Giving oral medications HELP

[TiredOldMan]

So the grey's doctor has put her on a mixture of Hepasil (mostly milk thistle) and Biomega (fish oils and vitaminD) .2ml twice a day.

First time was no problem, next dose had to towel her. She now is seriously resisting the towel and is VERY mad at me. I have a call into the vet for permission to let the individual dose come to room temp before giving it to her in case that is part of the problem.

I am ruining what was a great relationship in interest of her health.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Billdore]

i have no experience yet myself but what about adding some kind of juice to the mix? May I ask what the meds are for? I'm sure she will forgive you!

 

[Scott]

I have never given meds to a Grey, but I empathize with what must be a truly difficult endeavor.

My favorite go-to is room-temp cooked oatmeal or similar grain cereal. Prepared very thick and diluted with meds, it almost never fails. In fact, I offer cereal as a treat weekly because they enjoy and having a delivery method if needed. Mashed potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, or even baby food are options. Always check with the CAV for contraindications. (I've not seen one yet)

In rare cases, when the med outweighs good dietary practices, my vet will suggest mixing with ice cream, pudding, or cheese.

 

[LaManuka]

Jeepers that seems like a lot of disruption for sake of .2ml! Pardon my tres ignorance but what has it been prescribed for?

 

[ChristaNL]

I got lucky the first round (with D. -also a grey- ) I could mix the stuff with peanutbutter or just syringe-mix it with fruitjuice. She'd drink/lick it from the syringe that way.

The 2x day antibiotics for Japie.. I had to towel him,
and after a few days he decided he liked it!
PFEW! (we did not even *have* a bond at that time...)
the extra sweet meds probably helped as well - the animal apothecary mixes it esp sweet for parrots (unless you let them know your bird likes something else then they mix that (if possible) ).

You do not actually have to drip it in the beak, just put the tip of the syringe in/against the corner of the mouth (where the beakhalves come together) and let it ooze.
It is less scary for the bird and they don't fight so much (and they can swallow at will) so no choking or breathing it in by timing-accident/ overloaded beak.

Just make very sure they've swallowed everything before letting the bird go (that is how I found out the stuff is sweet tasting or nasty ...)

 

[TiredOldMan]

i have no experience yet myself but what about adding some kind of juice to the mix? May I ask what the meds are for? I'm sure she will forgive you!

She has an abnormal swelling to one side of her proventricular area and is under weight. Her dr. sent the radiographs to Dr. Echols in Utah for a consultation and is now trying to setup an ultrasound at Gulf Coast in Houston.

The milk thistle makes me think this is a liver detox.

Dr. Lusk says she may have to take this from now on.

I really appreciate everybody's input.

 

[lplummer52]

Hmmm. Poor Gracie. What is her favorite food? The oatmeal is a good suggestion. Birdie loves grits and scrambled egg. I agree that getting her to take it on her own is better than toweling any day. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[texsize]

I am sorry to hear about your grey's health problems.
I have been lucky with Bella as she has not needed any medicine since I got her.

I have had to give my amazon's meds and they don't hold a grudge. They tend to se the towel as the bad guy not the people involved.

Grey's are so darn smart I don't think my Bella would transfer her...I am at a loss for the right word, anger? to the towel. She would hold me responsible.

I hope you find a solution.

wes

 

[LaManuka]

I am very sorry to hear Gracie is unwell. I love Scott’s suggestion about mixing her meds with pudding - I’m getting images of her in my head tucking into some nice Christmas pudding

Having an ill birdie is always such a worry. I hope she wises up fast and starts taking her meds for you like a good girl!

 

[Scott]

I hope you get a timely and comprehensive diagnosis for Gracie, one that responds well to homeopathic substances.

 

[SailBoat]

Great recommendations all!

We have always started with an ill Amazon and providing medications before a bond was even hoped for was a reality. The finger damage was always huge. We (I) have always avoided using a towel combined with medication (syringe) as it commonly made things even worst later. Like when we worked at developing a Bond.

Near all of our Amazons have been the larger ones and early-on, we found that providing syringe based medication is a two person project! As stated, when using a syringe it works best when starting in from the side.

If you have a relationship built, one commonly knows what soft foods your Parrot likes. Please use those methods as you have heard above, it is much better as it maintains the all important Bond!

 

[Laurasea]

Tiredoldman I feel for you! It's crushing to have a sick baby! My best wishes to you and Gracie. I put Ta-dah meds in a tiny piece of bread, it absorbs the meds and she eats it all, about the size of my fingernail piece of bread I put it in. Of course I start by eating some bread in front of her then give the others some bread so she is plunty pissed to be last and grabs abd eats it out of spite I think lol

 

[TiredOldMan]

I got word back from the dr. that I could let the dose warm up and mix it with something palatable.

Scott I tried the mashed potato suggestion and it worked well. No handling required. Thanks.

I want to thank everyone who chimed in for both your suggestions and good wishes.

And yes she isn't mad at the towel, shes mad at me. Time heals.

Thank You All,

Gracie and Dave

 

[LeslieA]

I don't like to admit, but one of mine receives a med through needleless syringe. How long do you expect this will go on?

I wish these had been my ideas but they're from a behaviorist. Do it with less struggle is by mixing straight corn syrup and children's flavoring ( You may need to talk to a pediatrician or pharmacist for it. Only use grape or cherry.) with it. I try to convince him it's a treat. Something that usually helps is not giving it all at once and another is acting like I'm taking it, too.

If you're only administering it for short time, there's no need to flavor it other than with water. Administer on the right side between upper and lower beaks in bursts or all at once.

Also, for short term administration, have someone else be the stressor and you be the rescuer.

May both of you survive this well.

 

[MonicaMc]

I've mixed meds with fruit juice and yogurt as well! Whatever makes it go down!

I'm medicating two cockatiels. They were given the 'all clear' but are sick again... well, one has a skin infection which has been untreated for I don't know how long before she came into my care and would have probably gone untreated if I didn't take her in. She can't find a home until she's been given the all clear! (health wise) Well, I have to put a cream on her skin where she picks/has infection... she screams bloody murder. It's worse than giving oral meds! Two weeks down, two weeks to go... and she wont stop picking...

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I think I got lucky with Cairo likely being syringe-fed as a baby. He took to his first round of medicine well enough, but I make sure to keep positively reinforcing the syringe by occasionally giving him a small dose of coconut water. That way, he can't tell if it's meds or his favourite treat. He gets excited just to see the syringe now. So hopefully if he has another round of meds, he'll be syringe-trained. For us, mixing meds into his room is too risky because he doesn't eat everything, which means he might not get the full dose. Since Gracie loves the mashed potatoes, it sounds like syringe training can come later when she feels better.

 

[GaleriaGila]

I only WISH I had maintained the Rb's acceptance of syringes. I kept practicing it for 20 years ad finally got complacent and stopped, and he now believes syringes are evil. Now that he has to take 2 cc of Vasotec daily, I mix it up in a pea-size dab of almond-butter and he devours it. His vet approves.

Good luck, Major TOM! You, too, Gracie.

 

[noodles123]

Mix it with a very small amt of plain oatmeal made with mashed bananas and apples. Test it without the med and see if she likes it. Then keep track of how much you put in in case she doesn't eat it.

When my bird had to take an insane amount of lactulose and milk thistle (due to a liver issue that she no longer has), I also found that bits of Mini Nilla Wafers worked (desperate times--I know they aren't ideal but they worked....) I got a box of the MINI ones and cut each cookie into 1/4s using a sharp knife. I didn't put all of the dose on 1/4 , so it often ended up taking closer to 1/2 of a MINI nilla wafer---put it on and rubbed it all over ONE SIDE- then handed it to the bird with the normal/undosed side facing up) When I FIRST started this, she would only eat it if the medicine was sandwiched between 2 1/4 bits of the wafer, but over time, she would take just one side...she did occasionally try to eat around the meds, which was problematic.

Sometimes, raspberries worked too (in the hole). If you use any fruit without a hole (like grapes), you will need to create a place to trap the medicine--I make hash marks in things like apples (with limited suceess) and with grapes, I cut them in half and removed the seed portion- hiding the meds in that hole.

Cooked noodles with a hole down the middle can also work, but it tends to drain out one side, so you will kind of want to coat the noodles' insides on a plate so that you can reuse what drips out before giving it to the bird. I know that birds shouldn't eat food like this all of the time, but when I first got my bird and she needed meds, this was all I could do.



If you can find Organic Alexia sweet potato fries (frozen) those were THE BEST because they were orange and matched the color of her medicine--MY bird was very aware of the medicine's presence in many things if the color looked odd. I didn't give her the whole fry...I would cut them into smaller pieces and then sliced 1/2 way through the fry vertically--that is where I hid the medicine. Then I closed the slit and it absorbed into the sweet potato inside. I baked about 10 fries at a time (because some would usually get too burned to use) and I would store them in a bag in the fridge for up to 3 days-I microwaved them just slightly before giving them to her so that they were a bit warm but DO CHECK FOR HOT SPOTS----THEY CONTAIN A BIT OF OIL SO THEY CAN BE VERY HOT AND THAT IS BAD LOL.

I KNOW SALTY/FATTY things aren't good for birds, but these aren't very fatty or salty and I didn't give her entire fries (the vet said getting the meds down should be top priority and that the damage of not giving it would be bigger than giving it on reasonably acceptable human food). I did the math and nutritionally, they aren't THAT salty or fatty, especially when a serving is MUCH larger than what your bird would be getting. The fat in seeds easily exceeds the fat in these and the salt isn't as high as something else like a chip. At the end of the day, it worked, because her liver healed.

Also, if hiding in an object, clean the cage grate and liner well, in case the food it tossed and you have to retry.

Sometimes, pretending to pull things out of chip bags also increased my bird's interest, but that trick only worked 1-2 times lol.

Prepare to waste medicine (call your vet when you are running low and explain why)--- it will happen--I often had to use an assortment of foods in one session just to complete the dose.



Also, find out what happens if your dose is slightly higher or slightly lower than recommended-- call the vet and see how spot-on you have to be because it does get tricky. That is why you shouldn't deliver the whole dose on one item, in case the bird rejects it, or takes 2 bites and tosses the rest.

 

[TiredOldMan]

Last two doses I have mixed on a spoon and she has cleaned the spoon. I'm going to try all suggestions as she will eventually loose interest in the potatoes.

She is sitting right beside me now on one foot. I think our friendship is on the mend.

I can't thank everyone enough for their input and well wishes.

What a superb bunch of Parronts.

 

[Scott]

Good to hear success! You'll want to keep more arrows in your quiver for the day mashed potatoes are her worst enemy!