amicasin antibiotic to treat R.I. ?!

[HALEN16]

I feel like my Vet is raking me over the coals.....
he is treating my BP with this amicasin. He flushes out the kidneys first and gives the the amicasin antibiotic.

The first visit was a culture and microscope exam $138.95, each visit is freakin after is going to be $38.87.
I feel like I am getting hosed because he said it might not work since i didnt do a blood and bacterial grow. That would of been 350.00 WTF......

any thoughts or suggestions other than raise temp?

[Inferno]

oral baytril, its what i use when anything i get in has a RI

[HALEN16]

where do you get it from.....how many do you give?

[SatanicIntention]

It's Amikacin! And your vet is doing all he can since you didn't want to get the culture done.

A proper culture is SENT OFF to a lab, which takes less than a week, and will tell the vet what bacteria it is and what antibiotics that bacteria is sensitive or resistant to. A culture cannot be done at the vet office. All he did was get a sample of the mucous and look at it under the microscope. That is not a culture.. Cultures involve petri dishes, incubation and looking at what bacteria colonies grow.

Baytril needs to be injected. Oral antibiotics DO NOT work since their metabolisms are so slow. Oral only works if that antibiotic only comes in oral form(such as trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole- bactrim).

I would get the culture done, get the snake's temperatures up to 95-97 on the hot side, 85-87 on the cool side, and around 75% humidity, just to keep him comfortable until the culture comes back. THEN the vet can put him on the proper antibiotic injections so he can get well.

[Gloryhound]

$40.00 isn't bad for follow ups. As I'm sure most here will agree with your vet and his recommendations unless they themselves have some kind of degree as a Vet or at least Vet tech. One of our snakes came in with a minor RI and we did the Baytril. Tried an oral, but she kept spitting it up. She seems much better now, but we are keeping a really close eye on her and the vet says any remote signs of an RI we are to bring her in, but we also have to do as little to stress her out as possible as she has not eaten since we got her due to the stress of Vet trips, injections everyday for 8 days straight, and now she is starting to shed! Cost us over $200.00 to get her to this point!

[HALEN16]

thanks Gloryhound!