Lovebird plucking around her vent area

[noodles123]

Total guess would be 1/16 - 1/8 of a tsp 1x daily, but I am not a vet...that's a shot in the dark...I am basing it on the fact my large Umbrella cockatoo gets 1/4 2x daily but call the vet and ask!

 

[EllenD]

Did you get the Qwiko Avian Probiotics? If so, then it comes with that little scoop, which is the correct "dosage" that you sprinkle on/mix-into her food...When it comes to Probiotics they aren't actually "dosed" like a medication is. They are simply strains of different healthy Bacteria that normally lives throughout their GI Tract, and there are literally millions/billions of cultures in one of those little scoops. So they assume that the bird is not going to actually ingest that entire amount. She just needs to get some of it into her GI Tract once every day, and the live-cultures grow from there.

If her main staple food is seed-mix, it's actually easier to dose them, because if you mix the Probiotic powder well throughout her seed-mix, it will "dust" or stick to all of the outer seed-shells, and every time she puts one of the seeds in her mouth, she's taking in some of the Probiotics. This isn't an "exact" measurement or dosage like with an actual medication, as again, these are living bacterial strains that are going to grow daily inside her GI Tract, so you're basically just adding and replacing them every single day. And that tiny little scoop of the Probiotic powder literally contains billions and billions of bacteria. So as long as you're giving her one of those full, pre-measured scoops and mixing it well into either her seed-mix or if she eats rice every day then that would work great too, even if she doesn't eat it all, she's getting more than enough to keep the healthy bacteria continually growing throughout her GI Tract.

 

[noodles123]

Did you get the Qwiko Avian Probiotics? If so, then it comes with that little scoop, which is the correct "dosage" that you sprinkle on/mix-into her food...When it comes to Probiotics they aren't actually "dosed" like a medication is. They are simply strains of different healthy Bacteria that normally lives throughout their GI Tract, and there are literally millions/billions of cultures in one of those little scoops. So they assume that the bird is not going to actually ingest that entire amount. She just needs to get some of it into her GI Tract once every day, and the live-cultures grow from there.

If her main staple food is seed-mix, it's actually easier to dose them, because if you mix the Probiotic powder well throughout her seed-mix, it will "dust" or stick to all of the outer seed-shells, and every time she puts one of the seeds in her mouth, she's taking in some of the Probiotics. This isn't an "exact" measurement or dosage like with an actual medication, as again, these are living bacterial strains that are going to grow daily inside her GI Tract, so you're basically just adding and replacing them every single day. And that tiny little scoop of the Probiotic powder literally contains billions and billions of bacteria. So as long as you're giving her one of those full, pre-measured scoops and mixing it well into either her seed-mix or if she eats rice every day then that would work great too, even if she doesn't eat it all, she's getting more than enough to keep the healthy bacteria continually growing throughout her GI Tract.

Too much can cause an upset stomach (diarrhea etc)-- even in humans who aren't used to taking them.

 

[Colibri22]

Getting Boo Boo to swallow her medicine is getting pretty difficult. Since she is so tiny, the dosages are really small, .05cc for Diflucan and .08 for antibiotic. So seeing that it's only a few drops, every drop counts. She has learned a tactic to keep a bit of liquid in her beak until I let her go. Then she shakes her head and sprays it elsewhere. I'm worried she's not getting enough.

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[EllenD]

Did you get the Qwiko Avian Probiotics? If so, then it comes with that little scoop, which is the correct "dosage" that you sprinkle on/mix-into her food...When it comes to Probiotics they aren't actually "dosed" like a medication is. They are simply strains of different healthy Bacteria that normally lives throughout their GI Tract, and there are literally millions/billions of cultures in one of those little scoops. So they assume that the bird is not going to actually ingest that entire amount. She just needs to get some of it into her GI Tract once every day, and the live-cultures grow from there.

If her main staple food is seed-mix, it's actually easier to dose them, because if you mix the Probiotic powder well throughout her seed-mix, it will "dust" or stick to all of the outer seed-shells, and every time she puts one of the seeds in her mouth, she's taking in some of the Probiotics. This isn't an "exact" measurement or dosage like with an actual medication, as again, these are living bacterial strains that are going to grow daily inside her GI Tract, so you're basically just adding and replacing them every single day. And that tiny little scoop of the Probiotic powder literally contains billions and billions of bacteria. So as long as you're giving her one of those full, pre-measured scoops and mixing it well into either her seed-mix or if she eats rice every day then that would work great too, even if she doesn't eat it all, she's getting more than enough to keep the healthy bacteria continually growing throughout her GI Tract.

Too much can cause an upset stomach (diarrhea etc)-- even in humans who aren't used to taking them.

There's no way that he's going to ingest "too much" or enough to upset his stomach when it's simply being "dusted" on the outer seed shells, so that he is only licking a tiny bit off of the outer shells..I don't know if you've ever seen the "scoop" in a bottle of Qwiko Avian Probiotics, but it's not a "scoop" at all, it's probably not even an entire gram of power, it's the equivalent to a "pinch" maybe, so that's why it's not a big deal at all, especially if you're only dusting their seed-mix with it...

 

[noodles123]

I haven't seen the scoop. I just know that I accidentally gave my Too a teaspoon of Bene-bac at some point (1/2 tsp x2 instead of 1/4 x2) and the vet said to avoid doing it in the future. EllenD is probably correct. I just thought I would put it out there.

 

[noodles123]

I am always nervous to do it, but if you have a lot of confidence and a decent bond, there are ways to inject the meds down the throat to prevent that. The risk is shooting it into the wrong hole and causing the bird to aspirate...or puncturing something....You might talk to your vet about it and see what they say.

 

[EllenD]

The "scoop" that comes with the Qwiko Probiotics, which is not a scoop at all, is nowhere near even a teaspoon of powder. It's a gram at most, probably less, of probiotic powder that you're simply dusting the outer shells of their seeds in. Even if you gave a small bird the entire "scoop" full of powder directly into their Crop, there's no way it would cause any issues...I've been giving my guys this same Probiotic supplement once daily for just about 2 years now, and that's one of the reasons I like it better than the Benebac (especially the Benebac "paste" or whatever they call it), because it's nowhere near as potent, nor is it anywhere near as large an individual dose.

 

[Colibri22]

My bird has learned a new, unwelcome trick. This morning I gave her her medicines and she was actually pretty good about taking them. After a few seconds to make sure she really swallowed everything, I let her climb up on my shoulder where she proceeded to wipe her beak on my short and neck like she usually does after her meds. But today she regurgitated and now I'm afraid she didn't get her correct dose of medicines. But I have no way of knowing if she yaked all if it up or not.

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[ChristaNL]

There are always instructions in the extra leaflet that tell you what to do if you missed a dose
Regurging is 'missing/forgetting a dose' because you cannot be sure ...

 

[Colibri22]

There are always instructions in the extra leaflet that tell you what to do if you missed a dose
Regurging is 'missing/forgetting a dose' because you cannot be sure ...

Hmmm. My CAV didn't give me any leaflets. Only the instructions printed on the bottle.

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