metronidazole dosage for water?

[spish]

i was told to put metronidazole in the water of my chickens/turkeys for 5 days but cannot find the post giving the correct dosage per litre..can anyone remind me what the dosing should be please?

 

[Oven Ready]

What is it you want to treat / ward off? Black Head ?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I'm trying to remember what I used last time. I want to say it was 750 mgs per gallon? I'll have to check when I get home.

 

[Oven Ready]

You should read the link below before you treat.

Metronidazole is suspected, but not proven, to be a carcinogen in humans.
It is a banned substance for feed animals in both the EU and the USA.

I'm not preaching, just informing - the choice, in my opinion, is yours.

Here is the FDA page FDA Prohibited Drug List

 

[spish]

i couldnt get the metro in time so went with ESB-3 instead, have the dosage quantities now - 2.5ml per litre

it was going to b for blackhead but have snce found out its cocci- thus esb3 is the better option as its actually for cocci

 

[Oven Ready]

Hope it sorts them for you, is it a five day program or three days on two days off?

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Yet it's still available as a human pharmaceutical, I believe.

I think one reason it was banned in poultry was they were afraid of breeding supergerms through overuse in animals. I found this quote in wikipedia:

"Because metronidazole is an important drug in treatment of human pathogens including C. difficile, metronidazole is banned in the EU and the USA for veterinary use in the feed of animals and is banned for use in any food animals in the USA.[12][13]"

Now, personally, when I had my turkey eggs in the incubator 2 months ago, I was reading about blackhead and it freaked me out. So I bought a great big bottle of flagyl online for like $25. Just to have in case of problems. I wouldn't hesitate to give it my birds, but they are strictly being kept as pets, so it's not an issue in my case.

 

[Oven Ready]

The authorities are preserving it for human use, both for the carcinogen possibilites (from eating treated meat products) and the possibility of resistance developing in infected animals.

I didn't know it wasn't completely banned in the EU, it can still be used as a treatment, but not as a feed additive.

I would suggest that it's tactical use for veterinary purposes in backyard farms is highly unlikely to cause problems, but it is always worth being aware of the laws (see sentence above !)

I think it used to be that a period of two months being treatment ending and culling was required, obviously prior to it's inclusion on the banned substance list.

I wonder if there is an EU document that provides a 'blackout' period. I must have a look.

We treat our chickens with it for various ailments, here there is little regulation on drugs. Everything can be purchased over the counter.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

My birds were quite young when they were treated (I want to say 12 weeks?) and they won't be processed until they're 6 months, so I feel relatively confident there won't be any traces left when we eat them. Thanks for the info though!

 

[Oven Ready]

This is what I've found so far - I can't actually find the EEC Regulation (Annex IV of Regulation 2377/90/EEC) mentioned as it appears to have been superceded by another Regulation - That's why EU unemployment rates are so low!

Various documents refer to this regulation, all make it clear that metronidazole is not allowed for any use in feed animals in the EU (and in the UK as well).

There are nine substances included in Annex IV of Regulation 2377/90/EEC that may not be used in food producing species because no safe level of residue can be determined (my emphasis): chloramphenicol,26 chloroform, chlorpromazine, colchicine, Dapsone, Dimetridazole, Metronidazole, nitrofurans (including Furazolidone) and Ronidazole. The presence of an Annex IV substance residue (including metabolites) is prima facie evidence of the use of a prohibited substance in a food animal species.

Current EU law is that there is no blackout/withdrawal period. It is not allowed for feed animals at all. It is an EU zero tolerance drug.

Make of that what you will, but I found plenty references suggesting that just because an SLR cannot be determined, that is not a sufficient reason to ban the substance.

Whether or not carnidazole is included in this regulation I don't know but I'm guessing it belongs in the Imadazole family and is therefore not on the EU Christmas card list.