| Dianne,
The most used anti-biotics can be administered through the food.
I give my parrots four kinds of food, one of which is a thick
"porridge". This concrete-like substance contains various granes, dried
fruits etc. I put vitamines in here during the winter months and can
add medice as well.
When I want to be realy sure, like in desperate cases I revert to
baby-feeding them. I give them the fortified porridge from a spoon.
This way I am sure about the amount of medicine they take.
This is why I keep my birds "trained" to this baby-feed method. They
like it a lot as a bonus too.
I have cured some serious infections with this, including a severe
pneumonia in a GSC.
All my parrots are very tame and can be picked up, even witout letting
them stand on your hand. You can just hold them. I can even clip nails
and wings plyfully. Still I prefer the non-stress administering methods.
In general I am very in favour of an ioniser in the bird room. This
seems to have a positive effect on the air quality. I don't understand
it, but it does show effects in the birds.
Good luck,
Peter
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| Hi Dianne,
I can understand your hesitation about giving injections. I had to do
this repeatedly with a lovebird hen that got lead poisoning from some
paint she chewed off a windowsill when she escaped from her cage. She
is fine now, but it was a tough period.
I had the vet and the vet tech show me how to do it and they carefully
explained about the proper angle, sterile procedure for handling the
meds and the syringes, and where very supportive and patient. The bird
did act afraid of me for a few weeks after doing this for only a few
days, three to four times a day (four the first two days, including
at 4 a.m.!!). If you get the right size needle -- short enough but
strong enough -- administering the injection should not endanger the
bird because you are, I assume, being told to do this into the chest
muscle, toward the keelbone, so the heart and lungs should not be
in danger. It does leave bruising, and there can be minor bleeding,
so it is unpleasant. It is *very* effective in dosing the bird with
the antibiotic compared to putting the medicine in food or water,
although if the bird will accept hand-feeding formula as described
in Peter's .1 reply above, then I'd pick that over 30 plus days of
injections!!
Linda C.
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| Linda's reply triggered one warning!
Never ever attempt to administer medicine through the drinking water.
Parrots drink VERY little and some hardly at all. Scientific studies on
the water intake show that besides a negligent average, the actual
daily amount may vary up to 500%. Dosing is therefore VERY difficult,
if not impossible.
Regards,
Peter
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