My first time with rat meds.

[Coragirl]

So Al and Lou got into a fight last night and Lou now has 4 stitches in his side. :gaah:

I've been sent home with some Enrofloxacin to give to Lou. I just want to make sure I'm giving him the right amount. I've been told to give him 1ml every 12 hours, but this sounds like alot compared to what's been posted in other threads. The Enrofloxacin is 10mg/ml. Lou weighs 576g. (I have the rmca's drug guide printed out, but the dosing part is a little over my head.)

Oh, and do I need to keep it refrigerated?

 

[SQ]

Is it mixed up to taste good?
If so it probably needs to be in the fridge but you should ask your vet.

1 ml sounds ok given the strength of 10 mg/ml. That would be around 8 mg/Ib for your rat, twice a day.
The rcma (ratguide.com) suggests 5 mg/Ib, the rat health care book suggests 10 mg/Ib. So the dose is a bit high for the rcma chart (which would say 0.63 ml) and a bit low for the Rat Health Care book (which would say 1.27ml).

Meds come in various strengths. The baytril I use comes in the strength of 100mg/ml so I give very tiny amounts.

 

[Coragirl]

I didn't think to ask about the flavor. :doh:

Thanks for the quick reply. I get to be such a worry wart about any medication that comes into my home.

 

[Godmother]

Baytril is very bitter if not mixed with something sweet. The thread on "Masking medications for those stubborn ones" will give you lots of ideas if your rat doesn't want to take the meds.

 

[Coragirl]

Thanks for the heads up.
I read the thread and tried some soy beverage and a little cool whip. Worked a charm. Thanks a ton for your advice.

 

[lilspaz68]

As per ratguide.com I use 10 mg/kg and I am getting .6 cc's to get into your boy twice a day. Why do vets give out meds with such low concentrations, do they not realize how hard it can be to get meds into a reluctant rat??? :gaah: And if you have to force medicate, how would you get that massive amount into him twice a day? Keeping my fingers crossed he continues to take his meds like a good boy :mrgreen:

 

[sausage4ever]

Sorry to hear about Lou, Cora. I hope he gets better soon.

 

[Coragirl]

He's still being a good boy. A little tricky in the morning, but not too bad.

My bad luck with rat health is continuing though. It looks like one of Lou's smaller wounds is forming an abscess (I've got a warm compress on it right now) and now Al's starting to make funny noises when he sleeps.

 

[ratatrapat]

He's still being a good boy. A little tricky in the morning, but not too bad.

My bad luck with rat health is continuing though. It looks like one of Lou's smaller wounds is forming an abscess (I've got a warm compress on it right now) and now Al's starting to make funny noises when he sleeps.

Sorry about your guy hope he gets better soon you might know this but if you soak a facecloth in epson salts first it will draw out the abcess so it comes to a head and breaks faster it also cleans the wound.

 

[Coragirl]

A quick update on Lou.

I took him into the vet to get the abscess checked out since it wasn't doing anything. It was a good idea since it turned out to not be an abscess. The bump turned out to be full of blood. Apparently, something wasn't draining right, but the vet drained it and Lou will be continuing with his antibiotics.

I need to remember when I pick up more Baytril to ask for a non Strawberry flavoring. Lou won't even touch any sort of berry.