I just wanted to update you. The consultation with the other vet was way better, he seemed to care a lot more. But he also said that the malaria parasite is often found in blood but it usually doesn't show any symptoms. And it's usually not neurological.
he has a leukocytosis which means infection, so antibiotics do make sense, but he said it should be one that can travel to the brain, apparently Baytril doesn't do that even though my email vet said it does. Anyways, he prescribed Bactrim and Gabapentina which I haven't used before.
"Gabapentina is an anticonvulsant medication primarily used to treat partial seizures and neuropathic pain."
He's getting 0.3ml Bactrim and 0.04ml Gabapentina twice a day and today is the third day.
I think he's slightly improving, I notice because he has more strength when I feed him to move his head or beak, but he's still extremely weak, he can barely stand up. I know these things take long and there is also a chance that he will suffer from long-term damage.
this morning I bathed him a little bit because he had a lot of poop stuck on his bottom feathers because he lays down all day. I think he enjoyed it because it was warm and maybe relaxing, also I know they pigeons are generally very clean so being like that must be uncomfortable.
But His condition and suffering bothers me a lot, I cannot stop thinking that it was caused by Panacur. The other vet said that he doesn't like to use Panacur a lot because of its toxicity in pigeons but he does use it rarely, it just needs to be dosed very carefully. But he also said that the dose he got seems normal.
However, last night I did a lot more research about fenbendazole toxicity and even though there aren't too many studies about it almost every experiment mentions bone marrow hypoplasia.
"Bone marrow suppression caused by fenbendazole may result in pancytopenia that can allow the establishment of life-threatening infections"
so bone marrow hypoplasia can cause anemia (which he has) and an infection that could lead to neurological problems like the ones he has? I'm not too familiar with this but maybe someone with more medical knowledge can tell me if it sounds reasonable.
I get that the anemia could also be from the worms or Malaria. But I just don't understand how he can suddenly become so ill and there must be a correlation.
I also learned a lot about fenbendazole dosages, apparently
anything from 25mg-50mg per kg is seen normal (but at the same time I found sources that state that this is still too high or shouldn't used at all).
In this study here
"Mortality Associated with Fenbendazole Administration in Pigeons" they call 30mg/kg a "moderate dose".
Like I probably mentioned previously I asked the clinic what kind of Panacur they use and they showed me the bottle which was 25mg/ml and said they always use this in small animals like him. However, it was a different vet and I remember the day the other vet filled up the meds and the bottle was on the table, I read the label while I was waiting and it said something like "cattle& horse dewormer" and it was white blue, not green white like the one she showed me. When I google it it seems to be 100mg/ml Panacur. There is obviously a change that I'm going crazy and I don't remember correctly. But would it be normal to even have the 100mg/ml concentration as an exotic vet who mainly deals with small animals?
Another thing that makes me suspicious is that this vet in particular has mentioned that she likes high doses, she has said that almost every time she treated a pigeon of mine, previously it only was meloxicam and Baytril and nothing bad happened. I also know that there are different dosages for different treatments, e.g. a daily dose but higher or a bi-daily dose that is lower.
When she gave us the meds she said the same thing, "this is a very high dose because I want to stop the shedding".
Okay, so if he got the
25mg/ml Panacur and 0.18ml a day for 3 days (I only gave it for 2 days because I thought it would be like Baycox but I'm glad I didn't give another day) he got a
total of 4.5mg fenbendazole per day. Based on the dosage recommendations above this wouldn't even be a "lower" 25mg/kg dose. So why would she call it a high dose if it's not really?
If it was
100mg/ml he got 18mg fenbendazole per day, which is definitely a very high dose.
Fenbendazole and Albendazole Toxicity in Pigeons and Doves: Fenbendazole and Albendazole Toxicity in Pigeons and Doves on JSTOR
In this experiment which included 410 pigeons and doves they used 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg, the ones treated with 100mg/kg survived 7.9 days on average and a survival rate of 14.8%. However I'm not sure if the birds got e.g. fed with a syringe, fluids, vitamins and so on to survive. I assume they just let them die.
I thought that it would be unlikely for Gustav survive so long if he got such a big dose? But he got Harrison formula, vitamins and fluid from the beginning, so that would increase his chances.
here are some questions I have and I hope someone can help or has a better understanding:
1. Is it likely for exotic vets who mainly treat smaller animals to have 25mg/ml and the higher dosed 100mg/ml Panacur? Or will 100mg Panacur only be used from "big animal" vets?
2. How can Bone marrow hypoplasia get diagnosed? a biopsy? Is that even possible in pigeons? But even if it is it's probably very painful / a stressful procedure...
3. Any recommendations to help with anaemia? I already supplement with anima strath but is there something else that would help more? I've hear red lentils, but should they be cooked or be raw?
4. Will anaemia or even bone marrow hypoplasia get better by itself with time?
5. studies also mentioned leukopenia as a symptom of fenbendazole toxicity, but he has leukocytosis. Again I have little medical knowledge, but bone marrow hypoplasia can cause infections, so would that mean leukocytosis? Is it possible that leukopenia changes to leukocytosis when he has an infection? I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense or is far fetched.
I hope I'm not annoying or overthinking this, I know this probably doesn't matter because even knowing this will not make his condition better, but it would mean clarity and why he suddenly developed all these symptoms.
Thank you!
The vet said it's likely because the parasites cause inflammation etc., I should have fed him more. I will feed him 4x a day Harrison, vitamins etc. and I'll do a smaller amount if necessary, depending on how well he digests. maybe 4x 12ml a day. He was also a bit wobbly, he got some fluids + calcium. For now I will remove the grains because I think it might be too much for his digestive system and will only feed the formula more regularly.
