Ivermectin & Treatment for Air Sac Mites

[JerseyGuy]

If a Finch gets Air-sac Mites and needs Ivermectin or other medications for this, how do you obtain the medications. Do you need to get these medications from a Veterinarian ?

[Sally]

Most people order these medications online, very few pet shops carry them. You can get Scatt, Iverlux, S-76 from various vendors.

[cindy]

Ivermectin 1% you can get at feed stores (Ivermec) You will need a needle syringe to draw it up and treat with one drop to the back of the bare neck... repeat every two weeks for a total of 3 doses.

Scatt (moxidectin) can be bought at online bird stores like glamgouldians.com. Directions are the same as above.

Iverlux and s76 are used in water. glamgouldians sells those also.

They also have a product called Moxidectin Plus, it goes in the water and treats/used as a preventative for worms (except tape you will need wormaway) and treats for mites.

[debbie276]

And again I will say, it does not make sense to me that different products that are different strengths all of a sudden should be applied the same.

From Glamorous Gouldian website:

Iverlux, S76
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
Ivermectin 0.8 g/L
Slippery Elm
apply one drop of IVERLUX to the skin of the neck each day for five days.Repeat for three weeks in a row.

Scatt
(Ingredients: Moxydectin)
Has a YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi50ZrOqaQ8
1 drop on the skin every 21 days for 3 doses.

Ivomec
Injectable 1% Ivermectin for cattle and swine
External application
One drop on the exposed skin of the bird, I like under the wing:)
Becareful as it will absorb into your skin too!
Drnking Water Treatment
1 cc mixed in 32 oz of clean drinking water, shake it well!
Use as only source of water for 24 hours
Repeat Treatment in 2 weeks
It's only down side is it has been suspected of reducing fertility so I would suggest using before the breeding season and giving time for it to clear the birds before being set up.

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Personally I think it is a bad idea to go against the manufacturers dosage. More is NOT better with medication. Clearly scatt is a more powerful medication then the Iverlux and S76. Think about what you are putting your birds internal organs through. The Ivomec (for cattle and swine) has more warnings then directions.
The life cycle of the airsac mite is 14 - 21 days.
SCATT remains active in the birds blood stream for three weeks. In most cases this allows one application to kill the airsac mites. During the 21 days Scatt will kill the adult mites and any eggs that might hatch.
Iverlux, S76 when diluted in water only remains active for 7 to 8 hours. Therefore S76 needs to be administered in the drinking water two days per week for three weeks (21 days) in order to kill the life cycle of the airsac mites.

[Sally]

A caution on using ivermectin that is sold for use on cattle, even though it is cheaper, it is not made to be used on birds. From the Rules for the Health Forum:

Crystal wrote:
The over-the-counter (OTC) label applies ONLY to the species for which the medication is labeled and ONLY for the conditions the label claims to treat. The moment you go “off-label” (i.e. using it in a species for which it is not labeled OR using it for a condition for which it is not labeled), it is no longer considered “over-the-counter” and actually (in the eyes of the law) becomes a “prescription” drug that only a veterinarian can authorize.

For example, even though livestock ivermectin is easily accessible OTC, any use in animals or for conditions not explicitly stated on the drug label actually requires a veterinarian’s authorization. In other words, it is illegal for pet owners to give their birds livestock ivermectin without a prescription.

The rules for what’s known as extra-label use of animal drugs is spelled out in the Animal Medical Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA). As explained in an FDA summary of the law, extra-label use of animal drugs is legal only under the order of a licensed veterinarian within the context of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. See these links if you’d like more information about AMDUCA:

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Gui ... 085377.htm
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Res ... 380135.htm
https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Refer ... MDUCA.aspx

[cindy]

my avian vet is the one that prescribed Ivermectin 1% (not to be used in water , she said it does not mix well in water and should only be used topically, it can also burn the throat...use s76 or iverlux if wanting to put it in the water, those are disigned to work mixed in water ) as a preventative and treatment for all kinds of mites. She told me to purchase it at the feed store and how to use it. It is what they are using topically now.

[cindy]

As far as Scatt goes they (Vets) are seeing far too many break through cases using the 3 week method and recommending it be done every two weeks for a total of 3 doses (each 14 days apart). It is not lasting strong enough in the system for the full three weeks. She said it will not harm the bird if you use the exact amount each time you dose do not over apply with each treatment.

There also seems to be an resistance to some of the mite prevents, some use it to much even if the bird does not have it. ASM does not she said live dormant in the body. The problem is that owners are not properly getting rid of it, the cycle needs to be broken so shorting the dose time and multiple doses should rid the bird of ASM or any other mite. Scaly leg and beak are and can be difficult to get rid of. This is coming from not only my avian vet but two other avian vets.

[debbie276]

I'm sure originally (several months ago) you said 2 doses of ivermectin or scatt 14 days apart. Same treatment using s76 and iverlux. It makes absolutely no sense that a product that is only active for 7-8 days can have the same dosage as a product that is active for 21 days.
Yes, your vet said with Scatt 21 days was too far apart and I even understood pushing it shorter to 14 days to be sure. But now your saying 3 doses at 14 days apart. Not sure why they ("vets") felt that in a few short months the dosage had to again be increased.
Just as a side comment, I do NOT find that these birds are so infected with ASM, which by the way can easily be positively diagnosed. In 20 plus years I only had 1 case of ASM in the third year, the hen was treated one time with scatt. I never had ASM's pop up in my aviary and the hen never relapsed. In my personal opinion tripling this medications dosage is not good for these birds.

JMO

[Stuart whiting]

I'm sure originally (several months ago) you said 2 doses of ivermectin or scatt 14 days apart. Same treatment using s76 and iverlux. It makes absolutely no sense that a product that is only active for 7-8 days can have the same dosage as a product that is active for 21 days.
Yes, your vet said with Scatt 21 days was too far apart and I even understood pushing it shorter to 14 days to be sure. But now your saying 3 doses at 14 days apart. Not sure why they ("vets") felt that in a few short months the dosage had to again be increased.
Just as a side comment, I do NOT find that these birds are so infected with ASM, which by the way can easily be positively diagnosed. In 20 plus years I only had 1 case of ASM in the third year, the hen was treated one time with scatt. I never had ASM's pop up in my aviary and the hen never relapsed. In my personal opinion tripling this medications dosage is not good for these birds.

JMO

Totally agree Debbie,

I personally don't like using drugs on birds as I believe if all of yer birds are used to regular supplements like mineral / vitamin, boosters etc I rekon it weakens the strain as they've then got very little immunity left in their system

I'll obviously use a quality anti mite product but will never use drugs like tonics etc for the reasons mentioned above,

To triple the dose of any product in my view is gonna be asking for trouble somewhere along the line

[cindy]

the topicals are all skin and blood absorbed and by passes the liver....orals all go through the liver, that is where you can run into issues. This info was all given by Avian vets, pretty confident they would not recommend something harmful.

[Stuart whiting]

the topicals are all skin and blood absorbed and by passes the liver....orals all go through the liver, that is where you can run into issues. This info was all given by Avian vets, pretty confident they would not recommend something harmful.

I'm a little old school when it comes to medication etc

Very interesting cindy, thank you for sharing

[cindy]

We had one lady that had birds with ASM see her avian vet.... the vet had her do the scatt every two weeks for a total of the 3 doses....the birds had ASM so bad it also took 3 more doses of ivermectin 1% topical after the full 3 doses of scatt to get rid of the ASM completely. People think when you hear the ASM it is in the early stages when in fact your bird has had it for quiet some time and when you hear the clicking the ASM are pretty much through all the air sacs.

Also keep in mind not all clicking is ASM either.

[cindy]

I treat all new finches coming into my home with either the 3 doses of scatt or ivermectin 1% and I have not had ASM in any of my finches in all the yrs I have been raising birds. And the birds are not given any preventatives for ASM during the yr after the preventative is originally done in quarantine.

[debbie276]

I also treat each bird coming into my aviaries with one drop, one treatment. I do not use scatt again as a preventative and have never had a bird develop ASM in my aviaries.
Keep in mind the life cycle of ASM is 21 days.

[cindy]

Doing preventatives in quarantine also covers scaly leg and beak and feather mites, both are very difficult to get rid of. With ASM and feather mites make sure you clean and treat the cage/accessories as well.