coccidia....drug help

There is no definite cure for cryptosporidiosis. I know people use sulfonamide antibiotics which seems to help but does not clear the infection. Sulfonamides may slow or stop replication but no study has shown that they diminish shedding. We are trying to use ponazuril but have not had many cases recently. Sorry for the crappy news!
Michael Wenninger DVM

every bit of information helps!!

-jay

jaysun,

I can appreciate your predicament as I too have been in your position and it is very discouraging when your veterinarian, who is supposed to be your advocate, tells you there is nothing they can do to help you. Please understand that these individuals are admitting to their own limitations in order t o protect your interests and the health of your pet. It seems counter intuitive but if the vets you have consulted are not experienced in dealing with this disease in reptiles, it is likely that more harm than good may come from the situation.

I discourage you, however, from attempting to treat cryptosporosis at home. This disease cannot be cured with a simple oral medication. Often times these animals remain carriers of the disease long after therapy and in some cases it never resolves. There is currently no definitive treatment for Crypto and only experiemental clinical trials with sulfa drugs have been attempted with the hope of success.

Additionally, Crypto is a know Zoonotic agent meaning that iof you are exposed (which you are) you to can contract this disease and this can severely impact your health. Given the carrier status of these individuals any animal being treated for crypto should be hospitalized. This is not a treatment that would commonly be sent home with an owner given the nature of this pathogen. Your animal will require IV fluids, intensive hopital monitoring, Possibly total parenteral nutrition if it goes off feed and monitoring every 4-6 hours during the entire duration of therapy. It is potentially dangerous for you to treat crypto at home. For you and your pet. Many of the Sulfa-based drugs that have been experimentally used to manage crypto also have very severe side effects and need to be done under the supervision of a veterinarian because many of those are severely teratogenic and can result in severe dehydration. Animals receiving this therapy need to be intensively monitored and isolated in quarantine during the entire duration of therapy. If your concerns are financial in origin, your best and safest option would be to have the animal euthanized. This will prevent uneccessary animal suffering that may result from financial deficits and will lessen the likely-hood of exposing you and the rest of your collection to this potentially dangerous and drug resistant agent. If you truly wish to try have this animal treated, it will need to be hospitalized for treatment. This is for your own personal safety. PLEASE DO NOT TREAT CRYPTO AT HOME YOURSELF!!! If you become infected, there will be no garantee that you will be able to receive effective treatment and Crypto can be life threatening. As for locating a better veterinarian, I strongly recommend you contact the Veterinary College in your state. all of these institutions have fully functional clinics and many specialize in exotic animal medicine. It will be worth your money spent. If not, for the sake of your pet, please consider Euthanasia.

thank you very much for your concern,i did do a whole lot of reading on this.and everything you said is totally true...as for the lil dude, i actually did bring him to a local university (this was also recommended to me by others as well) and they are treating her(however they do) she was donated for research. again thank you and everybody else for your help,concern and knowledge.

jayson rafter

I hope everything works out and Good Luck!

jason