Rehabilitating a Rooster

[ColtHandorf]

Call them...it's free to ask.

Emailing them with my @tamuc.edu email might be more effective. lol

 

[Fairview01]

@ColtHandorf My birds have responded very nicely to Gentamicin when they are showing respiratory distress but like most antibiotics you can only obtain it by prescription. 0.2ml every other day IM for a week. Walmart shows it available without prescription. About $30.

Baytril is even better but it is specifically not to be used in edible animals.

 

[ColtHandorf]

@ColtHandorf My birds have responded very nicely to Gentamicin when they are showing respiratory distress but like most antibiotics you can only obtain it by prescription. 0.2ml every other day IM for a week. Walmart shows it available without prescription. About $30.

Baytril is even better but it is specifically not to be used in edible animals.

I have use Baytril before when I managed pet stores. I have no intention of eating him ever. If he dies he'll get a Viking funeral as it is much too wet to dig a hole. That is good to know about the Gentamicin. I wonder if MG would respond to it (if that's what he has). The small amount of respiratory distress and the fact that he's not very mobile, something I had at first accounted to the mauling by Golly, and then not eating or drinking properly for several days it seems, are what makes me think MG.

What does "IM for a week" mean? In-mouth? Intramuscular? So injection?

 

[Fairview01]

What does "IM for a week" mean? In-mouth? Intramuscular? So injection?

Correct intramuscular. I use an insulin syringe with a 5/8 needle. Insert at an angle into the breast. I raise heritage large fowl cornish. They have tremendous breast muscle so the chances are slim that i would ever get into the chest cavity.

As soon as any of my birds develop a rattle in their lungs i give them the gentamicin. I know if it's viral it wont cure it but it will prevent a secondary bacteria infection. When I get bronchitis they always give me doxycycline to prevent a bacteria infection for the same reason so i figure it would be a good practice for the birds.

If they develop foamy eyes you can dilute the gentamicin with plain contact saline solution and use it as eye drops. That way your treating the sinuses cavity directly.

Doxycycline is another alternative but i prefer starting with the gentamicin and then moving to the baytril if there is no response.

 

[Eggcessive]

Gentamycin is not usually one of the drugs commonly used to treat mycoplasma (MG.) It has been used for many decades to treat E.coli in human bowel surgery and animal intestinal abscesses, but antibiotics that are used to treat MG are denagard, tylosin, enrofloxacin, and tetracyclines (doxytetracycline, oxytetracycline. ) Gentamycin can be toxic in higher doses. When I worked in hospitals, we always had to draw blood levels in patients on gentamycin to make sure that damage to ears and kidneys did not occur. There are much safer antibiotics that can be used.

 

[Fairview01]

Gentamycin is not usually one of the drugs commonly used to treat mycoplasma (MG.) It has been used for many decades to treat E.coli in human bowel surgery and animal intestinal abscesses, but antibiotics that are used to treat MG are denagard, tylosin, enrofloxacin, and tetracyclines (doxytetracycline, oxytetracycline. ) Gentamycin can be toxic in higher doses. When I worked in hospitals, we always had to draw blood levels in patients on gentamycin to make sure that damage to ears and kidneys did not occur. There are much safer antibiotics that can be used.

Im providing my experience with these drugs not book references. If we are going by the book then we shouldn't even discuss using ivermectin as a wormer since it's not labelled for poultry.

Gentamicin is an aggressive antibiotic and any med you can also be fatal if given to in excess. Tylan at the correct dose can result in generalized tissue death at the site of the injection.

When the prognosis is dim I see no problem with being aggressive with meds. When the liklihood of that prize bird is going to die reaching for something outside the box is the right thing to do.

Since i started using gentamicin as both.an injection and as an eye drop 8n the case of foamy eye I've bern able to eliminate respiratory ailments in a week.

 

[Kiki]

Im providing my experience with these drugs not book references. If we are going by the book then we shouldn't even discuss using ivermectin as a wormer since it's not labelled for poultry.

Gentamicin is an aggressive antibiotic and any med you can also be fatal if given to in excess. Tylan at the correct dose can result in generalized tissue death at the site of the injection.

When the prognosis is dim I see no problem with being aggressive with meds. When the liklihood of that prize bird is going to die reaching for something outside the box is the right thing to do.

Since i started using gentamicin as both.an injection and as an eye drop 8n the case of foamy eye I've bern able to eliminate respiratory ailments in a week.

Have you ever thought about having a sick bird tested by our state lab?

Ivermectin shouldn't be used as a dewormer because it doesn't work.

Tylan should be given orally.

 

[Fairview01]

Have you ever thought about having a sick bird tested by our state lab?

Ivermectin shouldn't be used as a dewormer because it doesn't work.

Tylan should be given orally.

Nope. Not cost effective nor timely enough for my needs. I own the machinery that created the bird im trying to save. It's cheaper to make another one or perhaps a better one from that machine or save it with coventional or unconventional meds. I have absolutely no emotional attachment to any of my stock. If i keep my breeding stock for more than 2 seasons I'm either stagnant or moving into the past.

I worm with ivermectin every 90 days. Cheapest feed i can buy. I have yet to have any signs of internal parasite load. I vary the concentration by the time of the season. Summer dosage level when the are drinking gallons/day is ineffective winter dosage when they are drinking gallons per week. I'm always willing to learn so if you have research based info substantiating that ivermectim doesnt work it would probably benefit the entire forum by posting it and making it a sticky.

When handling a 12lb heritage cornish rooster it easier to give them an injection then restrain and open their mouth with one hand and dispense an oral solution and avoiding having liquid aspirated.

 

[Eggcessive]

I spent a career in hospitals giving gentamycin. It is a wonderful drug that has saved a lot of lives. But we never gave it without testing for blood levels, to make sure that we were not giving too much, especially to infants and children. Many people have suffered deafness, kidney, or nerve damage when they have gotten the wrong dosage.
https://www.drugs.com/mtm/gentamicin.html
How does one judge how much to give a chicken when this drug is not approved or given often to poultry? I am just making a point that denagard, tylan, and tetracyclines including doxy, are much better choices to use. The biggest reason we choose amprollium as a first drug for cococidiosis nowadays, is that sulfonamides (Sulmet, Sulfadimethoxine) which used fo be the first choice, are toxic and can damage hearing and kidneys.

 

[casportpony]

@ColtHandorf, if he were mine I would give him Baytril. Do you have any Baytril?


I would only use gentamycin as a very last resort.

Spoiler: Gentamicin Info