Levasole sheep boluses as drench - coupla questions ?

[Shiloh Acres]

Hi all and thanks so much for the info so far. I think we're doing pretty well considering. Everyone's eyelids are pinking up at least a little. No one is perfect but a few look pretty good. I still have a few barely pinkish ones but I think the condition is as good as it's going to get without another round wormer. Still some very underweight girls (one doe and one doeling) but their appetite is back and they have really perked up in behavior. The tiniest one is REALLY getting pushy and active. I won't complain though!

I hope it's time for the Levasole. I'd like to know -- can I crush them and make them into a suspension with liquid, and drench them that way? Maybe mix them with something more palatable to make it easier? (they fight me less if they like the taste and a couple of them maybe weigh about as much as I do and ALL of them have horns so I have to be careful with straddling them to drench them.)

I plan to use a syringe to drench them. I have lots of sizes but it's all I have.

Speaking of their weights, I can only weigh the doelings. I guessed the young bucks and the does for Safeguard and Red Cell but I don't trust my judgement for this. I've heard of measuring and a table for that to help, but I haven't found it. And is it accurate enough? Even if one is thinner, etc.? For bucks or does?

Guess that's mostly what I need to know. I feel a little nervous doing this, in case they have a problem with still having too high a wormload, or in case I over/under dose.

I have been pretty worried about most of them and they just now seem to all be doing pretty well.

Thanks !!!

 

[cmjust0]

...can I crush them and make them into a suspension with liquid, and drench them that way? Maybe mix them with something more palatable to make it easier?

Scared of bolusing? I was too, at first...then I saw a buddy of mine do it and I swear he ran the bolus gun down their throat so deep it hit the soles of their feet.

Ok, not really, but.. He had an old -- and I mean OLD -- calf balling gun that was stainless steel, from one end to the other. And I saw his technique, too...head straight up, bolus gun straight down, about as far as he could get it without losing the gun..

I subsequently ordered this bolus gun from valley vet...invaluable. SOOOOOOfreakingmuch better than the $2 plastic calf balling guns you can get at TSC because A) it's never gonna break, leaving you to fish half a balling gun out of a goat's mouth jagged-end first, and B) the plastic tube on the end is soft, so you're not scratching their throat up on the way down and C) the plastic tube on the end is RUBBERY AND TACKY...so it tends to hold onto pills A LOT better than the slick, hard plastic bolus guns.

Just sayin'...if you want to give it as a bolus but can't really picture doing it, order the bolus gun from Valley. When you get it and see it and are able to hold it in your hands...might just become a bit less intimidating.

Actually...I'd recommend that just about anyone with goats should just go ahead and get one of these, just to have it. Never know when you might NEED to bolus a goat with something someday and I promise that you don't wanna be stuck trying to put a sharp-edged plastic piece of CRAP down their throat, losing pills all the while..

NOW...so far as crushing/drenching, I'd speculate that you could probably do that. They make a drench powder, and the active ingredient -- levamisole hydrochloride -- is no different, so drenching it as liquid is obviously one route of administration that's "approved."

However...if you're going to drench, and you've found that drenching with a regular ol' syringe is easier if the stuff isn't icky....you need a drenching syringe.



The one I linked is a 20ml...I have a 30ml, which I like better, but it doesn't really matter.. Anything over, say, 15ml with 1ml increments is going to work well enough for goats..

Just stick the end of it in the corner of their mouth to where the end of the nozzle is basically right on the back of their tongue, and push the plunger slowly....they can't bite through the nozzle (it's metal.. ) and they've got liquid beginning to go down their throat.

They basically don't have a choice but to swallow it -- and they will. You can pretty much drench anything with a drench syringe, whether they like it or not, and there's not a whole lot they can do about it.

I've found that they're actually less apt to get chokey when you use a drench syringe than when you just use a regular syringe..

As for weights...when you're using levasole, GET YOUR WEIGHTS RIGHT. Physically weigh the ones you can.. If you can't weigh them, I'd personally err on the side of caution and be sure you're UNDERDOSING it.

Bear in mind that underdosing is bad too, though, so you kinda get hosed either way....but the results of underdosing (resistant parasites, possibly) aren't as bad as overdosing (dead goats) when it comes to levasole..