Anybody tried to buy Levasole (of any kind) lately?

[cmjust0]

...with any success?

We raise goats (yeah, I know, I know :lol2: ) and the '-ectin' wormers are losing their effect in my area.. Everybody's been using Cydectin for the last few years after Ivomec stopped working, and I know of some folks who have actually lost goats this year to worms even though they were on Cydectin...couldn't get the parasites under control, no matter how much wormer they used.

The white wormers -- fenbendizole family -- lost their effect in this area years ago.. I saw a little nanny the other day that was a little ribby with pale pink eyelids and a rough coat, and she'd just been wormed with SafeGuard or Panacur a few weeks prior.. Zero effect.

So, that leaves Levamisole.. Apparently, people have figured that out because practically everything in the levamisole family is on indefinite backorder at every feed and supply store from here to kingdom come.

Shot in the dark...does anybody here know where a fella could get his hands on a bottle?

 

[msscamp]

I've never seen Levasol in an injectable form - it's always been pills.

 

[cmjust0]

Here's a link to it on Valley Vet..

Thing is, I can't even find the boluses.. The injectable is gone, boluses are gone...I think I saw some powder swine wormer at some point, but I doubt I could even find that. Everything in the levamisole family of wormers seems to be on indefinite backorder.

Sucks.

I was just wondering if anyone here knew of a place that had some...?

 

[cmjust0]

So...I'll take that as a resounding NO, I guess. :lol2:

:tiphat:

 

[msscamp]

Here's a link to it on Valley Vet..

Thing is, I can't even find the boluses.. The injectable is gone, boluses are gone...I think I saw some powder swine wormer at some point, but I doubt I could even find that. Everything in the levamisole family of wormers seems to be on indefinite backorder.

Sucks.

I was just wondering if anyone here knew of a place that had some...?

Google PBSAnimalHealth.

 

[cmjust0]

PBS is out of stock.. Valley Vet is out of stock.. Jeffers is out of stock.. My local veterinary meds supply house is out of stock.. All the local feedstores are out of stock..

Apparently, levamisole products simply aren't being produced right now.

I've read several different speculative reasons. One theory is that levamisole is in stage III trials for human colorectal cancer and HIV treatment, so they don't want it to be out there on the cheap in feedstores when it becomes a human treatment. Another theory is that levamisole has been discontinued because it was being used off-label in humans, and I had one feedstore guy tell me -- first hand -- that a doc from the local university had been buying it to treat his own cancer. Another theory is that the levamisole itself comes from a third party manufacturer and is then sold to Schering-Plough and AgriLabs, but that the third party either A) stopped making it or B) isn't making it available to animal health companies because of the implications of the human health trials..

What I want to find -- like, right now -- is a little stash of it somewhere.. Like, a little podunk feedstore/supply house/vet's office/whatever that happens to have a bottle of injectable, or maybe a box of the sheep boluses, or even the powder packets for drench.. I don't really care, so long as it contains either levamisole hydrochloride or levamisole phosphate..

I can figure out how to dose it.

So...basically...if anybody knows where I can locate it, I'd be in your debt if you'd give me a head's up.

 

[cmjust0]

Hot dang... I think I just located a partial bottle of sheep boluses! This place sells them by the bolus and some are gone, but he said the bottle is almost full.

WOOT :banana:

 

[capparelli]

We have some at the "little podunk feedstore" I work at. I don't think we have the injectible but we have the sheep boluses and the powder, I want to say it is labeled for swine. Maybe I need to buy it all, sounds like it could be worth some money.

 

[cmjust0]

If I were you, I'd buy it.. Then again, I have goats.. If you don't have goats and you buy it to turn a quick buck on goat owners, shame on you.

But, yeah...I'd do it.

:lol:

 

[alacattleman]

i skimped and used levasole on my cow's one time takes twice as much with no visable benefit,, no more i'll just feed em tobbacco before i use it

 

[cmjust0]

Must be different in cattle.. With goats, the common wisdom says to worm them with either a white- or avermectin-family wormer before hitting them with levasole if they're carrying a really heavy parasite load. Reason being, the levasole -- for whatever reason -- is potent enough to kill every single worm in a goat all at once, which can lead to them basically bleeding to death from the inside out. By using one of the other two less-effective wormers first, you kill at least some of the load before nuking them out with levasole.

Could be because the US goat population has basically exploded in the last 10-15 years or so, by which point most cattlemen had already given up on levasole and switched to ivomec. The worms infecting goats today have probably never seen levasole, so they have no resistance to it like they do with white wormers or avermectins.

I got my bottle of sheep boluses today.. Ended up being 87/100 left in the bottle, and it was somewhat expensive at about $60. I wish I could have found the much cheaper levamisole hydrochloride injectable, but oh well...I'll take what I can get.

 

[msscamp]

Must be different in cattle..

Yes, it is different in cattle. Cattle are a recognized species of livestock, and pharmaceutical companies are falling all over themselves to develop dewormers, drugs, etc., to handle whatever comes up in raising them. That is not so with goats. Most every medication is off label for goats.

With goats, the common wisdom says to worm them with either a white- or avermectin-family wormer before hitting them with levasole if they're carrying a really heavy parasite load. Reason being, the levasole -- for whatever reason -- is potent enough to kill every single worm in a goat all at once, which can lead to them basically bleeding to death from the inside out. By using one of the other two less-effective wormers first, you kill at least some of the load before nuking them out with levasole.

Levasole works for goats because the usual practice is to worm them with safeguard(or other wormers) on a regular schedule - usually every 2- 3 months - without paying attention to whether the goats actually need deworming or not. There is also the problem that most of the wormers were developed for other species, and the dosage is not correct. Add to that the fact that a lot of people don't rotate pastures, and you have a situation where the worms have built up a resistance to most of the dewormers on the market. Levasole is the last resort, in most cases, when it comes to deworming goats. Before you deworm your goats with ANYTHING, make sure they need it by using the simple FAMANCHA test.

 

[cmjust0]

Yes, it is different in cattle. Cattle are a recognized species of livestock,

And goats are....what, exactly? Aliens? :lol2:

and pharmaceutical companies are falling all over themselves to develop dewormers, drugs, etc., to handle whatever comes up in raising them. That is not so with goats. Most every medication is off label for goats.

True.. To this point, there hasn't been enough money in goat meds to make it worth the while of the manufacturers.. I totally understand that, too, because most goat owners -- especially the owners of meat goats -- aren't willing to spend very much money with a drug maker to keep a $50-$100 goat alive. If it were a $1,000 cow, they'd call a vet....but not for a goat.

It's a shame, really.

Levasole works for goats because the usual practice is to worm them with safeguard(or other wormers) on a regular schedule - usually every 2- 3 months - without paying attention to whether the goats actually need deworming or not.

That's changing. Lots of folks around here are ignoring the old advice and worming on an as-needed basis these days.

I'm one of them.

There is also the problem that most of the wormers were developed for other species, and the dosage is not correct.

True, there are very few wormers labeled for goats, just as there's very little of anything else labeled for goats..

Still, it's just a matter of working out the dosage for a goat.

Add to that the fact that a lot of people don't rotate pastures, and you have a situation where the worms have built up a resistance to most of the dewormers on the market.

Well, it's not just that. Goats aren't mini cattle, and they're much better at breeding anthelmintic-resistant worms. Utilizing cattle protocols alone isn't enough for goats...after all, look how long cattle producers have been using the avermectin family of wormers and having success with it.

Goats are just different.

Levasole is the last resort, in most cases, when it comes to deworming goats.

It's not that it's a last resort...it's just that it's one of only three families of wormers which need to be used in rotation to prevent resistance.

Think about this...if goat producers had been using white wormers and levasole until they stopped working, you wouldn't say the avermectins were the 'last resort' wormers, would you?

Of course not!

I understand that it seems like a last resort to cattle producers because they stopped using it years ago, but....goats aren't little cattle.

Before you deworm your goats with ANYTHING, make sure they need it by using the simple FAMANCHA test.

It's FAMACHA -- no 'N' -- and I always do.

I only bought the Levasole sheep boluses to have them on hand..just trying to think ahead. :cboy:
My goats are in pretty darn good shape at the moment.

 

[yttik95525]

I have an old bottle of injectable, very expired, let me know if you are interested.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Unless you can find it left over on shelves from last year you won't find it. Its no longer for sale, as illegal Drug manufacturers were using it as one of their ingredients- Vets can't even get it.
I feel your pain- it was great for goats.
Only wya to get by now is to go to a three pasture single rotation with clean up animals or haying in between.

 

[TexasBred]

Have you ever used Rumatel? It's USDA approved for goats. Some feed stores carry it already included in a pelleted feed. You just substitute the wormer pellets for their normal feed for one day.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Its no longer for sale, as illegal Drug manufacturers were using it as one of their ingredients- Vets can't even get it.

Isn't that grand -- 1st they get our proper % iodine removed to use it to cook up whatever it is they cook up and now another drug...

...why in the heck would anyone smoke, drink, inject, or otherwise voluntarily put that crud into their system? :x

 

[TexasBred]

Amazes me too but they'e literally going goofy snorting and shooting the stuff. Live for today only I guess.

 

[yttik95525]

I read on the internet that they were using it to cut cocaine. Now I am no expert but would that not require the powdered form?? I don't understand why the ranchers can't have access to the injectable form, how could that be used to cut cocaine?