Gapeworm or something else?

[fancyfowl4ever]

All the paste wormers end in "ectin" one way or another, so most readily available pastes are ivermectin based.

There are no pigeon suppliers in the west that I know of, gonna have to check our national club and see if I can find some on the east coast.

 

[casportpony]

I wonder why that is? One would think that you could get Safeguard or Panacur as easily as the ivermectin wormers.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Well since we had to get some dewormer for our horses and the vet prescribed us Quest-plus, I dosed him with some of the left-over of that. Good news he didn't keel over from it, but on the other hand no change in his condition either. Still trying to find an antibiotic where I don't have to bring the bird in(our vet has no clue about poultry, I could bring him a turkey and say its a peacock and they wouldn't be able to tell). So far everything I requested from them either they cant find anything by that name(which is weird cause when I google it I get pages up on pages about the product... ) or I need to bring the bird in or its a medication not permitted in Canada.

Well, a friend of mine suggested PenG, where he is(one province over) you can get that at the feedstore and he says it does wonders when his gamebirds are in need of antibiotics, well here you need to bring the bird in to get it prescribed... How do you make money on a $15 bottle of injectable antibiotics? make them also pay for a $85 visit ....

In any case the poor birdie is confined in a small rabbit cage now so I can medicate him with water soluble antibiotics(which I am of a mind are as helpful as cool-aid) and make sure he eats.

 

[casportpony]

I seriously doubt that your bird has gapes, but if he does, everything I have read says that they are hard to treat and multiple days of worming are required.

FYI, Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook does not list a dose of moxidectin (Quest) for birds, but it does list praziquantel (the Plus in Quest Plus).

Are you sure you can't get Safeguard or Panacur *paste*? Someone else on BYC, also a horse owner, said that Canadians can get the paste, but not the liquid.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I think this might be a Canadian website:
http://www.horse-vetsupplies-andmore.com/horsedewormers.html

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Source: http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disparas.htm​

Gapeworms

The gapeworm (Syngamus trachea) is a round red worm that attach to the trachea (windpipe) of birds and causes the disease referred to as "gapes". The term describes the open-mouth breathing characteristic of gapeworm-infected birds. Heavily infected birds usually emit a grunting sound because of the difficulty in breathing and many die from suffocation. The worms can easily block the trachea, so they are particularly harmful to young birds.
The gapeworm is sometimes designated as the "red-worm"; or "forked-worm" because of its red color and because the male and female are joined in permanent copulation. They appear like the letter Y. The female is the larger of the two and is one-fourth to one inch in length. The male gapeworm may attain a length of one-fourth inch. Both sexes attach to the lining of the trachea with their mouthparts. Sufficient numbers may accumulate in the trachea to hinder air passage.
The life cycle of the gapeworm is similar to that of the cecal worm; the parasite can be transmitted when birds eat embryonated worm eggs or earthworms containing the gapeworm larvae. The female worm lays eggs in the trachea, the eggs are coughed up, swallowed, and pass out in the droppings. Within eight to fourteen days the eggs embryonate and are infective when eaten by birds or earthworms. The earthworm, snails and slugs serve as primary intermediate hosts for the gapeworm. Gapeworms in infected earthworms remain viable for four and a half years while those in snails and slugs remain infective for one year. After being consumed by the bird, gapeworm larvae hatch in the intestine and migrate from the intestine to the trachea and lungs.
Gapeworms infect chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, pheasants, chukar partridge, and probably other birds. Young birds reared on soil of infected range pens are at high risk (pen-raised game birds). Some control or reduction in infection density (worms/bird) is achieved by alternating the use of range pens every other year and/or using a pen for only one brood each year. Tilling the soil in the pens at the end of the growing season helps to reduce the residual infection. Treating the soil to eliminate earthworms, snails and slugs is possible but the cost is usually prohibitive.
Gapeworms are best prevented by administering a wormer at fifteen to thirty day intervals or including a drug at low levels continuously beginning fifteen days after birds are placed in the infected pens. One drug that is effective for eliminating gapeworms is fenbendazole, however, its use is not presently approved for use in birds by the Food and Drug Administration.

 

[Yoda]

If your peacock had Gape worm the Ivermectin pour on would cure it. Safe guard doesn't kill gape worm but Ivermectin does. If your bird is still gaping it is not from gape worms so please stop putting wormer in him. You can do the Tylan powder in water or try tylan 200 injectable, it is the next best thing to baytril. It can be injected at the base of the neck just under the skin and still work as if you injected it into the breast. Baytril is a very strong drug and should not be use as your regular antibiotic. We use it as a last resort because it is so strong and can cause damage to the bird. I spoke with my bird vet about baytril a few months ago and she said for me to use the tylan 200 before Baytril and that if that did not work then try the baytril. Granted most wormer and antibiotics do have a "safe zone" but it is still best not to over medicate the bird. Ivermectin stays in the bird's system for almost 30 days and now you added another one to him. I had a hen that was gaping for a long time and then finally passed away. I had no access to a bird vet back then. I asked here what to do but I also explained that the larger adult peas all landed on her when the flew down from the top of the shed. I told them that she was lying there and I think she might have lung damage. I watched the birds fly down and land hard on her the poor thing. They told me to give this and that but nothing worked. she ate and drank but still slowly went down hill, constantly gaping. I could hear a slight noise when she breathed but it was not a respiratory illness. I too did what people told me and gave her tylan 200 and a shot of baytril, did the ivermectin and then was told they couldn't help her anymore to bring her to a bird vet. I will make a suggestion and say that if you do not see any improvement in 3 days that you do make that $85 appointment with the vet. You might be able to get some baytril from a parrot breeder in Canada. It became illegal to give baytril to livestock because it would make humans very sick when we ate the meat or eggs. It is legal at least here to give it to smaller caged birds and might be there as well, you just got to research it on the internet.

 

[casportpony]

According to what I have read recently, gapeworms (Syngamus trachea) *are* treated with Fenbendazole, not ivermectin.

From post #3
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887

From post #16
http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disparas.htm

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I also think that this bird should go see a vet... If the bird had a fungal infection, which it could be, antibitiocs could make it worse.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Since ivermectin has been mentioned in this thread, I thought that I should post this"

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0450.1989.tb00635.x/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."


It is just one study, and it doesn't say anything about gapes or pour-on vs injectable, I just found it interesting and wanted to share it.

Here's another, but I haven't read it yet, lol.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...WJNETrFBvD1Ta_8xQ&sig2=5CUiIbllD95Dn1Prohg1_w

-Kathy