It depends on a lot of things. First, was the RI cultured out to determine the causative agent? If it is viral, baytril may help with secondary bacterial infections, but would not treat a virus. Second, we can't tell you if the dose is right, because we don't know the concentration of the baytril. Third, baytril, and any antibiotic for that matter, can cause kidney damage, and so perhaps that is why your vet is having you dose every 2 days instead of every day. Fourth, injectable baytril is much more effective than oral baytril for RI, so go for the injections. Injections should not cause much if any damage if done properly.

I have had a couple RI cases, and found out the hard way that they can be acute and kill a snake with little warning. Make sure you treat RIs promptly with the appropriate treatment regimen and dose as perscribed by a vet who knows what they are doing. With the snake that died, I had our diagnostic lab veterinarian at the University do a necropsy and she looked the snake over that died. He was in great health and had nice fat bodies and generally looked great except that his lungs were filled with crap. I always thought you could just treat an RI by placing them in a warm humid cage. That may help with more chronic infections, but I would suggest taking any snake that you don't want to lose to a vet or have a throat swab analyzed by your nearest diagnostic lab to appropriately treat the RI. It was a nice deal to know that the vet diagnostic lab at our University would do these kind of tests for around $12/sample to determine the offending organism causing the RI. It is a great resource. It is good to know a vet very well, too.

Best of luck,

Justin
AAR

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