Back from the vet

Well I took Scout to the vet yesterday. The doctor prescribed him Baytril... I have to give it to him every 12 hours for 6 days with a little bit of diluted fruit juice.. HE HATES IT haha... I did not take Sawyer with me just Scout.
Anyways, the doctor said if his tail bobbing continues after the course of the baytril to bring him back in for more tests... It was 50 dollars total for the check up and the medicine. She said he looked very good but the tail bobbing WAS a concern. (Also he weighed 95 grams)

Has anyone else had their bird on this??

Now I am thinking to myself though.. What if this is contagious??? At the moment I do not have a separate cage for Scout and Sawyer to go into. Sawyer has never acted sick though, he is extremely loud and peppy all the time, He doesn't even want to sleep at night he will still be singing. He is a very hardy eater too. His tail has never bobbed and he doesn't cough/sneeze/wheeze/click anything.

Any thoughts?


Also here is a picture of Scout at the vet on my boyfriend's head!

Baytril is an antibiotic, I am told it tastes really bad and that most birds don't like it. Some bacteria, like if you are treating respiratory infection, can become airborne and can infect your other birds. You can call your vet's office and ask if Scout is contagious and they can tell you. If he is, likely you will have Sawyer go through a course of antibiotics at the same time. I have gone through this several times with my 2 birds who are housed separately but in close proximity. Since they are sharing food/water and living space, I would be concerned about also sharing bacteria.

Piasa said:

Baytril is an antibiotic, I am told it tastes really bad and that most birds don't like it. Some bacteria, like if you are treating respiratory infection, can become airborne and can infect your other birds. You can call your vet's office and ask if Scout is contagious and they can tell you. If he is, likely you will have Sawyer go through a course of antibiotics at the same time. I have gone through this several times with my 2 birds who are housed separately but in close proximity. Since they are sharing food/water and living space, I would be concerned about also sharing bacteria.

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Thanks for the info, See my vet isn't exclusively avian and they are decent but I do have some concerns about how professional they are. Pretty much she told me that if his tail keeps bobbing to take him back and THEN they will preform tests. She did not take blood or do x-rays or anything.

I will give them a call today and ask her opinion if she thinks I should treat both my birds I will go back and get some more Baytril.

Also yes.. It smells bad and I'd assume it tastes awful. In a separate syringe I am giving him diluted low sugar apple juice and then in another syring I will give him a little bit of the medicine and keep doing that until it's all gone. He doesn't regurgitate it thankfully.

I will give it a few days and see how he is. Sawyer doesn't show any signs of sickness at all like how Scout does but Of course.. I know birds hide their sickness very well.


Thank you for the comment and advice. IT may not be a respiratory infection I honestly don't know myself yet... I'm really hoping it is something that simple and not anything worse...

Thank you

Also on a side note I will work on getting another cage to maybe separate them but keep them in the same room... Not only because of possible spread of infection but also because Sawyer can sometimes be a bully. I would probably have to get rid of some furniture though.... My room is so small and I already have a 40 gallon snake tank on the other side of the room... LOL

Even just a larger travel cage will do temporarily until you can figure out something better.

I am not sure what symptoms you are seeing, but just assuming the problem is bacterial infection, they may do a culture to see if antibiotic is the right one for the job, and/or blood test if the Baytril isn't working. Baytril is used for all sorts of infections though, so hang in there and give it some time to work.

I've found you often need to be proactive about asking questions, or what the options are, etc. Or insist certain things are done now rather than later. For instance, asking if something is contagious. You have more time to analyse the situation than your vet does, and by asking questions, you alert them to the specifics.

Wishing the best for your little boy, and speedy recovery.