General Care Discussion :: Baytril through the mouth?

[melnez]

has anyone ever heard of giving their turtle Baytril by giving it to them in their mouth? I think the vet just wanted me to come back so they could inject it and get money from me.. . My question is, if anyone has heard of this. Is it effective, and does anyone have any good ideas on how to give to the turtle?

Thanks

[marisa]

Baytril can be administered by injection or orally, each method has its own pros and cons. I've read it tastes awful, and if admistered with a tube, one has to be careful not to get it down the esophagus (could lead to choking). The dosage has to also be determined (a vet would be your best bet to do this). Injections, on the other hand are painful and necrotic (damages the healthy tissue around the injection site).

Some people have been given instructions by their vets on how to administer injections along with the meds and needles. Perhaps you should ask you vet about the merits of each method, and if injections are still considered to be the way to go, you could be shown what to do.

[melnez]

Well, I took him to the vet. They gave him a shot there and gave me baytril to give to him by mouth. But he's small so she(the vet) said that if I can't get it in the mouth that he'll have to come back for shots. The only problem is that I'm back and college and have no way of going 2.5 hours back to the vet or the time.

I figured out how to get him to open his mouth (he hates it when I clean him on his underside or around his mouth with a papertowel, probably because it's so rough) but he opens his mouth then to thrighten and then bite the towel (it's really funny actually). But the tube is bigger than his mouth...so i'm never really sure if he actually gets any.. I think he gets some but not enough.

[melnez]

Other thing is before I took him to the vet he just swimmed lopsided and still ate like a manic. But since he got the shot he's because more latharic (basking more) and doesn't really eat anything. Only once in a while he'll take a bit of the pellet or I just got him Amazon sword (i think he's taken one bite..). He still seems to be growing though, i noticed today that one of his back legs is bigger than the other (cute). So, i'm wondering how long should it be before I really start to get consirned. Also, after he got the shot he started mouth breathing and sometimes...water kind of comes up his throat and foams out after mouth breathing, then he's fine. Is that normal for a recovering RI?

[sonyj]

I've heard that Baytril will curb their appetite while they are on it. This might be the reason he's not eating now.

[marisa]

He will lose his appetite while on the drug, and the lethargy while he's on it is also not unusual. Keep offering food, though. If you don't think he's getting enough of the Baytril, you could try injecting part of the dosage into a piece of earthworm and see if he'll eat that.

I don't know about the open-mouth breathing after the injection, though.