Cefa drops

Question
QUESTION: About a week ago I had asked you a question about my rat and his sneezing. From what I had described and done for him in the past you thought it would be a good idea to try cefa drops.         Well my mother is a vet tech and the place that she works at has two exotic vets working there. One is in NY due to family problems (she wont be back for about a week) and the other is in Australia with the Lions club for eight weeks.    My mother had some newly (2 days) mixed cephalexin 50mg/ml that my cat started vomiting on.


Due to the fact the exotic vets are not available and the other vets do not treat rats. I was wondering what your thoughts were on dosing. He is about 350-400 grams. I just dont think it would be good to wait much longer I don't want anything to happen to this sweet little boy.  

This morning he had significantly increased upper airway noises without discharge and alot of sneezing. (dry sneezing) He is still eating and drinking fine and has a good energy level and seems bright.  Any advice you could give us would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you

Amanda

ANSWER: Hi Amanda

I had to scroll back a few pages to find your old post and read that he had previously been given baytril. Since he has been off of it, has he gotten worse or relapsed to the same degree as before?

I cant remember all we discussed (did we go over what type of bedding he is on etc...) so if you can refresh my memory about that it would help also.

As for the Cefa drops, that would be fine. They are good from the time they are mixed I believe for 14 days so if they are going to help you should see results in 3 to 4 days. After that, if they dont work, they wont work. This is the golden rule with all antibiotics and is best to follow it to avoid tolerance to the drug which occurs if its not working, or a stronger infection developing since the wrong medication is being used.  Some vets dont really do their "homework" on this and often let the rat go on say for example, baytril, for a 2 week period and it may not be working and the rat gets worse while the baytril starts to become worthless to the rat and when the infection does warrant the use of baytril, it wont work due to tolerance.

Anyhow, with his size, I would give him the cefa drops and dispense
.15 ccs twice a day for 14 days and if you have enough, 21 days would even be better. Again, only if it is working though. If he gets worse stop the meds and call the vet. I may be able to find another exotic vet that is certified in exotics and registered with the AEMV if you need one while the others are out of the office. Let me know.
Also, you can also give him some yogurt during the course of the day as well just to replenish any good bacteria lost during antibiotic treatment. He may love the cefa drops. Most of my rats go nuts for it and in fact I have put water in the syringe to make more of the flavoring he loves so much so I measure out what the rats required dose is and add water to the syringe so he can suck the entire thing down and boy do they love it. One of my other rats hates all meds and drags his face on the floor to rid his mouth of the taste since of course they cannot vomit and certainly cant brush their toofers! LOL
HE HATES IT! But, the others go GAH GAH over it. I am interested to see if your little dude likes it so also let me know about that, too. LOL



Hopefully this works for him and his respiratory issues finally subside.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The bedding he is on is carefresh colors, when I first got him (about 2 months ago) his previous owner had him on spruce and fir (Still softwoods but I guess it didnt have the pine and cedar aroma) He hasn't really gotten worse but he hasn't gotten better, then I noticed today he was a sneezy little fella(with no discharge or prophyin*didnt spell it right* show).

My mother and I were actually thinking .15ccs 2x's a day, didnt want to just go ahead and go it though.    I will keep in mind the three day rule :)       

I got lucky with this little boy, he loved the Baytril and now he loves this stuff. I just got the begger look lol. The water worked very  well too, deffinitly made him satisfied.  Yogurt is a great idea, I never would have thought of that!

That would be awesome if you could help me find a back up vet for the time being I would appreciate it dearly.

Thank You
Amanda




ANSWER: Amanda

I use yogurt but I also have bene bac here too because I have one rat that is totally blind (we dont know why, he lost his vision and his coordination back in January just out of the blue and has not responded to antibiotics well so we ruled out inner ear infection and leaned more toward stroke but even that doesnt make sense so instead of worrying HOW he got that way, we are just treating him. He does great but has to live alone now in a single story cage. I felt bad because he did live with other rats in a huge ferret nation cage but he cant see now and he would get really hurt in that huge cage with those ramps and levels etc..
He has adjusted fantastic, mainly since rats do not rely on their vision much and use their sense of touch more. However, he is on steroids because he was rolling when he would walk (now he just goes in circles when he gets a bit confused if I take him out of the cage and put him on my bed) so he is on steroids since that did help the rolling. Since steroids are famous for compromising the immune system, he needs antibiotics to help keep infections from setting in and taking them daily cant be good for him so bene bac is used sprinkled on his ice cream once a day. I melt ice cream for him and mix the steroids in it. I dont care about the sugar or fats in it now and in fact I go against all that I preach and give him anything he would enjoy to eat because honestly I dont know how long he will be around. He may have an aneurysm that caused his blindness for all we know and he may be a ticking time bomb. He had scrambled eggs today and spaghetti a little bit ago.  So yeah, he gets ice cream with his meds. MY BAD! LOL
ANyhow I will find a vet for you but I need to know your state and city and it would be great if you told me what cities are closest to you. I stink in geography (slept through it in high school I suppose10

I will make sure the vet is a member of the AEMV.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Aww the poor thing, im sorry to hear that. Im not a big sweet giver except for the praising treat and the "give-in" but sometimes you just have to think about their happiness :)

I am in Lowell Ma. Boston is not too far about 30 min.    Thank you so much your a lifesaver :)

Amanda

Answer
Top notch exotic services right here!  They are here 24/7 so if you need to get in for an emergency, you can. I would check them out even if you dont need to go, just so you know what is available.  If she doesnt respond to the cefa, for sure, it would be a good idea to take her in.
Sheesh I almost said a GOODER idea.  Nice grammar.  LOL


Here is the info below:


Connie Orcutt DVM (FANTASTIC VET!)
Angell Animal Medical Center-Boston
350 S. Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02130
Phone (617) 522-7282