to drink or not to drink

I just brought home my very first two nigerian girls!!!! Ive been waiting for this for 17 years. One of my girls is in milk. The breeder was trying to make the transition for them as safe and stress free for all. Little did either of us know that Ivermectin sl stays in there system and needs 40 days withdrawal before I can drink her milk. I was heartbroken! But she asked her source and I did a bit of investigating to find out that a lot of people only wait 4 days. These are dairy goat farmers that have been drinking it for years and have had no side effects. On the other hand my Vet said dont drink it. I'm wondering if anyone out there can give me "scientific" reason why I should or shouldn't drink her milk. The thought of waiting 36 more days kills me. But I dont want it to literally kill me if I drink it sooner. Input please if anyone knows!!!!!!

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  • Sorry I didn't see this sooner. The withdrawal period for drugs is different depending upon the route of administration. If it was injected, the withdrawal is actually something crazy like 90 days, which is why the label simply say not to use in lactating animals.

    It is unlikely to kill anyone if you drink the milk. However, most of us have our own dairy animals because we don't want drugs in our milk. If you were to be allergic to the dewormer, you could have an allergic reaction to the milk. I met a Canadian dairy farmer who said her son would get a rash if he drank milk from a cow that had been given penicillin within the last two weeks because he was allergic to penicillin. The drug withdrawal is only a few days before a dairy can legally sell the milk of a cow that has been given penicillin. As far as we know, consuming milk or meat with dewormer residue is not as bad as consuming milk or meat with antibiotic residue, which we know leads to antibiotic resistant infections in humans. But it is obviously your decision about whether or not to drink the milk produced by your own animals.

  • I read the same about Ivermectin being used as a human dewormer in other countries - Africa I think.  So I agree with Patty Meyer - )

  • I would go for it! :)  I just read in two places that Ivermectin is used as a human dewormer, so it should be safe.  I personally wait the four days, or even less than that.  The last place I read about it was on a veterinary website that was comparing Ivermectin and Moxidectin.  The article happened to mention that "they" are now studying whether Moxidectin might be as safe and efective a dewormer for humans as Ivermectin is.  Enjoy! :)

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