Vitamin D injection dosage?

[BlueAcres]

Hello. Does anyone know the dosage for vitamin D injections to correct a deficiency (rickets)? I purchased Vitamin A & D from the feedstore which has general guidelines for beef cattle. In the below link for poultry, it is said to administer it IM 3300 U/kg q7d prn or 6600 U/kg once. "q7d prn" means every 7 days as needed. Last night I administered the 6600 IU/kg to her. However, it doesn't seem correct that that is all she needs because this source also says laying hens need 3,000-4,000 IU/kg which I assume means daily. It is also not clear if that is kg of feed or kg of body weight. I think it's reasonable that for the injection recommendation it means kg of body weight. All other sources of information I've researched seem to refer to vitamin D in amounts per kg of feed.

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/vitamin-d-deficiency

I'm hoping someone else has made an effort to pin this down. Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Just curious, did you get a diagnosis of Rickets?

 

[BlueAcres]

I've come to find out that the DVM site is not to be trusted and certainly not authoritative, despite appearances. This article has been helpful. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/docume...ommittee-veterinary-medicinal-products_en.pdf

 

[Eggcessive]

I would read up on rickets, perhaps get a diagnosis from a vet, and treat with a good balanced chicken feed and oral supplements if needed. There can be certain balances of clacium-phosphorus-vitamin D3 requirements for bone health and development. Some problems with legs in chickens may be due to parent stock and their vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Some are due to the various leg bone deformities. More information and pictures about your chickens would be helpful, although I am not a vet. Here is some info on rickets:
https://thepoultrysite.com/disease-guide/rickets-hypocalcaemic

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ement-poultry/mineral-deficiencies-in-poultry

 

[BlueAcres]

I've read all those and am looking for specific dosage information, not diagnostic information.

 

[akmarad]

Does anyone have information on vitamin D injection dosage and frequency?

Our 2 year old Australorp became listless, not drinking, hard time walking, ruffling feathers. We took her to the vet for a blood test, which showed low calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. Vet wants to give a vitamin D shot and calcium shot. If I can get the dosage, I can do it myself and save some money. Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Calcium and vitamin D3 are easily given orally from over the counter supplements. 1/2 a human 600 mg calcium tablet that already contains vitamin D is plenty for a daily dose. It should only be given for several days.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013TMWIK/?tag=backy-20

 

[akmarad]

I assume that the vet recommended injection because it gets into the blood stream faster than liquid or pill supplements. Are you opposed to injection due to stress, pain and risk of injury? (If so, those are pretty good reasons!)

I bought some calcium + D3 pills as you recommended. Half a pill gives 300mg Ca and 400 IU D3. We've been giving her 1ml nutridrench twice/day. Should we discontinue that while we give her the calcium pills, since nutridrench also has 200 IU/ml vitamin D?

 

[BlueAcres]

I assume that the vet recommended injection because it gets into the blood stream faster than liquid or pill supplements. Are you opposed to injection due to stress, pain and risk of injury? (If so, those are pretty good reasons!)

I bought some calcium + D3 pills as you recommended. Half a pill gives 300mg Ca and 400 IU D3. We've been giving her 1ml nutridrench twice/day. Should we discontinue that while we give her the calcium pills, since nutridrench also has 200 IU/ml vitamin D?

You should let the vet do it and ask her about Osteo-Form supplement which is a powder, and use that afterwards. The IU amounts you quoted are very low and would not correct her deficiency from what I've read. She needs thousands of IUs/kg of bw not hundreds. Ask your vet how many IUs of D and Ca she needs if you are trying to treat her yourself.... Then tell us!

Good luck with your hen. Glad you got a diagnosis.

 

[akmarad]

The vet wanted to charge $150 to give the injections and I'd have to drop the chicken off all day, which I don't want to pay for or do. They also wouldn't give me the dosages due to liability. We'll have to figure this out on our own.

Since 0.2 ml/lb body weight seems to be the accepted dosage for Calcium Gluconate 23%, I'll give her 0.2ml/lb x 5lbs = 1.0 ml injected subcutaneously. I got this info here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-bound-calcium-dosage.819024/page-2#post-14065128

For vitamins A+D, I checked the recommended dosages for both vitamins A and D, since giving too much of either can cause harm. Dosage info was obtained here:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/vitamin-d-deficiency
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/vitamin-a-deficiency

Vitamin A recommendation for deficiency: 20,000-33,000 U/kg IM q7d
Vitamin A requirement for Betty: (5lbs/2.2kg) x 33,000 UI/kg = 75,000 UI q7d
Vitamine A dosage for Betty: 75,000 UI / 500,000 UI/ml = 0.15 ml

Since the vitamin A dosage does not have a higher one shot dosage, I'll go with the q7d dosages for both A and D.

Vitamin D recommendation for deficiency: 3,300 U/kg IM q7d
Vitamin D requirement for Betty: (5lbs/2.2kg) x 3,300 UI/kg = 7,500 UI
Vitamine D dosage for Betty: 7,500 UI / 75,000 UI/ml = 0.10 ml

The vitamin D dosage is the limiting factor, so we will give her 0.1 ml of the A+D injected subcutaneously. And plenty of sunshine. We will re-assess in 1 week and give another 0.1 ml if she's not better.

The last part of the puzzle is her phosphorus deficiency. The powder Osteo-Form (calcium+phosphorus powder) recommended by BlueAcres is exactly what we need, but the general store didn't have any. I ordered some from amazon. I'll work out the dosage later. In the meantime, I'll feed her some egg, pumpkin/sunflower seeds and lentils, all of which are high in phosphorus.
https://www.amazon.com/Vet-Mix-Osteo-Form-SA-Powder/dp/B0002YFB