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GEDEMARK |
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Calculating Medication Dosages |
Ounces - Fluid or Apothecary?
Feeling a little unsure about how to accurately mix 3 ounces of powdered medication with 32 ounces [1 quart] of water? It's not really all that difficult to understand. In the American system, which differs from the British system, fluid ounces are volume and apothecary ounces are weight. The ounce markings on a household measuring cup are for fluid ounces and while they are quite accurate for measuring water, a measuring cup is NOT the appropriate tool for measuring light weight powders.
The ounces listed on your package of powdered medication are apothecary and tell you the weight. If you are not mixing an entire batch, the most accurate method would be to weigh the powder. Of course, dividing the package into 2 equal parts for mixing a half batch will work too.
Coincidently, a fluid ounce of water weighs approximately one apothecary ounce.
Mg per Ml? / Ml vs Cc?
Let's look at a real life situation. You go out to feed in the morning and your $2,000 boer buck is laying on his side. Thiamine Deficiency [goat polio] or Listeriosis [circling disease]? Who cares? It's cheap to treat for both and he will die if not treated immediately. Penicillin is easy to calculate but the Thiamine is another story...
The treatment for Thiamine Deficiency is related not only to body weight but also to the concentration of the product you will be injecting. The dosage is 10 mg/kg every six hours for at least 24 hours. One kilogram equals 2.2 pounds so if your buck weighs 200 lbs, just divide 200 by 2.2 to get 90 kilos. So now we know that the 90 kilo buck needs 10 mg of thiamine per kilo or a total of 900 mg of thiamine every 6 hours. Seems simple enough until you read the label and discover that you have a 100 ml bottle of thiamine solution. "Nobody mentioned milliliters!"
Never fear. A simple equation will reveal the proper amount of solution to use. Now... My bottle of Thiamine Hydrochloride is 200 mg/ml. If I divide the required dosage by the concentration per ml I arrive at the number of ml (same as cc) to inject every 6 hours. Like this: 900mg/200mg = 4.5 ml which also equals 4.5 cc.
Let's try a harder one.
Since thiamine is a prescription item, you might not be able to buy it right when you need it. But is a B vitamin and if you have B-complex on hand you can still save your downed buck using the same calculation. From above, we know that this 200 pound buck needs 900 mg of thiamine. Our B-complex solution label tells us that it contains 12.5 mg per ml. Our equation is:
required dosage divided by solution concentration per ml = quantity to inject
900mg / 12.5 mg per ml = 72 ml or 72 cc
Yep. You'll have to give him nearly 3/4 of a 100 ml bottle every 6 hours.
Your local feed store may be able to supply you with B-complex when the
Vet isn't around to sell you the Thiamine!
How do you figure ml and cc are equal?
This is very basic metrics. If you embrace the metric system and stop trying to convert to the American system, you'll fall in love with it's simplicity. First - a liter is 1,000 cubic centimeters. Second - milli anything is 1/1,000th of the anything. So a milliliter is 1/1,000 of a liter. Which term you use depends on where you stand.
Important
This information is provided as a service and made available by Idea Factory, Inc.. Idea Factory, Inc. is not responsible for any damage, injury, death, etc from the use, misuse, or accuracy of this information.
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