Correct Dosing Of Oral Medicines In Pigs With The Huvepharma® Dose Calculator App

Correct dosing contributes to antimicrobial stewardship and is crucial to reach sufficiently high concentrations of the active substance(s) in the target tissue. The Huvepharma® Dose Calculator app is a practical tool to calculate the precise inclusion level in drinking water and feed.

Correct dosing in pig production begins with an accurate assessment of the animals' mean bodyweight (BW), and daily water or feed intake. Daily water and feed intake are highly variable and depend on several factors such as age, environmental temperature, clinical condition (fever/diarrhoea), and production phase of the sows (gestation/lactation). 

Water intake is determined by the quality of the water, while feed composition, presentation and availability impact feed intake. Therefore, dosing veterinary products based simply on fixed amounts per 1000 l of drinking water or tonne of feed is likely to result in under- or overdosing. 

Underdosing may mean the treatment is ineffective, leading to longer or higher frequency treatment periods. This increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance developing. Overdosing, on the other hand, is not cost efficient, could induce toxic reactions and impacts withdrawal time.

Huvepharma® developed a user-friendly Dose Calculator app which can be freely downloaded and used on any mobile device. The application can be used for all veterinary products for pigs and poultry.

Figure 1. QR codes to download the free Huvepharma^® Dose Calculator app from either the App store (iOS) or Google Play (Android)

In just a few clicks, the application can be used to calculate: 

• The exact inclusion level of a product in drinking water or feed based on the following parameters:
  • Concentration of the active substance(s)
  • Recommended daily dose of the active substance(s)
  • Mean BW
  • Daily water or feed intake
  • The application offers two calculation options: 
    • Use pre-defined standard values. Estimated values for weaned and fattening pigs are already automatically integrated in the Dose Calculator app. 
    • Enter case-specific values manually. The veterinarian or farm manager can input actual values for water and feed intake in a specific farm to ensure the most accurate dosing.
• The amount of product required for treatment, either daily or for several days. For this option, the number of pigs and the number of treatment days has to be entered.

Some examples of dose calculations when administering veterinary products in drinking water (Table 1) and feed (Table 2) for pigs are shown below.

Table 1. Examples of using the Huvepharma^® Dose Calculator app to determine the correct inclusion level in drinking water and the amount of product required for pigs. OS = oral solution, WSG = water soluble granules, BW = bodyweight, DWI = daily water intake. The data in red has been entered by the user

Table 2. Examples of using the Huvepharma^® Dose Calculator app to determine the correct premix inclusion level in feed and the amount of premix required for pigs. BW = bodyweight, DFI = daily feed intake. The data in red has been entered by the user

Sows have a lower feed intake per kg BW compared to growing pigs. For example, the feed intake of a sow in gestation with a BW of 230 kg and consuming 2.8 kg of feed per day corresponds to only 1.2% of the BW. In comparison, a growing pig with a BW of 30 kg consuming 1.2 kg feed per day has a feed intake of 4.0% of the BW. Logically, when using the same daily dose, inclusion levels in sow feed are higher than in feed for growing pigs.

Furthermore, sow feed intake also largely depends on the production phase. Daily feed intake during gestation is 2 to 3 kg while this can vary between 1 to 8 kg during lactation. Care should be taken not to dilute medicated feed with larger amounts of unmedicated feed still being present in the feed bin.

Conclusion

The Huvepharma® Dose Calculator app is an excellent tool for field practitioners and farmers to ensure correct dosing of every water-soluble veterinary product and medicated premix in pigs. The calculator is available in several languages and can be downloaded for free on any mobile device.