Pet Store Medications

[Kung Foo Chicken]

While at the local pet store and picking up things for my cockatiel I noticed that amongst the shelves there were a great deal of avian medications etc. Most of these medications treat from finches- Macaw. So, my question is that in an emergency in a small town where chicken specific medications are hard to find could one use normal avian medications etc? I was thinking one could dose according to the size of a bird such as a large chicken would get a little more of the meds than a large Macaw. A Bantam dose would be about the same as say a smaller parrot like an African Grey.


Yes I know that Chickens aren't related to pet store birds but, when the medication itself ranges from finches-Macaws which aren't related will they work? Haven't seen this question on here yet. May be silly but, just curious.

 

[silkiechicken]

Probably would work IF you knew what you were trying to treat. If you didn't know, might do more harm than good. Anti pick meds in the pet section work fine for example, but some other meds might not. The method of administration would also make a difference in how much you give your chicken. Like if it was injection, you'd want to scale, if it was drinking water based, don't scale, as larger birds will drink proportionally more. This all assumes the metabolism is about the same in the exotic flying type birds and our ground dwelling "flightless" heavy fluffy bottoms.

As long as your bird is a pet and you're not eating their eggs or meat, you wont have to worry about long term side effects of pet meds that could be put into eggs or meat that isn't studied in exotic bird products since who'd eat a macaw or their eggs?

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

Thanks SilkieChicken. It was just out of curiousity stemming from time and place.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Yes you can use them ...the med is the same whether for human dog or bird only the dosage/strength may differ and you will need to do some good detective work to ensure your bird is going to get the correct dosage (which is very important)