Sneezing/Runny Nose

[Tikazoo]

Good thinking. I can't let it sit because it's refrigerated meds so he has to have it ASAP. I seem to have fooled him with some mashed banana and yogurt mixed with meds today. I am worried I'm diluting the meds a bit though. I smelled it and it smells really sweet but geez he couldn't have been more of a toddler about taking it. Such a hissy fit he really hates it. Hopefully the yogurt / banana mix is okay, since it worked good this am!!

 

[roxynoodle]

No, the refrigerated meds I would put on like an hour before giving them to her. My kitchen also has a tendency to be on the cold side in the winter so I'd leave them sit in a cupboard in there. I would put on the non refrigerated ones first, and the refrigerated ones last.

With Pete and the toast, I'd put the meds on right away, give them a minute or so to soak into the bread a bit, and then put on the light swipe of peanut butter. If he could see the meds, he wouldn't eat the bread. So the peanut butter hid them, and of course made it more tempting. The Clavimox was white, and the Nystatin like yellowish, but he still wouldn't eat them if he could see them.

 

[Pedro]

Good thinking. I can't let it sit because it's refrigerated meds so he has to have it ASAP. I seem to have fooled him with some mashed banana and yogurt mixed with meds today. I am worried I'm diluting the meds a bit though. I smelled it and it smells really sweet but geez he couldn't have been more of a toddler about taking it. Such a hissy fit he really hates it. Hopefully the yogurt / banana mix is okay, since it worked good this am!!

Anti fungal medication is best used as directed as the topical dose will kill the yeast spores that are growing on the tongue or worse if they get further down the intestines.

However antibiotics are OK to be put in his favorite foods provided the directed dose & food are all eaten quickly.

 

[Tikazoo]

Actually though he has no mouth yeast. Actually she has cultured every bit of him, mouth,nose, etc... nothing grows. The anti fungal is a last ditch. Then she said we may X-ray him to see if maybe he had a juvenile aspiration or something.

 

[roxynoodle]

Is it in the sinuses? Merlin's is in the back of her throat. The vet cultured it again today. We are probably using the same med you are now as it needs refrigerated.

 

[Pedro]

My male BF Amazon has always since i bought him has from time to time had like a sever sinus problem. His has this really thick discharge dripping from his nose. I have tried just about everything. As he gets older he has been having less attacks. This year so far none. However if he has an attack & is having trouble breathing i give him a few really hot peppers & within minutes the discharge has all dried up. I have been doing this for the last 5 years i have owned them. Worth a try as chilies are full of goodness as well.

 

[roxynoodle]

Hey, there's something to that. Peppers and spicy foods help clear out my sinuses as well. And I've had non stop problems with mine since a bad accident where I was kicked by a horse. My right maxillary sinus shattered at the bottom and has a huge fracture line right through the middle. My right frontal one also has a large fracture line. I've had 3 surgeries to add extra openings, but it hasn't helped much. But, every time I start eating spicy food, they start emptying.

My vet wants me to flush Merlin's out with saline eye wash once a week. Did your vet advise that also?

Merlin likes spicy spaghetti sauce a lot. I wonder about hot peppers? It's worth a try.

 

[Tikazoo]

Thanks Pedro and Roxy. Yes Roxy my vet did the sinus cleaning but did it to make sure he was draining. She didn't have me keep it going but did give me saline to use in his spray bottle for a while. I am using the anti fungal poor bird though as if it didn't trust me enough, sad since it was a hand fed bird. We will have a lot of work to do later. He isn't sneezing quite as much but still sneezing. No discharge for a while now. Is Merlin taking the meds from syringe? She's a good girl Mr Big Stuff / Tiko / or Scratch-em ( my kids are now in name debates takes the meds good in the banana but I again tried with syringe as Pedro said and it's just horrible - he acts like its burning his mouth. The vet said she doesn't know at this point where the infection is, but originally thought it was pseudomonas but was wrong. She said we'd done two broad spectrum antibiotics and with no change to the white count and no growth on any cultures, and neg gram stain an anti fungal was a shot in the dark. I'm wondering about a juvenile aspiration, so we may do an X-ray next. I don't know enough about that though, it was just a guess since I know the guy inot him from had some issues. Vet also says bird has stress bars on its first feathers and so it makes her wonder, but who's to know. I will get some chili peppers though Pedro so thanks for suggesting!!!

 

[roxynoodle]

I can get her to take thick, sweet tasting meds from a syringe, but it takes her like half an hour to take even one mL, so it's quite a pain. As for the runny, and bad tasting meds like Celebrex, forget it. She doesn't like them and I end up dribbling them all over the place. That one is easy to let dry on Nutriberries though for a couple of hours since it doesn't need refrigerated. Right now I'm trying that new anti-fungal on a Nutriberry. I was able to let it soak in about 30 minutes before I gave it to her. But, she was wiping off parts of it on the edge of her food dish, so I had to get all the crumbs and put them back into the bowl. She is eating the crumbs right now so I will need to see how she did with it. The one that didn't need refrigerated was so much easier as I could let it soak in a long time first. I just told her she has to eat every bit before she gets anything else, and she went back to the bowl to finish it. So we shall see. I may have to return to using the syringe with this one. But, she is quite terrified of towels now after so many vet visits and different procedures she hated, that I don't want to towel her everyday if I don't have to. And she is 21 years old and far removed from those hand feeding days. It's too bad she turned into a giant feathered peanut butter ball from the toast since it worked so easily for Pete. He got all the meds, and quickly with no waste. And thought I was giving him a very special treat to boot!

 

[roxynoodle]

Oh, my vet did tell me yesterday that Greys and amazons are prone to sinus blockage. She said you won't necessarily see any drainage with them though just due to their complicated sinuses. She said I should just flush Merlin weekly right now, and eventually move to every other week just for good measure. I had the impression that it was a good thing to do forever. She said we have such windy conditions around here that it exacerbates this in them.

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, she did finally eat every crumble and then I gave her back her pellets and an almond. This med she only has to have once a day so I think if it's her first thing in the morning food, giving it on the Nutriberry could work well.

 

[Tikazoo]

Well here's to both of us being successful medicating, goodness it's a pain when ya can't put it into food!!

 

[Tikazoo]

Hi everyone, so I took Tiko back in to the vet and his white counties being rechecked again so I'm in wait mode. Vet said she really doesn't know what's up at this point. Good news is he doesn't act really sick but is still sneezing, his throat is still irritated. Ears look better, so that's a plus will know more tomorrow on the white count. Was about 20,000 at last checkup so we will see if the anti fungal helped. Still doing probiotic and hot pepper...

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm also going to try hot pepper (hopefully she will eat it), and some camomille tea for her plugged up sinuses. Flushing her sinuses every week is not fun by myself, and most of the neighbors I've tried to rope into helping out are pretty freaked out by the screaming bird in the towel.

Here's to hoping he is ok now, Tikazoo!

I also think getting that air cleaner ASAP is going to help her as well as me.

 

[Clueless]

I just read this thread and WOW, you guys rock! I had a slight scare with Secret and was worried about how to get medication into the parrot - these tips are awesome!

I hope all your feathered friends are doing better now.

 

[lmwilson428]

My conure started with sneezing, then started with chest congestion. My conure has been on Doxycycline for a week and a half now and isn't better. The vet was thinking about psittacosis too. I was wondering how Tika is and if that is what your vet put her on and how long was it till you notices a change? I opted not to get the testing too bc it was so expensive! I wish I would of now to just know, but it's too late now the vet says, he may come back negative after being on the antibiotic.