Vet says gapeworm, recommends unavailable treatment; options?

[Ravynscroft]

Most people would give no less than 0.3 ml to a 3 pound bird.

-Kathy

Add that the dose recommended by the vet will not treat gapeworms.

-Kathy

Thus my confusion on that vet's dosage... :/

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Vets don't make that many dosing errors, which is why I am so hesitant to say the vet is wrong.

-Kathy

 

[Ravynscroft]

Vets don't make that many dosing errors, which is why I am so hesitant to say the vet is wrong.

-Kathy

Completely understand... just wanted to give reassurance from personal use at the dosage you recommend (from other vet sources) that it did not harm any of my own birds...

 

[timebider]

I really, really appreciate the advice. I'd read that gapeworms usually take larger doses than other kinds of worms. The fact that the vet left conflicting info for her staff is concerning, though. She had written both .4 and .25 and they had no idea which she wanted them to tell me, which is why the person I spoke with said I should split the difference and do .11. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in her math.

 

[casportpony]

I really, really appreciate the advice. I'd read that gapeworms usually take larger doses than other kinds of worms. The fact that the vet left conflicting info for her staff is concerning, though. She had written both .4 and .25 and they had no idea which she wanted them to tell me, which is why the person I spoke with said I should split the difference and do .11. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in her math.

0.04 or 0.4?

-Kathy

 

[timebider]

0.04 or 0.4?

-Kathy

That's where it gets even more interesting. The assistant said she couldn't understand why the vet would only increase to .4 because she wrote that she had prescribed .3. But both when I saw her in the office and when I spoke to her on the phone she (vet) was adamant that .03 was the correct dose.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: 0.3 ml makes sense, 0.03 ml does not.

-Kathy

 

[timebider]

0.3 ml makes sense, 0.03 ml does not.

-Kathy

I thought so, too, but she insisted multiple times that she did mean to tell me 0.03, not 0.3. I gave my girl the 0.7 dose tonight and am just hoping and praying it does the trick. I've read some scary things about how hard it can be to beat gapeworm and it's disheartening to see her regressing. She'd even started to hold her tail up around noon but she's back to panting and drooping wings. I will say she doesn't seem to be laboring quite as hard as last night. So I guess time will tell. I just really hope we beat this thing. That reminds me of another question I meant to ask related to all this: should chickens be on a regular worming schedule, like horses, or are they treated as needed? Obviously it doesn't make sense to worm the whole flock for gapeworm on a routine basis, but what about other parasites? I have so much to learn.

 

[mg15]

Here is my experience. I had called valley vet (sells drugs etc.) valleyvet.com
I asked to talk to the vet because of using safeguard for
tapeworms.
I called Valley Vet back and asked if it was the right dose for tapeworms
He assured me( His Word) it would kill gapeworms
I told him No No Tapeworms !
Well turns out,,, he told me you can't overdose a chicken with SafeGuard.
You could give the chicken 10 times the dose and you would not hurt the bird.
that is paralyzing the bird.
I dosed them and they did not die. You will be fine.
mg

 

[pennyJo1960]

@timebider seems like you have lots of help going on now
in the future if you want to talk one in particular use @nameofperson