Hi, sorry I haven't been on in a while. My bird has been having trouble breathing so we took him to a vet. The vet said that it would be much too stressful to get any blood tests or any other kind of test to see whats wrong, so he gave us this oral medication fluidy stuff & a syringe (umm, sorry if that's misspelled.) Can anybody give me some instructions or tips or something?

 

Thankies,

tina

did the vet say if you has to add it to water or anything?

nope. =/

phone him and ask. it may be that you have to add the fluids to his usual water pot.

well when he did it infront of us he did put the syringe in his mouth. I wish he would've given me instructions or something. I never had a sick bird before. =/

rainbow will help you she is typing as we speak

alrighty =)

Oh what fun you will have.....Your vet should have shown you how to do it at the office.

 

Here is my method, but others will probably do it differently. If this isn't how your vet did it, or you have questions, please ask. I want you to be able to do this right.

 

Catch your bird in a washcloth and hold him (I place the index finger on one side of the neck, middle finger on the other side to minimize movement, thumb bracing his side,and other two fingers lightly laying across the abdomen of the bird. Do not squeeze, as birds breathe differently than us and you could compress the diaphragm which is not good.) I hold with my left hand and give medicine with my right, but that is because I am right handed. Don't hold the bird so he is laying on his back, keep him mostly upright. With the bird facing you, take the syringe and place it against the side of the beak going in from your right, facing left. That will point the medicine in the right direction - if you go in from the other side you are pointing medicine towards the windpipe and not the esophagus and could squirt it in his lungs. Depending on his personality, he may protest loudly which is easier - you can actually put the syringe in the side of his mouth and get it over with. Just don't squirt it all in at once, do it relatively slowly. Budgies can spit, LOL. Some will clamp their little beaks shut tighter than anything and nothing you do will make him open it. Mine are like that. I just very slowly drizzle the medicine on the side and they will usually barely open their beaks and allow it to go in. It takes a few drizzles to get all the medicine in, but go slowly - don't squirt it all out at once. You'll just end up with sticky feathers and a very aggravated bird. The amount of medicine you need to give is going to be very small, and since budgies are very small you need to make sure you have the dosage right so you don't overmedicate. If you need a picture I will catch one of mine and try to get one. If you are very nervous, have someone else hold the bird while you give the medicine.

 

Just be careful.

Thank you soo much Rainbow =) yes, i think that's how he did it.

Supposedly by bracing the sides of the head your bird can't turn and bite, but I won't hold them that tightly...so prepare to be bitten.

 

Let me know how it goes.

 

**edit**

I'm sorry he is sick.

Edited July 15, 200519 yr by Rainbow

The vet didn't think he'd make it through the night, but he pulled through.

 

I gave him the medication successfully this morning, but i have to do it all over again tonight. Oh, what a feisty little guy. =)

YAY!!

 

Was he good about it?

Hope everything is going o.k. for you.

Julie

Oh the poor little tyke! Isn't it terrible that the very thing that will make him better - the medicine- is so stressful for both of you! If only you could tell him. Good luck, let us know how he is. Rainbow, thanks for those directions, hope I never have to use them, but it's great to have them

phone him and ask. it may be that you have to add the fluids to his usual water pot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

antibiotics should always be given orally through a syringe. if any vet suggests you to put antibiotics in water, find a new vet because the dosage will be all wrong.

 

only probiotics should ever be added to water, on the advice of your vet.

yes - i am sorry that i didn't say i was sorry that your budgie was sick. I hope he gets better soon.

did the vet say what was wrong with your budgie?

they're not sure what's wrong. it may be an infection, iodine defficiency, whatever. they can't know unless they take tests, but they didn't want to because it would be way to stressful for the little guy.

 

he didn't like it at all, but he's just going to have to get used to it until he's all better!

oh i forgot to add a get well soon message too, i hope he is okay and the antibiotics will make him better quickly.

 

love pixie

i remember you getting your budgie tina - how did you get on with taming him?

he is a lovely little thing. what is his name?

Sorry to hear he's ill. Yucko. Keep us all posted.

Keep us updated on how he is! I hope he gets well soon.

Rainbow is the holding upright thing so that it doesn't go down the wrong way and choke them??? I had to do Merlins meds alone one day, so I just grabbed him from the cage, and flipped him over onto his back and squirted it in. Didn't have much of a problem. Will have a proper read of your way of doing it, so we can do it properly next week.

 

I hope your lil fella gets better soon. Oral meds are a challenge, but geez it's worth it when they improve.

Not related to what tina said, but if there is any fluid build up, laying them on their backs could potentially cause the fluid to flood back into the lungs and air sacs if it drains back towards the head. I learned that when I was taking Rainbow the vets for his kidney tumor - he had a little excess fluid build up in his abdomen as his kidneys failed and that is what I was told since he had to take an oral steroid. Since tina said her bird had some respiratory problems, it made me think of that - just one of those mental connections, you know? It seems a remote possibility and probably rarely happens and had nothing to do with what tina said but I just thought about that as I was typing my reply. I don't know why. But it is just as easy to keep them upright, isn't it? I think it would be easier to choke on the meds too if they were on their backs - that's a good point. But I've given oral meds that way before too. It just seems I have had more problems of it going down wrong when they are tilted back - like big wet sneezes right afterwards and you realize they've just sprayed you with whatever you just gave them because it went down the wrong way and then you get paranoid because you think you've done them in and you cry and apologize to them....oh sorry - ... Yes, that was probably a poor attempt to make light of it, but I'm sure at least one other person has had that happen...and it can be serious if you give it wrong. Anyway, that's also why I drizzle the medicine in now instead of a big squirt. I refuse to have that sick feeling when I think I've given medicine down the wrong pipe because they've moved or shook their heads when I squirted the medicine. I've had it go up their nose before. So I don't lay them back anymore. I hate the thought of that happening to anyone else.

Edited July 16, 200519 yr by Rainbow

That makes perfect sense I've been trying to keep Merlin more upright when I do it now, and he settles faster and allows us to do it without a tanty, yet if he's on his back he struggles majorly.