Administering antibiotics orally vs subcutaneous

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AmberRae

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I know antibiotics are hard on a rabbit's good bacteria in their gut. I was wondering if the antibiotics would not be as hard on the gut bacteria if it was administered via vaccine since it would not be going directly into the stomach. I am not sure if the medicine would in up in the same place no matter how it was given or if there was an advantage of injecting it. If there is an advantage for injection do you have any thought on subcutaneous or in the muscle?
 
My experience with antibiotics for rabbits is limited, but once a favourite doe had an abscess (from resting against the cement block on which we placed the water crock to help keep it clean.) In addition to draining the abscess and using a triple-antibiotic ointment at the site of the abscess, we administered Pen G with procaine subcutaneously for several days. She made a good recovery.

SQ is much easier (and I think, safer) to do than intramuscular injections. There is a "sticky" explaining how to do it. Our doe did not experience any GI disturbance from the SQ injections, which in my opinion makes them a better bet than oral antibiotics.
 
I've personally had highly positive experiences with sub q injections and prefer that method over oral for both health and ease purposes.
 
My hubby would likely prefer subcutaneous or intramuscular injections over anything else... might be because he's a trained paramedic and just likes sticking people, though. :twisted: :lol:

Luckily it means I have a trained professional on hand if we need shots for the rabbits. :D

Thank you for bringing this up, AmberRea, it's a good thing to be able to plan for before we get the rabbits.
 
Hubby will be handy to have around, Nymphadora. I, on the other hand, had never given man or beast any kind of injection and I was pretty jittery the first time. But it isn't difficult.

Someone to hold the rabbit steady is helpful. And if you are using Pen G, it is very thick, needs to be shaken really, really well and you need a large gauge needle. If I remember correctly the ones we used were 20s.
 
I've only experienced giving Baytril orally. It was easy to mix it in juice and let her drink it from the water bowl. No problem.
 
If it's localized near an acceptable injection site I'd be more likely to use injectable anyway but they'll handle more common to get antibiotics better that way too. Baytril and bactrim have less side effects for oral use often for respiratory or internal infections or to prevent spread of something that has gone deep but they are harder to get without the cost of a vet. I didn't find injecting too hard and I kind of hate the risk of doing it on the much larger space and depth of a horse lol Even by myself for the one that ripped an area underneath near it's vent (loose wire edge? was never quite certain) I just pointed them firmly in the corner with my arm, pulled a leg back, made sure I was not in a vessel, and push. The one that ripped it's dewlap was a bit harder with poor blood flow to the tissue and seeing if I could do a closer injection to the site than the hindleg muscles. I had to do a bit of surgery for the extra tissue hanging off and rinsing out the split area more than relying on the antibiotics but knowing how to do it was potentially useful in getting her healed without complication. That doe was accident prone. Besides further small things she also had a bent leg I guess she broke in the colony but kept actively using the paw sideways so on soft bedding or rubber mats instead of wire caging while continuing as normal aside from an altered gait I left her to have a few litters before culling.
 

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