After 4 days of Baytril, Mandarin has regained some appetite and has eaten 2-3 bites of Mazuri, strawberry, and a whole blueberry yesterday! Today s/he nibbled on a strawberry again but wasn't too enthusiastic about any greens. The vet prescribed 7 days of Baytril injections, but I've been struggling to administer them effectively due to Mandarin's small size. I only got 4/7 shots (consecutively) into the little tyke. After speaking to the vet on the phone and observing very small improvements in Mandarin's behavior/appetite, we decided to go with another week of Baytril injections. I had the vet provide me 10 syringes as an insurance policy against failed attempts.
Urinalysis showed red & white blood cells and struvite crystals (apparently uncommon). Specific gravity was okay but pH was a bit low (4.5) - likely due to lack of eating - and trace proteins and glucose were detected. Dr Leighton is pretty confident that liver and/or renal damage is/are not the issue, but admits it's still a possibility. She said she's leaning more toward a bladder or urinary infection, especially since Mandarin has improved a little after 4 consecutive days of Baytril. She reminded me that this small improvement is good, but that we shouldn't assume that it's just a bacterial infection quite yet (but man are we hoping!!!).
I took the whole crew outside today for over an hour, of course Mandarin was segregated from the other three. Mandarin was not interested in foraging, but did walk around with eyes open. I like that I'm seeing slight improvements and hope that this pattern continues.
I've attached proceedings on urinalysis from a veterinary conference that Dr. Leighton shared with me.
Urinalysis showed red & white blood cells and struvite crystals (apparently uncommon). Specific gravity was okay but pH was a bit low (4.5) - likely due to lack of eating - and trace proteins and glucose were detected. Dr Leighton is pretty confident that liver and/or renal damage is/are not the issue, but admits it's still a possibility. She said she's leaning more toward a bladder or urinary infection, especially since Mandarin has improved a little after 4 consecutive days of Baytril. She reminded me that this small improvement is good, but that we shouldn't assume that it's just a bacterial infection quite yet (but man are we hoping!!!).
I took the whole crew outside today for over an hour, of course Mandarin was segregated from the other three. Mandarin was not interested in foraging, but did walk around with eyes open. I like that I'm seeing slight improvements and hope that this pattern continues.
I've attached proceedings on urinalysis from a veterinary conference that Dr. Leighton shared with me.
