HELP!!! My Buff Orpington has been wheezing/rasping and flicking her head violently...HELP!!!

[micstrachan]

Hi. I live in the Bay Area, too. Apparently you can administer fish antibiotics in capsule form. Check for posts by @azygous on the subject. In the meantime, I know here in California we don’t have the cold other parts of the country do, but we’ve had significantly fluctuating temperatures, which can be hard on them. Can you provide a temporary, but safe heat source? How is the ventilation in your coop?

 

[azygous]

Here's where I buy my antibiotics. https://www.kvsupply.com/Search.aspx?query=Fish-Pen 250mg 60ct They have all the different kinds. They're labeled for fish but they're exactly the same as any other. I've been getting my meds from KVSupply for years. They ship out the same day as they receive your order. I keep an assortment on hand, not wanting to wait until a chicken gets sick to order them.

The reason why you want to avoid eating eggs from your medicated hen for a few weeks after they've had the antibiotic is so you won't develop a tolerance should you ever need to take the antibiotic yourself. Others might have an allergy to the antibiotic and you don't want to take a chance of making someone else sick if you let them eat the eggs.

 

[casportpony]

Yes, in California you can still buy fish antibiotics, but which one would be best to treat a respiratory infection?

When picking an antibiotic one must think about the types of bacteria they are doing to treat and what will treat them.

Best to pick one that will treat mycoplasma, E.coli, and pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Plain ole penicillin will not treat those, but amoxicillin *might*. Another that might work is a sulfa like SMZ/TMP, or a tetracyline like doxycycline.

The next problem is the dose. Although they say "fish antibiotics", they are not water soluble, so that will make getting the correct dose for some birds difficult.

 

[azygous]

The next problem is the dose. Although they say "fish antibiotics", they are not water soluble, so that will make getting the correct dose for some birds difficult.

@casportpony could you please elaborate on this?

I've been using these fish antibiotics for years on some extremely sick chickens, and most have responded well to them. They come in 250mg doses and that dose has worked well.

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony could you please elaborate on this?

I've been using these fish antibiotics for years on some extremely sick chickens, and most have responded well to them. They come in 250mg doses and that dose has worked well.

I also use fish metronidazole, fish amoxicillin, fish ketoconazole, and fish fluconazole.

Let me talk about *penicillin* first. From what I have read, and what my vet said, plain penicillin is not absorbed well when given orally, but amoxicillin is, so it would be the better choice.

Penicillin treats mostly gram positive bacteria, not gram many negative bacteria, but amoxicillin treats both. If you want to learn more about this google the name of the drug and "gram coverage".

According to three veterinary formularies i have seen, and my vet, the oral amoxicillin dose for birds is 125 mg/kg (57 mg per pound) no less than twice a day. Another member said her formulary said the dose in her book listed 150 mg/kg (68 mg per pound) twice a day.

Let's use the OP's hen and amoxicillin as an example... A buff Orpington hen should weigh 7 pounds, so at that weight the low dose is 397 mg and the high dose is 477 mg twice a day for 7-10 days. One capsule is way too little, and two is just a little too much.

Now let's use a smaller bird as an example, like a 1 pound banty. How would one give it 57-68 mg out of a 250 mg capsule?

 

[azygous]

Thanks for some very enlightening information. Does the "water soluble" aspect have a bearing on treating gram pos or neg bacteria?

 

[azygous]

Here's the link for amoxicillin. They quit selling the 250mg fish mox. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/thomas-labs-fish-mox-forte-500mg-x-100ct/P01800/

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for some very enlightening information. Does the "water soluble" aspect have a bearing on treating gram pos or neg bacteria?

No, sorry, water-soluble just means that if it were water soluble one could dissolve the pill in water and give it that way. For example, if they were water soluble you could dissolve 4 capsules into 10 ml of water. That would give you 100 mg per one ml (100 mg/ml), then the dose would be 0.57 ml per pound orally twice a day.

Gram positive vs gram negative:
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Gram-negative_Bacteria_vs_Gram-positive_Bacteria

 

[casportpony]

Here's the link for amoxicillin. They quit selling the 250mg fish mox. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/thomas-labs-fish-mox-forte-500mg-x-100ct/P01800/

And dose is 57 mg per pound *twice* a day.

 

[micstrachan]

This would be a good link for the meds chart once I get back on that! Thanks for the great information!