Toe bitten

[AZChins]

Sometimes the sulfa drugs work better for wounds and things than the baytril. I think they work pretty well as a preventative for infections, as well. If it were my chin, I'd probably want septra or another sulfa drug for this.

 

[StevieP]

The vet just called my girlfriend back (since she took him to the vet) -- he said to take the 0.6mL syringe of Baytril, fill it with 0.4mL of pineapple juice to make it 1mL, and give her 1/2 of that mixture to her 2x daily. He said that baytril works better on that area than sulfa, and that the pineapple juice will break up any hair in her digestive tract. So i'm thinking, since when is there hair in her digestive tract? She is not eating or pooping as much because of the Baytril!! :bangdesk: I'm tempted to just use the sulfa he gave me for Arnold, since Arnold is only on it 'just in case'

 

[menagerie]

The vet just called my girlfriend back (since she took him to the vet) -- he said to take the 0.6mL syringe of Baytril, fill it with 0.4mL of pineapple juice to make it 1mL, and give her 1/2 of that mixture to her 2x daily. He said that baytril works better on that area than sulfa, and that the pineapple juice will break up any hair in her digestive tract. So i'm thinking, since when is there hair in her digestive tract? She is not eating or pooping as much because of the Baytril!! :bangdesk: I'm tempted to just use the sulfa he gave me for Arnold, since Arnold is only on it 'just in case'

Ignore the vet on that one. I can't imagine what pineapple juice and baytril will do to the gut. To help with inappetance from the baytril, give something yummy right after the meds. I usually give a squirt of Critical Care. It gets rid of the nasty baytril taste.

 

[ticklechin]

Vet is nuts, IMO. The CC trick works or if you have simethicone a sip of that sweet stuff also helps. Make sure you are using a high count acidophilus, in this case 15 billion or higher, give it to her 4 hours after the baytril, you can just add it to the CC to get it down her.

 

[Stackie]

Another trick I used, when I was giving baytril I would dip the syringe in simethicone and suck up a bit with the baytril..seemed to really entice the chin to take it more willingly. I then followed by a little squirt of the simethicone as a chaser.

 

[Essentia]

I do the same thing as Stacie. I modified it a tiny bit to where I would syringe up .4ml of the smithicone, .2ml baytril (the dosage for my chinny) and then .4ml of smithicone again in the front. Basically a baytril sandwich. The smithicone in the front would entice the chin, and the baytril behind would act as a chaser.

 

[StevieP]

Well, we got 0.3mL in her tonight. It took 15 minutes. My girlfriend figured out a way -- she would squirt out a little drop and come from underneath so Munchkin didn't see it coming and dabbed it on her lips and she licked it up. It was such a small amount every time that I don't think the taste was as strong. She was still mad afterwards. I did the epsom salt soak to her hand too! She was actually OK with that. I also got her to eat only about 1 or 2mLs of critical care with acidipholous mixed in.

Just so you can see how much she HATES anything in a syringe, I took this video of me trying to give her straight simethicone before we even tried to give the baytril. Any other chin i've given this to loves it!



I know it sounds like there is a helicopter in my room... it is just the AC. It is not as loud as it sounds in the video!

 

[ticklechin]

I don't give meds or CC that way, I pick them up, flip them on the back and hand feed, even the squirmy ones get fed that way. I don't take no for a answer so after a few feedings they become easy to feed.

 

[Essentia]

I only give CC or meds that way if the chin takes it easily and actually wants it. 90% of the time I have to hold the chin and give it like Dawn does.

 

[caiti]

When I had to syringe feed my chin, I found out I am not very good at burritoing. I realize with practice I would most likely get better at it but I really didn't want to practice, to be honest. So I tried other food mixes. Ended up Chloe loves her normal pellets ground and mixed with water. She also loves Essentials for Life (sold by Tanya on here). I even had the apple banana flavored CC and she just never liked it.

Of course, if I didn't find anything she would eat on her own, the only other option would have been to just suck it up and master the burrito. But maybe your chin will like something else and you could even try Crysta's baytril sandwich method with that if she likes it enough. Maybe once she realizes mostly yummy stuff comes from the syringe, she won't run from it. Good luck either way!!

 

[StevieP]

We hold her while gving the meds, and she wiggles out of our hands as soon as the syringe gets near her whether it is baytril, cc, simethicone, or water. Fur flies everywhere. Should we try burrito'ing her?

Only about 20-25 small poops in her cage this morning. She didn't even finish a shredded wheat that I gave to her last night :/ and she didn't really touch any chew sticks. She is just laying around most of the time. She gets on the wheel then goes back to the tube and lays on her side like she does when she is tired. The toe is looking a little better though. Does Metacam or Baytril cause 'drowsiness'? This is turning ugly.

 

[greychins]

I'm with the others on this, unless the chin willingly takes meds or CC while running around free in their cage, I burrito them. Takes much less time, even with them struggling and you having to re-wrap if they struggle out of the burrito. I would give the burritoing a shot.

Baytril does cause a loss in appetite. Without re-reading the thread... are you giving her critical care? If you aren't, and she's not eating much, I would suggest that you start so that she has something in her system to keep her gut moving.

I don't know about the drowsiness though, hopefully someone else can help you with that....

 

[menagerie]

I don't give meds or CC that way, I pick them up, flip them on the back and hand feed, even the squirmy ones get fed that way. I don't take no for a answer so after a few feedings they become easy to feed.

I'm with Dawn on this. Everyone takes their meds, refusing is not an option. I find it's less stressful for everyone to hold them and administer meds than spend a long time trying to convince them to do something they don't want to. I start the process using a burrito wrap, after a few times or days we can usually do way with the wrap.

 

[ticklechin]

Ask anyone who has hand fed a chin for a few weeks, they become the most tame chin you will have. You can't let them have their way and not eat, you need to get CC and meds down them, the first few times are not pretty like my video of Lucifer being fed for the first time, but I got the 15ml down him in under 4 min.

You need to keep on top of the feeding, the slow down in poo production can lead to stasis very fast, especially on baytril-we do not know 100% if the baytril kills the appetite because of the flavor or because it kills the bacteria in the digestive tract or a combo of both, but either way you need to get at least 60ml or more in her a day. I have not found that either baytril or metecam cause lethargy, but stasis and pain from it can.

 

[StevieP]

Ok I will get it done no matter what it takes. I know I HAVE to get CC in her since she isn't eating much on her own. It is just hard to restrain her and I don't want to hurt her. Sometimes she will squeak when she is trying to get out of my hands. Then she moves her head to aviod the meds. Also, after the few CCs of critical care, she stopped swallowing it, letting it just sit in her mouth.

Again, I don't chase her around the cage with the meds. I hold her with both hands against my chest and Kim gives the meds. --the video was to show that she doesn't want to take simethicone. I can get 6 of my 9 to take anything thru the cage bars but Munchkin and her ex-husband and son all do not take things willingly.

I wonder if I should continue with the Baytril and force feed, or demand sulfa from the vet tomorrow to see if that helps with the appetite? My Arnold on Sulfa right now is eating and pooping fine.

I want to thank every one of you for following this thread and giving advice. I owe you.

 

[tunes]

Steven - Lay a kitchen towel across your chest. Put your chin on the towel, closer to one or the other end, stomach down. Quickly wrap the towel around and around until she's wrapped up snugly. Once you have her there, put her body between your side and your arm with her back feet towards your elbow. Cup her head in the palm of your hand, place one finger on the top of her head, your thumb on one side of her face and a finger on the other. There will be no fighting or moving around, because she won't be able to. The more she fights, the harder it is on both of you. If you restrain her correctly, it can be over and done in a short period of time.

 

[ticklechin]

The problem with what you have going on is she is already having the "baytril problem" and even if you put her on the sulfa the damage may already be done. I only use injectable and have never used oral but from what I have learned is even when the chin is off it it can take awhile to jump start the appetite.

 

[StevieP]

Update & New Issue

We ended up stopping the baytril after Sunday the 19th - so she got 4 days worth of the med. Now her toe is looking great. I think the epsom salt soaks benefitted her the most.

She is eating on her own now, although we had to hand feed her for a few days after stopping the baytril. Now the only problem is that she is not drinking much on her own. I have been giving her a small amount (around 7-8cc's) of watery critical care (1 part critical care to 5 parts water). Last night I gave her about 4 cc's and drank no water on her own overnight. Her bottle is and has been working. She has not been drinking much on her own since before the baytril. What should I do? Not give her any watery critical care, and see if she will be thirsty enough to drink regular water on her own? Other than the drinking issue, she is normal. Very energetic last night during playtime. Temperature is 68 in our room and 66 in playroom. Her poops are ok, just a little smaller than usual. Some are hard and some are normal.