Chlorhexidine vs Vetericyn?

[Miss Lydia]

Some one told me once the Dakins and Vetericyn are the same? You can find Dakins recipe on line.

 

[coach723]

I've always considered it a different form like saline for cleaning, and I use the hydro-gel so it does stick and moisturize. I also like that it doesn't sting, since I use it on all my animals. If anyone wants to hold my donkey while I apply something that does sting, you have an open invite! Chickens are much more tolerant of pain, but still, I don't make them hurt if I don't have to. And it has a fairly long shelf life, so it's easy to keep around.
To each his own, as in all things!

 

[Eggcessive]

A small bottle of Hibiclens (chlorhexidene) is about $6 at Walmart, and it is mixed with water to apply or use in a spray bottle. It is the most common skin cleanser and disinfectant used in hospitals. Vetericyn on the other hand is very handy but expensive. There are some other similar brands available to spray on wounds. Vetericyn differs from bleach in that it is pH balanced with Vetericyn at 6.8 where the pH of bleach is 11-13, and it won’t destroy cells.
https://www.vetericynvf.com/vetericyn-plus-vf-faqs/

 

[HollyWoozle]

My Vetericyn, new 'Purple Spray' (chlorhexidine) and Neosporin ointment have all been dispatched, woohoo! And some permethrin spray suitable for birds. I also found a website selling very affordable medical supplies and received that delivery today... just a few bits and pieces to add to the animal first aid kit, such as sterile gauze, handy dropper bottles and pipettes and a few tools which would be useful in a case of bumble foot for example.

My Mum thinks I'm totally mad!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Best not to tell. I’d probably be put away if anyone saw mine. But sometimes we have to be our own vet and things are needed. So good for you! Hopefully you’ll not need but your ready in case.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is interesting that your purple spray (in the UK) has chlorhexidene. In the US, BluKote and other purple wound sprays are alcohol and gentian violet, which are good antisepetics, but burn because of the alcohol.

That gives me an idea that one could buy a 1 ounce bottle of gentian violet, the bluing agent and a good antifungal, and mix it with a bottle of chlorhexidene (Hibiclens) and other brands. Hmmmmm, a good thought.

 

[HollyWoozle]

We also have other purple sprays here which are gentian violet or alcohol based instead - "purple spray" became a generic term for a wound spray of that colour really and now I think companies make all kinds of wound sprays and just put 'purple spray' in the title.

This is the one I have: https://www.viovet.co.uk/Gold-Label.../?sct_t=1572009185&sct_q=purple+spray&sct_r=6

But even on that same website there are nine purple sprays and I think the one I bought is the only one with chlorhexidine in (but it's the one I've always used, that brand has been around for years).

ETA: We also have Hibiscrub here which people in the horse world recommend for pretty much any wound or skin issue. That's also chlorhexidine based and I guess the same as your hibiclens?

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, we have Hibiclens which is chlorhexidene 4% which can be diluted with water, and used to wash wounds, then is rinsed with water.

 

[northerngracema]

Wanted to unearth this old thread to note a few things. I have some science background so I'm happy to try to explain more if folks have questions or concerns about the chemical side of this. I am definitely not a medical professional though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Hypochlorous Acid
The active ingredient in Vetericyn is hypochlorous acid (HOCl). It's a chemical that is naturally produced by white blood cells in our bodies, and it has a wide variety of applications for humans, animals and surface sanitization. HOCl has been used for medical sanitization since the 1800s. It is an excellent antimicrobial but what makes it a standout is that it's extremely gentle. It does not cause skin or eye irritation, so it's my preferred sanitizer for comb and waddle injuries or any rashy skin infections. Hypochlorous acid will also kill many fungi, spores, and viruses (for instance it will kill coronavirus with sufficient contact time) so it's also a go-to for me when I don't know exactly what's going on (yeast? mites? staph? dunno but it looks gross) but want to treat early.

I saw a few posts where people seemed confused about what the actual chemical is, so just wanted to make clear that it's not a type of bleach, nor is it a strong acid like hydrochloric acid. It's a weak acid, which is a totally different pH, but it can be introduced to other chemicals to cause chemical reactions, and all of these chemicals (bleach, hydrochloric acid, HOCl) contain some amount of chlorine. There are many different chlorine-based disinfectants that are used in water sanitation (e.g. pool chlorination and also drinking water treatment), but they have widely different levels of safety. HOCl is very mild but also very unstable, which is why concentration is so important, and I would never try to mix my own HOCl.

Since Vetericyn is pretty expensive, we've sought out other sources of HOCl, and I ended up ordering a gallon from Pure and Clean which we will be using to refill our Vetericyn bottle. Supposedly this company has an extremely stable product, so fingers crossed this works out for us. The cost is roughly 1/4 the price of Vetericyn.

Chlorhexidine
My main familiarity with Chlorhexidine is in the dental industry where it is used to fight gingivitis. At the time, I was experiencing chronic mouth ulcers, so I was already using an SLS-free toothpaste, which is lucky because sodium lauryl sulfate (a common ingredient in toothpaste and other body cleansing products) inactivates chlorhexidine. From what I can tell, chlorhexidine is a good chemical for reducing bacterial growth, but not killing bacteria, fungus, or viruses. Unlike HOCl, which is generally inactivated by environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, exposure to light / air, improper dilution), chlorhexidine is inactivated by reacting with other chemicals, some of which we might use for cleaning surfaces (such as SLS). There are even some studies indicating that chlorhexidine may be inactivated by saliva or blood, which could really render it useless as a wound cleanser.

Chlorhexidine has been associated with a lot of good outcomes as an umbilical cord sanitizer and in treating gingivitis, so I would not write it off as a sanitizing agent. It's also much cheaper and easier to store than HOCl, so if you have widespread applications for it (e.g. sanitizing lots of surfaces, or sanitizing umbilicals on large numbers of chicks) it can definitely make sense to use. Ease of storage is really not to be discounted here. If your improperly stored HOCl goes off it's no better than water. I would just be careful about any applications where it might come into contact with soaps / surfactants.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some references I found useful:
Hypochlorous acid: harnessing nature’s germ killer - about uses of HOCl in optometry
Chlorhexidine—the good, the bad, and the ugly - about chlorhexidine use in dentistry

 

[nikkiMilleyart]

I keep finding chlorhexidine 2% for horses, cats, and dogs. Is that what I need for my chickens?