Experience With Piperacillin?

[Pluto_the_Panther]

My chams RI keeps returning. I may need to put him on piperacillin until I can get him to a new vet just as a last-ditch effort to keep him afloat. He may be able to make it without it though so I was wondering if anyone has experience with it and knows if it's harsh or risky to use. I got the piperacillin from a vet btw. I have been using reptaid to keep him stable but he seems to be getting a little worse. Just want to know the risk/reward ratio of trying the piperacillin vs holding out to see another vet.

 

[MissSkittles]

@kinyonga or @JacksJill should be able to offer some help on this.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry but I have no experience with piperacillin.

This might help…ferrit in my shoes is a veterinarian…so read what she has to say…
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/need-advice-on-uri-treatment.60722/

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Sorry but I have no experience with piperacillin.

This might help…ferrit in my shoes is a veterinarian…so read what she has to say…
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/need-advice-on-uri-treatment.60722/

Sorry I'm a little confused. What part should I be reading?

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry I'm a little confused. What part should I be reading?

Post #14 is written by a veterinarian who is a member of this forum. Not saying that others contributions are not valid..but I don’t know their medical background (if any).

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Post #14 is written by a veterinarian who is a member of this forum. Not saying that others contributions are not valid..but I don’t know their medical background (if any).

Yes I see that but they are talking about different antibiotics right?

 

[kinyonga]

Yes I see that but they are talking about different antibiotics right?

Oops…sorry…you’re right…my mistake.

 

[JacksJill]

I haven't used or seen piperacillin in decades. It's related to penicillin. It should be better than nothing and Reptaid. I don't recall any significant side effects other than allergic reactions like those to penicillin (rare).

 

[dinomom]

My chams RI keeps returning. I may need to put him on piperacillin until I can get him to a new vet just as a last-ditch effort to keep him afloat. He may be able to make it without it though so I was wondering if anyone has experience with it and knows if it's harsh or risky to use. I got the piperacillin from a vet btw. I have been using reptaid to keep him stable but he seems to be getting a little worse. Just want to know the risk/reward ratio of trying the piperacillin vs holding out to see another vet.

Yes I have used with a mouth infection. Daily two weeks skipped a week and repeated. If your vet approves it and gives you proper dosing it should be ok. With any antibiotic keep a close eye on hydration.

 

[javadi]

Is it just piperacillin or piperacillin/tazobactam? This is usually used for Pseudomonas coverage, which is a nasty bacteria. But ceftazidime (fortaz) also covers pseudomonas so I am curious whether fortaz has been tried already? I'm more hung up on why they gave piperacillin to begin with as I don't know the clinical history of the animal. Piperacillin/tazobactam is a fine drug to use but fortaz is better studied in reptiles. If you go forward with giving it, be sure you use the dosage/frequency prescribed though.

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Is it just piperacillin or piperacillin/tazobactam? This is usually used for Pseudomonas coverage, which is a nasty bacteria. But ceftazidime (fortaz) also covers pseudomonas so I am curious whether fortaz has been tried already? I'm more hung up on why they gave piperacillin to begin with as I don't know the clinical history of the animal. Piperacillin/tazobactam is a fine drug to use but fortaz is better studied in reptiles. If you go forward with giving it, be sure you use the dosage/frequency prescribed though.

I've already done full rounds of Fortaz and Amikacin. Both times the RI seemed to go away and then returned.

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Is it just piperacillin or piperacillin/tazobactam? This is usually used for Pseudomonas coverage, which is a nasty bacteria. But ceftazidime (fortaz) also covers pseudomonas so I am curious whether fortaz has been tried already? I'm more hung up on why they gave piperacillin to begin with as I don't know the clinical history of the animal. Piperacillin/tazobactam is a fine drug to use but fortaz is better studied in reptiles. If you go forward with giving it, be sure you use the dosage/frequency prescribed though.

I think it's just piperacillin?

 

[kinyonga]

(I’m asking you these questions so I don’t have to read your many posts over again. Sorry but it takes a lot of time..and you have a couple of threads.)

How much is he eating? How often is he pooping? How does the poop look…like the food is digested?

Does he stay in areas of the cage where it’s in the low 80’sF most of the time in the cage during the day?

Have you had any blood tests run on him?

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

(I’m asking you these questions so I don’t have to read your many posts over again. Sorry but it takes a lot of time..and you have a couple of threads.)

How much is he eating? How often is he pooping? How does the poop look…like the food is digested?

Does he stay in areas of the cage where it’s in the low 80’sF most of the time in the cage during the day?

Have you had any blood tests run on him?

He eats however much I'll give him. He poops rather infrequently. As long as 2 weeks. His poop looks both digested and has undigested section. He often hangs out in the bottom unless I move him up to the top after which he happily basks and then goes down to bottom and stays there the rest of the day. Haven't done any blood tests yet.

 

[kinyonga]

Piperacillin is a broad spectrum antibacterial antibiotic encompassing most Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria in humans. It works on respiratory infections in humans as well. I would think it should be good for chameleons too…but I’m not a vet and it’s never been used in any chamekeons I have had for respiratory infections…so I can’t speak from experience.

(I’m still looking for information on use of piperacillan because in the back of my mind I remember an article about it…but, of course, I can’t find it right now.)

I’ve been told by my vet many years ago though, that a chameleon can not produce a fever so to create the “effect” of the fever and maybe help the chameleon fight the infection, it’s useful to make sure it stays warm enough to be like it has a fever….but you don’t want to cook the chameleon…of course. This might help the immune system. With the temperature on the warm side, it should help the digestion, too, and it should poop more often.

I asked about the blood tests because I’m not sure it’s a respiratory infection…just a feeling. So I hoped the blood tests would give other clues as to what’s going on.

I don’t have a solution to what to do to fix your chameleon…I'm not a vet…so I can only give you information from what I’ve learned over the years.

I hope you can figure it out and get your chameleon back on track.

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Piperacillin is a broad spectrum antibacterial antibiotic encompassing most Gram-positive and Gram-negative aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria in humans. It works on respiratory infections in humans as well. I would think it should be good for chameleons too…but I’m not a vet and it’s never been used in any chamekeons I have had for respiratory infections…so I can’t speak from experience.

(I’m still looking for information on use of piperacillan because in the back of my mind I remember an article about it…but, of course, I can’t find it right now.)

I’ve been told by my vet many years ago though, that a chameleon can not produce a fever so to create the “effect” of the fever and maybe help the chameleon fight the infection, it’s useful to make sure it stays warm enough to be like it has a fever….but you don’t want to cook the chameleon…of course. This might help the immune system. With the temperature on the warm side, it should help the digestion, too, and it should poop more often.

I asked about the blood tests because I’m not sure it’s a respiratory infection…just a feeling. So I hoped the blood tests would give other clues as to what’s going on.

I don’t have a solution to what to do to fix your chameleon…I'm not a vet…so I can only give you information from what I’ve learned over the years.

I hope you can figure it out and get your chameleon back on track.

I agree that there's probably something else going on and I plan to see a vet soon. However, to me this sure looks like an RI.

 

[Pluto_the_Panther]

Is it just piperacillin or piperacillin/tazobactam? This is usually used for Pseudomonas coverage, which is a nasty bacteria. But ceftazidime (fortaz) also covers pseudomonas so I am curious whether fortaz has been tried already? I'm more hung up on why they gave piperacillin to begin with as I don't know the clinical history of the animal. Piperacillin/tazobactam is a fine drug to use but fortaz is better studied in reptiles. If you go forward with giving it, be sure you use the dosage/frequency prescribed though.

I think it's both actually.