Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering, if Baytril(enrofloxacin) and Ciprofloxacin are related in their uses? Just wondering, any help will be appreciated.
-Doc Rojas
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Swift, Silent, Dealy

Enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin are both fluroquinolones, and are metabolized in the same manner. They act slightly differently vs. various strains of gram negative bacteria, so a particular type of bacteria may be resistant to one but sensitive to the other. You won't know this unless you pay for a C&S (culture and sensitivity) test, so most antibiotics are something of a guess based on symptoms and dose frequency anyhow.

About 10% of enrofloxacin administered will actually metabolize to ciprofloxacin, so if an organism turns up resistant to enro but sensitive to cipro the enro will still be marginally effective.

Do NOT inject enrofloxacin; it causes sterile abscess. If enro is the antibiotic of choice and you need to start with an initial intramuscular dose to get the serum plasma concentration up in the patient more quickly, inject once and then switch to oral use.

Thanks your reply was the exact thing i was wondering while browsing through my pharmacopia. Once again much thanks.
-Doc Rojas
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Swift, Silent, Dealy

enro is a very effective antibiotic but must not be used as the be all and end all in reptile medicine. Baytril inj. has a high ph and should not be give directly as anim inj or orally... dilute 1:1 sterile NaCl and use tabs orally. There is a formula to make a decent suspension out of the 22.7mg tabs and H2O and lactulose. Don't give the tabs directly, there have been cases of them adhering to the esophagus and corroding through. Previously, people thought you could not give enro in the hind part of the reptile due to the renal portal system, but due to the system of filtration that enro is metabolized by, is is fine...some other drugs are not though (penicillin's).