Baytril

chamlover

New Member
My Amadeus is still with us, thank God. He made the trip to PA and back and he is still doing the same. Not eating, still drinking, with a little help from me. I have him on bug juice to keep up his strength. He has been on Baytril for almost 2 weeks now and not better. What should i do? Should i keep him on that ( he's out now so i would have to get more) or should i have him try something else? Also what is it about Baytril that makes it so hard on the chams? And how do i know it is the URI that is making him not feel better and not the Baytril? I hear everyone saying how bad their cham got when on it, but what does that mean exactly? What symptoms does it usually give them? IF it is the meds that are making him sick, should i stop them to see if he gets better? His eyes are still closed. HELP! Also why does it take so long to clear out a URI?

Debby
 
Debby, I hope your cham gets well soon. I've read on other threads that it takes months sometimes to clear out the URI.

One member I believe has been battling it for 2 1/2 months.

I just dosed my cham today with Baytril. This is day 1 for him and he's still eating and drinking although his colors look off & I can tell he's not feeling well.

I was looking on their internet on an alternative to Baytril that I can suggest to my vet or something natural and came across this and other articles:

http://www.talkpets.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3677.html

Seems like it can cause blindness in cats. I wonder if that can happen in chams too.

I hope someone can give us an alternative to Baytril.

Chris mentioned Fortaz but it's an injectible and I'm not comfortable giving injections.

My vet (Dr. Greek) told me I have to use it for at least 7 days and if it doesn't get better I should go back so maybe talk with your vet?

Oh Debby, what scared me to use Baytril was this thread:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/downhill-11176/index2.html

But I have no other choice right now but to use it.
 
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I have used baytril on quite a few chameleons and never had a problem with it and have not had a chameleon go blind from it. (That's not to say that some species won't have trouble with it...but I have had no problem with veileds, deremensis, panthers, fischer's multis just to name a few.)

You do need to make sure that the chameleon is well hydrated though.
 
Kinyonga, do you use a drop of Baytril or is it the injectible?

Do you know if it gets worse before it gets better or should it get better & not worsen?
 
I just finished dealing with a rather nasty URI. My cham was on baytril twice, fortaz once, sulfatrim once and finally chloramphenical. The baytril regiments, one was 2 weeks the other was one week, caused her to act almost drunken. She would grab her tail thinking it was a branch and fall out of the tree. The fortaz was injections, and she did not take that well at all. Over the course of 3 months she gained weight consistently, except when on the fortaz. She actually lost weight on the fortaz, then gained it back once the regiment was over. The sulfatrim was given orally and showed no ill effects on her, but it didnt cure the infection. Finally it was the chloramphenical that did it, injected into crickets.

Over the three month period she was fighting this, I had three bacterial cultures done. Two were taken from samples taken in the throat, the thrid and final was from a tracheal wash. The first two grew e.coli strains, and the last came up with citrobacter freundii. Both the e.coli's and the citrobacter were found to be sensitive to all of the 4 antibiotics she was given. Only the chloramphenical had an effect though. This drug is no longer used in the US on humans because of its link to aplastic anemia, had to wear gloves while handling it. But it is supposedly equvalent to 5 doses of fortaz per dose, and she got two a day for 2 weeks. After three months, it cleared in three or four days.

I am by no means saying that chloramphenical is the way to go in your case. Just sharing my experience, just because the drug should work doesn't always mean it always will. If the baytril isn't working, from what I understand you should see the mucus start to go away within a week if it is. You should probably try a different drug if your vet has one available, or a different vet if he doesn't. I went through 4 different reptile vets, including my long time vet for all my herps, who just gave up on her.

In the end it cost me $812.45 between vet visits, meds, cultures, fecals, and the tracheal wash. After all that though I would do it again for her because she is just the sweetest lil girl. I really hope things go more smoothly for you two.
 
As kinyonga said, the hydration is key. Otherwise you might end up with a cham that doesn't have a URI, but has failing kidneys.
 
Thanks guys, i really appreciate all your input. My little guy doesn't have any sticky stuff in his mouth, but he never did. I'm thinking it might be a reaction to the meds because he did seem to get worse when i started it. I think i might have him get off the med for a couple of days and see if he improves. If not i think i will take him to another vet. I don't have much faith in this one, for chams anyway, and like yours my guy is just too sweet not to do everything i can for him. Thanks for the links i've been trying to find info on this stuff. I'll also suggest to do a trachael wash and make sure he gets the right meds as well. When you guys say you have been battling a URI for 2 mos, what exactly do you mean? Does that mean your cham has been sick for 2 mos? Or does it mean that you have been using meds for 2 mos?

Debby
 
First off, I would only suggest the tracheal wash as a last resort. It requires the cham to be anestitized. It was a last ditch effort in my case. Even when the results of the culture came back it was a guessing game as to which med to use. There was a list of 7 possible meds, and she had already recieved 3 of them.

My inital vet visit was on 2/15 and the syptoms finally started to clear on 6/1. The entire time she was struggling with huge wads of mucus at the back of her throat. I kept a calander and noticed a cyclic 8 day pattern of the mucus reoccuring. She would be really bad, then get a lil better, then like clockwork on day 8 she would have it again. The vet or I never figured out why tho.

She was on baytril from 2/15-2/29 then again 3/10-3/19. After that the 2nd vet insisted it was a husbandry issue, most likely humidity. So I jacked up the humidity in her enclosure to no avail. On 4/11 she started the injections of fortaz, once every three days, until 5/8. The fortaz came from vet #3. By 5/3 it was clear it wasn't goin to work, so I saw vet #4. She figured it might be parasitic so panacur and flagacyl were perscribed along with sulfa trim. The sulfa trim was meant to take care of coccidia and it was also effective against the e.coli found in the first two cultures done. On 5/17 I scheduled the tracheal wash for 5/20. On 5/28 I started the chloramphenical and continued until 6/11. The mucus deposit finally cleared on 6/1.

I just checked my calander for all these dates, appears I was goin at it for closer to 4 months.... Most of the time she was on one med or another, and the mucus kept coming back. If you need anything clarified feel free to pm me. Best of luck to you and him.
 
Mika said..."Kinyonga, do you use a drop of Baytril or is it the injectible?"...I have done it both ways but really prefer to use it orally.
 
Hi Debby,

Just wanted to let you know I am on Day 6 of Baytril and I have noticed that my cham seems to be getting better & better.

I've noticed improvement on the 3rd day. He looked bad on the 2nd day but showed improvement on the 3rd and keeps on improving.

So I'm assuming (but each cham is different) that if you use it within 2 weeks, there should be some improvement otherwise the Baytril is not working out for the cham as Scott said.

I also shut off his misting system & humidifier.

I only use a dripper and spray him 2x a day with a hand pressure sprayer for a minute.

Good luck with your cham! I hope he gets well. I know this can be stressful - shoot! I was stressed with mine :D
 
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