Peacock with Gape Worm?

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Blackjack11

Blackjack11

Hatching
Nov 8, 2015
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Hello, I have a peacock that started gasping for air on Wednesday evening. I went to the feed store and they advised me to give him a shot of 3 CC's of Ivermectin which we did. He seems a little better but still gasping for air. He does seem to eat. I was just wondering how long it takes for the Ivermectin and if there is anymore I can do for him. Thank You very much!
 
Blackjack11 said:
Hello, I have a peacock that started gasping for air on Wednesday evening. I went to the feed store and they advised me to give him a shot of 3 CC's of Ivermectin which we did. He seems a little better but still gasping for air. He does seem to eat. I was just wondering how long it takes for the Ivermectin and if there is anymore I can do for him. Thank You very much!
Click to expand...

Could you post a pic of him? A really good close up of the face from the side?
 
The treatment I found for gapeworms was .5ml (1/2 cc) ivermectin orally. It might take longer to kill the gapes if given IM.. After 10 days when you retreat, maybe do it orally?
 
From my experience the gaping and gasping for air is more likely a bacterial chest infection not gapeworm (as gapeworm is honestly pretty rare) and thus the proper treatment for a chest infection would be antibiotics, like Tylan 50... Even on antibiotics it can take several days to see positive results and for them to stop gaping/gasping, other times results are within a day...

If you really want you can test for gapeworm with a q-tip swab of their throat, if you see very thin 1" or so red stringy worms it's confirmed gapeworm if not it's likely a chest infection... But, as I said gapeworm is rare so the test is up to you from my experience it's almost always a chest infection that causes similar gaping/gasping symptoms...
 
Last edited:
I totally agree with MeepBeep, that is why I asked for a photo. Note if you swab to look for mucus in the throat. The main cause of death with a bacterial infection is from asphyxiation. I recently went through a particularly nasty bacterial infection that is not cured by any of the 'normally' used antibiotics. Look up Pseudomonas.
 
Actually, gapeworms live in the trachea, not the esophagus, so swabbing will tell you nothing.

Also found a study that says ivermectin must be given in very high doses to treat gapes, and 3cc by injection is quite a bit.

-Kathy
 
Gapeworms are rare, rare enough I've only seen it here twice, once in a chicken, once in a peacock. Both times I treated with Safeguard at 0.23ml per pound for five days and the gaping ceased at day three.

-Kathy
 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2816174
Ivermectin as a bird anthelmintic--trials with naturally infected domestic fowl.

Oksanen A, Nikander S.
Abstract

To evaluate the use of ivermectin as a bird anthelmintic, 29 White Leghorn hens naturally infected with Ascaridia spp., Heterakis spp. and Capillaria spp. were treated with 0.2, 2 or 6 mg/kg intramuscularly or 0.2 or 0.8 mg/kg orally. Faecal samples were collected before treatment and at autopsy, 2, 6, or 16 days after treatment, when the intestines were also examined for helminths. None of the treatments gave satisfactory anthelmintic results.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9269125
Anthelmintic efficacy of ivermectin against Syngamus trachea and Capillaria spp. in pheasant.

Lamka J1, Svobodová V, Slézková J.
Author information


Abstract

Ivermectin (IVM) was perorally administered in dosage schemes 1 x 0.8 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.), 1 x 1.6 mg/kg h.w., 3 x 0.8 mg/kg b.w., and 3 x 1.6 mg/kg b.w. to pheasants infected by Syngamus trachea and Capillaria spp. The samples of faeces were coprologically examined. The clinical state of pheasant was controlled. In all of the used therapeutical schemes the helminthostatic or partially helminthocide effect against adults of worms was reached. The clinical signs of helmithoses were reduced only. IVM in tested doses is not possible to recommend as an effective drug of pheasant syngamosis and capillariosis.

-Kathy
 

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