Gracie smelly poop AV visit

[Jerseyjeff62]

Well we're back from the AV visit and Gracie's heart and lungs sound clear and good took a morning poop sample with us and they tested it and found Clostridium and now the gave me Metronidazole that I have to give her with a dropper. They gave me syringes 0.15 is the amount .Next question haven't had to do that any suggestions on trying to get it in her mouth ?
Thanks
Jeff

 

[Scott]

The most direct and generally difficult method is to use the typically provided syringe (without needle) and gently introduce into the mouth. With most birds this involves toweling, sometimes a struggle, and efforts to spit said medicine out.

I normally mix the medicine with a beloved food, such as oatmeal, mashed yam, sweet potato, or a bit of baby food. Be advised not all medicines can be mixed with a substrate, so consult your vet.

Did the practice give you any advice? If not, or if you need a better technique, please call!

 

[SailBoat]

Well we're back from the AV visit and Gracie's heart and lungs sound clear and good took a morning poop sample with us and they tested it and found Clostridium and now the gave me Metronidazole that I have to give her with a dropper. They gave me syringes 0.15 is the amount .Next question haven't had to do that any suggestions on trying to get it in her mouth ?
Thanks
Jeff

What the heck!! Didn't your AV cover that with you? Never walk-out of an AV office with meds until your AV has shown you the proper way to administer that Med! Even if you are an old pro at it.

Are you comfortable toweling your Parrot? Is your Parrot comfortable being toweled? Are you comfortable holding your Parrot's Bill /Neck? If not, this ends up being a two person job!

Our big, strong, flighted DYH Amazon is a real hand full and it takes two of us to provide him meds (And, Yes it takes two people at the AV office also)! He is also way too smart for his own good as he will work at pushing the Meds back out afterwards, which means a start-over and target getting the Meds to the back side of his month.

Anyway, rough walk though: After you have your Parrot held in place (with some Parrots, much easier said than done), place the syringe along the left side of the Parrots Beak and target getting the syringe along your Parrots Bill targeting the back of the mouth. Squeeze the syringe pushing the 0.15 mgs in. The closer to the front the easier it is for the Parrot to simply push the Meds back out. We commonly hold our little stinker for 30 plus seconds to let him work the Meds around. If he doesn't get it back out in that time period, we got lucky!

 

[LeaKP]

Hmmmm. If your baby is difficult and your vet not far I would suggest asking if they can give the meds if you bring baby to them. The stress of you giving the meds can be overwhelming. I'm also upset vet didn't advise you on this.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Also, if there is something you know your bird will gobble up, you can hide the medicine in it. For some meds, we were able to put it in the middle of sweet potato on a spoon, and birdie would chow it down. For nastier stuff it was melted ice cream. Just a tiny bit, we let him eat that, put a dab more on and stirred so as to pick up anything that might be left on the spoon, then gave him the spoon to like. Also, he really liked some juice from my morning grapefruit. Since that is already slightly bitter, and he loved it anyway, it was a great way to sneak medicine down his gullet. Different meds take different foods. You migh want to taste just a tiny bit of the medication to get an idea of how to hide it.

 

[Jerseyjeff62]

This morning Gracie took her medicine easier than I thought! She was a hand feed baby maybe that was the reason it was easy? Thanks for all your ideas

 

[Scott]

Fantastic, glad to hear. Getting the full dosage onboard can be so difficult.

 

[DRB]

I dread ever having to do any of this. I feel bad for all those that have to attempt this stuff, seems so stressful and the chances for injury to the bird both physically and emotionally seem relatively high.

 

[Jerseyjeff62]

I dread ever having to do any of this. I feel bad for all those that have to attempt this stuff, seems so stressful and the chances for injury to the bird both physically and emotionally seem relatively high.

I think it's more stressful to the human trying to give the medicine on how to give it and what the action will be.

 

[Billdore]

Was the smell from the stool very noticeable? Or was it more chance that you noticed it? Any tips to avoid or quickly detect the problem?

 

[Jerseyjeff62]

Was the smell from the stool very noticeable? Or was it more chance that you noticed it? Any tips to avoid or quickly detect the problem?

Yes it was,because their poop should have no odor at all, when I was cleaning up i smelled it right away.
just keep looking and smelling for any odor I guess

 

[Billdore]

Thank you always curious what others have learned