New Amazon-How to get out of cage for meds

[Charley2]

We just adopted our Amazon from a bird sanctuary. We were told he suffers from eye infections and that the nostril needs to be flushed with saline solution. Our problem is trying to get him out of his cage for the treatment everyday. He came to the sanctuary from a bird hoarder and he needs a good home. I do not want to traumatize him getting him out of the cage but it looks like he has not learned to step up. Any suggestions?

 

[Laurasea]

Hi Charley welcome. Most parrots don't enjoy treatment... We all would live to help, but more information from you first will speed this along. Is this your first parrot? Have you taken the new guy to a certified avain veterinarian specialist? Thank you for the rescue! But man taking in a sick burd can be a big deal!!! Where you given a diagnosis as to the cause of the eye infections? Do you know that Teflon, abd any non stick pots pans baking sheets are deadly to birds , the off gass can kill them even in a different room with the door closed. You usually have to go slow with a new bird to earn these highly intelligent being trust, but with him needing treatment that's going to be hard. Let us know where you are on the experience level so we can help.

 

[Laurasea]

I would contact the sanctuary and have them instruct you on how they have been doing this, and maybe take him there and have them show you in person.... It can be dangerous in flushing you might get the saline down his airways. How long have you had him? Is he eating pellets, fredh veggies, and some healthy seed mix, ( no penuts or sunflower seeds) tho you can use sunflower seeds for training treats. We have great Amazon members here who can give you more advice. Read all the sticky threads too. What kind if Amazon is he?

 

[ChristaNL]

Oh dear- interesting times ahead!

Was the bird tested for the big nasty diseases in the shelter?
If not-> get yourself a certified avian vet and get it done (bloodtestst plze! You can find out boy/girl at the same time- and you really need to know that as well).
(we have a sticky here with loads of adresses, though the shelter probably knows who is good and who is not if they specialize in birds/ parrots)
The bird may just be suffering from a localized problem, but it could be something far worse.

But ask and follow what they did in the shelter: the bird knows this routine already and will not blame you so much- because it is something that has happened before.

(and not every treatment is detrimental for bonding with your bird-- I lucked out with Japie: he came in with the psittacosis-bacteria but no symptoms, but it was still antibiotics twice a day for a 6-8 weeks... he really got used to being toweled and fed meds and decided he liked the attention...)

 

[Anita1250]

I had an OWA that had multiple nasal infections throughout his life. We had to flush and administer drops many times. He always hated it. We toweled him and finished quickly. Three minutes later, all was well. I guess he just got used to it. Your bird is probably used to it as well, so if it is needed, just do it. Better to have him mad at you than ill from an infection.

BTW, teflon pans are only dangerous if heated dry to temperatures over 500 degrees for extended amounts of time. That is a very rare occurrence in most homes.

 

[Laurasea]

I had an OWA that had multiple nasal infections throughout his life. We had to flush and administer drops many times. He always hated it. We toweled him and finished quickly. Three minutes later, all was well. I guess he just got used to it. Your bird is probably used to it as well, so if it is needed, just do it. Better to have him mad at you than ill from an infection.

BTW, teflon pans are only dangerous if heated dry to temperatures over 500 degrees for extended amounts of time. That is a very rare occurrence in most homes.

Anita, in regards to Teflon, while ago a lady lost all four of her birds, when her husband cooked an egg for breakfast in a Teflon pan. Please don't put dangerous information like that out there.....
Edit: read this. Hello All,

I hope you and your fids are doing well. I haven't been to this site in a quite a while, and for a reason. Actually, I should have gotten on this forum right after the nightmare but to say I was grief stricken is an understatement.

My husband "knew" about the dangers of Teflon, but only because I gave him a list of do's and don'ts many years ago when we brought are 3 babies home. Pickles, my sweet sweet GCC was just weaned and I hand fed my Sunnie goofs for 6 weeks. All 3 were, and will always be, our babies.

The morning of the accident my husband cooked an egg. An egg... He just plain forgot about the Teflon warning and was just finishing up his egg when he glanced at Pickles and notices that she was at the bottom of her cage. He grabbed her and came running to me. At this point she was aware but not moving much. As I hadn't seen her since the night before my first thought was a respiratory disease. New Castle is going around and we have chickens.

At this point I ran and looked at the Sunnies. Lady was drawing in her last few breaths. Winston tried hanging in there. My husband rushed him outside but he died within minutes in our hands.

At horrendous as this was, it gets worse. I had a brooder full of Serama Chicks in the laundry room and all but one died, so I had 3 dead Conures and 9 dead chickens. I have no idea why the one Serama made it, she is a Frizzle so perhaps it's a gene, or more likely, a fluke.

TEFLON KILLS! THROW THE STUFF OUT. BELIEVE ME, IT IS NOT WORTH IT. WATCHING YOUR BABIES STRUGGLE TO BREATH AND SEEING THE LIGHT JUST DISAPPEAR FROM THEIR EYES WILL CHANGE YOU FOREVER.!LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE, PLEASE!

To say I went into a depression is an understatement. I would wake up every morning thinking my tears MUST be dried up by now and I'd start sobbing. I blamed my husband and said horrible evil things to him! I gained 15lbs and lost 20lbs. I basically lost interest in life. My kids, birds and my dogs are my babies. Fur, feathers, or skin!

Months went by and I just couldn't snap out of it. The person we got our other fids from called last week to ask us a question. He had a female one year old double headed yellow amazon parrot. This little girl was to be "his" bird. He hatched her and has brought her up to be the sweetest thing, and when at his house..she talks and sings and dances. As a long time breeder he was pretty set with his Amazon until his wife got pregnant. It was supposed to be impossible so I don't blame him. Oh, and he had some Turquoise and Pineapple babies that my husband couldn't resist. Now I have to figure how to train two bonded to other birds babies. It was easy with my Suns as I hand fed them. We NEVER had a biting issue, we were so blessed. Time will tell with our odd trio.

The Amazon is still adjusting to a whole new house so she is just starting to get vocal. She loves to grab your finger and rub her tongue up and down the entire length. You could say we are ALL building trust! I thought Sunnies had big beaks.

Unfortunately I have roosters, guinea hens and sheep right out the window she's at. If she starts to honk like my qunieas we are having Guniea bar-b-q. I couldn't get another Sunnie. They all look so alike to me that I just saw my Lady and Winston in every Sunnie we looked at and the same with Pickles, I am fine with the Turquoise and Pineapple (color has never meant squat to me personally), they look nothing like Pickles as she was a very dilute cinnamon.

So, you all will be seeing me around with our two little girl GCC monsters. And I guess I'll hop on in on the Amazon forum as I am sure I'll have a ton to learn. They are all girls. PLEASE, again, warn EVERYONE to just TOSS the TEFLON!

-Jen
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[Flboy]

BTW, teflon pans are only dangerous if heated dry to temperatures over 500 degrees for extended amounts of time. That is a very rare occurrence in most homes.

A simple searing of a steak and you can hit this temp!
We were once sterilizing a bunch of baby bottle tops and went for a walk, forgetting them. We came back to a real mess!
Another time, while doing a clean cycle on the oven, as a shortcut, I placed coated baking pans in at the same time!
Fortunately, we had no birds then!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Your Amazon is new to your household so he/she has no clue on who you are and what to expect. I think it would be a good idea to bring him/her to the shelter so they can administer the drops,because he/she nodoubtedly will remember the routine. But that means you STILL have to get him/her out of the cage (unless you can bring the cage along with you).

What type of Amazon is he/she? Any idea how old? How long has he/she been with you? All of this will play a role in getting your Amazon to TRUST you.

And THANK YOU for adopting this bird! Amazons are awesome companions! (As most birds are )

Amy is almost thirty years old and requires heart medication every day,but takes it orally ( .11ml squirted on a very small piece of bread)

Jim