hi,

my budgie sparky was recently given baytril to clear up fungus in his nose. the lump on his nose disappeared within about 3 weeks but we kept him on the baytril for a little longer incase it came back. on wednesday he took a turn for the worse and can't stand (he has no control over his left foot). Our last budgie died last year after losing all power over his legs and wings and in the end he took a stroke(he did not have the lump in his nose though he had bacteria in his crop) he was also also on baytril for 18 months. we have taken sparky off the baytril fearing that this was the cause as it was too much of a coincedence that the same thing has happened to both birds. today i looked up the internet and discovered that baytril can cause central nervous system damage, can anyone tell me if this is true?. also if you have any advice to help sparky i would greatly appreciate as i have lost a lot of faith in the vets.

thank you

amanda

I am so sorry to hear your news, welcome to the forums, wish it was on better terms.

 

As for the baytril, I personally can not say anything negative about the medication. I have used it on my animals with no ill affects. The only thing I can say is that having any animal or even human on Baytril for longer then the course treated or continous it would eventually break down their immune system and kill off the good bacteria. That is why it is recommended to have animals or humans on antibiotics for 7-10 days only.

 

Here is the link that goes right to Baytril, here is where you can find information from the company, and side effects etc... I believe this investigation and learning the facts (don't take heresay) is the best way to learn http://www.baytril.com/ - this looks like it is just for professionals but it does have the link for patient information http://www.bayer-ah.com/.

Edited March 17, 200619 yr by lovey

the problem with baytril is that it is used by vets as a general antibiotic to treat all small animals, rats, rabbits whatever.... but its not a wonder drug that it is sometimes made out to be, it cant treat everything.

 

is your vet an avian vet? it sounds very much like your vet doesnt have specific avian knowledge and just used baytril because they didnt know what else to prescribe? i have felt as though i have been palmed off by a vet in the past and just given baytril and not much else. (not even an explanation).

 

personally i have seen baytril work and it not work... it is used generally but doesnt combat specific things sometimes. and as for any animal being on it for 18 months! wow, thats a long time. the longest my vet has ever prescribed it was for 10 days and then a follow up appointment. if it showed no improvments it was time to try a different medication...

 

my advice to you is to find a new vet, an avian one. what a horrible thing for you to have to go through with your pets, im sorry to read this.

Edited March 18, 200619 yr by pixie25

i've heard nothing but bad things about baytril and if a vet suggests its use, i usually never talk to that vet again.

when i had horses, the lady that i boarded with had 3 horses taken down because of the drug, they were yearling that decided to get into something and scratched up their legs. the vet suggested that they should go on baytril. about a week later they started going down respiratory issues they were in a herd of bout 15 horses. maybe it was a bad batch but its a drug i choose to stay away from just in case.

sad thing really. stay away from that stuff find another vet as soon as you can.poor guy best wishes hope he's okay