Today I saw a small little bubble come out of my female Star's nose, her nose was very slightly wet with no more bubbles so I immediately put her on nebulizer with baytrill and saline solution just to play safe. After a couple of hours, I checked her nose and it was totally dry, now my question is do I continue the 5 days course of baytrill or stop if her nose is dry tomorrow? She is eating and soaking herself very well, all otherwise very good but i just dont want to put her on antibiotics if not needed, it was only for that brief few minutes her nose was slightly wet. So does the antibiotics course have to be completed even if she does not have RNS although I gave her one course today?
Baytrill course, do I continue?
- Thread starter samstar
- Start date
- Status
Not to be rude or critical, but I am supposing you had the Baytril left over from the treatments before. You should have either A continued the last course longer or B disposed of the remainer. Drugs can degrade in potencey over time and it is always imporatant to finish a course of antibiotics completely to reduce the risk of durg resistant infections. Baytril in one of the most commonly used antibiotic in reptiles, cats, and dogs, but it has bee seen to cause problems in a few suceptible species of reptiles...melleri chameleons being one of them. My advice would be to continue a full course of Bayrtil, to prevent drug resistance, regardless of the nose being wet or dry, make sure the tortoise is amply hydrated, and always consult a vet, before intitaiating any treatment, probably wouldn't be a bad idea to consult them now and tell them you have already given a dose and would like to continue with a full course or an even longer course to be certain if it is an infection causing the nasal discharge, that it gets resolved entirely this time. Best of luck.
biglove4bigtorts said:
Thanks for your reply. It is not a left over from the last time she was on baytrill which was about 2 months ago. Also when she was on baytrill 2 months back, I gave her the full 5 days course which cleared up very well, on top of that I gave her annohter 3 days just to make sure so all in all it was 8 days of baytrill.
It is now a new dose for 5 days which I had picked up from the vet about 2 weeks ago. The reason I had picked it up is becuase she had a slight cut on top of her eye which healed quickly and well so I did not give her the antibiotcs.
I did not mean to assume, and I hope I didn't come across as scolding...my post was meant to convery concern. My advice is still to consult your vet about a longer course of antibiotics, maybe a different antibiotic or higher dosage. I also would suggest a culture and sensitivity of the nasal discharge to narrow down the type of infection, but that may not be the perfect answer. I was a vet tech, so my advice comes from practice and from treating my own reptiles, but I am no substitute for a vet.
biglove4bigtorts said:
Not at all. Whats a 'culture and sensitivity of the nasal discharge'?
This morning it was still a little wet and so I decided to put her on antibiotics(baytrill) for the full 5 days course. I have also seperated her from my other Star by putting her back in her old enclosure I first put her in when I brought her hime.
Raise the temps! And remove any water dish and allow to "dry-out" for a week! It's quite curious how your female even wants to eat with all of those "DRUGS" in her. As you might tell I'm totally against drugs for any reason! Why do reptiles get 'sick' in the first place??? Could it be because we listen to those who have never kept the particular species? And as a result our 'husbandry' practices are not helping our tortoises? How many have given advice on a species they have { at best } kept alive for a number of months.. maybe a year(?).
The only time [ since Oct. '04 ] I've had any nose issues with my group was when the temps dropped below mid-80's [ for whatever reason ].
Be sure the "ADVISOR" has had experience in stars.... don't be afraid to ask.
http://www.turtletary.com/stars.html
NERD
The only time [ since Oct. '04 ] I've had any nose issues with my group was when the temps dropped below mid-80's [ for whatever reason ].
Be sure the "ADVISOR" has had experience in stars.... don't be afraid to ask.
http://www.turtletary.com/stars.html
NERD
I agree with the previous poster that raising temps would be helpful. I would not removed the water source from an animal on medications, but in the long-term just provide a humid hide and weekly soaking for the torts water needs. A culture and sensitivity is when they take a samble of say blood or salive...something the expect to find an infectious organism brewing; they take the sample and grow it in a petri dish, identify it and figure out what drugs will kill it, so the infection can be targeted better with a proper medication and dose. I disagree with the idea that medications are should be shunned, but I agree that most problem originate from husbandry deficits, either before or after we aquire the animals. Even if the illness is caused by a deficit in care or anvironment, it does not mean that correcting the husbandry will cure an illness that is already in place. Put a call into your vey and update them on what's going on, he may not be a star tortoise expert, but he can still research what is best and seek the knowledge of more experienced colleagues....as long as he is honest about his knowledge or lack of and is willing to seek out advice form his experienced peers, than there is no reason to avoid his advice. Good Luck.
Redfoot NERD said:
Hi Terry,
Thanks for your reply, appreciate it
The temp is around 27c during the night and around 30-32c during the day with humidity around 70-90%. However I am leaving the heat light on a little longer. I fed her 3 pellets or Mazuri this morning which she finished and some salad mix in the evening which she finished everything. She is eating quite well and active and weighs in at 125 grams, 3 inches in length. If you didn't take a look at her nose, you'd think she's active and healthy. Can you imagine all this while she is on antibiotics which is off course a good thing.
Anyway I just checked on her again about 20 minutes ago and her nose is all dried up. I am going to complete the antibiotics course which is another 3 more days and only maybe for another 3 more days to make sure.
Thanks for your website link which I am going to read through properly in awhile. Only thing I am a little confused about is if I were to remove her water dish, how would she drink? She always goes into her water dish after eating and I actually see her drinking from it. She usually goes into the dish twice a day and both times to drink.
As on advise, I usually take them from Marcus Langford, my vet and you guys. Also did read up the book by Richard Fife twice.
Samstar what I prescribed was what I did.. with NEVER using drugs!
How or why you are having the 'nose' issues only YOU know. I sent you the link as I recall when you first got your stars. What can I say?
Terry K
How or why you are having the 'nose' issues only YOU know. I sent you the link as I recall when you first got your stars. What can I say?
Terry K
To get back on track- whenever you use antibiotics, it is VITAL that you use them until ALL of the targeted pathogens are dead, dead, dead. Otherwise, the survivors will be immune to that antibiotic.
The length of treatment ranges from 5 days minimum to 30 days depending on many issues- 10 days is the standard for iguanas, and turtles and tortoises apparently take longer (Douglas Mader, "Reptile Medicine and Surgery")
This assumes that the infection is bacterial- most respiratory infections are viral and antibiotics do not kill viruses. Vets routinely offer antibiotics for this for the same reason your doctor gives antibiotics to your cold or flu- they have to do something and the antibiotics may help prevent a secondary infection.
This illustrates one reason I REALLY prefer to use environmental modification to fight illness, as Terry suggests.
The length of treatment ranges from 5 days minimum to 30 days depending on many issues- 10 days is the standard for iguanas, and turtles and tortoises apparently take longer (Douglas Mader, "Reptile Medicine and Surgery")
This assumes that the infection is bacterial- most respiratory infections are viral and antibiotics do not kill viruses. Vets routinely offer antibiotics for this for the same reason your doctor gives antibiotics to your cold or flu- they have to do something and the antibiotics may help prevent a secondary infection.
This illustrates one reason I REALLY prefer to use environmental modification to fight illness, as Terry suggests.
Redfoot NERD said:
I have two Stars and the male has been fine from day one accept for worms which was cured with Panacure. The female is now in the same conditions(temp, humidity, lighting etc etc) but it's her second time with RNS, the first time she had it, I brought her home with RNS(thats not my fault). Now I honestly dont know what triggered this RNS off this time. The male Star is perferctly fine and healthy. I have read through your site which explains their living conditions, growth rate, some greens you show them eating. Trust me I dont like seeing my little star falling sick.
Samstar why don't you pm Elegans (Douglas Beard) and ask his opinion on this. He is very nice to talk with and has raised Stars for years. He hopefully can help you with the information that he has.
Just an update, this morning her nose was no more running but every now and than I could see small bubbles comming out of her nose and today is day 4 of hey baytrill. I am going to continue till the 10th day and if it does not clear, will have to switch to something else. She is eating well. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed.
Good news is that the RNS has cleared up for the past 3 days but I am going to continue her antibiotics for another 5 days from tomorrow just to be sure. The antibitoics finished today but the vet said to continue for 5 more days.
Sure does feel good but I am so afraid it comes back.
Sure does feel good but I am so afraid it comes back.
- Status
Similar threads
