# Praziquantel



## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

I have a pigeon with a taenia that was unsuccsessfully treated with Albendazole several times. Last time I gave three days in a row, the last day being 30th August.

I have a drug containing in each tablet 25 mg Praziquantel and 72 mg Pyrantel (is for dogs). I think I can manage to break the tablet so that to obtain a piece containing 4 mg of Praziquantel, but would also contain something like 12 mg Pyrantel, while the dose of Pyrantel for a pigeon is 1-2 mg. 


Do you think is safe to give this drug, including that overdose of Pyrantel?

I will try to find at some drugstores if there is a drug containing only Praziquantel but I don't have much hope. If somehow I find, I woule like to know only to know how many days I have to wait after the last Albendazole administration.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

6 mg is the dosage for a pigeon. order it online from a pigeon supply. google "pigeon supply".


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## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you. Are you talking about Droncit or there is other commercial name should I looking for? I visited some pigeon supply sites and couldn't find Droncit but I can buy it from Ebay.

Anyway, because shipping may take few days, I will try first to find if I can get some Praziquantel (Biltricide) for human use from a hospital, or maybe Niclosamide which I've read is equally efficient. If not, I will command online the veterinary drug.


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## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

I got today a tablet of Droncit 50 mg. What worries me is that it says one tablet is for 10 kg body mass of a dog, which means for a dog 6 mg would be given to 1,2 kg body mass. 

My pigeon is 200 gr, wouldn't be too much to give 6 mg to her? Did anybody give Droncit to pigeons?

Please answer me as quick as possible as I wait an answer from you before giving the medicine and the bird is suffering because of starvation and intestine bite wounds (much blood in droppings everyday).


Also, tell me if I have to not feed the bird several hours before giving the drug.

Thank you!


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Never used it. Personally, I would not use anything that is not formulated in the right dose for the birds.

According to the formulary in the British Small Animal Vet Association manual, the dose for *Praziquantel* for pigeons, orally, would be 10 - 20 mg for a kg of body weight. So, I would assume that is 1/5 for a 200g bird, say 2 - 4 mg. That is a very small proportion of the tablet, and you must not overdose.

Repeat after 14 days.

Better to order a pigeon-specific wormer online.

Droncit is specifically a dog and cat treatment for tapeworm, and due to animal metabolism, there is no correlation between dosages for mammals and birds.


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## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you. 

I gave the medicine to the pigeon, 2 mg. I cut the big pill in two, then in four then in eight, obtaining an ~ 6 mg piece (50 / 8 = ~6) and then I cut that piece in three. 

But I'm afraid I gave too little, as is a very vigurous taenia apparently. I suppose now I have to wait 14 days for another administration. 

I can't afford a specific pigeon dewormer, I bought only one tablet of Droncit, which costed around 10 $ with transportation.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

you would be doing the bird a service to hand it over to a rehabber that can afford it. the whole idea is to make birds better, not create resistant parasites and bacteria being a laymen. basically if you can not find proper products and can not afford the right products and perhaps pay for an office visit to a vet then IMO find something else to do.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Anyone know of a rehabber in Romania .......


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## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

spirit wings said:


> you would be doing the bird a service to hand it over to a rehabber that can afford it. the whole idea is to make birds better, not create resistant parasites and bacteria being a laymen. basically if you can not find proper products and can not afford the right products and perhaps pay for an office visit to a vet then IMO find something else to do.


There is not such thing as wildlife rehabilitation center in Bucharest and even if it was, I doubt it would been better than such centers in US, where from this forum I understood they kill pigeons that need too much time to care.

Vet services are not very expensive and the vet I visit most often, which is next to my home, don't ask any money if is not some more complex intervention, because knows I don't help pigeons for fun. And several times, I didn't have to pay either for lab tests or x-rays. 

Most common medicines are cheap and I can afford them.


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