[Zero_479]

Hello, I made a post where I attached some photos of my budgies. I was told to visit an avian vet. Although I didn't have any avian vets near me, I did visit the normal vet. They advised be to put this medicine, Ivermite, in their water after leaving them thirsty for a few hours. My vet said that it's used for both mammals and birds.
I did some extensive research online about this medicine and Ivermectin seems to be quite popular.
But the problem is, through the research I did online I found out that ivermectin precipitates in water so isn't very effective to put it in their water tray. And it's best to apply on skin directly. But the liquid ivermectin that comes in drops doesn't have water in it but rather some other liquid.
I visited many many pharmaceutical stores but they only had the tablets I attached below. I just could not find drops. Only the tablets.
The tablet name is Ivermite and is a 6mg tablet. I brought it home but need advice to best administer it. Thanks. I prefer the applying to the back of the neck method but please advise me.

 

[FaeryBee]

Why can't you order the ivermectin or Scatt for birds (spot on) treatment on-line?
Is it not delivered to your country?

 

[Zero_479]

My country wants more exports and less imports. So naturally the taxes I would have to pay while importing medicines will be too much afford for me. Right now, this is all I have. I can return it if you think tablets are not the way and suggest some other way. Also, I think there are restrictions on importing medicines. I can only import food supplements but not medicines.

Umm, I searched "Scatt for Birds" on Google and found some distributors within my country. It's late at night here so I'll give them a call in the morning. If I am able to get my hands on one, I will update you.

Can I dilute the Ivermectin tablets in water and give it orally using a syringe? Like if I really really dilute it. 0.1-1% or maybe even less? I am asking this because the prices for Scatt for Birds is insane. It's imported so that's the reason why it's so expensive. I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

 

[FaeryBee]

You MUST be extremely careful if you try to dilute the Ivermectin tablets and use them. Do you know what strength the tablets are that you have currently?

Ivermectin 1% is water-soluble, you can mix it in your birds’ drinking water. The recommended dilution ratio for mature birds is 1:2.

Use this as your birds’ only water source for two days, and then repeat in 10-days time. Let us see a picture at that point so we know if you need to do another treatment 10 days after that.

Ivermectin Toxicity

 

[Zero_479]

I don't understand the 1:2 dilution ratio. Do you mean 1 part ivermectin and 2 parts water? The tablets are 6 grams and I believe the purity should be the same. I am saying this as the vet told me to dilute it very much. He said to weigh 1 gram of the tablet through some electronic balance and mix it to 1000mg or 1 litre of drinking water to make a 1% solution. I was planning to dilute it further by taking 100 grams of the diluted ivermectin solution and adding it further to 1 litre of water to make a 0.1% solution.
It's safe to say that the purity of the tablets is atleast above 90%. I will give it to them orally as I don't think it will be absorbed through the skin due to water that is used. The solutions that are sold for the purpose of applying to the skin are mixed with propylene glycol which is seemingly allows skin to absord chemicals. But I don't think I can find any. I got this information through various articles and research papers if you're wondering. I will be using a 0.1g/1000g solution and give it to the birds orally. Please let me know if you think this is fine and I can go ahead.
Thanks a lot!

 

[FaeryBee]

Yes, the dosage is 1 part ivermectin 1% solution to 2 parts water so your plan to dilute the ivermectin to 0.1% is perfect.

I researched the propylene glycol as well. I assumed propylene glycol would not be available to you.

Are you planning to administer the solution to the birds through syringe orally or through their drinking water?

 

[Zero_479]

Just saw your message, apologies for being late. I will administer the solution orally today as ivermectin precipitates in water so it won't be as effective as desired.

 

[Zero_479]

I just realized that wouldn't the parents just feed the chicks the ivermectin that I gave orally? What if it has more effect of the chicks rather than the parents? For the chicks, it may be an overdose. What do you think FaeryBee?
This is the only picture I took as I thought it was good enough. Turns out the camera didn't focus too well and the image didn't turn out to be clean.
The cere looked as if it was swollen. Oh and also, I gave them about 2 drops worth of solution to them. According to my calculations, the solution should've been 0.08% in concentration of ivermectin. I tried to keep it less than 0.1% but more than 0.05% in case I thought they didn't drink the drop fully, which would made me give another drop. So kept it safe.

These are some images I took of the chicks. They were put on top of a tissue on top of a soft cloth. The room was warm too. They are growing at an incredible rate. Till the last two days, the second in age barely had any pin feathers.

Upon a simple inspection, their feet were clean and looked fine.
My concern is that I wouldn't have wanted them to eat ivermectin food that the parents fed. I will say this, when I put them back together, they didn't feed the kids immediately. I think they didn't feed the kids until about 20 minutes later.
If I had this in mind before, I would've handfed them till a few hours had passed by. But that's unfortunate. The fact that they would feed ivermectin food to the babies never crossed my mind. Ah I'm confused now. Only time will tell what happens now.

Another photo with a flash from above.

 

[FaeryBee]

The chicks are PRECIOUS!

You gave the ivermectin in a water based solution to the parents and they would have swallowed that.
The food they give the babies is the food they eat from the dishes and store in their crop.
I do not believe that after a 20 minute time period the medication you gave the birds would be in the adult birds' crops so I can't imagine it would affect the chicks.

In the latest picture you posted of the female -- it does NOT look like she has mites on her cere.
It looks more like the cere is simply crusty from her being in condition.

Hold off on giving the adults any additional ivermectin treatment for a few days.

If you can, post another picture of the female's cere in a day or two so I can see if there are any signs of mites at that point in time.