Help- medication adminstration

[melissaM]

Hi
I have a warty newt which has a swollen lip. I posted about this a few weeks ago. The infection is still present but the swelling has decreased. The vet has given me some oral antibiotics- Baytril- but I have to adminster it by mouth with a syringe. I have tried tonight but my newt is stubborn and refuses to open his mouth. Any suggestions on how I can give this medication to him without injuring his mouth? I am suppose to give .4 ml. The vet also suggested that if this doesn't work, I could try giving him a bath diluted with the medication.
Thank you.

 

[Nathan050793]

I'm not sure if this is much help but, this thread talks about treating a newt with a diluted Baytril bath- http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7/9795.html

I'm not entirely sure of the method but, I believe that you may be able to gently open the newts mouth using the edge of a credit card or other blunt, flat object.

Hopefully someone else can be of more assistance.

 

[melissaM]

I'm not sure if this is much help but, this thread talks about treating a newt with a diluted Baytril bath- http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7/9795.html

I'm not entirely sure of the method but, I believe that you may be able to gently open the newts mouth using the edge of a credit card or other blunt, flat object.

Hopefully someone else can be of more assistance.

Thanks for the reference. I am not sure if I can use this medication at the rate of diluation she has given me for a bath. She prepared the meds to be orally adminstrated. I think if I am unable to give it by mouth, she may reorder the medication suited for a bath.

I don't want to stress the newt. The vet told me to try to pry open the corner of the newt's mouth to adminster the mediction, but this did not work. I gave up as I didn't want to injury this mouth worse than it is already.
Thanks for your quick reply, I will await other suggestions as well.

Melissa

 

[Jan]

Administering oral medications is not an easy thing to do. As you suggest, you do not want to further injure the jaw...or dislocate it. Did the vet provide you with a soft/flexible mini/microbore catheter to attach to your syringe? For such a small animal...small mouth, you will need it.

I might suggest gently restraining your animal with a spring water wetted hand. While in an upright position, with its belly facing you, use your thumb on the wetted hand to very, very gently move/massage the lower jaw down. At the same time, have the catheter tip resting on its mouth such that when the jaw opens just slightly....place the catheter tip in its mouth and inject the medication. Keep the animal in a semi-upright position so the medication does not flow back out. If you are unfamiliar with manipulating a syringe you may find this challenging.

Depending on what size syringe (optimally a 0.5ml or 1ml) and catheter you are using, you will have some residual medication in the tip...you may need to flush. The vet could tell you if this is material or not.

What dilution of Baytril are you using?

Please keep us posted.

 

[melissaM]

Hi thank you for your suggestions.

I got a "tom cat" from the vet which is a cat catheter that is very tiny. Oral adminstration is very tricky. My newt refused to open his mouth for more than a split second. I have to adminster .4 ml of the Baytril ( not sure of the dilution quantity). So the vet suggested that I put him in a container and put the medication on his back for 20 mins. then wash it off with his tank water.

So, I am trying that method instead. The medicatin is not suited for a bath due to the dilution amount.

So, will keep you posted if this is effective. The swelling has decreased but there is an open ulcer that has been there since my last posting of 2 weeks ago.

Thanks,
Melissa

 

[Jan]

Good luck with this Melissa. With the animal's permiable skin, there will be a degree of percutaneous medication absorbtion. I would suggest when placing the medication, that you use as large as surface area as possible. Did the vet suggest using an applicator or Q-tip for this function? When rinsing the back with tank water, it is assumed that this water will be discarded? If not, drug accumulation in the tank water would occur.

Again, best of luck and keep us posted. Do you know if you are treating a specific organism(s)? and if so, what?

As an aside, Tom Cat catheters are also used in 'artificial insemination' and are of very small bore.

 

[melissaM]

Good luck with this Melissa. With the animal's permiable skin, there will be a degree of percutaneous medication absorbtion. I would suggest when placing the medication, that you use as large as surface area as possible. Did the vet suggest using an applicator or Q-tip for this function? When rinsing the back with tank water, it is assumed that this water will be discarded? If not, drug accumulation in the tank water would occur.

Again, best of luck and keep us posted. Do you know if you are treating a specific organism(s)? and if so, what?

As an aside, Tom Cat catheters are also used in 'artificial insemination' and are of very small bore.

Hi Jan,

Your tips have been most helpful.
I have applied the medication to my newt's back- I have tried to spread it over as much area as I can. I have him in a separate container while I am doing this. The vet said that the newt will be ok without any water for that amount of time- 20 mins. He seemed ok at the end. I did rinse his back with the tank water but this was done in the container and didn't go back into the tank.
She didn't say to apply it with an applicator- Qtip instead I used the syringe and thoroughly soaked the newt's back.
The vet also stated that if I put the med directly on his swollen mouth/ulcer, the med might be too strong to be absorbed in that area, so put it on his back as it is a larger area.

I am not sure what organism is being treated as the I have just emailed the vet the pictures.
She is extremely helpful and if this doesn't work, to contact her and perhaps try the bath treatment.

This is all new to me as my knowledge about newts is very limited. I really appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

Melissa

 

[Dave1812]

I hope all goes well with your treatment of the newt :happy:

 

[Starry]

I know this is completely past when this conversation took place but in case anyone reads and has the same question about giving salamanders med orally, my exotics vet gave me the ideal solution!
Get tiny insulin syringes with needles on them, draw up the amount you need and inject the medicine into a cricket/mealworm etc then feed to the pet.
My salamander has been on Baytril for a couple months now and injecting the crickets is a breeze...I always give him a "chaser" cricket to wash away any taste
Hope that helps anyone else