RIP: My sickly buck Rocky

GoinBackToCali · Dec 19, 2007

he is on full force antibiotics now, his ear seems to have more junk in it, and he seems to be favoring his ear..

Is it the antibiotics doing their job, or is he getting ill again?

he is on Tribrissen Oral Liquid, 2.5 Ml every 12 hours for the next 5 days.

Zin

naturestee · Dec 19, 2007

Info on Tribrissen:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=31&A=617&S=0

Sounds to me like the antibiotics aren't working well enough. Sulfa drugs are fairly weak for this sort of infection and have been widely used, so resistant bacteria are more likely. Ear infections do tend to be tricky like this too because of where they are. You found a rabbit vet now, right? Ask her about injected penicillan (Bicillan is a common form used in rabbits, also penicillan is less expensive when bought at feed stores) or Zithromax. Zithromax's use is pretty new and your vet might not know about it. Randy (ra7751) has lots of experience with this drug and can get info on the drug and proper dosages for you and your vet.

I'm not sure what Randy's experience is, but I've heard of using an otic (in the ear) antibiotic in addition to the oral/injected antibiotics for ear infections. You could ask your vet about it. It might also be a good idea to get the crud flushed out of the ear. If you haven't done this before, it's best to have the vet instruct you so you don't accidently damage the ear.

I'm pulling for you, Rocky! :muscleman::blueribbon:

ra7751 · Dec 20, 2007

Hi Zin,

Thought I would chime in again here. The drug your rabbit is on is a Sulfanomide. The human versions are known as Septra, Bactrim and the like. While it is a good drug....we have never had much success with using it with ear infections. I normally use that class of drug with fluid aspiration in the lungs or some skin infections. And I thought that most of these class abx should run at least 10 days....but remember that I am not a vet either.

The proper way to treat this is to get a swab of debris from as deep in the ear canal as possible and culture it to see if a bacteriawill grow. I would consider a cytology a bottom line minimum here to see if bacteria is in that ear. Again, I am not a vet but I usually treat ear infections from multiple angles. Usually with two antibiotics (oral or injectable depending on the bacteria identified and the drugs it is sensitive to) and with an ear drop. When a bacterial infection is suspected, I like to use Baytril Otic Ear Drops...it's a combo of Baytril and Silver Sulfadiazine(SSD). It needs to get deep in the canal. Naturestee mentioned penicillin. Procaine is an excellent drug that is effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria. It does not require a prescription and can be purchased at many farm supply stores. It is vitally important that you use this drug only under a vet's supervision. There are many different versions of this drug....what is needed is one particular version and concentration. This drug is safe only when injected and should be buffered since it burns like crazy. It can also lead to mild skin abscesses at the injection points. Improper use of this drug (or any drug for thatmatter) may result in serious reactions or death....don't play with it. She also mentioned zithromax. That is an excellent drug in fighting pasteurella multocida which is a primary pathogen in many rabbit bacterial infections. But I would really like to see a culture to pinpoint the offending bacteria. That way the proper antibiotic can be selected and take care of Rocky's problems.

Randy

gentle giants · Dec 20, 2007

Randy, what do you mean by "buffering" the penicillin? I have used it for abscesses before, with great success, but hadn't heard abou the need to buffer it.

ra7751 · Dec 21, 2007

Yep...penicillin works great for the part you can see....but what you can't see or feel is the incredible burn when it goes in. By using a buffering agent like Lactated Ringers it cuts down on some of the burn. Ask any old school doctor about the burn with penicillin injections. Telling my age again...but Iremember some penicillin injections...not comfy at all. The dosing of procaine is usually quite small so I mix it in with about 10mL of LRS. And honestly, if a rabbit has an infection that requires that type of antibiotic, it probably has an elevated body temp so the LRS would probably be helpful as well. I use a different approach to injecting meds and fluids. I use a butterfly catheter withluer lockon a large syringeas it gives some "wiggle" room...literally over a hard fixed syringe. By buffering the drug, it also decrease the chance of developing the skin abscesses especially if the penicillin is injected near the same spot all the time. Another drug we use in sick animals, B Comp, also stings quite a bit going in as do several others.

Randy

gentle giants · Dec 21, 2007

Ok, so is lactated ringers like sub-q fluids? A saline type fluid? And how are you injecting, IM or sub-Q? Do you just draw up the proper does of Pen, and then add the ringers to it?