doxy dosage help?

[benzin.fox]

I have a young rat here who comes from a terrible 'breeder' and is already suffering like pretty much all rats that come from that place.ANYWAY when she came here she was 3 weeks old and in desperate need of meds as the dreaded myco had a good hold over her.I had her on baytril and doxy and she picked up and became healthy looking and she grew! 'runty' is now sick again and my vet has given me a bottle of doxycyline hydrochloride 40mg/g

I can't reach her today and i need to get this little rat back on doxy as well as the baytril.

She is a small rat i dont know how much she weighs but i was dosing her with a tiny 'dot' of doxy in the forum of vibravet paste.ive never used this powder before and im clueless about the dosage.she's at a guess 6-8 weeks old.

Help? anyone good at maths? it says to mix the powder in their water but i really need to give her an indiviual dose.

directions on the bottle are - PARROTS- mix 4g in 400ml of drinking water

PIGEONS mix 4g in 800ml of drinking water..if that helps..

thanking you in advance, kristen and runty

 

[lilspaz68]

I take it you have a ton of this stuff right?

You would need to measure out 3 grams of this powder (digital scale that does 1 gram incremements) and add 6 cc's of fluid to it. This would give you a bottle of 20 mg/ml doxy.

I would advise (since doxy is bitter and nasty) to use as your mixing solution, half water, half strawberry Nesquik or something similar (strawberry syrup) to make it easier to medicate your girl. She may like it enough that you can dose her through the bars and she takes it right from the syringe

 

[benzin.fox]

Yes i have an entire bottle of the stuff

Thank you so very much.

She's already looking up even with only the baytril. I will definitely add the nesquick.i usually do that after but yours is a much better idea

 

[lilspaz68]

it works out well with the solution, most rats find it very tasty. Hold onto your syringe tightly though as they may snatch it and run. :giggle:

 

[benzin.fox]

Oh yes i've found that before when mixing it with baytril!

how much of the mixed solution should i give her?

 

[lilspaz68]

Oh yes i've found that before when mixing it with baytril!

how much of the mixed solution should i give her?

You said she's 6-8 weeks old? Do you have a pic of her?

If we guesstimate her at 200 grams her dose would be .05 cc twice a day.

 

[benzin.fox]

Thank you for all your help. The dosages were right in the end but Runty unfortunately had to be pts


Tiny Runty came to me when she was around 3 weeks old. she was skinny, hunched,puffy,wheezing and sneezing and had the strangest walk i'd ever seen. We said she 'hubbled' around. She also developed a head tilt which was fixed up soon after.

After antibiotics,nutrigel and ensure runty came around and had a fortnight of excellent healthy life. she grew everyday and i barely recognised her. Then she went downhill again. It became obvious she was suffering a maloclusion. She could not eat apart from sticking her tongue out around her teeth to get baby food or ensure. The vet was in sydney and i was waiting for her to return.She began to lose her balance.She could not groom herself and was filthy,she needed a bath everyday. When I returned from the rat show on saturday one eye would not close.it was completey dried open with porphyrin. She was in pain and fell over on her side, unable to get back up. She started having spasms,twitches and fits. All four feet were clenched into fists. At one stage she was pulling,dragging and punching her fists on her forehead. I had never seen such suffering in a rat.I made the decision to have her euthanased. The vet said it was neurological. I am glad I made the decision.I just wish Runty could have made it. From the first moment i got her home she climbed up my arm,not afraid. She was a beautiful soul. She deserved to be around longer.She wanted to live.She was eating just hours up until she collapsed.

Runty was a blue irish girl. She was originally from a mass breeder known for producing rats with short life spans, health problems and sudden deaths.

 

[Chevalrose]

I'm so sorry...poor girl. At least she seemed to have a nice home for a little while <3

 

[jorats]

That's truly sad... all we can do is try and give them love.
You did your best.

 

[eagle]

So sorry. :hugs:

 

[benzin.fox]

To make matters worse another rattie 'Iris' from the same place originally as Runty has literally 'dropped dead' no warning.

This is common in that 'breeder's' lines. I am heartbroken. She was a beautiful soul as well as beautiful looking. Many of these rats have high white markings and variegation in their markings-making them pretty and sought after. In Australia we don't have the same gene in our high whites as overseas so the risk of megacolon when breeding these markings is not a worry but something else is happening with these rats and it's not pretty..

 

[jorats]

How truly sad.

 

[benzin.fox]

could runty's problem have been a tumour?

 

[jorats]

Everything is possible. :sad3: