From:
katharine
Date: 2001-03-21 20:10:00 UTC
Subject: Dr. Williams or anyone else (Benadryl)
Let me try this.....hope it's not too elementary.
My mind just has to do things this way.
My Benadryl bottle says a teaspoon = 12.5mg
There are 5ml in a teaspoon
Therefore, you have 12.5mg per 5ml
You would divide 12.5 (mg per teaspoon) by 5 (ml
per teaspoon) = 2.5
You now have 2.5mg per ml
To get to 2 mg, you would divide 2 (the amount you
want to get to) by 2.5 (the amount in 1ml) =
.8ml (your dosage amount)
The proper dosage is 2mg per kg (2.2 lbs)
Dr. Williams has said, in the past, that Benadryl
is quite forgiving so you can actually just give
everyone about 1 ml. You might go with a little
less for a tiny ferret or a little more for a huge
one. I pre-dose before we leave home which is
about 30-45 minutes before we see the vet.
I have also heard of people giving Benadryl for 2
days prior, the day of the vaccination, and the
next day. Either Dr. Williams (forgive me if I'm
wrong) or my vet said there was no benefit to
doing that.
I will say that two of mine had reactions
(distemper) in January even after pre-dosing.
These were the first reactions I have seen since I
started pre-dosing several years ago and, luckily,
they were both mild. They both reacted after we
got home (well past 30 minutes) and were pretty
much OK by the time we got back to the vet. He
did have them stay for a while so he could monitor
them.
Katharine