Question about meds for RI

[BullsBPs]

I was holding my Male Pastel Tuesday evening, and after about ten minutes of handling he let loose a river of clear mucus. So yesterday I took him out in the morning, and tried to recreate what happened the night before. Out of all my BP's I had never seen anything like it, and it could have very well been that he just drank some water. However I didn't feel it was normal, and took him to the vet yesterday. We have an Avian and Exotic Vet here in the Raleigh area that is great! I took Obi-Wan Kenobi in yesterday, and after the exam and two slide smears they did agree that he had a RI in the very early stages.

Now all that being said. I have seen time and again on here that Baytril is the treatment for RI's. However they did prescribe Fortaz (ceftazidime). By far I am not a vet nor would I know the difference between the two medications, but has anyone else treated a RI with Fortaz (ceftazidime)?

[Kaorte]

If I remember correctly they are both wide spectrum antibiotics. I know many people have had RIs treated with Fortaz and Baytril. I don't have any direct experience with them though. Both are used to treat RIs though.

[CritterVet]

Ceftazadime (Fortaz) is safer than enrofloxacin (Baytril) in reptiles because it does not cause injection site reactions. Typically ceftazidime is prescribed while pending culture results, and then if the culture shows that the infection is resistant to ceftazadime, the antibiotic is switched.

[BullsBPs]

Thank you both. Crittervet that is kind of along the lines of what my vet told me. That Baytril can leave some nasty injection scarring, and that Fortaz takes care of a wider range of bacteria than Baytril including RI's.

Like I said these guys in Raleigh are awesome, and I highly recommend them! I just hadn't heard of Fortaz being used before, and wanted a little more information from outside of the doctor's office

[2kdime]

I've used both drugs in the past.

I've gotten burns from Baytril and have learned how to inject it to avoid the scarring.

Fortaz is a promising drug and can be especially effective is done with an Aminoglycoside such as Amikacin. They work synergistically.

I would never treat an infection without a Culture and Sensitivity test though.

You may not need either one after the results come back, and that you ended up needing a totally different class of drug all together, such as a Sulfa.

[Clear]

Most of the scaring from baytril is because it wasnt injected into the meat but under the skin. I have used baytril and IMO works great if injected properly.

[Denial]

Our vet gives us oral baytril. So all you have to do is open the snakes mouth and squirt it down there throat.

[BAD Morphs]

When i took one of my bp's to the vet for an Ri I was prescribed Amiglyde. Never heard of it but it worked great.

[2kdime]

Which is an Aminoglycoside, most likely Amikacin.

Again though, no meds should be given until you do a C/S test IMO.

When i took one of my bp's to the vet for an Ri I was prescribed Amiglyde. Never heard of it but it worked great.

[CritterVet]

Most of the scaring from baytril is because it wasnt injected into the meat but under the skin. I have used baytril and IMO works great if injected properly.

This is false. The injection site reactions affect muscle, and injecting diluted Baytril under the skin is the current recommendation.

2kdime, please keep in mind that even with subQ injections and perfect injection technique, injection site reactions can still happen with Baytril. There is no way to predict if a given animal will have a reaction or not.