Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im curious to learn more about f10 and its use in treating r.i and where and how to get it. thank you chris

Google didn't help me. What are you refering to when you ask about f10?

F10 is manufactured in South Africa for Biocare Company in the UK. It is basically a surface active quaternary ammonia solution with both polyaminopropyl and polyhexamethylene biguanide additives. The quaternary ammonia is for artificial surface disinfection and the biguanides are for tissue and wound disinfection. It was originally developed as a hard surface, skin, and wound disinfectant, but has recently been pushed for use in an aerosol fogger application for elimination of airborn bacteria and viruses. My understanding is that it is not being used to directly treat respiratory infections in the animal itself, but is being used to disinfect the air in the holding rooms to avoid airborn transmission of the causative bacteria or virus. With respiratory infections, therapy with systemic antibiotics is still used concurrently with the F10 air treatment. It makes sense to not directly treat with F10 inhalation because the main ingredient, quaternary ammonia, is most definitely irritating to lung tissue in significant concentrations. However, its main use is still for the disinfection of table tops, cages, skin, and wounds.

Kelly

Thanks Kelly, how did you ever find out about this stuff? With the information you've provided, I would concur with the opinion against using it directly on live animals. I am surprised they even recommend it for wound care.

Ian

Ian,
I would definitely agree with you on that one. I don't believe I would ever use it to clean a wound, intact skin or cages, but definitely not a wound. There are other options available to us that would be a better choice I think. That is probably why we have not seen it catch on in the U.S.

Kelly

I have been doing some research on F10 and have been seeing that it has been, and is being used by some vets in nebulizer form to treat RI's. I have also seen it being recommended by vets to treat pet food items. It is used on pet housing, items and or directly on pets.
What are everyone else’s thoughts on this? I am seriously thinking of switching to this product. The suggested mixture is 1:250ml and a 200ml bottle is about $36 including tax and shipping or $60 for 2 200ml bottles.

It has also been used in studies in treating Avian Gastric Yeast (Megabacteria) in budgerigars (Parakeets). It was administered in their drinking water at a mix of 1ml in 1 litre of water. It has been shown to be fairly effective in controlling AGY.

To me this is pretty interesting as birds are very sensitive, much more so than reptiles.