Preventative and Curative Medicines

Preventative and Curative Medicines

As a result of the much improved knowledge of pigeons and the medications now available to manage diseases, the good fancier can enjoy a loft free of disease. The common aim is to produce the healthiest and most robust babies possible by the most natural means so that there is no compromise to the youngster’s immune system. In this way, the young birds will be naturally resistant to the illnesses associated with training and racing, and thereby require the minimal amount of medication during the racing season.

Medications are used as little as possible for the healthy loft. It is very difficult for us all to maintain perfect health in the race team during the racing season and it is the good natural resistance developed during the breeding season which helps us defend the flock against illness. It is now common belief that medications are needed during the racing season if perfect form is to be maintained. However, the medications must only be used when needed. The inappropriate use of medications will in fact turn the birds “off” and break their good levels of immunity.

Nowadays, the wise use of medicines is necessary for racing success. The medicines used for racing pigeons nowadays have been researched extensively so that they rarely affect the form of the fit bird and have minimal side effects for the ill bird. The correct choice of medicines is vital if the disease is to be controlled or cured in the quickest possible time. Obviously, the complete recovery of the flock is quickest when the disease is recognised and identified early. The early recognition of the illness minimises needless race bird losses and allows the birds to return to winning ways more quickly.

The “preventative” medicines

It is common knowledge that the healthy race bird is at considerable health risk in the race basket and must be protected from the “race basket” diseases by the prudent use of medicines. Medicines used in this manner are referred to as “preventative” medicines. The tired racing bird is most susceptible to disease from the racing basket and so the best time to treat in a protective manner is soon after the race.

The “preventative” medicines protect the healthy race flock from respiratory disease, without affecting the form or natural resistance of the team. I often ask the fancier to monitor the response of the flock to the “preventative” respiratory medicines so that the best timing is assured. There are a few tricks in identifying when to use and when to stop using the “preventative” medicines for the “resident” health problem. Firstly, look for a loss of form, the most obvious signs of which are dropping changes, no powder down feathers on the droppings, dry feathers and a lazy lower eyelid. In those flocks with a “resident” health problem there will be a positive change in the birds the day after the preventative medicine is given. Look for a very marked “brightening” of the eye, the powder down feathers will return to an improved dropping and the feathers become silky. The process is repeated each week for 2 to 3 weeks then stopped when the positive changes fail to show. Then the preventative medication is no longer used until the early signs of loss of form again return. With this method the fancier himself becomes sole master of the health of the race team. This method of controlling a resident illness takes some time to master but once mastered becomes a very important part of controlling a resident health problem.

The “curative” medicines

When there is a disease outbreak during the race season then “curative” (not preventative) medicines must be used. The first signs of a serious disease requiring a curative medicine are repeatedly poor race results over three weeks or heavy losses over two weeks. The exact nature of the illness must be determined then the appropriate “curative” medicine is used.

“Curative” medicines, by their very name, imply a dose of medicament strong enough to destroy the disease involved. Curative medicines therefore are not given to the healthy flock because they have the side effect of depressing form or affecting fertility etc. They are given only when the birds have an illness or outside the critical times of breeding or racing. They are often used in pre-season race and pre-breeding season health programs. The treatment interval (i.e. the number of days the medicine is given) is longer than that for “preventative” medicines. Preventative or control medicines are given intermittently for 1 or 2 days a week, whereas, the curative medicines are given continuously from 3 days to 45 days.

Preventative and Curative Medicines by Dr. Rob Marshall

The Leading Online Pigeon Racing and Racing Pigeons Magazine – The Pigeon Insider

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34 thoughts on “Preventative and Curative Medicines

  1. Regarding preventative medications, I have found that the product named EcolTonic from the Siegel Company is superb for keeping young birds and old birds healthy. It is an “all natural” product created from Oil of Oregano and ten(10) complex organic acids. It is very similar to, but more effective than EcoCure, a Belgium product. The FDA no longer permits the import of EcoCure into the US. Siegels is attempting to keep EcolTonic in stock, since it has become so effective for keeping pigeons healthy.

    1. Hi Mark i’m in Canada iv’e never heard of the product where can you buy it.I used PT 12
      and also Primalac why is this different.And to those who have never had the problem don’t
      say never i’ve flown since 1978 and iv’e never seen anything like this until five years ago
      also my club members some have flown for over 60 years yes they can get sick because of
      bad feed ETC but this is young bird sickness.If you don’t get it in your area consider your
      self lucky Brad.

      1. Hi Mark i am interested but i don’t have your e-mail address could you send it to me please.We use real fennel seeds ground up in a coffee grinder and then steep for
        three hours and strained it keeps there crops and digestive systems working but
        it is a slow process.Regards Brad.

    2. Hi Brad what our Dia-Sorb is for is when your birds are sick or if they have watery droppings . It contains attapulgite which effectively removes gut toxins by attaching them to its stongly adsorbent particles. It also contains pectin and electrolyte salts.It forms a gel in the gut removing all the bad bacteria in one go leaving all the good bacteria in the gut meaning you don’t need an antibiotic to build up the immune system. It does not need a prescription and is antibiotic free. Its not on the market long but were getting enquirys about it from all over. Can be bought of our website and we send out. If your interested Brad send me an email and I will organise something for you, Thanks for the reply hope my answer helped

  2. Hi to me if they don’t need meds don’t use them i look at like this it does not matter if you give it
    two or three days a week or longer sooner or later those meds won’t work and if you look at what
    has happen with humans all these new super bugs and some that they know what they are they
    can’t use antibiotics because they have become antibiotic resistance and to me the same thing
    is already happening with our pigeons.Just think about it examples young bird sickness they say
    there are new strains of canker that can’t be treat and even problems with old birds that iv’e never
    seen in all my years.I’m not saying not to use antibiotics use them when you need them i think is
    the best thing we all can do for our pigeons Brad.

  3. Bless the LORD, my pigeons has so far never been sick. Not even the time my belated uncle had them.

    My uncle believed in proper healthy dust free feeding that gives each homer the ability to resist all germs, etc … that might effect the pigeon in all ways of its life. He always took my brother and myself with him into the bush and ask us to take from this and that wild plants leaves or roots. Why? I have no clue but it works wonders with each pigeon in the sense that they wasn’t and is so far never been ill.

    Thus we have no medication or supplementary bottles and neither does any one of them get any injection what so ever. Sounds like a fairy tail or science fiction, but it’s all true. Even the squibs is healthy. The excellent performing of our pigeons is not as I think in the feeding but in the most dedicated training we give them. All our training is the exact spot where they will be liberated from. Say 350 miles will be trained twice per week from the same spot were they will be liberated from in a race. This 350 mile training will be done for 3 weeks 1 week before that race. So they get 5 days of resting and circling around our loft 5Am and 16H00 again same day.

    So come that race day of 350 miles, my pigeons leave the competition behind every time. Such as on the 12/052012 my brother entered 5 cocks in a 480 mile federation race and they competed against 26’000 plus pigeons. My pigeons took the first 5 places with seconds between them 5. My brother said he had tears of joy on that day. Winning all the money and took home 24 carat yellow gold cup home. In this there was plenty of motivating these 5 cocks of which I told my brother what to do. Sorry fellow fanciers, this is motivation is my brother and myself only secret we will keep between us. For the rest I will be open, but not this motivation one.

  4. Dear frends,,, I want some real medication; some of my pigeons are suffering from vomiting and not accepting any fare food.They drink water only,,,What should i do..???

    1. Hi Ahmad when pigeons have that type of virus probably is adeno virus. I had the same with my pigeons i treat them with doxy-t in the drinking water and adenosan with the feed. use apple cider vinegar and garlic all year round to help the pigeons.

  5. I am a firm believer of preventative medicine
    for my Pigeons, we grow all our products and manufacture them on site.

  6. Dear All, I am Ali Md. Sikender from dhaka, Bangladesh. I am very much ejoying this page.
    It is very much helpful to guy like me. I know little about the netural medication. But I would like to learn more. Can anyone come out help me which natural product we can use like gerlic, apple vinegar etc. Which natural product we can use keep our pigeons healthy!
    Health is the big factor for racing pigeons. I will be glad if some help me.

    Regards
    Ali Md. Sikender

  7. I have to say that I no longer believe in preventative medicine use on a regular basis,except of course wormers.Only natural preventatives such as apple cider vinegar,garlic,probiotic’s.Reason being that,I have found in the past that the more you use these medicines the more dependant the birds become and the intervals shorten between treatments to gain the same responce.This is because we are interfering with the birds immune system by giving these medicines.We have to remember that some of these bacterial infections such as Canker,Coxi,respiratory,E-coli,etc,are bacteria that the healthy bird carries all the time,and a balance of Good bacteria versus bad bacteria is acceptable in the healthy racing pigeon.Stress is the main reason for the balance to shift in favour of the bad bacteria,which in turn leads to the need for medicine.What fanciers should be focusing on is what has caused the stress that has led to the birds getting sick,and changing their management programs or loft enviroment to rectify the problem instead of pouring drugs down the throats of their birds.

    1. I can’t agree more with what you wrote here as The only preventive medication that I use is epson salt in the bath water for cleaning the parasites off the birds and keeping them clean at the same time, the regular use of a vitamin suplement like Red Cell, and finaly the use of vaccinations every other year for old birds and at the age of 5 to 7 weeks for a youn g bird with a repeated shot at the time that the entire flock gets there last shot for PMV-1, and worming. The fancier needs to make sure that the birds are kept clean and healthy but only treat a sickness if it is neccessary.

    2. Hi Alister where i am it has gotten worse over the last five years it never use to be bad like
      this now you are very lucky if you don’t get it out of all 15 of our club members 3 finished
      the season last year and i’m talking fliers that have been around a long time.When you have
      that many fliers plus in my combine also it has nothing to do with systems in my books it goes back to preventive meds and the use of to much antibiotics that have caused this problem and i’m beginning to believe it can’t be fix.Regards Brad.

  8. on a hot day b4 putting them in the basket they get electrolit in there water and coming back from the race or u can use glucose for a rapid recovery after the flight
    2 weeks b4 the race they get treated for respiratory and coming back from the race
    they get 2 days of canker treatment because some people do not treat there pigeons
    for canker and your pigeons can catch it in the drinking water in the baskets.

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