From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-03-15 16:03:29 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: conversions
To: Heather <standingoak@xplornet.com>, ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
> From: "Heather" <standingoak@xplornet.com>
> Date: March 15, 2008 10:35:08 AM EDT
> To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: conversions
>
>
> I have a quick question. I need a pred conversion. My vet has
> requested that my furbaby Aremis gets 0.2 ml of pred 5mg/ml. The
> pharmacy that made up his pred (human) gave me 5mg/5ml. What would
> Aremis' dosage be? My vet is out until Tues, the emergency clinic
> would be glad to do this conversion for a huge price, I was hoping
> someone online could help me out. Thanks
> Ciao
> Heather and the furkids
> In loving memory of Pandora, Mischief, Mayhem, Athos and Porthos
> Shakespeare and Mushu
Heather, if you think about it instead of worrying, "Arrgghhh, math!"
and freezing, you will realize that you know the answer to this one,
you know how to find it, and you've known how to since somewhere from
3rd grade to 5th grade, depending on how your grade school timed when
things were taught.
A lot of people are far, far more capable in math than they realize
but freeze up so don't grasp that. It is just a matter of shaking out
your worries, making sure that you understand what each word means,
and going from there.
The amount of med is told by how many mgs are in there.
You already know that because mg is weight, but even if you forget it
there is no worry because by process of elimination you get it just
from knowing what ml means by seeing it on your syringe.
The ml (or the cc) is the volume measurement. You already know that
because you measure that out in the liquid volume of the medicine
mixed with the liquids that thin it out to a given concentration.
So, you know that what you need is an adjusted volume (ml) to get
enough weight of the med (mg) into your ferret.
The concentration your vet asked for would have had 5 mg in each ml,
written as 5mg/ml.
The concentration the pharmacy gave you instead has 5 mg in 5 ml. How
many mgs are in each of those mls? 5 divided by 5 is 1.
So the concentration the pharmacy gave you has only 1 mg in each ml.
The vet wanted 5 mg in each ml; you have 1 mg in each ml, so the
medicine you should have been given would have had 5 times as much
medicine as the one you received.
So you need to give 5 times as much to get to the same dose size (so
be careful giving it and give in multiple small squirts because that
is a lot of liquid and could gag the ferret if given all at once).
Okay, you know you have to give 5 times as much volume of this med
because it has only 1/5th as much medicine in it.
For the right concentration you would have given 0.2 ml, right? You
have to give 5 times more. 0.2 x 5 is easy as pie. It's...
Come on, I know you've got it.
2x5 is what?
Don't forget the decimal point, because it is 0.2 (2 tenths) instead
of 2 (which is ten times more than 0.2).
Yes. Yeah. Yep. Okay!
You have it: 1 ml
See, you DID know how to get that result. It was just a matter of not
letting the word "math" worry you. You do math that is harder than
this every day but don't think of it as math because you are used it
so you don't freeze. You do it at the grocers, you do it playing some
games, you do it when you look at your interest earnings from your
savings accounts, you do it when you do your household budget. "Math"
is just a word, but math itself is a wonderful wonderful tool that you
constantly use without even knowing it.
*****It would not surprise me in the least if after sending your
message you suddenly realized that you knew the answer but had just
felt intimidated temporarily.*****
In that case, maybe this will help someone else the next time.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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