Re: How to administer Panacur horse paste to ornery skink

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Posted by T.B on April 08, 2003 at 10:14:33:

In Reply to: Re: How to administer Panacur horse paste to ornery skink posted by naql on April 07, 2003 at 12:08:08:

:I have been practicing at doing my own fecal flotations.......
:They could be stronglydes, I'm just not sure. I have one of those laminated ID charts from the Bean farm, but frankly, they all look alike to me at this point.

Becoming competent and confident at identifying morphological characteristics in unstained slides is not easy. It takes a lot of practice and is not easily self-taught. Looking at a clear, isolated, magnified picture is one thing and picking that same organism out from a field of debris, normal commensal organisms, plant nematode ovum, mold spores etc. is quite different. Keep working at it. : )

:My problem is in getting a fresh enough sample to the vet.

Fresh is obviously ideal especially for the delicate trophozoites but a refrigerated specimen is really quite acceptable. For the quite hardy helminth eggs that you are suspecting even a dried specimen still has diagnostic potential. Soaking in warm water frequently prompts defecation in reptiles, you would have to retrieve the stool from the water quickly though.

:I have read something about Ivermectin not being a good choice for chelonians and thought I had read something similar about skinks.

I have not heard that specifically but perhaps they are the "collies" of the lizard world. Collie and collie mixes have a much lower tolerance for ivermectin and must be dosed differently form other dog breeds. Ivermectin does seem to be very strongly favoured by many vets for treating small reptiles despite the risks.

:If you mix the panacur into a pellet of food, is there a time-limit during which it must be consumed before it, well, goes "bad" or something?

I assume that you are talking about a day or two?. I think that Panacur is fairly stable judging by the relatively long expiry date.

: I assume if I find a dosage chart that says so many mg per body weight, that I would then calculate the correct weight of panacur,

I've linked a site that is very helpful in converting various concentrations into the correct dosage.

T.B

Calculating drug dosages

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Re: How to administer Panacur horse paste to ornery skink naql 04/12/03 (0)