Hunting, BAD infections and Survival...

[Old Ironsights]

SO, a couple of things recently collided like Peanut Butter and Chocolate:

The Thread on Surgical Gloves/infection and my job in a Veterinary/CoOp supply warehouse.

I was running an inventory on our pharma when I realized an interesting bit:

Veterinary OxyTetracycline is OTC. Think about that for a minute. While there is a lot of Rx Vet Meds, OxyTet/Terramycin is OTC. And is available in "standard" 250mg dose tablets.

Now, while I certainly am not advocating the non-prescribed, regular, non-emergency use of strong broad-spectrum antibiotics, I do recognise that it might be hard to find a Doctor willing to give one of us "radical gun-nut/hunters" a scrip to buy the kind of antibiotics that might just let you get down off BFE Mountain and get home to an ER. (Some are quite willing. YMMV.)

So, it might not be a bad idea to find a CoOp that keeps "Scours Tablets" or other such OxyTet available to anyone with cash and a plausible rural affect and pick up a bottle of 25 to keep in your Hunting/BO Bag.

Cheap insurance when your hand swells to twice its normal size and you are nowhere near an ER... Just a thought

[KirkD]

How big are those scours tablets? The ones that we used to shove down our calves' hatch were huge.

[Old Ironsights]

How big are those scours tablets? The ones that we used to shove down our calves' hatch were huge.

Haven't broken open one of the Boss's fresh bottles, but they don't feel (by size of bottle or timbre of shake) like they would be too large to take in a crisis. (unlike, say, a sulfa calf bolus)

Not that they couldn't be broken up though. It's not like they are an entericly coated Extended Release tablet...

One of the things I've found is that many (many, many) Vet medicines are EXACTLY the same as FDA generics - to the extent of being made on the same machines at the same time with consecutive batch numbers, just packaged differently.

Where a SINGLE human-dose of D-50 (50% Dextrose IV bolus - 25 g/50 ml prefilled syringe) costs upwards of $50, I can buy, OTC, a LITRE of Sterile, IV D-50 for $12.

As an EMT, I regard D-50 as a "wonder drug" when it comes to saving patients in Diabetic Crisis. Someone in Critical Hypoglycemia can be almost dead, and when you hit them with D-50 they will be coherent in a matter of minutes.

But, we mere EMTs are too dumb to draw 50ml from a cheap bulk container and have to use a $$$ pre-dosed throwaway.

But Joe Farmer can buy it all day, by the case, and use it on his cows to treat ketosis.

Isn't the FDA great?

[mikld]

Sorta on topic; When I was poor, no insurance and living in the ghetto, I got my tetracycline from a veterinary/pet supply. The clerk knew what I was doing (it was fairly popular) and asked me how big my dog was, and advised a dosage per weight (I was 200+ lbs. so my dose was 2 capsules, 3x per day). Also a lot of teens in the area would go to the aquarium supply and get penicillin for their acne. Penicillin was used for some sort of aquarium fish disease. Didn't seen too bad at the time...

[3leggedturtle]

I would carry terramycin with me on my trips. It killed all the parasites in my aquarium without hurting my fish,even tho it turned the water p-yellow. Also used it to purify lake water for drinking . Gives water a kool-aid flavor type taste which i dont remember the flavor. It used to cost less than $4 for a 3.2oz packet at the local farm store.

[wolfdog]

Right before hunting season my doc gives me a script for a broad spectrum antibiaotic which I fill and keep with my hunting gear.

[BigSky56]

sulfur blouses are about 3" long and 1/2-5/8 diameter. you can get sulfur powder at a compound pharmacy or at your feed store same stuff army used, dump in wound and bandage. alot of guys I know pack giardia tablets when going in the backcountry Ive found that copenhagen kills the little buggers though. danny
forgot to add the blouses can be used as a suppository if you cant choke one down.

[shooter]

We've used vet antibiotics for years. Amoxicillin, tetracycline, etc., are all available as bird/aquarium antibiotics.

[piller]

The tetracycline will make you sensitive to sunburn. Use a little caution. Additionally, don't wash it down with milk or anything high in calcium as it will prevent absorption.