Parrot Fever and Doxycycline: Veterinarians Helping Veterinarians

Some veterinarians are extraordinarily helpful. Here’s an example. I have little parakeets with an infection caused by parrot fever (chlamydophila psittaci). Normally this infection is treated by mixing the prescription antibiotic doxycxycline with bird seed. I mixed 300 mg Doxycycline with 1 kg Fanta-Seeds from Halo, and tossed the mixture with a few milliliters of sunflower oil to bind the powdered antibiotic to the seed.

Mixing antibiotic with seeds, means that budgies get antibiotic when they hull the seeds, but this is not ideal. Ideally, hulled seeds are used so the bird swallows the seed and antibiotic coating, but at the time I made the medicated feed I couldn’t find a source of hulled millet. Then, I did the unthinking—put the medicated seed in the freezer where I normally store seed.

About two weeks passed and the bird poop remained loose—an indication of chlamydophila. Reassessing the medication, I realized that freezing the powdered antibiotic might have inactivated it. How could I find out?

1^st, I searched the Veterinary Information Network and then drug books. Nothing.
2^nd, I asked a human pharmacist who reminded me that freezing is not the way Doxycycline is intended to be used and that I could not rely on the frozen medicated feed to be effective. Nor, he reminded me, could I be sure that the medication had become harmful because it was frozen.
3^rd, I e-mailed one of the most knowledgeable veterinary pharmacists in the U.S.—Dr. Mark Papich. This is what Dr. Papich said:

I don't think the Doxycycline has been made more harmful, and freezing probably has not caused an inactivation. However, occasionally we have been concerned about drug binding to feed materials and becoming unavailable for oral absorption. I recall that we performed some of these studies a few years ago for Doxycycline, but can't recall whether or not drug loss occurred. (I'm at home at the moment and don't have access to my files.) I'm going to forward this note to Keven Flammer. He was the PI on the studies in which Doxycycline was mixed with various types of feed. He may have the answer at his fingertips. Please let me know if there is anything I can help with. Mark Papich

Very helpful information. What a relief that the frozen seed probably was not harmful. I mixed up a second batch of medicated feed and stored it in the cupboard. Then I got an e-mail from the second helpful veterinarian, Dr. Flammer.

Dr. Flammer is really in the know. He knows where to order hulled seeds, and how long to give the medication. He recommended mixing the medicated feed daily and removing calcium from the cage. Calcium does interfere with tetracycline absorption, but the latest VIN discussions I’d read said Doxycycline was different than calcium in this regard. Here’s were an expert’s advice is invaluable—Dr Flammer said the research quoted in VIN was not done in birds and could not be assumed to be true for them.

What a blessing to have sources like Dr. Papich and Dr Flammer. It is an honor to the veterinary profession when the busiest doctors are the most helpful. My budgies are grateful.