# Baytril in Water?



## dragonegg (Oct 2, 2007)

Last week my Sparks began to bleed from her vagina and after consulting with you guys here I put her on antibiotics. At first there seemed to be improvement, and for a couple days she didn't bleed at all. But then she got worse and so I took her to the vet. He figured maybe my antibiotics were too old (from last Feb., but I kept them in the fridge). He put her on Baytril, but it's the kind that they put in the drinking water. Ugh. He told me how to mix it in 60 ml of water, which is my smallest waterbottle. Now I'm thinking that she can't possibly drink that much in a day, and will she get enough this way? 

Has anyone dealt with this kind of Baytril? My vet is a great surgeon and is well intentioned, but I know that rats are not a common pet in his practice, so I probably doesn't have a clue how much a rat drinks in a day. 

Also, how quickly does Baytril kick in? Sparks bled a lot today and I worry about messing about with these antibiotics if she really needs a spay. I don't want to lose her- she's only 15 months old.


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

It is the same kind of Baytril. It's your vet that has told you to administer it in water. Give the Baytril mixed into something such as a little bit of babyfood instead. Dairy products should be avoided as it can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

ANY abs in water is old-school and now considered completely wrong. If you have noticed us talking about antibiotics, we are saying things like "she weighs this much, the concentration of the baytril is this...therefore the proper dosage would be this..."

You cannot have any control over baytril in water...and are likely massively underdosing her. She also may refuse the tainted water and get dehydrated OR bacteria grows in the water. Baytril powder is not tasty so I bet she's not drinking it.

Baytril comes in tablets...he must've crushed them for you...can you go back and ask for whole tablets? We can guesstimate her weight and figure out a proper dosage for you.

I get my own baytril as pills, crush and make up my own mix that my rats adore. They get better usually


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## abazoo (Mar 21, 2009)

That's weird, I thought Baytril came as a brown liquid... my vet must mix pills in to the liquid... eitherway, my girls take it from a baby spoon ;D

Earlier today one of the baby's actully stole the extra syringe


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

abazoo said:


> That's weird, I thought Baytril came as a brown liquid... my vet must mix pills in to the liquid... eitherway, my girls take it from a baby spoon ;D
> 
> Earlier today one of the baby's actully stole the extra syringe


Perhaps your vet makes it up so it's flavoured? I've heard of some vets doing butterscotch flavoured and such.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

abazoo said:


> That's weird, I thought Baytril came as a brown liquid... my vet must mix pills in to the liquid... eitherway, my girls take it from a baby spoon ;D
> 
> Earlier today one of the baby's actully stole the extra syringe


That might be the flavour tabs..I have heard of the tasty liver one :

Baytril is normally a pale yellow pill.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I get baytril in a clear oral suspension, just to throw that one out there


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Ration1802 said:


> I get baytril in a clear oral suspension, just to throw that one out there


Yeah, that's what I get too.


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## heavy_heart (Apr 12, 2009)

I get my Baytril in a brown glass bottle, it's kind of a milky looking liquid. Anyway, all I have to do is say "Medicine time!!" and Pepe gets so freakin excited and drinks it right up, looking for more afterward. Thank goodness.

It's called a Baytril suspension, a certain number of tablets crushed up and mixed with a solution that is flavored. Pepe always gets .2cc for 14 days and it works like a charm every time.


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## zoe9 (Oct 3, 2007)

Baytril also comes in an injectable form which can be taken orally so this may be the clear oral suspension mentioned.

Meanwhile heavy_heart if you are repeatedly having to treat Pepe then the drugs are not working "like a charm". If they were you wouldn't be treating again in a hurry.

In my experience 14 days is just not long enough for a respiratory infection*. All my boys get treated for 30 days minimum now, often longer.

If Pepe relapses I would suggest you treat for 30 days at least.

If you continue to treat for a shorter period you are entering a dangerous cycle of under dosing which will result in repeated treatments that eventually stop working because you are allowing the stronger/drug resistant bacteria to survive and populate.

As for the original poster, please take lilspaz's advise and speak to the vet again about baytril you can give orally. Putting antibiotics in drinking water is a dangerous waste of time and you will almost certainly end up under dosing.


* Edited to clarify that I am referring here to treatment for a respiratory infection, not the vaginal bleeding the OP is treating. Sorry for confusing the issue!


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## dragonegg (Oct 2, 2007)

I went back to the vet to clarify the dosage. The baytril I have is the injectable clear suspension. The amount in the water is enough so that she only needs to drink about 12 ml per day--which is about what she drank. But to be sure, the vet told me how much I could give her with food, although he warned me about the icky taste. 

But...my rats, picky though they are, are clearly into the natural baytril taste. When I let Sparks play with the other rats while I cleaned the hospital cage, I had to keep shooing the other rats away from her water! (They had access to two other, unmedicated, bottles, so they weren't dying of thirst.) And the baytril dosage I put into applesauce Sparks gobbled up no problem. So I'm not too worried about her getting enough of it now. I only hope it helps and we don't need the spay. 

How quickly should the baytril work (if it does work)???


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

If it works you should see an improvement in 3-4 days. What dosage has your vet said to use if given in food?


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## heavy_heart (Apr 12, 2009)

I don't think I mentioned that I have to do it in a hurry. If I did, I made a mistake. She's only been on it like 3 times in her entire life, all at least 6 apart. So no, I do think it is working fine. Thanks for the help.


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## dragonegg (Oct 2, 2007)

0.05 cc - it's a tiny amount and she's been taking it well. She's been on it for 3 days now and she's still bleeding. It's not a ton, but I'm not sure how much blood a small rat can safely lose, so I worry. Also, I'm still keeping her in the hospital cage, which makes medicating and checking for blood easier. But she seems to miss her friends (there's eight of them). Should I put her back in the big cage soon?


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