Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone ever used Tylan/Tylosin to treat a URI?
i've heard about it from several people. and We have a bottle- I'm just not 100% sure on the dose- the vet said it was ok to use in larger snakes.
any advice?
thanks
Beth
p.s.- We've been treating a burm with Amikasin for almost a month now and he's not gotten any better.
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Beth,
The problem comes in that a large number of RI’s in snakes are caused by gram negative bacteria, which will require other classes of antibiotics. Tylan (trade name), or tylosin, is a macrolide class antibiotic that is mainly effective against only gram positive bacteria. Tylosin has been used successfully to treat chronic RI’s caused by Mycoplasma bacteria in reptiles. Mycoplasma has been implicated as the cause in a number of cases of RI in boids, however, tylosin will work well only if the causative organism of the RI is Mycoplasma. Otherwise it will usually be ineffective in resolving any other types of infections. It is also relatively non-toxic and has a wide margin of safety, and I have seen dosages running from 25 to 50 mg per kg body weight per day. I’m not sure which solution you have, as they make a Tylan 200 and a Tylan 50. The Tylan 200 is best because it has 200 mg/ml tylosin and will cut down the amount you need to inject.

If you are certain that your burmese has an RI, and is not responding to the amikacin, it is either a resistant strain of bacteria, the temps are too low, or the dosage is off. The proper dosage for amikacin is 2.5 mg/kg every 3 days. What dosage has he been getting and what are the thoughts of your vet on trying to isolate the causative organism?

Kelly

ahhhh..... I think the dose is way off, but maybe its just me. The amikacin is 250mg/me and he's been getting 0.05cc every 3 days. I just called the vet again to see if that may be the problem. He is very skinny. he only weighs 27lbs.

The tylan that we have is the 50mg/ml- the 200 is too strong to use on the other animals we have.
We've been on the amikacin since.... feb. 20th.
He's also got some scale rot. It has cleared up almost completly since then- its being treated with baytril/tricide- sprayed on and wiped with gauze pads. I am under the impression that the amikacin helps with that as well, but i could (probably) be wrong.

His temps are ok. His basking area is... (finding temp gun...) 91, 92, 91, 93, 91- my gun is screwy- about 91. the ambient air is... about 84-86. He stays in his basking spot. Night temps don't drop too much- using a red lamp at night- gets about 88 in basking spot- ambient air is about 81-83. He's being kept on a bath towel (beach towel) I personally have found the towels to be much more absorbent and stay much dryer than paper towels or newspaper. I use newspaper for the other animals, but b/c of his scale rot- he needed to be kept dry.
Beth

I'm waiting for a call from the vet- hopefully soon.
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Looks like the dosage was indeed too light, as the correct dosage for 250 mg/ml amikacin with a 27 lbs python would be 0.12 cc every three days. You are correct in that the amikacin would also help with the scale infection as well. You might ask your vet, but seeing that he has been on the amikacin for a month, he might want to try another antibiotic. Temps are good, just try to keep the humidity up as well, and make sure he always has fresh water due to the potentially toxic effects of the amikacin. Good luck with him.

Kelly

He gets soaked daily for 30 min. and 1 hour on the day of the shots. He's been very handleable through all this and I've gotten so attached to him- He's turned into the house baby. He gets a lot of special treatment now- He drinks a lot, and eats a lot. I didn't get a call back from the vet today- but they stay busy so I'll try again thursday if I don't hear anything by tomarrow.
Thank you
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

I spoke with the vets office yesterday- I spoke with one of the snooty techs- I asked her about the dose. I said that when I was doing some research, I found that the calculated dose should be higher than what he's been getting, could that be the problem? She jumped all over me saying that she personally drew up the injections and knows he's getting the right dose. Instead of double checking the dose- she decided to be rude. She wants me to bring in a fecal, do a trechea wash, and bac. culture. I asked if we could do those things one step at a time- seeing as how we're tight on money and everything is out of pocket- to a much higher amount than those people that only have one sick animal. I'll be taking her some snake poo tonight for 18$. and hopefully they find something there.
I'll let you know
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

The best question to ask as a way to check the dosage would be to ask the tech what milligram per kilogram body weight dosage is she using with this snake. They should answer 2.5 milligrams per kilogram. If they don't say 2.5, they have made an error on the dosage. If they do answer 2.5, then they have a calculation error. This is all based on the original solution concentration in the bottle being 250 mg/ml or 250 mg/cc.

Kelly