Question
rocky!
Dear Mrs Dana,
I'm writing you once again about our little Rocky.If you remember i asked you about Rocky because he had runny eyes and a lipoma.Our vet took a sample from the mass he found and made a culture test which was positive to pastereulla.Last Saturday Rocky was operated in order to pull out the abscess.
Before the operation,when Rocky had the first symptoms like sneeze,white discharge etc.we started baytril injections for 28 days.We stopped for about two weeks and then our vet found the abscess.Now he told us to give him again baytril.For the first 28 days he was taking 0.4ml.Now he told us to give him 0.3ml every 12 hours.But we couldn't make him the injections every 12 hours.The other vet we have closed to our home suggested to give him oral baytril once the day because from the first 28 injections his skin was very irritated. So for the week it passed we gave him oral baytril and he started to have diarrhea after the 3rd day about.So that vet stopped baytril from Friday and gave him flagyl for 3 days in order to fix the diarrhea.
But the vet who made the surgery suggests us to give him for one week more baytril, not oral because it causes diarrhea problems, but injections .
We're very confused.We have read some articles about pastereulla and saw that is a very difficult bacteria so we don't want to stop him the treatment soon and then to have the same problem.
Can you advise us what to do ?Do you think the treatment he had is enough or we have to continue the antibiotic?How can be sure that Rocky is healthy again ?Is it possible to have the bacteria to other part of his body ?
The vet made him blood tests and took him an xray and didn't see anything.
Pls, as an expert, if you can tell us what is better to do.
Thank you very much.
AnswerDear Letta,
Baytril almost never causes GI upset in rabbits, which is one of the reason it is used so often. It is more likely that the stress and pain of his procedure has resulted in a bit of cecal dysbiosis, which is NOT true diarrhea. Please read this for a full explanation:
www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
Flagyl would be appropriate if the vet suspected an overgrowth of Clostridium to be the cause of the runny stool, but there's no guarantee that that was the cause.
While Pasteurella is tough to completely eradicate (as are most pathogens, to tell the truth), they can be seriously knocked back by the right antibiotic. At this point, we rarely use Baytril any more, and certainly not once a day, since it doesn't last long enough in the body to be given only once a day. Also, we rarely give subcutaneous injections of Baytril, since--as you've discovered the hard way--it tends to foster the developement of sterile abscesses. When we use injectible Baytril, we give it intra-muscularly, which should not be done if you're not well instructed and experienced.
If you're really serious about attacking this infection aggressively, then you might want to ask the vet to consider using zeniquin (marbofloxacin--a cousin to Baytril that is used only once a day at 15-20mg/kg) *together* with injectible amikacin. Amikacin should be given in subQ fluids, to prevent undue insult to the kidneys. But most strains of Pasteurella are still highly sensitive to zeniquin and amikacin, and the combination is excellent to really knock them back so the bunny's immune system can take over.
We suspend the ground zeniquin in a solution of molasses diluted with clean drinking water, and the bunnies seem to actually *like* the combination of bitter and sweet! :)
No amount of antibiotic will help if the bunny's immune system is compromised; they are basically there to "buy time" while the bunny can get his own defenses in order to keep the pathogens in check.
Be sure the vets you are seeing are experienced with rabbits. Check the list linked here:
www.rabbit.org/vets
Hope this helps!
Dana
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