Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[GrayRodent]

Without getting too technical I'm just going to say I think you're okay.

NOTE: It was later found the dose was double what it was supposed to be. This is not okay. These calculations are always best left up to a veterinarian.

[iheartchins]

Okay, thanks!!As a probiotic I heard I could use yogurt? Is that true?

[GrayRodent]

Yes you can use yogurt. If you wish to use yogurt it appears you should give a maximum of tablespoon of yogurt (sugar free) in a day.
I expect you have been instructed to give baytril twice a day. It should be 12 hours apart as close as you can get it. If you give yogurt you'll probably want to give one teaspoon of yogurt 6 hours after the morning baytril dose and that's it.

Ideally a second yogurt (1 teaspoon) dose should be given 6 hours after the nighttime baytril dose but that will be hard. The daytime dose is more important because chinchillas are usually pretty active at night which will help keep things flowing. During the day when your pet is inactive the bowels flow much slower.

Do not give the yogurt and meds together. They will counteract each other.

If you give yogurt will you have to syringe feed it. Rarely will you find a chinchilla that likes to eat yogurt.

[iheartchins]

I'll try to give yogurt when I can because I work in the day and go to sleep pretty early. I can definitely do it on weekends though. I'll try to find a different probiotic to fill in for yogurt if I can. Also, how long until the meds kick in? I gave her the first around 8:30 pm (eastern) so it's been around 3 hours so far.

[iheartchins]

Oh, and I can still let her dust bathe right?

[mb30]

I wouldn't give a dust bath until the round of antibiotics is finished. A week seems like a long time but it's better safe than sorry. You don't want any irritants to get into the affected area

[GrayRodent]

I expect you'll notice a change in a day or two. Baytril is a very effective drug.
Do not discontinue the meds just because you notice no symptoms. Give the full course as directed by your veterinarian. You don't want to partially kill the infection with antibiotics. Unless it is totally killed off it will come back as an antibiotic resistant infection.

[iheartchins]

I'll make sure to keep her on the meds until the course is over. I gave her another dose this morning. She ate a cheerio and some hay this morning (that I saw) and was eating regularly last night.

[mb30]

That's great news. My chin ate the entire time she was on baytril but her appetite definitely was not as big as usual.
I tried to give her a variety of hay and different things to keep her interested in eating. I don't know if it helped or not. I think we gave her critical care two times during the 3rd or 4th day on the baytril. Looking back i'm not sure if it was necessary. I was a little worried since i have never had to deal with baytril and i read a bunch about it online and saw some pretty scary stories. Keep an eye that your chin is still drinking too.

[iheartchins]

I will. When I was giving her the dose this evening I got half of it in and then she pulled away, but when I tried to give her the rest she started licking the syringe and wanted more. She must like the taste.

[iheartchins]

When I was giving her her dose this morning as soon as I pushed the srynge down she moved away so it all squirted on her neck/chest  it wasn't that much so do I just leave it there? I gave another dosage since none of it got in her mouth the first time.

[GrayRodent]

Use a damp washcloth to clean it off her fur. Otherwise it will harden and mat the fur. Also you don't want her licking it off in addition to the dose you just gave her. Your pet will be pretty messy through this ordeal but there is no reason to not try to wipe up what you can. After a few doses you'll figure out how to do it better but at the same time your chinchilla will learn how to fight you better.
Just use plain water on a wash cloth. Try to wring it out so there's no liquid water streaming out as drops of water can also cause fur matting.

[iheartchins]

Spoke to the vet that administered the meds and they told me the corrict dosage for a 450 g chin is.20 cc. So glad I haven't been giving the complete .4cc since I thoughg it seemed like a lot. Ivory isn't eating as much as she would without the meds, but she's still eating so I'm glad about that. She ate 2 cheerios this morning and I saw her eat her Timothy hay last night. I don't know about eating her pellets though, haven't seen much of that. Might pick up some critical care tomorrow just in case. I guess it's available at most pet stores?

[GrayRodent]

Wow I'm glad you did that. That could have been a very big problem.
An average sized male chinchilla is 500g. Females tend to be larger and some can grow to be around 1000. Did your vet comment on if your pet is underweight? 450 sounds pretty light to me.
Critical care is not commonly found in pet stores. It is a veterinary product and you'll probably need to go to a clinic to get it. A clinic that treats rabbits will have it but probably not a dog and cat clinic. They may be able to get an overnight shipment though.

You can order it from tj's chinchilla supplies but I think you should find a way to get it on a moments notice if needed.

[iheartchins]

The vet said that a 450 g chin would get a .2 cc dosage, but my chin wasnt weighed so she couldn't give an exact estimate. She's bigger than a lot of chins I've seen so she could prob use a little higher dosage, but I'm not sure. So glad I didn't give the.4

At what point would I have to start giving critical care? Only if she stopped eating completely? I'm glad she's still eating at the moment though.

Also I saw something in the cage that was light brownish this morning in only one place. It was kinda wet but didn't look at all like pee or poop. Just wondering if you knew what that was?