Oh No!!! This has benzocaine in it!!!

[hawtchick]

I posted a bit ago about my guinea hen and rooster fighting. My roo's comb got tagged pretty good, so I called our local grain store and asked them what they had to stop the bleeding and they gave me "kwik stop".
I didn't see that it had benzocaine in it until after I had used it on the roo. I didn't use much, but not I am freaked b/c I know that anything with "caine" in it is a no no.
I love this grain store and they are so knowlegeable, that I am shocked about this.
Anyone have any thoughts??
Thanks
Jess

 

[ivan3]

As a rule, it is best to avoid `caines'. However, it is used (sparingly) by avian vets IM, in some surgeries. I can only relate our experience with turkey jakes and, briefly, our roo's comb. They are still alive and kicking. Just wipe it clean and switch to something like BluKote.

Just a quote regarding subQ/IM usage (not topical):

"A bird requiring surgery will usually receive general anesthesia. There are several reasons for this. Many local anesthetic agents, such as lidocaine (usually erroneously called novocaine by lay people) that can numb an area, are toxic at doses that provide numbness! Lidocaine must be precisely dosed, and even so, the dose necessary to provide local anesthesia is greater than the toxic dose, in most cases (in small birds). It can be used in tame, large birds, if necessary. Another problem with using a local anesthetic agent is because restraining a bird awake is often very stressful.Signs of overdose with lidocaine may include excitement initially, seizures, depression, respiratory arrest, cardiovascular collapse and death."

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/surgery.html

dlhunicorn has much more extensive info on her site (very good): http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi

Let us know how he fares, and take care!

ED: clarity

 

[flakey chick]

It may be a a new formulation. It could be something that they had used before and then the company added the benzocaine. The same type of thing can happen with cleaners. I'd give your store the benefit of the doubt, but let them know.

 

[hawtchick]

Thank you. He seems ok and I did only use a tiny amount, but I will let the grain store know.
Thank you!!!!

 

[Trollkiller]

Why are "caines" no nos?

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Quote:
They can cause majors reactions in chickens, possibly fatal.

 

[hawtchick]

as far as I know they are fatal poisons to chickens.

 

[speckledhen]

I'd rather be safe than sorry. I was very sorry in April when my flock rooster, Hawkeye, dropped dead before my eyes just after using a wound ointment with lots of natural ingredients, but also benzocaine. It had no warnings on the label about birds. I'm not 100% sure now that it was the ointment; could be that it was just coincidence and he had a sudden heart attack, but I know someone who had several show birds drop dead when she mistakenly used benzocaine on some foot lacerations they had before a show. Better to steer clear of those.

 

[Trollkiller]

It took a bit of hunting but this is what I learned.

Benzocaine is not poison to birds but it is VERY easy to overdose a bird. It is so easy to overdose, according to the veterinarian site I found, that I won't give dosing instructions. Needless to say the margin of error is very small.

I am glad this came up because I would not even thought about the toxicity of benzocaine.

This place is great!

 

[ivan3]

It was Speckled Hen's loss of Hawkeye that cleared our chook pharmacy of these products.

I continue to wonder just how close I came to dropping the jakes by cleaning their bloody heads, snoods and caruncles with Bactine (lid.1%) for nearly a month. At the time they weighed about seven pounds.

Of course, the blukote didn't work but, another somewhat toxic agent nixed the sparring asap: Pine Tar.

Better safe than sorry.