Pullet gasping/wheezing- HELP

[coach723]

Sorry for not getting back sooner, we're clearing land and the big tree cutters came a day early! Been busy outside.
Vet RX is basically like Vicks. It may help with symptoms, but it's not really going to treat anything.
For the Safeguard, you got the Aquasol, which is concentrated to specifically be used by mixing in the drinking water. That isn't my preferred way to do it since sick birds may not drink well enough to get enough. I prefer to use the oral solutions (the goat wormer or the horse paste) which are usually 10% solutions, meaning they have 100 mg/ml, which is 1/2 the strength of that one you got. I do not know if that particular formulation is safe to give orally, I simply don't know. Since it's not labeled for that, I can't say I would. It could be much harder to dose since the amount will be smaller (many times oral medications are formulated the way they are to make it simpler to dose).
The dose orally of the 10% solutions is .23 ml per pound of body weight to each bird, once a day for 5 days in a row. So you would be giving half of that if you used what you bought, orally.
If you use it mixed in water, as the instructions say, I would just make very sure that any questionable birds are given some of the medicated water several times through out the day orally, to make sure they are drinking it, and may sure they have no access to any other water during treatment. The risk of under dosing is ending up with parasites that are resistant to the medication.

 

[murphynhazel12]

Sorry for not getting back sooner, we're clearing land and the big tree cutters came a day early! Been busy outside.
Vet RX is basically like Vicks. It may help with symptoms, but it's not really going to treat anything.
For the Safeguard, you got the Aquasol, which is concentrated to specifically be used by mixing in the drinking water. That isn't my preferred way to do it since sick birds may not drink well enough to get enough. I prefer to use the oral solutions (the goat wormer or the horse paste) which are usually 10% solutions, meaning they have 100 mg/ml, which is 1/2 the strength of that one you got. I do not know if that particular formulation is safe to give orally, I simply don't know. Since it's not labeled for that, I can't say I would. It could be much harder to dose since the amount will be smaller (many times oral medications are formulated the way they are to make it simpler to dose).
The dose orally of the 10% solutions is .23 ml per pound of body weight to each bird, once a day for 5 days in a row. So you would be giving half of that if you used what you bought, orally.
If you use it mixed in water, as the instructions say, I would just make very sure that any questionable birds are given some of the medicated water several times through out the day orally, to make sure they are drinking it, and may sure they have no access to any other water during treatment. The risk of under dosing is ending up with parasites that are resistant to the medication.

Thank you so much for the response! After doing some research, I know that the aquasol is twice as concentrated as the 10% solutions... does that mean if I got, say, .115 ml of the aquasol and mixed that with .115 ml of water, it would be the same concentration as the 10% and I could give it orally? Or is that not how it works?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would just take it back and exchange it for the SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or the equine paste, and use the dosage of 0.23 ml per pound given orally for 5 consecutive days. Be sure to shake the liquid goat wormer very well for each dose, since it is a suspension.

 

[murphynhazel12]

I would just take it back and exchange it for the SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or the equine paste, and use the dosage of 0.23 ml per pound given orally for 5 consecutive days. Be sure to shake the liquid goat wormer very well for each dose, since it is a suspension.

That's not really an option for me... the feed store where I got it is almost an hour away and I don't have the time to go there and back soon. Is it at all possible to dilute it 1 part solution, 1 part water so that it's a similar concentration?

 

[Eggcessive]

I am sorry, but I am always confused with the Aquasol dosage. It is meant for diluting in water. If I were to give it and use half as much, I would use the same amount of water, and give it orally, not in her water to drink. Repeat for 5 days for gapeworm treatment.

 

[coach723]

I hope this doesn't confuse things....
You need to give 25 mg of fenbendazole per pound of body weight. So for the 10% solution you give 1/4 ml per lb, 1/4 or .25 ml = 25 mg in that solution. With the 200 mg/ml solution you would give 1/8 of a ml to get 25 mg. Depending on the weights of your birds, if they are very small, you may need to convert all that to grams to get a more accurate dose, it just depends on how small they are. So once you have their weights you can figure how much to draw of the medication, and then I would add that much again water to it to dilute it by half, which will increase the volume but not the dose strength. It will still contain exactly the same mgs of medication you drew up. But the increased volume will make it a bit easier to give, and may make it a bit more palatable (I've no idea how it tastes). That is what I would do, I hope that makes sense and doesn't confuse things.

 

[murphynhazel12]

I hope this doesn't confuse things....
You need to give 25 mg of fenbendazole per pound of body weight. So for the 10% solution you give 1/4 ml per lb, 1/4 or .25 ml = 25 mg in that solution. With the 200 mg/ml solution you would give 1/8 of a ml to get 25 mg. Depending on the weights of your birds, if they are very small, you may need to convert all that to grams to get a more accurate dose, it just depends on how small they are. So once you have their weights you can figure how much to draw of the medication, and then I would add that much again water to it to dilute it by half, which will increase the volume but not the dose strength. It will still contain exactly the same mgs of medication you drew up. But the increased volume will make it a bit easier to give, and may make it a bit more palatable (I've no idea how it tastes). That is what I would do, I hope that makes sense and doesn't confuse things.

I did administer her first dose today.. I'm pretty sure I did about what you said. I'm not sure of her actual weight, but she is relatively small so I'm operating under the assumption she's about a pound. She may be less than that, but everything I read says an overdose of fenbendazole isn't harmful at all so I'd prefer to over treat than under treat. I drew up about .12 ml of the aquasol and combined it with water (probably more than I had to) and used the syringe to put it down her throat. Hopefully that's right.. and it's a five day treatment course, right?

 

[Eggcessive]

Yes, it is for 5 consecutive days which treats gapeworms, capillary, cecal and round worms.

 

[murphynhazel12]

Yes, it is for 5 consecutive days which treats gapeworms, capillary, cecal and round worms.

Tonight we gave her her last dose of the dewormer. She still seems much the same... her balance and walking seems to be deteriorating, though. I gave her b vitamin fortified nutritional yeast today in hopes that may help with that in case it's a neurological issue, but the breathing is still an issue. I don't know what to do for her.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would use B complex 1/2 tablet daily. You could also in addition try some human vitamin E 400 IU daily which is used in combination with a small amount of egg for selenium and the B complex for neurological issues. I hope that she improves. Sometimes we do all we can do, and sometimes do not find out what was wrong until a necropsy is done by the state vet lab after death.