tapeworm hymenolepis - treatment?

[Donald K Allen]

I have always used the paste. I've never personally seen the liquid except in huge quantities. Correct dosing is in the link I gave you above.

Can I give through water (the liquid)?

 

[coach723]

I'm guessing that would still need to be given orally as a direct dose to each bird. It is given direct dose to horses. Most wormers do not mix well with water and will settle out and the correct dose would not be given. There are only two that I'm aware of that mix in water, Wazine, which only works on large roundworms, and Safeguard Aquasol (also very expensive), which is not effective for tapeworm. I have always direct dosed my birds with an oral syringe. Another concern with water treatments is that they must take in enough water for it to be effective. Sick or weak birds will not drink enough on their own to get the correct dose, even a low pecking order bird may not get enough. There is one other medication mentioned in the thread I linked to before, but it is also direct dose, it's in post #8 of the link I gave above, and I've never used it so have no personal recommendation other than it does contain the correct medication.

 

[romita]

sorry for my abundance of questions... how do you ensure that you have the correct dosage with the paste? my vet said that i need to be very careful with dosage and recommended that I weigh each bird as overdosing can be dangerous.

 

[coach723]

The link I gave you before has dosing by pound of bird weight. You can weigh them with a digital kitchen scale, works very well. Use an oral syringe (no needle) to measure out the correct amount. A tiny bit too much is not likely to cause any issues, I always round odd fractions up to the nearest easily measured mark. Under-dosing is not good either, that is how parasites can become resistant to meds.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can put it into a syringe and measure the amount listed in the posts or links above. It should be easy enough. I usually use Valbazen for worming, and it is a liquid, so I haven’t actually drawn the paste up into a syringe. I would get both 1 ml syringes and 3 ml syringes to see which one works the best.

Edited to say, I was posting the same time as Coach723

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a picture thst shows a 1 ml syringe with a dose of 0.26 ml, which for Equimax, would be a little more than dosage for an 8 pound bird, assuming you are giving 0.03 ml per pound:

 

[romita]

Eggcessive and Coach723 - you are fantastic! thank you so much for your extremely helpful info! can't wait to deworm - i'm sure my little guys will be so relieved (less the being picked up and dosed part).

 

[coach723]

Worming early in the morning, before sun up is best. Easier to get them off the roosts than try to catch them, and their crops are empty so the first 'meal' the worms will get will be the wormer, which is best. I close them in the coop the night before, I take them off the roosts one by one (use a lantern or flashlight), dose them, and put them in the run. When the coop is empty, you are finished. For those that really freak out when you pick them up, wrapping them in a towel to hold the wings in can help. Once you have done it a few times, it gets easier. I've got 20 right now, usually the sun is up when I finish.
My birds always seem a bit perkier the day after they've been wormed, so no doubt it helps.