Message Number: YG5358 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-07-10 23:18:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Dr. Williams, am I doing the math correctly?

--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Debi Christy" <ferrets1st@f...>
wrote:
> On the Biaxin/Amoxi protocol for Helicobacter:
>
> "...chlorythromycin (Biaxin) at 50 mg/kg once daily, and
amoxicillin
> at 35 mg/kg once daily, or 20 mg/kg twice daily..."
>
> Ferret weighs 2.38 (decimal) pounds = 5.236kg (pounds x 2.2= kg)
>
> Biaxin suspension dispensed at 250mg per 5ml
> Amoxi suspension dispensed at 50mg per 1ml
>
> 35mg x 5.23kg = 183.26mg amoxi once daily, which is 3.67cc of the
> suspension
>
> 50mg x 5.23kg = 261.8mg Biaxin once daily, which is 5.24cc of the
> auspension
>
> Sounds like an awful lot to me... am I doing something wrong?
>
> (Haven't administered this... someone asked me & I wanted to be
sure
> before replying.)
>
> Debi

I'm bad at math, but this one sounds way off. Let's see...

Biaxin at 250 mg/5ml = 50 mg/ml - and dosed at 50 mg/kg, so that's
basically 1 ml of the suspension for each kg of ferret.

Now here's the problem - 2.38 lbs = 1.1 kg (a kilogram is equal to
2.2 pounds.

so you need a total of 55 mg of biaxin - actually 1.1 ml of Biaxin.

The amoxi dose also needs to be adjusted - 35 mg/kg = a total of 38.5
mg needed for this ferret (who weighs 1.1 kg.). 38.5 mg from a 50
mg/ml suspension is about 0.8 ml.

Glad you asked.

With kindest regards,

Bruce Williams, dVM