Help treating for roundworms, please.

[ZEROPILOT]

this past Monday I spent $300 at the vet and was told that my tortoise was fine. Yesterday she pooped after 3 weeks of nothing and I found worms near it, I thought that they were earthworms, but I checked them out closer and they are indeed ROUNDWORMS.
I treat my tortoises with Diatomacious Earth in their food a few times a month, however, this girl has never eaten it. (Maybe it wouldn't have helped anyway)
A few questions: I do need to treat all four of my Red Foots don't I? They all live in close proximity. (Only one is pooping worms and not eating.) And can someone give me a relatively safe dosage ammount to give to my tortoises? (the ones that will eat) Can I administer some through drinking water for my tortoise that wont eat?
I have Panacur. The tortoises are all over 11" and as large as 14".
Thanks.

 

[jaizei]

this past Monday I spent $300 at the vet and was told that my tortoise was fine. Yesterday she pooped after 3 weeks of nothing and I found worms near it, I thought that they were earthworms, but I checked them out closer and they are indeed ROUNDWORMS.
I treat my tortoises with Diatomacious Earth in their food a few times a month, however, this girl has never eaten it. (Maybe it wouldn't have helped anyway)
A few questions: I do need to treat all four of my Red Foots don't I? They all live in close proximity. (Only one is pooping worms and not eating.) And can someone give me a relatively safe dosage ammount to give to my tortoises? (the ones that will eat) Can I administer some through drinking water for my tortoise that wont eat?
I have Panacur. The tortoises are all over 11" and as large as 14".
Thanks.

When speaking about dosing (And can someone give me a relatively safe dosage ammount to give to my tortoises?), are referring to the aforementioned diatomaceous earth, or the Panacur you later reference?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Panacur for treatment. The DE has been used for maintenance only.
I know that there is an old post or two. I can't find anything.
My plan is to put the Panacur in a strawberry and feed my tortoises.(One each)
I think it's once a week for three weeks? That and how much I don't recall.

 

[Turtlepete]

I've never used any ultra-specific dosage. 4-5 drops on a piece of chicken or other food that the animal will accept and hope they get most of it into them. Less is better here, and you typically don't need much, as far as I've been told. Seems to work well. I use chicken because if you soak a strip of cooked chicken in a couple drops of Panacur, it eventually absorbs it so you don't have to worry about the tortoise trampling the food in the dirt and losing all of the Panacur on it.

Hard call whether or not to dose the rest of them. The issue is that deworming without purpose is not optimal for the health of the tortoise either. But you also don't want to wait until they are displaying symptoms to make that call. If they are all eating good and still acting normal, I would hold it off for now, but watch them very closely.

 

[FujiBaird]

I believe there is an online calculator for panacur dosing for tortoises, which is based on weight:

http://www.totallytortoise.co.uk/guides/charts-calculators/worming-calculator-panacur/

That said, I have no veterinary medicine experience and cannot vouch for these dosages being correct. When my tortoise was treated for worms, the vet had me give her daily doses for 4 days, then 2 weeks off, then another 4 days of doses. Your tortoise will still be passing worm eggs in that time and they can survive for several weeks in your substrate; I was advised to quarantine in a bin with paper towels for substrate until I was reasonably confident that all the worms had passed and enough time had passed that the eggs would be dead.

 

[ShannonC]

With a heavy load of worms like that, you should dose lightly at first to avoid impaction from an overload of dead worms going through the intestinal tract. I would start with 25mg/kg of tortoise weight on day one, then 50mg/kg on day 10 and day 20. I don't know what type you have, so you will have to calculate the actual amount to give depending on what strength of Panacur you are using.

It also would not hurt to add an extra dose on day 30, or wait a month and repeat the entire three dose cycle again. The second time around, I would use the higher dose all three times. An actual overdose of the drug is almost impossible because it is so mild. The danger for the torts is getting the dead worms through and out! I have even read that you should dose at 100mg/kg, but I wouldn't do that in your case right now.

ETA: Disclaimer......I am not a vet, so take my advice at your own risk! (Although I have been using Fenbendazole on ALL of my animals for many years) Finding this info for tortoises was the first thing I did when I was researching to see if I really wanted torts.

 

[ShannonC]

I would not try to dose Panacur in water!! Maybe you can get someone to help you give it directly into the mouth with a syringe? That's what I would do. If it's a big tort, and you have the lower dosage that results in a lot to be given, do it slowly...just a few drops at a time.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

She's big and pulls her head and arms in really tight.
I'm not sure what I'll do if I can't introduce it into water as she will eat nothing.

 

[ShannonC]

How much water will she drink? You could put less water, then overdose the water, but you will never know how much she is getting in her. And will she get enough in her in a short enough period of time that way to help? I would think that if she is drinking water, it's worth a try if it's the only way. But her water isn't going to taste good. It seems, according to my animals, that stuff tastes bad!

But, I say do whatever you can to get it in her. Which kind do you have? Liquid, paste, 2.5%, 10%??

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm going out to get it. I'll report what form and what strength. They have it for horses and also for smaller animals.
She is in the quarantine area and I've removed the water. She will be nice and thirsty.
The others I'll give a small amount just in case. Four days on and ten days off then another four days on.
I'll post how it goes.

Thanks.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I got two small tubes of 10% paste and a box of powder that I'm gonna try to mix with water.
Everything was like $50.
I'll dose Sunday morning.

 

[ShannonC]

I think it's fine to do the four day doses for your others, but I wouldn't risk it on the first round with the one that has a heavy worm load. If you dose her too much at once, it might kill off the worms too fast and cause impaction. If it were me I would do the once every ten days, THEN maybe do the four day doses after that when the worm load is much smaller. Just my opinion.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks Sharon. And there is a HUGE UPDATE:
SHE ATE!
She ate a slice of mango with a small portion of 10% panacur. I then gave her a much larger untreated slice and she also ate that. I like the idea of not dosing too much.
I'll do that. The other three will get the three days on and ten days off then another 3 days.
With her, maybe once every four or five days would be better initially.
The fact that she ate today shows that she is still strong.
The dosage is about 1/3rd the size of a tic tac mint each.

 

[ShannonC]

That's great to hear!! Yeah, you can get more aggressive with the treatment as she gets rid of a lot of those worms. As a matter of fact, I would definitely make sure she got some more aggressive treatment later on to make sure she gets rid of them all!

I use the liquid 10% Panacur......that way I only have to buy one kind, because I can find a way to dose everybody......the dogs each have their own bowls, so theirs get put on their night time food......the cats doses are so small, it's easy to give theirs with a syringe......my chickens got theirs with a pipette.....my Beardies and Geckos get theirs with a syringe........ i haven't had to give any to torts yet, so that is yet to be determined.....lol..... I have a sneaky feeling it's not going to be as easy as everyone else!!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yes. Thanks and she'll remain isolated for a few months while this runs its course.
Now that she has eaten, she should also poop and I'll examine it for worm quantity.

 

[ShannonC]

Hopefully eating something today will have re-stimulated her appetite!! Sometimes getting them to make that first step is the key!! I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks.
And thanks everyone else.

 

[newCH]

Yeah, she ate ! Thats great !

 

[mtdavis254817]

So glad she ate

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Monday update. I DID give her a light dosage because she is still eating!
Today she ate another Mango slice, a slice of watermelon and two broccoli rabbi leaves.
Not the best meal...but food.