Back from the vet, it's not great news

Kiwi is fond of oatmeal. I mixed his PM meds in applesauce and he liked that too. Thankfully, Kiwi isn't a super picky eater and there's plenty of mushy foods to choose from.

I did consider peanut butter (and he would undoubtedly very strongly approve of that!), but while the renal diet doesn't specifically forbid it, it has a lot of protein which I'm fairly certain he's suppose to be avoiding to help the kidney heal.

Kiwibird said:

Kiwi is fond of oatmeal. I mixed his PM meds in applesauce and he liked that too. Thankfully, Kiwi isn't a super picky eater and there's plenty of mushy foods to choose from.

I did consider peanut butter (and he would undoubtedly very strongly approve of that!), but while the renal diet doesn't specifically forbid it, it has a lot of protein which I'm fairly certain he's suppose to be avoiding to help the kidney heal.

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Yeah, no peanut butter, or nuts in-general, simply because of the protein content. That's tough with birds, I know, but most nuts have as much protein as some animal meat does, which is not good for a damaged kidney.

Ah, good point. Sorry. Hadn't thought about the protein content.

So sorry to hear it...I was hoping for a simple "ingrown feather, fixed" post ... it's astonishing how well these little goobers hide their illness and distress. And so good that you picked up on such a relatively subtle clue.

Unfortunately, it seems we may find it necessary to towel Kiwi to administer the meds, as he seems to have figured out the sudden influx of treats are laced with medicine:34:. We've burned out oatmeal, applesauce, peanut butter puff cereal (low protein, I checked, just PB flavored) and graham crackers. I don't even know what else I could try that doesn't totally violate the 'spirit' of the diet he's on that little craphead. We don't want to restrain him, but he HAS to take the medicines.

The Rb is SO feeling Kiwi's pain. He'll be on meds for at leat two weeks, then maybe more, depending on labs. He is a VERY picky eater, but loves almond butter, and the vet okayed that since the Rb is skinny with no kidney/etc. problems. We'll see how long it lasts, though. I have never toweled him. Maybe we'll be sharing hints.

I might call his vet this afternoon and explain what's happened and see if he could be allowed some kind of nut butter. Unfortunately he like peanut butter over all other nut butters. I don't know that mixing it in with rice or quinoa etc... would do any good as I'd imagine he could still taste it?

My readings tell me that parrots have an extremely poor sense of taste... that's why they love hot peppers... they can TASTE 'em. I think it's more an issue of texture, with those amazing tongues...

Little bugger...I would call the vet too, as just enough peanut butter daily to get his meds in him should not be a problem...i can't think of anything else either, unless there is a fruit that he really likes, like he'd be willing to eat an entire slice of apple or something similar. If that's the case and you have a syringe with a needle on it (or a cooking syringe/injector) you could inject the meds into something like an apple slice that would hold the meds...

Fortunately, he only has 3 doses of the antibiotic left, but the metacam he'll be on 3X a week for the next few weeks (until it runs out, is what the instructions state).

I have had to towel all my amazons at one time or another.
from my experience they don't associate the towel with "you". The towel is the "bad guy" not you yourself.

It was a different story when I had to towel my Tiel Lucky.

With Bingo what worked best was to let him attack the towel. He would grab it with both feet and I could pick him up from the cage and set him on the floor or the couch (upside-down). in that position drop the rest of the towel over him and bundle him up.

My other amazons I had to grab them with the towel inside the cage.

I understand you don't like it but sometimes it's the only way to be sure he/she gets the meds needed in the proper dosage.

texsize.

Make Mr. Towel the bad guy as texsize to clearly states. Once the towel is on him allow him to chew bad Mr. Towel until you are ready to provide the medication.

We team, the process with the loved one providing the medication and the luck one holding the Amazon. Dry run practice helps, with the goal of restraining for the minimum time possible. So, as you well know, have everything ready before hand. We always provide the medication in the same location. They seem to quickly get that this spot is for the Medication and that elsewhere is Okay, they still Love Me.

This Too, Shall Pass!

April, have you considered powdered peanut butter? Apparently the drying process removes a large portion of the fat/oil. Simply add water to the desired strength, or in this case, a mixture of meds/water. This link from Consumer Reports describes the product: https://www.consumerreports.org/healthy-snacks/is-powdered-peanut-butter-good-for-you/

Typical peanut butter spreads are laced with nasty ingredients and salt. I'd imagine you can find a powdered product that lacks additional oil. sugar, and salt.

Scott said:

April, have you considered powdered peanut butter? Apparently the drying process removes a large portion of the fat/oil. Simply add water to the desired strength, or in this case, a mixture of meds/water. This link from Consumer Reports describes the product: https://www.consumerreports.org/healthy-snacks/is-powdered-peanut-butter-good-for-you/

Typical peanut butter spreads are laced with nasty ingredients and salt. I'd imagine you can find a powdered product that lacks additional oil. sugar, and salt.

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I make peanut butter from unsalted peanuts in our vitamix. To my understanding, the primary concern for this renal diet isn't fat, it's protein. Peanut butter powder still contains a lot of protein, so while appropriate perhaps for other situations, not for this one in particular.

So the last dose of antibiotics has been given and thankfully we didn't have to resort to the towel. The Metacam will now be 3X a week (so basically every other day) until it runs out, which by the looks of it will be another 4 or 5 doses.

Whenever baby needed a round of meds....it was done with shots.....she allowed my other half to do this. Oral stuff is hard to get the right dose when most of it is wasted or the bird won't touch it with a ten foot pole......even if it tastes like candy....they seem to know...or at least Baby knew!
good luck!

I'm sorry to hear about Kiwi's condition. I hope he gets better real soon. Hang in there!

Cheering for Kiwi here. And if it’s any reassurance, I had to towel my partner’s bird and give him shots every day for a while. I worried that he would hate me for it, th vet said no, it might even make your relationship better because you are handling him more. Yeah, right ... except it was true. I let him exit the towel into his favorite perch and immediately gave him a treat, and it did seem to help our connection. Maybe he thought I was saving him from the evil towel? Humans tend to judge experiences by the last moments, not the average. If you have a so so vacation and the last few days are, you evaluate the whole trip as better. So the rescue at the end might outweigh the collusion with Mr. Towel in the beginning.

I'm so glad Kiwi is in the home-stretch of this illness, I love happy endings!

As far as toweling goes, I too absolutely HATE having to do it to any of my guys, and I avoid it whenever possible, but it is necessary and can't be avoided at times. If that's the only way you can get him to take his meds then that's what ya gotta do...But it does not automatically mean that it will cause an issue with Kiwi and yourself, not by any means at all.

A lot of great tips have already been given, the best being "Let the towel be the bad guy, not you" by allowing Kiwi to attack the towel first, and then doing what you have to do, and afterwards allowing him to again attack the towel and find his own way out of the towel, with you already having walked away from the situation.

My Senegal, Kane, particularly hates the towel, and of course he's the largest bird I have and the one with the beak that can really do some damage if he wants to. He thankfully allows me to clip his toenails without the towel (thank you to his breeder!), but when he was only about 10 months old he got his backwards-facing toe on his left foot stuck in his cage bars where they join, and he chewed-off about half of his own toe to fee himself (I wasn't home at the time, and that cage is no longer with us)...By the time I got home he was still stuck in the damn cage, even after chewing off a good portion of his entire toe, and he was screaming in agony and fear. I immediately (and instinctively I guess, not really thinking in the moment) just grabbed him and was trying to figure out how to free the "stub" that was left with the half of his toe hanging on from a thread of skin/bone, because he had already bled what looked like his entire blood volume all over the floor and the cage bottom. I thought he was going to die, so I just grabbed him and it took me between 1-2 minutes to figure out that to free him I had to actually "slide" his foot upwards, as this must be how he got stuck in the first place, he was standing on the curved part of the dome-top and he "slid" down one of the bars and right into the joint where the front, top, and side panels joined. So to free him I had to slide him back up...Well in the 1-2 minutes it took for me to figure this out, Kane had literally sunken down onto my right thumb and never let go. When I finally freed him I set him down on the kitchen counter and wanted to run to get a towel and the cornstarch, but he still wouldn't let go. I thought I was going to lose my thumb too, lol, we'd both have "nubbins"...he finally let go, I ran to my pet first-aid kit and grabbed the corn starch and a towel from my linen closet, and when I went to towel him he simply climbed right onto my chest and buried his head...poor guy was exhausted...So I just wrapped him up and into the car we went, with him screaming from inside the towel (he's flighted and I was just carrying him outside, not good but he was bleeding to death)...My CAV removed the remaining toe that was hanging, made a skin flap, and stitched it shut, all while I was holding him inside of the towel, with his little face poking out looking at me, and I was certain that he was going to hate me forever for this...HE WAS WATCHING ME, LOOKING AT MY FACE THROUGH THE TOWEL THE ENTIRE TIME, NO ONE ELSE, IT WAS ALL ME, ALL MY FAULT! My CAV did a wonderful job, you can't even tell he's got a "nub" or a "stub" unless you are looking for it, but he was not pleased with me for a day or two, though he did spend the rest of that night after we got home from the vet sleeping on my chest, so he wasn't that angry...

My point is that you have to do what necessary for your bird's own good, and even though it might upset him at the time, it will not at all, in any way ruin your bond with Kiwi. He'll be fine, remember, "It's the towel's fault!"

Fresh back from the follow up appointment. Vet said the infection itself seems to be taken care of and his butt-region is refeathering. Kiwi is now on a 45 day course of allopurinol to help flush his kidneys, then back for a follow up X-ray.

I also pegged the vet down on what exactly to feed Kiwi moving forward from this. Unfortunately, I have unwittingly been feeding Kiwi too much fresh foods and it possibly contributed to this problem. According to the vet, Kiwi needs more nuts and seeds in his diet, along with seasonal fruit and veggies. She isn't a big fan of pellets and doesn't suggest he eat any, thankfully, as I don't think they seem like a very natural thing to feed parrots either. Too much soft, cooked foods apparently isn't good for them and the vet sees quite a few problems as a result of people feeding them too much. He is also not to eat any more frozen/reheated food, which is apparently bad for their digestion too. She said his beans/grains mix was fine a few times a week, but not every day and only fresh. Basically, more hard nuts and seeds to keep his gizzard in good shape along with fresh fruits and veggies every day. I will be altering his diet accordingly. I'm sure he'll be pleased.