Advice and tips for giving miconazole

[alinas2010]

I have a hen who was on an antibiotic and developed a doughy/yeasty crop afterwards. She has had this problem once before after taking an antibiotic and we were able to clear it up by giving her a miconazole treatment of 1mL 3x per day for 7 days. We were able to hide it in blueberries last time and she ate them whole and was none the wiser.

This time she is absolutely refusing to touch any type of food with the cream in it, no matter how well I hide it. I don’t know how she knows it’s there. I’ve also tried just syringing it directly into her beak slowly and patiently but she is so dang stubborn I have a terrible time getting her beak open and I am afraid I’ll hurt her. I can force her to take pills, though, by pulling down on her wattles and popping the pills in. Does anyone know of a way to get this cream into a pill form? Could I mix it with coconut oil and freeze it and try to get those into her as if they were pills?

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated! I am at my wits end with her and she is growing weaker by the day. She has some other things going on and is basically on comfort care at this point, but there could be a chance that she could improve if her crop could clear up. She would be more comfortable, at least and I would really love that for her.

 

[orelsi]

You can crush the pill, mix it with yoghurt and some of her feed until it keeps its shape and give it to her that way. It's both compact in pill-like form and tasty.

Another option is to have someone hold her while you pinch the back sides of her beak with one hand and use syringe/spoon/pill with the other.

You can see it done by a guy solo here

 

[alinas2010]

You can crush the pill, mix it with yoghurt and some of her feed until it keeps its shape and give it to her that way. It's both compact in pill-like form and tasty.

Another option is to have someone hold her while you pinch the back sides of her beak with one hand and use syringe/spoon/pill with the other.

You can see it done by a guy solo here

Oh thank you for that video! That is helpful to see. I may get help and try again with the syringe. I wish it was in pill form, that would be much easier, but I only have it in cream form. That is why I am having such a hard time with figuring out how to give it in a way that she will take it willingly.

 

[alinas2010]

Someone just advised me that there is evidence that animals may be able to smell miconazole and fluconazole, even though we do not seem to detect any smell at all. So the advice their vet gave them was to try liverworst to hide the smell. Apparently it works for dogs being treated for fungal infections. I will try tonight.

 

[alinas2010]

Update: the bruanschweiger did not work. But I froze the miconazole and was able to give her a small dose this morning that way. She is fighting me too long, though, and the pieces melt before I am able to get them into her. So freeze larger pieces, and pop them into her mouth like pills is my best option so far. I’ll keep trying all day.

 

[townchicks]

You can buy empty capsule at most pharmacies. Fill them with the cream, instant pill. Good luck with your hen.

 

[Eggcessive]

Most give the miconazole twice a day. Even in humans, nystatin, a similar drug is twice a day. The Monistat 7 comes in a suppository that is halved and given orally, popped into the beak to swallow, according to Azygous’s article on crop problems. What I would do, is to medicate her orally after she has eaten in morning, and at bedtime after she has eaten. Usually treatment is given for 5 days.

 

[alinas2010]

Most give the miconazole twice a day. Even in humans, nystatin, a similar drug is twice a day. The Monistat 7 comes in a suppository that is halved and given orally, popped into the beak to swallow, according to Azygous’s article on crop problems. What I would do, is to medicate her orally after she has eaten in morning, and at bedtime after she has eaten. Usually treatment is given for 5 days.

A suppository that is not a cream? Really? I have seen the one time egg shaped treatment option, but I have not noticed anything else. I will look again, maybe check at a different store. Thank you for pointing this out.

 

[Eggcessive]

I cannot remember exactly if the dosage is 1/3 or 1/2 a suppository, but @azygous may chime in. Here is a link for the generic :
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-M...MIrvvX9PyTigMVB2FHAR3jYw8JEAQYASABEgJEZfD_BwE

 

[azygous]

The miconazole cream is more cost efficient than suppositories. Dosage is not precise. I go by the seriousness of the yeast infection. For most cases, I use about half an inch of cream or a third of a suppository. For serious cases, I give an inch of cream or half a suppository. Give twice a day for seven days.