Just got back from Avian Vet and wanted to share...

[halo]

Quote:
I'd tend more to believe a vet, who can make money on either product sold, rather than the manufacturer who is making the one product...there are a lot of pharmaceuticals out there that are never labeled for certain uses but can be prescribed for them anyway, and vice versa for some that are labeled but may not be as effective as others. Believing the company over a vet who can see a lot of things under a lot of conditions that are never part of targeted studies is, to me, more like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house. Studies can be geared to show a lot of things companies would like (or not like) for them to show.

Thats exactly why I dont blindly believe vets, or doctors, for that matter, since they are geared to sell products that they will benefit from the most financially. Bayer has done its studies on Baytril, which is why they label it for mycoplasma; vets sell products they get the most revenue from, such as Science Diet for dogs.

I dont know for a fact, but I would imagine Terramyacyn is pretty cheap and Baytril probably is not, which would be why a vet might prescribe Terr., since the mark up would be more. Unfortunately its all about the money, which is why one really needs to do their homework on prescription drugs.

 

[ND]

What do they call the guy who graduated at the VERY bottom of his class in veterinary school?

A vet.


Point is... what one vet may say, claim, or diagnose isn't, IMO, necessarily correct or accurate. Especially true if/when what they say goes against much research and standard of care. I've heard some pretty off the wall junk from various vets over my life... and I'm sure there are people out there that believe it JUST because a *vet* said it... but vets ARE human, and despite being a vet, you will still find a gamut of skills and knowledge range from one to another.

One of my FAVORITE vets for routine, minor care and *some* emergency care with my animals and livestock is completely filled with misconceptions and HORRIBLE information regarding some parts of equine health and care. It's a part of the science he shouldn't even TOUCH, he's so wrong. He's a saint in other areas or for some problems... but I just wouldn't use him for certain things even if he was the last one alive-- he's that wrong about it. *I* know better... but how many people blindly believe what he says about those things JUST because he's a vet? Probably more than not...

 

[easttxchick]

Quote:
I'd tend more to believe a vet, who can make money on either product sold, rather than the manufacturer who is making the one product...there are a lot of pharmaceuticals out there that are never labeled for certain uses but can be prescribed for them anyway, and vice versa for some that are labeled but may not be as effective as others. Believing the company over a vet who can see a lot of things under a lot of conditions that are never part of targeted studies is, to me, more like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house. Studies can be geared to show a lot of things companies would like (or not like) for them to show.

Thats exactly why I dont blindly believe vets, or doctors, for that matter, since they are geared to sell products that they will benefit from the most financially. Bayer has done its studies on Baytril, which is why they label it for mycoplasma; vets sell products they get the most revenue from, such as Science Diet for dogs.

I dont know for a fact, but I would imagine Terramyacyn is pretty cheap and Baytril probably is not, which would be why a vet might prescribe Terr., since the mark up would be more. Unfortunately its all about the money, which is why one really needs to do their homework on prescription drugs.

After doing a bit of research, Baytril was supposedly developed specifically for the treatment of mycoplasmas(of which there are more than one)-I really don't see how they could say anything else.
I contacted a friend of mine that is a vet last night and asked him about this and he told me that the Baytril is the way to go-he has no dog in the hunt and has no reason to lead me astray-he'll be coming to spend Christmas with us and I firmly believe if he thought that I was being given information not in my best interest, he would not hesitate to tell me.
Terramyacin is available at our feed stores in water soluble form and it ain't cheap. I paid $12.80 for a 7-day supply of Baytril suspension.
I got out of the whole ordeal of dealing with 3 different vets, 2 office visits, medication and a blood draw and it cost me a grand total of $42-can't complain about that(oh, and a pair of ducklings in the spring because one of the vets fell in love with her and wants to get some in the spring).
The whole point of my sharing the information is that many people won't take their duck to the vet-I just wanted to impart what I had learned when I did so, that's the extent of it.
VERY happy with the results, my little girl looks 100 times better this morning and is eating, drinking and quacking-ultimately, that was the whole point of all of this.

I'm a firm believer in "to each his own" and am personally very happy with the decisions made by the vets in charge of my duck's care.

 

[duckluck]

Actually, Halo, Baytril is pretty cheap...I have a container of it sitting in my fridge just in case it might be needed. Personally, I think most of the antibiotics are cheap compared to the alternative of possibly losing a lot of birds. Baytril is also a good broad spectrum antibiotic that can be used for parrots, so it can have multiple uses around here if need be. I keep a few others on hand too, because the possibility of losing even one Call duck or having a parrot take sick makes it worth what I paid for all of the meds put together if I can help them in time.

I think it was good of Easttxchick to share her findings with us. Many of us have little or no access to vets who can treat ducks, so some of us may have no choice but to resort to what others can share. Even having a vet close by does not mean your animal will get treated in a timely manner...vets get sick, injured and can go away for the holidays too...so it's a good idea to have something to rely on yourself. Timing can often be critical.

 

[easttxchick]

Just FYI, here is a scientific study regarding the effects of enrofloxacin(Baytril) on MG:

http://www.sciencedirect.com

Abstract
"The ability of the avian pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum to persist despite fluoroquinolone treatment was investigated in chickens. Groups of specific pathogen free chickens were experimentally infected with M. gallisepticum and treated with enrofloxacin at increasing concentrations up to the therapeutic dose. When M. gallisepticum could no longer be re-isolated from chickens, birds were stressed by inoculation of infectious bronchitis virus or avian pneumovirus. Although M. gallisepticum could not be cultured from tracheal swabs collected on several consecutive sampling days after the end of the enrofloxacin treatments, the infection was not eradicated. Viral infections reactivated the mycoplasma infection. Mycoplasmas were isolated from tracheal rings cultured for several days, suggesting that M. gallisepticum persisted in the trachea despite the enrofloxacin treatment. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of enrofloxacin for most of the re-isolated mycoplasmas was the same as that of the strain with which the birds were inoculated. Furthermore, no mutation could be detected in the fluoroquinolone target genes. These results suggest that M. gallisepticum can persist in chickens without development of resistance despite several treatments with enrofloxacin."