Urgent Revolution dosage for fleas on my Sun Conure

[Art Wich]

My Mindy Sun Conure has had problems with fleas a few times in the past year. She got very itchy and bit of her feathers and bit her skin too. Bloody.

The vet had given her Revolution (selamectin) drop on her neck skin. It worked well and she didn't show any sign of allergy or side effects. My question is the vet gave her 0.1 ml which is 6 mg in strength. Now, I look up on the Internet and found that the proper dose is supposed to be 6 mg per Kg of weight body. Sun conures weigh only about 0.1 to 0.13 Kg. (Revolution for Cats strength is 60 mg/ml.)

Did my vet make a wrong calculation? But Mindy didn't show any sign of trouble. The fleas itching and biting were gone after about 36 hours of application.

Does any one have any experience with Revolution for small parrots/conures?

 

[Art Wich]

Sorry, I just want to clarify that my calculation indicates that the dose should be 0.01 ml., which will be very difficult to handle. My worry is 0.1 ml is 10 times my calculated dose !!

 

[Macawnutz]

My guess is that your vet is not an avian vet. I have never heard of administering any type of flea medication to a bird. Fleas don't typically bite birds and if they did they don't stay on their body. You would treat the fleas in your home rather than the bird.

I would call an avian vet and get your bird in to be seen. This could be extremely dangerous for her.

 

[VictoriaVague]

definitely fleas and not bird mites? I've never heard of birds having trouble with cat and dog fleas. as Sarah says, I'd treat your house and cats/dogs. Just don't use anything near to the bird.

 

[JLcribber]

Birds do not get fleas. A vet that does not know that is not a bird vet.

 

[Chihuahua]

revolution can kill your bird! you should never ever use something like that on a bird! find a new vet!

 

[msplantladi]

I believe you are very lucky your bird is still alive...best wishes in finding a new vet.

 

[Shyra]

I have previously looked up Advantix and how it would effect birds since I use it on my dogs. I do try to wash my hands after touching the dogs before touching the birds but in reality that doesn't always happen for whatever reason. Anyway, while it does say it's harmful to cats it does say it's safe for birds. I find that odd and still try not to transfer it from my dogs to the birds.
If you look up Revolution (selamectin) on the net it has been used on birds for mites with no harm to the birds. If you scroll down to page 93 and 94 it talks about using it on birds and the dosage to apply.

http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol5Iss3/Beck 87-96.pdf

 

[Milo]

Revolution is absorbed systemically rather than live in the sebaceous glands like other topical flea meds. It is also used to treat mites and lice, which birds can get. Call your vet and talk to them about the dosing, there are usually wide dosing ranges available and so it's not necessarily an error on your vet's part, but that they may use a different dose range.

 

[rocky'smom]

time to find a avian vet. birds do NOT get fleas.

 

[alcmene]

I know others have said it- but just to add another voice to the chorus- fleas are a mammalian parasite. Birds don't get fleas. Mites- yes. Fleas- no. If your vet told you a bird has fleas, that is a woefully ill informed vet. Time to get a new one stat

 

[karen256]

Like everyone's said, birds don't really get fleas. Some outdoor ground dwelling birds like chickens can get fleas but they're a different species than dog/cat fleas, not very common, and in any case, don't bother birds that aren't ground dwellers. If the problem with your bird being itchy and irritated is parasite related (and not just dry skin) it's more likely to be mites or giardia.
Giardia is an internal parasite that can cause a lot of skin irritation, but the most common source is from your water (so if it's in your tap water, you might get it too). It can be hard to test for though.
Mites are uncommon but more likely than fleas. The medication you're using would probably work against mites, too, but I would try to find a vet more familiar with birds. Feather mites also generally don't live on the bird - they find nearby hiding places during the day, so if you do have mites, you need to wash/disinfect the cage, toys, anything near where your bird sleeps. I've read that the best way to identify mites is to cover the cage with a white sheet for the night. In the morning, uncover the cage and you should be able to see the mites as tiny red dots on the sheet.

 

[Art Wich]

Thank you very much for all the replies.

I don't know exactly what kind of insect was attacking Mindy, but it was definitely causing her to panic and she waggled her tail all the time, biting out the feathers and eventually biting on her skin causing a lot of bleeding. This went on for two days before I decided to take her to the vet. As I mentioned, after about 36 hours of the Revolution application, the symptoms subsided and she returned to normal the next day. This had happened three times in the past year. Every time the medication definitely helped.

I have also seen a very tiny black insect (smaller than 1 mm in size) moving very fast across the feathers of another cockatiel and a cinnamon conure at my father's country house where I visit weekly. But the two birds didn't seem to be bothered by it. I don't know whether they were fleas or mites or what, and whether they came from dogs or cats in the house. (Or possibly from the rats? Or from the other various kinds of birds in the house.) But I am pretty sure that Mindy's problem was from the insects.

I had done some searches on the Internet earlier and found these links on treating birds with Selamectin
Feather Mites - Biology -- Control of feather mites

Link on Selamectin use on chicken
Mites & Revolution (Selamectin)
Selamectin use on other animals including birds
Revolution Flea Control - All about Revolution For Pets.

I will definitely seek advice from an avian vet as several people have suggested here.

And many thanks to Shyra for the link. I will also keep looking for more info and share anything that might be useful here.

 

[Art Wich]

I just found another interesting link
Pharmacokinetics of selamectin in helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) after topical administration. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Art Wich]

Update on Revolution for birds.

I just went to see an avian vet a few days ago. She confirmed that Revolution can be safely used with birds. In the US Revolution is licensed for only dogs and cats, so vets cannot support "off-label" use. But here in Thailand, it is a normal practice.

The dose calculated for 100 gm of body weight comes to 0.1 ml (cc) as I pointed out. But the amount is so small that it is difficult to administer, so an increase to 0.2 or 0.3 is better. (e.g. some solution may get soaked ip in the feather and not absorbed into the skin.)

Another vet says dose for birds is higher than dose for dogs and cats. She says for birds it should be 15 mg per kg of body weight. (dog's is 6 mg/kg) So both vets' recommendations are consistent.

Disclaimer: I am not a vet. I just merely want to share my experience.

 

[alcmene]

Interesting. Thank you for sharing. I don't think anyone was saying Revolution is unsafe for birds (i think everybody said, they had no idea) though. What people were saying is that fleas aren't an avian parasite.

 

[Milo]

It acutally IS a common practice to use off label medicines for birds and other exotics in the US, that is because there aren't any label approved drugs for them. Much of the information has been through research and anecdotal evidence to find dosages and to produce a formulary to guide practitioners

 

[Bokkapooh]

Fleas must be mutating. Because at my old apartments my birds most CERTAINLY DID get fleas. I even posts about it here on here with pictures. I know what a flea is and that is what was jumping and getting into my birds feathers.

They didnt stay on my birds, not even sure they were biting them but they were certainly jumping on them and going in their feathers.

 

[Art Wich]

Update on Revolution for birds.

I just went to see an avian vet a few days ago. She confirmed that Revolution can be safely used with birds. In the US Revolution is licensed for only dogs and cats, so vets cannot support "off-label" use. But here in Thailand, it is a normal practice.

The dose calculated for 100 gm of body weight comes to 0.1 ml (cc) as I pointed out. But the amount is so small that it is difficult to administer, so an increase to 0.2 or 0.3 is better. (e.g. some solution may get soaked ip in the feather and not absorbed into the skin.)

Another vet says dose for birds is higher than dose for dogs and cats. She says for birds it should be 15 mg per kg of body weight. (dog's is 6 mg/kg) So both vets' recommendations are consistent.

Disclaimer: I am not a vet. I just merely want to share my experience.

After three years, the insect problem just started again yesterday. So I went through this posting again to refresh my memory and found that I had made an error (typo) -- corrected text here:

The dose calculated for 100 gm of body weight comes to 0.025 ml (cc) as I pointed out. But the amount is so small that it is difficult to administer, so an increase to approximately 0.1 is better. (e.g. some solution may get soaked ip in the feather and not absorbed into the skin.)

 

[Art Wich]

I just want to add that for this round of the insect problem I didn't have the medication (Revolution), so I thought I would try something while waiting for the mail order of the medication.

I had read somewhere on the internet that insects don't like mint leaves and I happened to have some mint leaves at hand. So I grabbed a bunch of mint leaves and tear them into small tiny pieces. I then rubbed the pieces on her cheek feather -- the area that she felt itchy. (She had been scratching her cheek with everything around her and got blood all over her cheek.) She didn't like it at first and she was biting back like crazy. But after the second and third round of application she calmed down and let me do it. I also poured the pieces in her cage right near where she sleeps. In the morning, a good part of the pieces were missing. So I suspect that she (and her mate, Mork) might have eaten some.

Any how, the next morning I noticed a considerable change in her scratching behavior. She was feeling much better. I did the same thing again the next day. The scratchy symptoms were gone in two days and by the time the Revolution arrived I didn't need to do the Revolution drop.

I thought this finding might be helpful for other people who might run into a similar problem. I think in my case the insects were fleas coming from the stray cats up in the ceiling. I have had stray cats problems even before I got Mork and Mindy some six years ago.