what is the appropriate dosage for sulmet?

[Kelpie]

I have a 5 week old very shrimpy listless silkie. I would like to administer sulmet by syringe or dropper since she is not very interested in drinking otherwise. I can't find anything the the appropriate dose for a small individual. Can anyone help? She is more the size of a two week old.

 

[JennsPeeps]

I only know the drinking water dosage, which is something like 1 T/gallon of water (on the bottle). You could make up that ratio and then administer that via syringe.

Be very very careful if force-watering. You could easily get water into the lungs, which is fatal.

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks! I did end up just reducing that dosage. I did 1/2 a teaspoon for 2.66 cups of water which I think is the same ratio as the 2T:Gallon on the bottle. I still don't know how much water solution to give her but she did end up drinking a lot. I had force fed her hand feeding food earlier because she is just a little bag of bones. She drank from a pipet pretty well if I just put a drop on her break. I'm thinking her problem may be dehydration more than anything since she was more interested in the water than anything I'd given her before. I followed it up with some electrolytes. Hopefully that will perk her up. It is so hard to keep their water full and clean, every time I check it it's empty or full of crud in the waterer. I also keep a mug in there for backup but it's a black mug so maybe she doesn't know there's anything in there.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Good thing about the electrolytes. You could offer her feed in yogurt, too. That's got lots of nutrients in it for her, plus will be easy to digest/eat.

Keep us posted on her.

Any idea why she hasn't been eating? Is she getting bullied? Does she have worms? Other?

 

[silkiechicken]

Put the chick waterer high enough so it is back level with the chicks, as for sulmet, not sure how much you should give it, but be careful, as it is potent and I've heard of cases where on it's own can cause intestinal bleeding because it is an indiscriminate antibiotic that kills the cocci protozoa and the beneficial bacteria in the gut. If you suspect it is only dehydration, electrolytes may be better than a drug that is known to be harsh on the system.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

The dosage for Sulmet is 2 tablespoons per gallon. Follow up with some good probiotics to get her system back up to par. It is possible she has coccidiosis, which causes them to 'go light' and sit around all day. Although usually they still eat and drink a little, but it could be a bad case. Sulmet is a pretty good sulfa drug, so hopefully it'll get rid of whatever's bothering her. Good luck

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks! She is one of three silkies in with several standard phoenix and a couple other bantam varieties who are 5 days younger. One of the silkies is faboosh and 5 times her size and the other one is even smaller than her. That other one had wry neck and had to be force fed for a long time which was very draining on the both of us but she's doing great now and acts almost normal except she still tends to turn in circles sometimes. I'm thinking these two little silkies just aren't as competitive. I don't see them being bullied but I'll try separating them out tomorrow so I know they are warmest and well fed. I will also pick them up some plain yogurt.