this is my very first post! :new: I am the proud new parent of (and owned by) four lovely girls, Marshmallow, Cocoa, Fawn and Custard :thewave: We found each other by private adoption and glad to be part of the rat community!

Intros aside, after doing some research, I unfortunately discovered that most of these girls, if not all have URIs/Myco. I brought them today to the vet and was charged $40 for the "consult", not really a consult as I told him what was wrong and he only checked out the one I indicated had the worse symptoms. It also seemed like he didn't really care much to handle the rats, and when he weighed one of them, she was really squirmy and he ended up grabbing her by her scruff to put her back in the cage :eeek: He px'd Baytril and another antibiotic (will have to get back to you on the name - they didn't have it in the office so I don't have the bottle on hand - its on order).

Now, I was charged over $40 dollar just for the Baytril meds, two weeks worth for four ratties! To me, that seems really steep! I had to get Baytril for my hamster that passed away not too long ago and it was nowhere near that price. Was I just scammed into going to this guy bc of the cheaper "consult" fee and then overcharged for the meds? Was it because it was a larger amount? I am new to all this so I am clueless as to med costs I also had requested Amoxicillin as it was highly recommended by a lot of experienced rat owners online and as per per this web page http://www.ratfanclub.org/resp.html and he didn't want to give it to me. I am kind of wary of going back to him for the second kind of antibiotics if he does overcharge for meds and I really didn't like how he handled the girls. He also tried to get me to buy a whole bunch of packs of cat probiotics because I had brought up probiotics to him in regards to the girls gut flora due to the meds. I only bought one pack at $1.80 but will go elsewhere for more.

I am located in Canada, specifically BC, is it generally hard to find good rat care in this area?

Anywho, quite a long first post, but hopefully I can get some experienced rat lovers feedback on this and meet some of you! :dancing:

 

[Joanne]

Prices vary drastically from one vet to another. As far as the meds go, it is very typical to have them on Baytril and Doxycycline. Penicillin (Amoxicillin) is not a great drug for respiratory problems unless they have pneumonia. You can give injectable Baytril orally, so I usually buy the 50 ml bottle with a 50mg/ml concentration. It does me for quite a while as the dose may be only 0.1ml. I think the bottle cost me around $130.
The big issue with respiratory problems in rats is that they are on a too-short of a course. Two weeks is not long enough for rats with a Mycoplasmosis flare up. Four weeks is minimum. Otherwise you will just contribute to resistant bacteria and the infection will not respond as well next time.
The biggest turnoff for me with your vet is not his prices; it is how he relates to and how he handles the rats. That is the most important thing.

 

[SQ]

If the meds help, you will want them on it for 6 weeks
Otherwise you will want to have them on baytril + another antibiotic (such as azithromycin 10 mg/Ib, from a pharmacy by prescription from a vet) orally, twice a day for 6 weeks if it helps

It is extremely important to find a good vet that has successful experience in treating rats .... from what you wrote, it sounds like you need to try to find a different vet

 

[RatPack]

As far the price that sounds about right to me..For antibiotics for 2 rats for me is comes to 17 dollars for the baytril...and that he charged you one fee for 4 rats is also good..my vet charges me per rat but she looks at each individual rat..costs me 44 dollars per rat that I bring. As far as how he acted toward your babies...I wouldn't go back there. He obviously doesn't really care to much for rats and should certainly not be treating them if they bother him that much.

 

[lilspaz68]

All those prices seem very good to me, as we pay almost $70 for the exam and often will pay $30 for baytril for ONE rat
So $40 plus $40 for baytril for 4 rats...how many days did he prescribe it for? I am going to pray you do not say 7-10 days

The other medication is probably doxycycline, which is a lot more expensive due to a shortage of supply right now.

He probably didn't want to give you amoxicillin because vets don't prescribe it anymore. Its an old school antibiotic and they have much more effective options now.

Debbie D. and the Fan Club have a following, but a lot of us find her information extremely outdated, and her dosing well...a bit crazy and not particularly backed up by scientific evidence. Most of us use our Rat Bible www.ratguide.com

 

[AnnabananaMarie]

Sorry guys I didn't realize I was getting responses to my thread because I wasn't getting notified, will take a look at them now :banana:

 

[AnnabananaMarie]

Joanne, ok, so what I get from everyone is that I wasn't RIPPED OFF, haha! But yes, I was pretty turned off by how he was with my ratties, and his personality in general. I think I'll find another vet for sure.

Prices vary drastically from one vet to another. As far as the meds go, it is very typical to have them on Baytril and Doxycycline. Penicillin (Amoxicillin) is not a great drug for respiratory problems unless they have pneumonia. You can give injectable Baytril orally, so I usually buy the 50 ml bottle with a 50mg/ml concentration. It does me for quite a while as the dose may be only 0.1ml. I think the bottle cost me around $130.
The big issue with respiratory problems in rats is that they are on a too-short of a course. Two weeks is not long enough for rats with a Mycoplasmosis flare up. Four weeks is minimum. Otherwise you will just contribute to resistant bacteria and the infection will not respond as well next time.
The biggest turnoff for me with your vet is not his prices; it is how he relates to and how he handles the rats. That is the most important thing.

 

[AnnabananaMarie]

I will def be keeping them on the meds for longer, right now I only have Baytril to give them, as I am waiting for the other meds to come in, they didn't have them available at the clinic. And YES, am FOR SURE finding another vet, no ifs ands or buts about that one. I really didn't like that guy.

If the meds help, you will want them on it for 6 weeks
Otherwise you will want to have them on baytril + another antibiotic (such as azithromycin 10 mg/Ib, from a pharmacy by prescription from a vet) orally, twice a day for 6 weeks if it helps

It is extremely important to find a good vet that has successful experience in treating rats .... from what you wrote, it sounds like you need to try to find a different vet

 

[AnnabananaMarie]

lilspaz, I phoned around when looking for a vet and some wanted to charge this for EACH rat, I understand they're doctors but IMO that is just ridiculous, highway robbery, especially for a rattie which if there was more than one wouldn't take too much longer to check over if there was only one!

He px'd for two weeks only which I know now is not long enough! I just don't feel he is the right vet for me, and I got his name from a rat forum too. There is another vet in my area that is supposed to be good with rats, but this guy was supposed to be, or so it said on the site.

I didn't realize the Rat Fan Club info was outdated and a bit out there, so glad to get the advice of sage rat owners as being a noob, I wouldn't of known that.

All those prices seem very good to me, as we pay almost $70 for the exam and often will pay $30 for baytril for ONE rat
So $40 plus $40 for baytril for 4 rats...how many days did he prescribe it for? I am going to pray you do not say 7-10 days

The other medication is probably doxycycline, which is a lot more expensive due to a shortage of supply right now.

He probably didn't want to give you amoxicillin because vets don't prescribe it anymore. Its an old school antibiotic and they have much more effective options now.

Debbie D. and the Fan Club have a following, but a lot of us find her information extremely outdated, and her dosing well...a bit crazy and not particularly backed up by scientific evidence. Most of us use our Rat Bible www.ratguide.com

 

[jorats]

I think you got a good deal. Yesterday, I brought 3 rats to the vet and went home with 30 mls of Baytril. My cost was $216 total. But my vet did a full examination on each rat. I will also be able to call in for more Baytril when I run out of this bottle too, at an extra charge of course.

 

[AnnabananaMarie]

Good news, the rattie, Fawn that was showing the worse symptoms is no longer wheezing, or making the sound comparable to a person coughing up phlegm, is best I can describe it, also I am no longer seeing porphyrin coming out of Custard's eyes and nose! :joy::love2::joy: This is only on the Baytril though, and its been four days now, I still haven't heard back that the other meds are ready but I am happy with the progress so far. I am wondering if the other med is necessary to add in now and if keeping them only on Baytril for awhile would do the trick?

 

[Joanne]

If all her symptoms go away with the Baytril, then you are OK with just the one drug, but she definitely needs to be on for a longer time.

 

[jorats]

Yes, make sure to keep the baytril going for at least a month.