Can Chickens Take Ibuprofen?

There are several reasons why a fowl vet may prescribe Ibuprofen dosage to your birds.  Mainly, birds living in unhealthy environments are at risk from a whole load of common diseases. Some of them include Avian Influenza, Fowl Cholera, Coccidiosis, Newcastle Disease, and Salmonellosis.

As a result, your bird may become listless, lose appetite, stop laying eggs, excrete abnormal droppings or display other symptoms. Without further ado, we take this opportunity to shed more light on Ibuprofen and why you should use it on your poultry.

What is Ibuprofen Used For?

Ibuprofen is a popular medication classified under the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) class. Popularly known as IBU, they are widely used to reduce inflammation, pain, and high temperatures both in animals and human beings.

Of course, no chicken lover wants to combat an epidemic within the flock. Regrettably, by the time some farmers notice unusual symptoms on a bird, most likely, the infection has already affected others as well.

One main reason that makes diagnosis difficult in chickens is that they naturally mask symptoms. This is a survival instinct where birds hide their vulnerability to prevent attacks from predators. However, when a condition escalates, you can quickly pinpoint mentioned symptoms on your feathered friends.

When chickens fall sick, owners commonly resort to a set of home remedies without much consideration on side effects or future repercussions. It is essential to consider safer treatment alternatives for your poultry at all times.

When it comes to pain control, first consider the cause. For instance, you should manage pain from deep internal pain much differently from injury hurting.

Luckily, you can use Ibuprofen to relieve soreness and different kind of pain in your birds. Nonetheless, consult an expert for accurate dosages and safe interaction with other medications.

Is Ibuprofen Safe for Chickens?

There are a couple of controversial theories on whether Ibuprofen is a safe medication to use on chickens. There is plenty of literature recommending it as an effective anti-inflammatory agent and pain reliever regarding this topic.

On the other hand, some analyses indicate that all NSAID prescriptions tend to irritate the stomach lining. Usually, you can mitigate the issue by giving Ibuprofen to your birds after feeding them.

Still, you need to realize that long-term or wrong use of Ibuprofen on your flock can cause life-threatening conditions like kidney damage, stomach bleeding, or heart attack. As a matter of fact, several veterinarians disregard Ibuprofen on chickens unless necessary.

Above all, avoid using the drug on dehydrated birds because there is a future likelihood of renal damage when introducing Ibuprofen to chickens in a dehydrated state. This is because IBU is not very gentle to chicken kidneys and can cause some damage in the long run.

Thus, rehydrate your pet birds thoroughly before and during an NSAID dosage. This approach helps in cleaning off excess IBU sediments from the kidneys.

Take into account that all NSAIDs are blood thinners and may instigate bleeding issues. Therefore, only use Ibuprofen when the benefits outweigh the risks involved.

How to Dose Ibuprofen for Chicken?

Dosages differ from one bird to another depending on the ailment at hand. In addition, a qualified vet may administer Ibuprofen depending on the bird’s weight. Depending on the dosage, IBU can be administered orally or intravenously.

Most experts suggest a maximum dose of 15 mg per kg. (bird weight) twice or thrice daily. It is worth pointing out that the chicken’s body weight may influence how long Ibuprofen stays in the body.

Furthermore, the circulatory system tends to slow down how fast medication moves to the kidneys and liver. In short, total body weight influences dosage quantity in chickens. For that reason, health experts may start on a low dosage for young chicks but augment the dosage when the weight increases.

Can Baby Chickens Take Aspirin?

There is no major worry in giving aspirin to your young chickens. Similar to Ibuprofen, the dosage amount mainly depends on the bird’s body weight. This translates to approximately 120 mg of aspirin dosage in adult chickens. For bantams and young chicks, 20 mg thrice daily is ideal.

Like IBU, aspirins are an ideal medication option in reducing fever, pain, and swelling/inflammation. Moreover, they reduce the chances of cardiovascular problems in poultry. For baby chicks, they are effective in managing symptoms associated with non-typical ailments.

If your birds are in a great deal of pain, simply dissolve five aspirins in a gallon of water and encourage them to drink. Before doing this, ensure that your bird is not bleeding for whatever reason. Unknown to most people, aspirins also thins the blood and can escalate a bleeding scenario.

Additionally, they can irritate the stomach lining when used for long durations. Overall, be wary of mixing aspirin with Ibuprofen because of a possible drug interaction.

Bear in mind that mixing aspirin with Ibuprofen can reduce drug potency and make it less effective. What is more, the interaction can affect aspirin’s ability to protect blood vessels and the heart, which aggravates a condition further.

Effect of Ibuprofen in Chickens

As mentioned above, Ibuprofen is famed for its immunosuppressive and pro-inflammatory properties. Hence, they are considered a suitable treatment for inflammatory-related ailments like coccidiosis. Based on an intensive study done in 2004 on coccidiosis-affected chickens, medics used weight gain, oocyst shedding, and coccidial lesion scores as evaluation parameters.

At the end of it all, they recorded no effects after a dosage of 15mg/kg per body weight. However, there was an evident decline of oocyst shedding at a dosage of 100 mg/kg. On the extent of infectivity and sporulation of acervulina oocysts, a 100mg/kg dose never displayed any effect.

Bottom Line

Without any doubt, Ibuprofen stands out as one of the safest drugs to use in poultry. Even so, the best gift you can ever give your bird pets revolves around preventing common ailments that pull them down.

Start by providing adequate and clean housing to your chickens. Do not forget quick access to clean water and healthy meals. Finally, offer proper ventilation to reduce disease organisms and moisture in the coop.