Help administering Baytril PILLS

[MeggoWaffle]

Piper is on Baytril for two weeks to handle an upper respiratory infection. The vet says it’s probably pasteurella (no, we didn’t do a culture because she said a lot of rabbits test positive either way. Yes, this is a rabbit-savvy vet). Her appetite was up and down in the couple days before we went to the vet.

 Anyway, she was put on Baytril: one morning pill, one evening pill, for two weeks.

 

 The first few days I crushed it up and put it in banana and she ate it right up. Then she decided she didn’t want it anymore. I have now tried:

Crushed and mixed: banana, strawberry preserves, applesauce

Quartered and hidden: raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots

Dissolved: white grape juice

 

She won’t take ANYTHING. Also when I syringe it into her mouth (if I can get her still long enough) she literally refuses to swallow and spits it out or lets it dribble out.

 

Thoughts?

[Stickerbunny]

Syringe it slower, with it tucked behind her teeth (there is a little opening in her teeth you can fit a syringe in, on the side back). Stickers would let her liquid baytril dribble out to, so I just had to go slower with the syringing so she couldn’t do it (tiny bit in, take syringe out, hold her head up and wait for her to swallow, rinse and repeat).

[MeggoWaffle]

I do put it behind her teeth and try to go slow but I will try to be even slower, thanks. The bunny burrito so far has been quite unsuccessful, she hates the Baytril so much that she burrows her face into the towel every time she gets a chance.

[MeggoWaffle]

Just as a followup, we were able to syringe her last night. That pill does NOT dissolve very well, let me tell you.

However, she is still not eating anything except hay. Has been laying in relaxed positions, and there are (a small handful of) new poops in the litter box, but she won’t eat vegetables or treats! So I’ll be calling the vet as soon as it opens in a couple hours. I’m not sure if this is A) Her refusing food because she’s mad at me for syringing her meds (and doing subQ fluids daily, she hates that too); B) Another low in her appetite due to the pasteurella; C) A separate problem that the vet didn’t catch, or D) Caused by the Baytril itself

Was reading other posts on Baytril and saw that some bunnies get a probiotic along with their Baytril. Her poops have been normal, even if there are fewer of them from decreased food intake, but should I ask for probiotics?

[Sarita]

Do these pills have the purple coating on them?

Can you ask the vet to compound her tablets?

You can ask for probiotics but it’s not entirely necessary – baytril is safe for rabbits so it does not affect their gut flora.

[MeggoWaffle]

Yes, they have purple coating. Would they just compound them by crushing them and mixing them in a liquid suspension? How much better is that than me doing it myself?

I feel like I keep getting conflicting info about Baytril – many sites say it’s fine on the gut, but searching this forum a lot of people give probiotics with Baytril. I just really want her to start eating normally and I’m not sure what it could be.

[Sarita]

They would and it is much easier to administer that way – compounding is not just crushing and mixing – they have to crush/mix/dose this way. Believe me, I’ve done it the way you are doing it many times and it’s a hassle and it’s stressful to try to do it the way you are doing it. Hopefully your vet compounds – it’s an extra cost, but it’s also easier on the owner.

It is fine on the gut flora – you certainly can give Benebac and it won’t hurt if you feel the need to.

You must give the baytril time to work – she’s not eating because she isn’t feeling well, not because of the medication.

You also mention pasturella – did your vet do a culture to determine this?

[MeggoWaffle]

The thing with the eating is that her appetite was up and down – she was eating great by the time we went to the vet, and eating great the first few days of Baytril. So it could be a dip in appetite because she’s not feeling well, but why is she feeling worse a few days after treatment started? If anything she should be eating better, especially because we’re giving her subQ fluids as well.

My vet didn’t do a culture – she said a lot of rabbits test positive for pasteurella either way (like E.C. titers). I have an appointment in an hour to talk about the poor appetite and have her check her teeth and see if there’s anything separate from the (probable) pastuerella causing the lack of interest in food. Maybe I’ll ask again about the culture.

[Sarita]

Well sub-q fluids can be filling her up as well – the main purpose of sub-q fluids is to keep her hydrated. It takes more than a few days as well for the medicine to take affect as well.

[MeggoWaffle]

Hm, that is interesting about the fluids. I’ll ask about that. She has been on meds almost a week now, except for some of the ‘partial’ doses from not being able to get them in her. Maybe that is delaying it.

[Sarita]

Ask the vet about compounding – see if they do that. It will make your life much easier – she may still be difficult to administer regardless but it’s easy to just pull it up in the syringe, stick it her mouth and voila – done.

[MeggoWaffle]

I’ll ask. My vet tech friend showed me a cool technique of dissolving the pill in juice in the syringe over several hours but it’s still a pain.

[MeggoWaffle]

At the vet we decided that Piper not eating is related to stress from extended syringing sessions, plus now being suspicious of the food because I had tried mixing the meds in so many things (including her pellets… whoops).

The vet showed me how to use the least liquid possible to speed up syringing to minimize stress, and we tried mixing the dissolved pill with some berry-flavored corn syrup that I had bought (Smuckers Triple Berry Syrup in case anyone is interested if they have the same problem) and it worked. Vet said Piper doesn’t like being syringed in general, so I decided compounding was not necessary, now that I know how to dissolve the pill within the syringe with a small amount of liquid. They also offered an injectible Baytril which would be given once a day (right after subQ fluids – FYI you should NOT inject Baytril otherwise), but it was pretty expensive and I’d rather see how this new syringe method goes before resorting to it.

We also decided against probiotics because it’s just another thing to harass her into taking and we just want to minimize stress.

After doing some more reading on the subject, I feel fine that there was no culture (I did at the first appt when she explained it, too). Even different pages on rabbit.org contradict each other on whether it’s super necessary. Can get false negatives and it’s very stressful for the bunny, and I also read the Baytril can treat a number of URIs, not just pasteurella.

I think that’s it!

[Sarita]

That’s great you found a solution – don’t know of any rabbit that likes being syringe fed so anything to minimize that certainly makes sense.

Keep us updated.

[MeggoWaffle]

The syringing went better tonight, thank goodness. She was still very unhappy and fought every second, but it didn’t take nearly as long as before.

On the down side, she still hasn’t been eating much. She left some pudding-like (not watery enough to be diarrhea) poops in the litterbox (first ones I’ve seen since the small pile this morning), and I’m not sure if that’s a result of not eating enough or the “poopy butt” some rabbits get from anti-biotics. She then left a bit more that were more like extra soft cecals than pudding so I’m hoping that indicates an improvement.

Anyway, I gave her 75mL of lactated ringers instead of the usual 50 just to keep her extra hydrated. She was extra feisty which of course is a good sign but also required a couple tries with the needle!

Also I just bought some oat hay and orchard grass to give her more fiber options, and she did munch a bit, so hopefully she keeps that up.

If there aren’t more than a handful of poops in the morning I’m planning to call the vet again and discuss our options (spring for the injectable Baytril? give a shot of Reglan? not sure what other options there are). Or should I be more patient? I am not a patient person! I’m afraid that waiting too long might be a mistake, even if she’s still eating a little bit.

Fingers crossed!

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