How long should Baytril take to work?

[Loadout]

Hi. My cham was showing signs of a respiratory infection such as popping and excess saliva so I took him to the vet. She concluded that it was likely a respiratory infection and prescribed 0.03ml 2.5% Baytril to be given daily for 14 days. That was 10 days ago and he has improved. However, I just gave him his dose for the day and he didn't take it as well as he normally does. He must have caught on that when he gapes the Baytril goes in his mouth, so it took a little longer to get him to take it. Anyways, when he got upset I noticed the popping and excess saliva return in full force, he was also breathing pretty deeply. Should he still be showing these symptoms at this stage? He has improved since the meds started. I had him on my shoulder before and couldn't hear popping, and when feeding him I can see that the excess saliva has reduced but what happened today worried me.

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male. Nearly 3 years old, in care for 10 months
• Handling - Every other day.
• Feeding - Locusts/Super worms/Butterworms/calciworms. Eats 5/6 every other day.
• Supplements - Exo Terra plain calcium at every feeding, Exo Terra with D3 twice a month, Exo Terra multivitamin twice a month.
• Watering - Mist twice a day for 10 minutes. Has a dripper.
• Fecal Description - Brown and white. Positive for pin worms in March and treated with Panacur.
• History -

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Wooden vivarium, 4'x3'x2'.
• Lighting - 100w incandescent bulb for heat, Reptisun 5.0 for UVB.
• Temperature - Basking - 90-95 F. Ambient - ~75 F
• Humidity - Rests at 30%/40%. Spikes to 80% at mistings.
• Plants - Dracaena marginata, Ficus benjamina and Dracaena fragrans.
• Placement - Top of cage is 6'5" from floor.

 

[Lovereps]

Chams can take longer to heal than other types of pets and some infections are harder to cure than others.

If he was my cham, I would contact the vet with these concerns, as she may recommend that he stay on the Baytril for an extra week or more to ensure that the infection is completely cured or she may want to switch him to a different antibiotic .

 

[jannb]

Normally a culture and sensitive test is done to see which antibiotic works on the type of infection your Cham has. Most of the time after 3 or 4 days I can see an improvement in my chameleons but my vet has me give the antibiotic a full 7 to 10 days. Here's some older threads with some good info on RI's.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/theres-no-such-thing-uri-14277/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/back-vet-medication-questions-39302/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/concerns-my-female-panther-47322/

 

[Lazy Boy]

I'm so glad my vet did doxycyclin injections. He was just getting bubbles in his mouth and popping a bit. He had just started to not want to eat. After about two hours of the first injection almost all the mucus was gone and he went right back to eating. When I went back one week later to get the second injection he was showing no signs of a RI at all, we only gave him the second shot just to make sure it wouldn't come back. You do also want to go over your setup and make sure you find out why he got it.

 

[Loadout]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It just really took me by surprise when he started popping again so I wondered what people thought.

Lovereps - I completely agree and will call when they open tomorrow. Hopefully it's just a simple case of changing something

Jann - Thanks for the info and links.

Lazy Boy - That does sound less stressful, but I'm sure my vet had her reasons for choosing the Baytril.

 

[Loadout]

Update: Vet says she believes it was a stress response and not to worry about it unless he shows the symptoms whilst resting. I've to finish his treatment as planned and monitor him closely

 

[Lovereps]

Thanks for the update.
I'm very glad your vet thinks it's nothing worrisome.
Now you probably feel less stressed about it, too

 

[Loadout]

Thanks for the update.
I'm very glad your vet thinks it's nothing worrisome.
Now you probably feel less stressed about it, too

That's true. At least for now anyways