Help on Enrofloxacin Dosage!!!

[Teagan]

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.

 

[Teagan]

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.

 

[JBun]

You would need to know the concentration of each of the suspensions(amount in mg of enrofloxacin per ml of suspension) to know what dosage your rabbits are getting with the different amounts prescribed. Maybe one is a much more concentrated suspension and that is why the dosage is lower. Dosage listed for enrofloxacin is 5-10mg/kg twice a day, or 10-20mg/kg once a day. I think whether a vet decides to prescribe on the lower end or upper end would be determined by the type of infection being treated and the severity. For an inner ear infection I would presume it would be prescribed at the upper range of dosage due to the difficulty of treating ear infections, though really baytril often isn't always that effective for ear infections. Here are the references for dosage info.
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Enrofloxacin.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

Aside from the dosage, if you aren't seeing improvement with the ear infection on the enrofloxacin, I wouldn't hesitate to discuss with the vet, switching to a different antibiotic. Also if the vet didn't prescribe meloxicam as well, that is something I would ask about as it helps to reduce inflammation(and pain) contributing to symptoms. If diagnostics didn't confirm an ear infection, and/or e. cuniculi wasn't ruled out as a possible cause of the head tilt, fenbendazole is usually prescribed to treat that, so would be something to also ask your vet about(sorry if you already know all this) to cover that possibility. For the rabbit that isn't showing further improvement on the enrofloxacin, I would be asking about trying a different antibiotic. It could be there is bacteria present now that isn't sensitive to the enrofloxacin and a different antibiotic is needed.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/tilt.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Respiratory/Bacterial/URI.htm

 

[Teagan]

Thank you for the quick response!

Is there anyway to find out how much enrofloxacin is in per ml of suspension myself? Or is that something I need to find out from the vet who gave them to me?
Squiggles, the lop, has been getting a lot better on the Enrofloxacin, but he's still not 100%.
And the emergency vet did prescribe a week's worth of Metacam at 0.5ML, once a day, which Squiggles has finished in the first week.

I currently still have the Enrofloxacin that our preferred vet prescribed for Pickles, the dwarf, and he did get better in the beginning, rather quickly, but after a certain point, he just stopped. His conditions hasn't gotten worse but it's not getting better. He's perfectly healthy in all other aspects. Eating like a fiend and pooping like a champ.

 

[JBun]

You could check the bottles or your paperwork from the vet, it might say there. Otherwise you would need to ask the vet what the concentration is.

 

[Teagan]

I'm not sure how to read it. It just says Enrofloxacin 68mg tablet/#5 and then listed the dosage we need to feed and frequency.
Does that mean that the whole bottle they gave contains 68ml of Enrofloxacin?