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Q: Baytril overdose - salmonella/e-coli
Posted By:

Beatrices Reptiles

In Relation To:

Sunkist [Su010109]

Well, this one is going to be a bit long.

In December, I purchased a proven breeder TUG sunglow leopard gecko from a going-out-of-business sale. Arrived here weighing 45g, rather thin tail, and very hungry. Ate like there's no tomorrow for the first 2 weeks, then gradually tapered off. Winter storms hit and we had a power outage. After that, her eating slowed down even more and upon checking her temperatures, I realized the thermostat did not reset correctly. Fixed the temperature issue, yet she's still eating rather intermittent. Then after a good dinner of dubia, we had another power outage. I placed a handwarmer in her hide, but she ended up regurgitating her food. After that, she quite eating. Contacted the previous owner for advice, who recommended to just leave her be for a week or two, to de-stress, and she will be back to normal. That didn't happen and her stools turned really loose. I was finally able to scoop up a reasonable size sample for my vet. Not enough to do a fecal float, but they check a smear under the microscope and it's clean. So, I decide to take the previous owners advice and wait a bit. End of the month comes and I weigh all my leos. Sunkist is down to 40g, not that she could afford to loose that kind of weight in the first place. I get her in to the vet. She's never been on loose substrate, so x-ray is not deemed necessary. They try to get a blood sample, but her tail is just too thin at this point. However, getting upset over the blood-draw attempt, they end up getting a good size fecal sample. That was sent off for analysis and vet sends me home with 10 days of Baytril, dosed out in 20 syringes. I would have preferred to take a vial home and draw up my own medication, but that's the way they want to do it. Anyway, I start Sunkist in Baytril twice a day. Then we finally get the fecal result back, she's got salmonella & e-coli. I've got 3 days of Baytril left at this point, no improvement whatsover in Sunkist - she looks like she's deteriorating. I give her carnivore care twice a day, spaced at least 2 hours after medication is given. Her infrequent stools are very liquid, she spends lost of her time laying in one spot (just in front of her hide) with her eyes closed. So when the vet calls to give me the news, she decides to add Albon since there has been no improvement. I weigh Sunkist, she's down to 39g at this point. Next morning, I get ready to run to the vet and pick up the Albon. I spot clean all my tanks/bins every morning, when I remove the food dishes. Well, I had done a really stupid thing, I moved one of my males into the tank the Sunkist had occupied, not realizing when I did it, how sick she really was. So, I find loose stool in that tank. Call the vet to make sure they get enough medication ready to treat him as well. Again, they insist on drawing up the meds for me. I get home with everything and that evening, go and give Sunkist her Baytril, she's not got one does left to go. I wash my hands, then get the male out to give him his dose and I realize, there's a lot less in his syringe than there was in hers and he's quite a bit bigger. His dose was drawn up at 0.05 cc, I get the last dosage for Sunkist - it's drawn up at 0.4cc! Needless to say, I'm on the phone to the vet first thing in the morning. I get her on the phone and she verifies the dosage for the male to me. Then I point out the huge difference in dosage for Sunkist. She says she'll check with the techs that drew that up and will call me back. Get the call, she says they added saline to help hydrate and make it a bit easier, since the actual Baytril amount is so small. The actual dosage for Sunkist is 0.02 cc. So, I suspect, the male's was diluted half with saline, probably 0.03, plus a little saline, so his comes out to 0.05. They're not admitting any mistake, but I have a suspision, that tech almost killed my leo at this point - that's why there hasn't been any improvement at all. At this point, she's still hanging in there. I give her the Albon mid-day, carnivore care morning and evening. Is there anything else I can do for her to help her recover from this? Any suggestions - though I cringe at the thought of throwing some dubia into a little blender to make a slurry.

How did she end up with salmonella and e-coli in the first place? There's never poop in my tanks/bins - it's cleaned up the instant it is "spotted".


Points: 150
Topics: General Health , Infectious Disease
Tags: Antibiotics, Bacteria, Baytril, Coli, Enrofloxacin, Escherichia, Eublepharis, Gecko, Infection, Leopard, Macularius, Overdose, Salmonella
Species: Lizards > Geckos > Eublepharis macularius
Administrative: Show/Hide

Member Comment 1/25/2013 8:05:20 AM

NikiP

Wow. I'm going to bet it's been festering from the breeder's place. Shipping could have stressed her enough to really allow it to grab hold. With them going out of business, they may not have even noticed anything was really off.

I would think the overdose would still help her as far as her infection, an overdose might cause other symptoms of overdosing, but I would still think you'd see improvement of her initial infection.

 
Assisted Answer 1/25/2013 8:08:21 AM

NikiP

Oh, and just a suggestion since I know her gut is probably a mess right now, i've been seeing quite a few vets of different species suggesting (this is gross, but makes sense!) feeding fecal matter from a healthy animal to a sick animal. Helps reestablish good gut bacteria, might help with the loose stool.

 
Member Comment 1/25/2013 9:40:55 AM

Cenobite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_bacteriotherapy

 
Assisted Answer 1/25/2013 10:12:57 AM

Aimee

hmmm...I'd try yogurt first.

 
Author Comment 1/25/2013 10:14:42 AM

Beatrices Reptiles

Wow, that does sound kind of gross, but makes sense. Now if only I had read this before I spot cleaned this morning - no fecal matter left anywhere.

Now, should I continue her on the Albon or just eliminate that as well?

 
Accepted Answer 1/25/2013 5:29:45 PM

Skelegirl

Hmm...I'd go for a fruit-blended liquid acidophilus supplement over yogurt.  A lizard probably won't digest dairy very well.  When I've had to treat my bearded dragon with Panacur, I supplemented him with small doses of strawberry apple liquid acidophilus (fed with a syringe).  He loved the taste, and he didn't lose his apetite like he's done with just Panacur alone, so I think it helped maintain that good gut flora during treatment.  Might be worth a shot, espeically if you don't like the idea of feeding poo.

 
Author Comment 1/25/2013 11:18:56 PM

Beatrices Reptiles

I was able to get the fecal transfer done - Kratos just happened to provide a very nice looking sample. Mixed it in with her evening dose of carnivore care, now I'll just have to wait and see. Still on the fence on weather to continue with the Albon. On the positive note, since she's been on the Albon, there has been no more loose stool in her bin - as a matter of fact, there hasn't been any stool for 2 days.

 
Member Comment 2/20/2013 1:15:02 AM

abi21491

This question has had no activity for 14 days and will be closed by an administrator unless the original poster takes action.

Recommended Action: Points awarded

An administrator will select responses and assign points at their discretion.

Original poster, please close this question out and assign points. If you have any further information in the resolution of your problem, please post it here so that others may learn from it.

 
Member Comment 5/23/2013 9:36:53 PM

Cenobite

Hey I just met you. And this is crazy. But award some points. Close this question, maybe?

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