Need tips for getting unsocialized parakeet out of cage for meds

[buurd]

Hey all.

I need helpful ideas for getting my parakeet out of his cage so i can give him his meds. His previous owner did not socialize him, and now that he needs meds from a syringe, he's not having it.

I successfully toweled him and administered the meds twice, but he got smart quick, and now is a master of evasion. He also seems like he's gotten wilder about evading me, throwing himself against the cage back and forth. I stopped when he started breathing rapidly, as I am worried about him having a heart attack.

I also thought he had chipped the side of his beak, but after further inspection, I see its his feathers that got a bit of medicine, and slicked them down a bit.

He is not afraid of me out of the cage. I can stand next to him and sing to him, when hes on my monitor, with my face 6-8" from his face, and he's comfortable enough to close his eyes and display contentment, so he doesnt hate me, totally, lol

Im just at a loss. I go in with a towel so hes not even looking at my hand. I dont know what else to do.

Please help :headwall:



Also, Has anyone ever had a bird have a heart attack or chip a beak trying to do this?

 

[noodles123]

have you tried mixing partial doses in with very desireable foods? Too much, and they taste it, but if you do it right and are very certain that they are eating all of the food, then you can spread a dose out (in most cases) over a few hours to ensure that it is all consumed. Make note of ML given though, b/c if they reject it or throw it, you still must make up for that.
The goal is to hide the color and taste of the med without filling them up or causing them to reject a favorite food.


If the medicine is colored, try to match a preferred food that happens to be similar in color (they are very visual).


Try not to put too much on at once, or they may pick around it or reject it entirely. I have also used 1/4s of mini-nilla wafers (not the healthiest, but absorbent and sweet) in sandwich form. sweet potatoes, some pasta varieties (non-fortified), and even Alexia sweet potato fry segments (you want to make a slit and sort of let the meds absorb into the food, so it doesn't drip off and so that it isn't the first thing they taste)



Plain oatmeal cooked with banana or other fruit mixed in is often good (but again, don't give more food than you know they will eat, or it will be too hard to monitor the doses).


You want to keep portions small so that 1. you know they got the meds, 2. so that it doesn't taste disgusting 3. so that if a partial dose is wasted, you don't have to worry as much and 4-so they don't get too full or bored of the same thing. You will need to make sure your vet is aware, as meds WILL be wasted this way and you will likely need more to replace them.


Noodles trusts me a ton and will let me do a lot, but SHE WILL NOT take from a syringe unless in a 2 person towel and even then, she will sometimes gag or choke, so...we don't do that (it's the only time she is ever difficult at the vet)

 

[buurd]

have you tried mixing partial doses in with very desireable foods? Too much, and they taste it, but if you do it right and are very certain that they are eating all of the food, then you can spread a dose out (in most cases) over a few hours to ensure that it is all consumed. Make note of ML given though, b/c if they reject it or throw it, you still must make up for that.
The goal is to hide the color and taste of the med without filling them up or causing them to reject a favorite food.


If the medicine is colored, try to match a preferred food that happens to be similar in color (they are very visual).


Try not to put too much on at once, or they may pick around it or reject it entirely. I have also used 1/4s of mini-nilla wafers (not the healthiest, but absorbent and sweet) in sandwich form. sweet potatoes, some pasta varieties (non-fortified), and even Alexia sweet potato fry segments (you want to make a slit and sort of let the meds absorb into the food, so it doesn't drip off and so that it isn't the first thing they taste)



Plain oatmeal cooked with banana or other fruit mixed in is often good (but again, don't give more food than you know they will eat, or it will be too hard to monitor the doses).


You want to keep portions small so that 1. you know they got the meds, 2. so that it doesn't taste disgusting 3. so that if a partial dose is wasted, you don't have to worry as much and 4-so they don't get too full or bored of the same thing. You will need to make sure your vet is aware, as meds WILL be wasted this way and you will likely need more to replace them.


Noodles trusts me a ton and will let me do a lot, but SHE WILL NOT take from a syringe unless in a 2 person towel and even then, she will sometimes gag or choke, so...we don't do that (it's the only time she is ever difficult at the vet)

He's a bourke's parakeet, so he's a bit smaller than a budgie, and he eats lightly through the day. He eats very little vegetables, or put it this way, he throws what he eats around, so I cant really tell what he actually consumes. I can try a tiny bit of mushy yam, but i cant be sure he'll even eat it, let alone within an hour.
You guys with bigger birds seem to have it easier because they seem to be more food motivated and have favorites. If he doesn't feel like veggies, he will skip a day.

I did just get him and gave him a dosage after I posted this 59 But it is such an ordeal for him, I want to make it easier on him and lessen any chance of injury.

I pull the curtains, put some of his favorite music on and speak softly to him, but he throws those wings out and is so fast.

 

[Laurasea]

If it is once a day I wait till evening turn off the lights, wait a couple of minutes and reach in and grab them.
Otherwise take cage into a dark closet if day time.
I had multiple burds in one cage. So I used a piece if acrylic to herd them to bottom of cage first. Then I had it completely dark. After I treated one I put them on the upper part of cage.

This method worked wonderfully for untamed parakeets. They don't want to fly in the dark, and stayed very calm.

Before, it went like yiu described.

 

[buurd]

Thank you for the suggestions. I ended up using light, tight weave cotton cloth to herd him to one side of the cage and then gently dropped it over him and scooped him up that way, and then securing him with two fingers around his neck.

Because he's wild and tiny, I was worried I might give him a heart attack, or he would injure himself on the cage, or get loose and crash into a wall, in a panic.
I was also worried he was too delicate to hold. The vet showed me how to hold him with the two fingers. I just had to get over my trepidations, and now I know that if I have to, I can secure him to administer liquid meds.

He's over his course of meds and feeling better. Now I just have to build my trust up with him, again. But he's been with me for 3 years now, and I think he knows Im harmless. He still lets me stand next to him and he still shows that he likes me singing to him.

 

[buurd]

I spoke too soon. Hes over his course of medicine, and the soft green stool and extra water has come back again. I put him back on the leftover medicine until I can take him hopefully on monday.

Does anyone have any idea why he would revert back to the problem stool again? Has anyone dealt with this? He was prescribed Enrofloxacin 50mg, 0.01mg every 12 hrs.

 

[Laurasea]

Psittacosis is a bacterial infection that often causes green stool. So much so that green stool is almost diagnostic for this infection. ( side note green stool as first morning poop only is normal especially in non budgies parrots) treatment is doxycycline fir 45 days. Relapse can happen. But is treatable and you can get them well..just watch for relapse. And keep extra cleaning.

Enrofloxacin won't cure this but does hide the symptoms. So it would go like you described. They seem better but are not.

So if Psittacosis is suspected doxycycline is the best and almost only treatment. Good news is you can add to water, or get medical feed. For parakeets the medicated feed is best choice, but csn treat in water or by mouth
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/psittacosis-bird-owners-need-know/

 

[buurd]

His poop was not fluorescent looking green.

I got rid of an acrylic feeder he was hanging out at, and that seemed to solve, quickly. Lately hes started to perch on the side of his glass bowl and poop into it.

 

[Skarila]

His poop was not fluorescent looking green.

I got rid of an acrylic feeder he was hanging out at, and that seemed to solve, quickly. Lately hes started to perch on the side of his glass bowl and poop into it.

Just keep an eye on your little bird, sadly illnesses like these can happen that the bird gets re-infected. Do you know if you got a disgnose what bacteria was it?

Since you said that you ditched acrilic bowl, is that why you switched to glass?

I had experience with treatment of a budgie who had Macrorhabdus ornithogaster - nasty, quite a nasty thing and hard to treat and cure. Administering a drop of the special medicine into a beak of a wild budgie... Yeah, I'm familiar with it, for 4 weeks... Not fun, as you might know. And this medicine was bright orange and completely stained and sticked his feathers around the beak, a nightmare to wash...And all the constant cleaning and desinfecting all surfaces where the bird was. Eventually his tests came negative after the treatment and he was rehomed couple of months after (our job was done - rescue the bird, cure, rehome, I still miss the little budgie.

 

[buurd]

The problem hasnt come back. He just started doing it like two days ago. I think he might like the weirdness of the feel of the dry food under his feet. Ive got to figure out a way to distract him with something cooler to perch on, after hes done eating.

I read glass was better and less likely to harbor bacteria in scratches than acrylic.

 

[buurd]

Just keep an eye on your little bird, sadly illnesses like these can happen that the bird gets re-infected. Do you know if you got a disgnose what bacteria was it?

Since you said that you ditched acrilic bowl, is that why you switched to glass?

I had experience with treatment of a budgie who had Macrorhabdus ornithogaster - nasty, quite a nasty thing and hard to treat and cure. Administering a drop of the special medicine into a beak of a wild budgie... Yeah, I'm familiar with it, for 4 weeks... Not fun, as you might know. And this medicine was bright orange and completely stained and sticked his feathers around the beak, a nightmare to wash...And all the constant cleaning and desinfecting all surfaces where the bird was. Eventually his tests came negative after the treatment and he was rehomed couple of months after (our job was done - rescue the bird, cure, rehome, I still miss the little budgie.

I forgot to quote you. Thank you for the reply.
Yeah theres seems to be so many nasty things they can get. But luckily this cleared up. After two rounds of antibiotics, he's holding a grudge against me for life now.

The thing is though, I know that he knows that he wasnt hurt, and was even given a tasty treat every time
i had to collect him.