Help on Enrofloxacin Dosage!

[Anybody]

We have a holland lop, about 2.3 lbs, who’s suffering from an inner ear infection, balance issues, appetite issues and tilt head.

We took him to the emergency vet a couple weeks back and they prescribed Enrofloxacin, twice a day. But the emergency vet instructed us to give 1.0ML for every dose, twice a day. So that’s 2.0 ML per day until he’s better. A full syringe full.



But we have another netherland dwarf, 1.9 LB., who’s suffering from the sniffles. And we took him to our preferred vet and he prescribed 0.1ML of Enrofloxacin only, to be given twice a day until he is all better. He’s better but not cured. He’s been on that stuff for a little over a month now and after the first two weeks, he hasn’t really gotten better nor worse. Still congested but not as bad as before.



My question now is, the two vets who prescribed the medications, even though they have the same name, they look and smell very different. And last week, we took both the dwarf and the lop back in to our preferred vet and he prescribed the same dosage, 0.1ML for both rabbits to take, twice a day. The lop has been taking his medication for a little over two weeks now.



So one emergency vet said to give 2.0ML each day, while the our preferred vet, told us to give them both only 2.0ML each day. That’s a huge difference in dosage. And I did some research and found out that giving rabbits more than 2.0ML dosage of this antibiotic can cause seizures. It’s too high. So we’ve been giving the lop just half of what the doctor prescribed, 0.5ML each dose. Tonight is the last dose for the lop. Should we give him what the preferred vet prescribed or go back to the emergency vet and use their Enrofloxacin and keep the same dosage?



If anyone had experiences similar to ours, any and all help on what you did and how it worked out would be greatly greatly appreciated.



And just FYI, not sure if you have experienced this, but the preferred vet’s Enrofloxacin is a white liquid that smells sweet, like vanilla. Whereas the emergency vet’s Enrofloxacin is a more tan color that smells like wheat and maybe a hint of ovaltine. I sincerely hope they didn’t put any cocoa or mocha in there. I know the vets mix their own suspensions but the recommended dosage is way too different.

A little more history on the emergency vet. We took the netherland dwarf, Pickles, in there too before for the sniffles. And they prescribed the same kind of wheaty-Enrofloxacin, but prescribed the dosage as 0.35ML for our netherland dwarf. But they prescribed the holland lop, Squiggles, 1.0ML, even though they weigh pretty much the same. The inconsistency and difference is too large to ignore. We didn’t give the netherland dwarf the emergency vet’s antibiotics, only gave him our preferred vet’s antibiotic and dosage.

[Wick & Fable]

I’ve moved your topic to the House Rabbit Q&A section since it’s more applicable!

From personal experience, Baytril (Enrofloxacin) had always been clear for me. In terms of dosage, Wick was 490g and prescribed 0.05cc twice a day. It was bumped up to 0.07cc when he grew to 670g. To my understanding, different vets prepare medication in different ways, including flavorings. My initial thought is a different dose between different vets may be a result of the concentration of their versions on Baytril. Does the vial give information on the concentration of baytril? It could be the different vets are working with different concentration.

Have you tried contacting the vet to confirm the dosage once again? They may have misspoken, and I think it’s natural to want to clarify that you have been told a different dosage in the past.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[jerseygirl]

It is confusing. One dose sounds too much and the 0.1ml dose for your other dwarf sounds too little.

I agree with Wick, that it’s likely a case of different concentrations of the oral formula.
Baytril (the brand) does do a vanilla flavour formula for cats, that is 25mg/kg concentration. But many companies that make enfloxacin can flavour in whole variety of flavours. Including different concentrations of the med.
So I couldn’t say if the vanilla one you have is actually that concentration. Hopefully it is listed on the label or in your invoice.

How is your lop doing? Baytril can help in cases of head tilt. Often, fenbedazole is also prescribed, in case the balance issue & tilt is cause by e. Cuniculi. There has also been another parasitic condition indentified (Sarcocytis) that causes very similar symptoms. The House Rabbit Society has been building more information about this. Rabbits testing positive for this have been treated with a different set of anti-parasitic meds.

http://rabbit.org/sarcocystis/

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