Correct Dosing Of Oral Medicines In Poultry With Huvepharma's 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 poultry production begins with an accurate assessment of the animals' mean bodyweight, and daily water or feed intake. Daily water and feed intake is highly variable and depends on several factors such as age, environmental temperature, clinical condition (dysbacteriosis), and category of poultry (broilers, layers, breeders, pullets). 

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 litres 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 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 bodyweight
  • Daily water or feed water intake. The application offers two calculation options:
    • Use pre-defined standard values. Estimated values for broilers, based on their age, 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 on 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 birds and the number of treatment days must be entered.

Some examples of dose calculations when administering veterinary products in drinking water (Table 1) and feed (Table 2) for poultry can be found below.

Correct dosing in drinking water

When using pre-defined standard values to calculate the inclusion level in drinking water for broilers, a correction factor is automatically implemented when environmental temperature is above the ideal temperature (from 33 ^oC to 22 ^oC). The daily water intake is estimated to increase by 6.5% per degree above the ideal temperature. 

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 poultry (OS = oral solution, WSG = water soluble granules, BW = bodyweight, DWI = daily water intake. All data in red has been entered by the user)

Correct dosing in feed

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 poultry (BW = bodyweight, DFI = daily feed intake. All data in red has been entered by the user)

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 poultry. The calculator is available in several languages and can be downloaded for free on any mobile device.