How to give meds?

[snowflake311]

So Sprinkles went to the Avian vet today and he looks good good weight his stool showed yeast and Bacteria. I was so sad to hear my baby is sick.

He will drink from the syringe so I am thinking could I mix the meds with water and maybe he will take them. The vet gave me some baby bird feeding mix to try and mask the meds with and feed him like a baby with it. He kind was ok with that.

I am worried I will not get enough in him. I also was given a immune booster to give him too. so 3 things to give him 2 times a day for 2 weeks.


Please I would love some tips on the best way to give a bird meds. I hate the idea have holding him by his neck.

 

[EllenD]

My birds absolutely love orange juice (they love any kind of fruit juice, orange is their favorite and I think it hides the medicine taste the best). I find that I can mix an entire dose of antibiotic with very little orange juice, put it in a syringe as one small squirt of juice, and they take it all at once. I just ask them if they want orange juice, mix the entire dose with like 1 cc of orange juice or less (depending on what the medication dose is, sometimes if their med dose is 0.5cc/ml or often 0.05cc/ml, then I make the total liquid volume either 0.5cc/ml or 1.0cc/ml), and then I just either shoot the entire dose into the back of their throats if it's 0.5cc, or if it's 1.0cc I do it in two shots to the back of their throats. Then I give them another shot of straight orange juice to wash any remaining medicine taste out of their mouths, so that they don't associate orange juice with bad medicine taste...works like a charm! I can do 4 birds in a row like an assembly line in about a minute.

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

 

[snowflake311]

Thanks i will have to try juice for the antibiotics he does not like them as much. The 2 other meds he loves them when mixed in water. So it has not been as hard as I thought it would be.

 

[Scott]

I prefer to mix the meds into bits of very thick cooked oatmeal, and feed by hand. Far more time consuming, but IMHO preferable, particularly for long-term therapies. Always check with the vet to determine what can and cannot be mixed!

 

[Notdumasilook]

A lill caution here.. ""shooting"" the meds to the back of their throats can cause them to strangle... and could cause a bigger problem. Ive taught my birds to take meds from a syringe without being held. Still... Im sure that giving them an anti-biotic like "baytril" would be tuff. That stuff is NASTY tasting. Some places can make meds for you to order and give you some flavor options. I've had to adjust some meds to make em tastier for my youngins.... luckily I have a good pharmacy that works with me on that goal. One of the best "suspension" recipes to use it almond oil. Birds seem to like the mild nutty flavor plus its good for them by itself.

 

[Scott]

A lill caution here.. ""shooting"" the meds to the back of their throats can cause them to strangle... and could cause a bigger problem. Ive taught my birds to take meds from a syringe without being held. Still... Im sure that giving them an anti-biotic like "baytril" would be tuff. That stuff is NASTY tasting. Some places can make meds for you to order and give you some flavor options. I've had to adjust some meds to make em tastier for my youngins.... luckily I have a good pharmacy that works with me on that goal. One of the best "suspension" recipes to use it almond oil. Birds seem to like the mild nutty flavor plus its good for them by itself.

Totally agree, don't like the syringe "shooting" method unless the bird is very mellow and cooperative. Even then, I slowly inject near the tongue and allow them to swallow normally.

This is why I take the time to mix meds in oatmeal and hand-feed. Far less stressful, and the vet has sanctioned this with every medicine to date.

 

[EllenD]

I should have chosen my words more widely, I don't "shoot" the juice into their mouths, but meant rather that my guys love orange juice so much that they know they're getting some if they see a syringe. So they will actually stand there with their beaks open waiting for me to give them the juice. Usually if you're giving them juice to hide the taste of medication you're giving them such a small amount of juice that you can't really "feed" it to them, so to speak. So I just put the syringe in their mouths, going in from the right side (my right, their left) of their beak and they're ready for it...funny this popped back up because I got groceries yesterday and my green cheek saw me pull the container of orange juice out of the bag and literally did a divebomb at me...

And Baytril is absolutely the worst tasting antibiotic they can get I think. It's tough to cover up...

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

 

[GaleriaGila]

I've never had to give the Rb meds, but if I had to, I think I would use almond butter via spoon, which he loves!

 

[EllenD]

I've never had to give the Rb meds, but if I had to, I think I would use almond butter via spoon, which he loves!

Almond butter is a really good idea! It's strong enough to cover that awful taste!

My avian vet always gives me pre-filled syringes with the correct dose of meds in them in a big container, so it's very convenient and I know they are getting the correct dose. Anyway, once I was trying to take the cap off of one of the syringes and it flew off and I got the entire dose of Baytril! It was just terrible!

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"