Ornacycline

[Nascosto]

Hello,

Earlier this evening I purchased Ornacycline for my male (nearly three years of age, and has the beginnings of a scent-gland tumor) gerbil's water... he is giving mixed signals that vary between a possible respiratory issue and/or an infection of the ear.
I just moved to a new area, and I have yet to locate a veterinarian who professionally handles small animals-- which is why, while I continue searching, I took a step in hopes of helping.

Petsmart is where I found the Ornacycline. Despite all sources saying "tablets," all that they carry is a powder form... is that acceptable? Also, I did not notice that it was fruit flavored ("natural orange and other fruit flavors") until I inspected it again when I arrived home... the citrus has me a bit wary.
Should I not use this particular product?

If you have any other suggestions, experience, thoughts, or concerns, I would very much appreciate it if you expressed them. I want what is best for my little friend.

Thank you,
- Nascosto

[crazy4gerbils]

You shouldn't really use Onacycline in general. It doesn't work, and it can cause even more problems by making your gerbil not drink water because it tastes funny.

[Nascosto]

Hi Crazy4Gerbils,

It is not my first choice. As I said in my post, I am trying to station a respectable small animal veterinarian.

Indeed... Ornacycline has received greatly differing opinions; some people swear by it, others suggest to not even waste your time with false hope.
But until I have a more sophisticated means of care, it is the only thing that holds a slight flicker of possibility. I cannot simply stand by and do nothing... imagine this happening to an animal that you were close to. It hurts.

I appreciate your concern about him potentially not drinking (a worry I initially shared, too), but he seems to be drinking normally-- and actually, he may be somewhat fond of the flavor, it seems, hah.

Thank you for your response!

All of my best,
- Nascosto

[crazy4gerbils]

Sorry I missed the 'can't go to the vet' bit Anyway, I would try to feed him with an eyedropper rather than putting it in his water. You can't mesure the amount he's drinking in water, and if he's drinking too much, he'll get diarrhea.

I def understand, I've had a lot of gerbils and have always felt horrible when I can't do anything.

[akane]

I've used ornacycline several times for respiratory illness without a problem. However I don't follow the vague put x amount or 1 tablet in water. You never know how much they drink or if they are drinking at all. I *always* syringe medication to my animals by hand from a measured dose. Suggested dose is 20mg/kg every 12hrs or 45mg every 24hrs. ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobial_agents/tetracycline_hydrochloride.php

The hard part is figuring out how much. The packet should say how much tetracycline is in there and you'll need to mix it with enough water you can measure it with a 1 or 3 cc syringe accurately. This may lead to a lot of waste. It's easiest if you add an equal number of cc to mg of tetracycline so you get a 1:1 ratio and each cc is a mg. Less calculations later. I believe the powder packs are 250mg of tetracycline and 250cc or ml (they are the same thing) of liquid is about 1 cup of water.

You then have to weigh your gerbil (in grams is best) and divide by 1 kg or 1000grams to get the percentage of dose and multiply by 20 to get the cc's. IE my litter weighed 6grams or about 1 gram per gerbil (too small to weigh on my scale individually so I had to weigh the litter and average) which is .001kg x 20 = .02mg per gerbil pup.

If we mixed an equal amount of cc's of water and tetracycline we then give .02cc per baby gerbil which is about 2 drops. However with such small gerbils I found I had to double dilute it because that was too much liquid for critters that small and then I only had to give .01cc or 1 drop every 12hrs. Entire litter was fine within the week but antibiotics are generally given for 2 weeks to be sure. An adult would likely not have the amount size problem I had so a 1:1 should work fine for an adult.

If you cannot weigh your gerbil (you should always have a kitchen or postal scale when owning small animals from mammal to bird) you can look up the average weight of a gerbil and use that. It will still be more accurate than putting it in the water.


More work but it's far more guaranteed they will get the medication and it will work instead of leaving things up to chance as to whether they drink it and drink enough or not. I think that is where people question how well it works.

You can also get another medication from the same company. I forget the name which I've also used on respiratory infections. We had a temporary problem with birds who are very dusty and baby gerbils in the same room which has since been solved but resulted in several litters and 2 adults having respiratory problems. All treated otc using the medications by that company with no losses.

[Nascosto]

Crazy4gerbils:
From what I have seen, he is drinking normally, and there has been no diarrhea, to my knowledge. That said, up until today, I thought that he was taking in enough medicine (read below)... now I am not positive.

Akane:
Thank you for all of the information! Because I have recently moved (and thus have none of my household items), I do not have any syringes directly on hand-- though that can easily be fixed.

*****

For the last couple of days he seemed to perk up some, and his breathing did not emit the same sound. This morning, however, he seems to be keeping to himself, sleeping, and perhaps breathing slightly faster than usual... he is still eating and chewing cardboard, though.
I had said that he was giving a mixture of signals that indicated both respiratory and an ear infection at different points; I noticed a bit of blood on his bedding, and saw that the source was a patch behind his ear (a sign of infection, from what I have read.)

I have located one veterinarian that state a care for all species on their website, so I will see if a visit may be scheduled.
Because of his temperament, I fear that the experience might prove to be frightful... have any gerbils ever shown signs of that dread once they've returned home?

I appreciate both of your posts, your insight, and knowledge immensely.
Thank you very, very much.

- Nascosto