Frustrated Birdy Mum

So things are not going well with Baby.

Like with every animal I get, I always take them into the vet as soon as I can so I can catch any possibly diseases they could have and nip it in the butt so to speak. Since I am still in contact with Baby's previous owners, I asked for vet records, since they has told me that he was healthy the last time he went to the vet. However I was then told that in the 5 years he has been alive, Baby has never been to the vet.

Of course I was irritated for being lied to, but I was more conceded about Baby. They said he has seasonal allergies, which was why he was sneezing, but after noticing he had discharge I immediately made an appointment with the vet. Turns out he has Psittacosis, not allergies.

He is on antibiotics now, but he hardly trusted me as it was since I've only had him for a few days. So giving him his medicine has broken any sort of bond we were starting to form.

Is there anyway I can make this easier for both of us? I would rather him hate me than have him die, but I am still concerned. Especially since I have no idea how long he has had this. At the end of this I still want us to be able to have a bond. Any tips?

I have a similar situation with my conure who chewed off a half of his toe after a minor injury with his toenail. I have him to wear the collar and give him medicine wrapping him in a towel twice a day. I had him for awhile, but I was feeling he started to hate me. However after about a week of this routine he got used to it and now flies over to me, takes treats from me and behaves like he did before.
I wouldn't worry about the bond too much right now, but about how to save your bird. Talk to him lovingly and softly and give him treats from your hand.

veimar said:

I have a similar situation with my conure who chewed off a half of his toe after a minor injury with his toenail. I have him to wear the collar and give him medicine wrapping him in a towel twice a day. I had him for awhile, but I was feeling he started to hate me. However after about a week of this routine he got used to it and now flies over to me, takes treats from me and behaves like he did before.
I wouldn't worry about the bond too much right now, but about how to save your bird. Talk to him lovingly and softly and give him treats from your hand.

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Thank you, that is very reassuring to me.

Your bond hasn't been broken at all. He's sick and grumpy and hates taking his meds....like any kid. Trust me this will pass. It helps a lot to stick to a routine with meds. Same time very morning so it becomes a routine like any other. Follow with a favorite treat, then lots of scratches, or his favorite activity. Make sure he has plenty of interaction besides the meds. Don't worry he'll forgive you

How infuriating! I am so glad for Baby that he has YOU now who dont just brush off his illness! Dont worry about the bond. It may be delayed because of the medication, it may not, but like you said it is important for his health! Keep in mind that he can live a very long life, and you have lots of time to build that trust and friendship. Try to build a routine around the meds so he knows when they are coming. this might make it a little trickier to give them to him, but at least he will know when they are coming and wont feel ambushed by you, and wont always be suspicious that you are about to give them to him

I'm so sorry about his diagnosis. I hope they've caught it early! That's what the vet first suspected Kiwi had when we got him, but he ended up having a different respiratory infection. Kiwi was totally feral when we got him and toweling him to get him to the vet was a process, we couldn't do it 2x a day to give him his meds. He had to go through 2 rounds of antibiotics to knock his infection too. We discovered he liked fruit loops (the cereal) and while certainly not a food we would normally feed him, for the purposes of making sure he got the medicine he needed, I *CAREFULLY* soaked a fruitloop with his antibiotic to trick him into taking it. I think he got more antibiotic that way than had we toweled and force fed it through a syringe. And giving treats (though laced with medicine) built trust instead of breaking it.

Is there a (absorbent) treat like cereal or bread or something you could soak with the antibiotic for a more gentle way of getting Baby his meds? I hope he makes a full recovery, and I'm sure he will forgive you!

Baby is lucky he found you! He's probably cranky because he feels bad. When he is healthly and feeling better I'm sure he will come around.

Thank you all, it makes me feel a lot better about the situation. Though I am a worry wart, so I'll still be worried about his health no matter what.

Kiwibird

Thank you for the advice, it helped a lot! I tried fruit loops, but he just threw them at me so that was a no go. I did find that he likes plain popcorn, so I tried soaking it in there and it seems to work! It is messy, but he is eating most of it. So I think I might try with this and see how it will work.

Glad he's willing to take his "special" treat of popcorn (also good to know once he's recovered for training treats). With a new bird especially, a gentler way of dealing with this is always preferable (IMO). Even though Kiwi is now well trained and towel trained (does not resist being toweled), if he ever did need a oral medication again, I would not towel him to dose him. And even if some popcorn gets dropped, some liquid would dribble out too. AVs know 99.9% of parrots don't just sit there and take 100% of their medicine. They account for some loss of the medication when they prescribe a dosage. Hope Baby starts improving soon!