Shelf lives of medications/suppliments

[kimberley breeder]

Hi all-

Was cleaning out my bird fridge and I have a number of medications and suppliments that are past their use by date..do I just throw these out? Do they become toxic or ineffective past these dates? For example Avicycline, wormout gel, probiotics to name a few...

If you were to have the essentials in your birdy first aid kit what would you have:

My list right now is:
Spark
Probiotic
Avicycline/Triple C
Moxidectin Plus
Baycox

Anything else???

Thanks for advice ahead of time:)

[arthur]

Have been advised by a vet that some worming products become toxic in time

I would be using the 'all dogs bite' approach

[mattymeischke]

I would be using the 'all dogs bite' approach

Very sensible, and in the absence of better or more specific information about the particular chemicals it is the best policy.
Having said that, there are some factors to consider, which may be useful to the remote-area finchos, like KB, who cannot always get medicine at short notice.

Speaking generally, medicines which have short shelf-lives are likely to off shortly after the use by date, especially those stored at room temperature.
Often the label says 'store at or below 25 degrees', but in the Kimberly this is well below room temperature, and these medicines can sometimes expire before their shelflife where ambient conditions are above 25 degrees most of the time. I had several cases during the heatwaves of last summer where diabetics who normally carry an insulin pen in their bags to work or similar had uncontrolled blood sugars, which could only be explained by the insulin losing effect in the heat.
However, the cost of demonstrating the stability of a medicine beyond five years often means that there is an arbitrary 5 year expiry date which is not really reflective of the stability of the compound. This is also why many medicines are not for use in children under two years: the cost of clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy is far higher than any profit the drug might return. So, medicines with a five year expiry often last a lot longer than that.
Some compounds or mixtures are unstable, and often the degradation products are biologically active. Occasionally they are poisonous. I am pretty sure ivermectin and similar drugs are stable in chemical form, but decay rapidly in suspension to an unsafe compound. This is, however, exceptional.
In some countries with less health funding, the expired medications donated from wealthy countries are the only medicines available. While not ideal, I am not aware of any harm from this situation.

So, having talked too much already, I would say:
Keep the out of date ones until you can get some in-date ones.
Be careful with the Moxi, and be aware the probiotic bacteria will die (and therefore not work, but probably not be poisonous). On the others, if the options are to let a sick bird die or try a slightly out-of-date medicine, I would try the out of date medicine until some in-date medicine could be obtained. I they have a short shelf life, they probably degrade quickly; if they have a five year shelf life, they are probably very stable, and being a month out of date is unlikely to be a big issue (especially if they are kept in the fridge).

Hope that helps,
mm.

[kimberley breeder]

Thanks for that! My medications have been kept in a fridge or in an airconditioned house when in use, so I will hang onto them for just in case:)

[BlackCobra]

I was talking to the guy from a company that produces lots of our medicines last week & he said the reason that most the drugs have 1 year expiry is it cost too much to get for longer, he said some are good for 5 years & no problems, he also told me that they keep testing some medicines that were made in 2002 & all are good but lose some potency, he said for example when they use to work at 97% now might be 87% ect, he also said one there products with amprol mix plus lasts a long time, he also said triple C can last for years with no problems.````````````
I remember using amprol ages ago & used it for many years out of date with no ill effect.
If your not sure about a drug, you can always ring the company, or test it on 1 bird only.
It was good advice to keep all until you get some new stuff, just in case you need some quickly.

[Tiaris]

I don't use antibiotics or probiotics at all, but would add to the original list apple cider vinegar & at least one more wormer to alternate (Equimax liquid for horses is another good one). I keep all medications in fridge & still use them beyond use by date within reason.

[Niki_K]

Hi Tiaris,
What do you use apple cider vinegar for? Keeping gut flora healthy? I give it to my dogs occasionally for this reason.

[Tiaris]

Apple cider vinegar acidifies the gut. An acid environment is hostile to most nasty bacteria. So it is a useful anti-bacterial preventative treatment. Also contains some useful nutrients.