uh oh my snake has a respitory infection:(

I've given dozens of snake shots in my home. Unfortunately I had two boas with very persistent RIs. Both are well now. :)

The shots are given in the forward third of the body on either side of the spine, in the muscle. The antibiotics I had could be given either subcutaneous, intramuscularly, or intraveinously.. basically, if you insert the needle at a 45 degree angle and get the meds in there, it's fine. That is what I have learned so far.

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Not true.

-adam

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My bad. It is banned from being used on Poultry.

Does anyone have experience with giving baytril in the drinking water? It seems to me that it would be an easy way to treat RIs. Easier on the snake.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Does anyone have experience with giving baytril in the drinking water? It seems to me that it would be an easy way to treat RIs. Easier on the snake.

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Doesn't work ... It seems like Enroflaxin really needs to directly enter the blood stream to be effective. Years ago, many vets used to prescribe it orally with mixed results. I've seen far better results from IM injections.

Not to mention the fact that there is no way to know how much the snake actually ingested if at all by just putting it in a water bowl.

Lately, I've been hearing about people using Enroflaxin in a nebulizer to treat deap lung bacterial infections with great success. We are learning more and more every year.

-adam

Good to know. What is a nebulizer?

It's a machine that turns liquids (such as medications) into an vaporized form.

-adam

Oh ok. So does Enroflaxin = baytril.. and deep lung bacterial infection = severe RI?

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Does anyone have experience with giving baytril in the drinking water? It seems to me that it would be an easy way to treat RIs. Easier on the snake.

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Yah, it is definitely easier on the snake. I treated an RI case with Baytril using three methods. First it was shots from the vet, and then I tried it in the water method, which, unfortunately was not too effective cause you can't get the snake to drink when you want it too. And finally it was though a little squeeze bottle gizmo thingy which was used to oraly feed the snake the medecine. I personally think shots are better.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Oh ok. So does Enroflaxin = baytril..

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Enroflaxin is the clinical name of the drug, Baytril is the commercial name.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

and deep lung bacterial infection = severe RI?

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No necessarily ... you can have a severe RI that has not yet spread to the lower lung. In most cases, one the lower lung starts to fill with fluid, you're snake is toast ... there's just no way to get it out. The new nebulizer treatments seem to be a way to get medication into that lower lung, but it's still early and the jury is still out.

-adam

Interesting.

On this subject.. anyone know why any given antibiotic won't work for some RIs? I had to try three different antibiotics for my boa before something worked.