Help with Melvin

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:01 pm


Looks like Baytril has a range of 5-20 mg/kg. The calculation for a dose of any medication is the recommended dose per kg x weight of the guinea pig (in kg) divided by the suspension of the medication (mg/ml).

If we go with a middle-of-the-road dose of 10 mg/kg, and if he weighs around 1 kg, it would be 10 mg/kg x 1 kg of weight = 10 / 68 mg/ml = 0.147ml as the dose. Somebody here please double-check my math.

I'd absolutely call your vet first thing and verify this, but from where I'm sitting, I'd say it was a typo.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 1:14 am


He is close to 3lbs., like 2.10, I think. They have his weight and he's put to bed for now, so I can't get him on the scale til tomorrow. The bottle only says 68mg. and 1.2 mls twice per day. The bottle of Baytril is a lot bigger than the doxy, so the volume per dose would much bigger, but I'm clueless now. I held off on the Baytril for tonight and will call them first thing in the am. Thanks all!

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:48 am


At his weight, and at 10mg/kg, his dose would be more like 0.18cc's. I can't imagine a dose anywhere NEAR what they have on the bottle. If you can find out the exact strength of the medication (is it 68mg/ml?), we can make sure the dose is correct.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:28 am


Will do, thanks!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:40 am


I missed that. Yes, 68mg is pretty high.

One common concentration is a 2.27% solution (22.7mg/ml).

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 11:53 am


So, I heard back from the vet office. I didn't get to speak with the vet herself. Basically, the label was wrong. Rather than 1.2 twice a day, it should be .6, twice per day. Now I recall the last time I used Baytril the dose was like, .4 1/2 to .5 twice a day. The person I spoke with couldn't explain the dosing. She said she thinks the calculation is 5mg/ml. I don't know what that means, but I suppose I will try the .6 dose for now. I don't know why their dose and your numbers seem so far off. Could it be that their concentration is low, so the volume is greater? She did say this is the lowest dose they get from their supplier.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:40 pm


It still doesn't make sense, but that sounds like a more reasonable dose. We'd need to know for sure what the concentration is in order to double-check the dose.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 2:13 pm


Are you talking to some from the front desk, or to a vet tech? If you're talking to a desk clerk, I'd call back and ask to speak to someone who works in the back and actually knows something about meds.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:50 pm


I would ask to speak to the actual vet. I'd want to know how this was compounded (how many milligrams per ml). There really isn't any other way to know if you're getting the right dose.

I will also add...vet needs to know that there was a GLARING error on the label. If you hadn't been knowledgeable/paying attention, you might have given him a huge dose of Baytril that could have had very negative consequences.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:39 pm


I will call and ask to speak with the vet. I gave him the .6 of Baytril this morning, along with the .15 doxy. Can you think of any reason why he might sound worse than ever a few hours later, as in the sound of more mucus?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Sep 13, 2019 5:32 pm


Medicine is not instantaneous. It takes a while for the blood levels to build up, and still longer for the medicine to act on the organism. Usually you expect to see improvement in 24-48 hours, not six.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 20, 2019 6:04 pm


Melvin has been on .15 ml Doxycycline for 2 weeks and .6 ml Baytril for one week now. I did not give a dose this morning. He still sneezes and snorts occasionally. I'm not sure what to do. His symptoms aren't apparent all the time. When I took him to the vet, she didn't see or hear any problems at first. When he got excited (when she needed to look into his mouth), the wheezing became mildly apparent. Other than that, I think she was mostly going on my word. When we left he snorted out a bit of snot. The congested breathing sound seems intermittent. I feel like it would take an hour or two of observation for a vet to notice anything. If I weren't around them so much, perhaps I wouldn't notice anything either.

I don't want to keep him on antibiotics if it isn't absolutely necessary. Isn't there some way, other than listening to his breathing, to tell if respiratory infection is present?

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