My bird had the surgery

Question
Hi Chrys,

I feed her seeds and she is eating well, last night when I brought her home from the vet she was eating alot.

The medications are liquid, I did ask the vet if I can mix it with her food they didn't give a straight answer but said not too.
The Neocal Glubionate I have to give for 30 days, the antibotic which has to be in the frigerator, I have to give for 14 days and the Meloxicam I have go give for 3 to 5 days for pain.

Thank You,

Tony
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Followup To
Question -
Hello,
Me
a few days ago I emailed you regarding my lovebird, she had the egg removed and now she is home.

The vet came me  medications, one is Neocal Glubionate and Meloxicam also antibotics.

But I have to feed her the medications through a tube, so far I had no luck and its hard to try and get her in a towel and force her when she keeps her beaks close.

Is there a easier way to do this?

Thanks,

Tony
Answer -
Hi, Tony.  Thanks for letting me know what happened.

Yes, there are other ways to give meds.  I need to know if the lovebird is eating and, if so, what type of food (seed, soft food, etc.).  Also need to know what form the meds are in, i.e., liquid, capsules, tablets, etc.

Get back to me and I'll tell you what you can do to get the meds in your lovebird.

Thanks.

Chrys

Answer
Hi, again, Tony.

An all seed diet???...not good for your lovebird's health.

In order to get the meds in your lovebird, you need to add to her seed.  The way to do this is to place whatever amount of seed your lovebird will consume in a day in a zip lock baggy or container of some sort, add the meds, and mix well with the seed.  Then place the seed in your lovebird's food dish.  The meds will coat the seed hulls and as your lovebird is eating the seed, some of the meds will be eaten as the lovebird cracks open the seed.  You can divide this mix in half and feed half in the morning and the other half in the evening (you should refrigerate any portion not used right away).

This isn't the best way to give meds, as the bird won't get the full dosage needed, but is better than tramatizing the bird by administering via tube, safer than possibly puncturing something internally while trying to insert the tube down the throat, and at least she'll get some benefit.  Liquid meds can also be absorbed through the skin, but I'm not familiar with the meds you mention so don't know how easily this might be to accomplish, especially if the meds are thick.  Thin meds can be placed directly on skin (would have to separate feathers and apply directly to skin) and absorbed into the body (antibiotics are usually fairly thick in consistency).

When capsules or tablets are prescribed, you can follow the same procedure by placing seed in a baggy or other container, adding a very small amount of vegetable oil to the seed mix and shake the baggy or mix the seed and veggie oil thoroughly in a container (so all the seed is lightly coated with the veggie oil...a little bit of veggie oil goes a long way here!).  Then open the capsules up or crush the tablets and add this powder to the seed mix (or soft food mix) and mix well.  The powder sticks to the seed hulls because of the veggie oil.  Then serve the coated seed mix to your lovebird.

If you want to get more of the meds into your lovebird, hull seed or nuts yourself and mix the meds into these hulled seeds or nuts.  

If there's any type of human food that your lovebird will eat, you can mix meds with this food.
     
This is one reason why bird owners should get their parrots used to eating soft foods (fruits, veggies, etc).  Meds can be mixed easily in soft food mixes, not to mention the health benefits to parrots of eating a varied, nutritional diet.  Seeds have little nutritional value and contain lots of fat...not good.  

If you have further questions, please come back.  Thanks.

Chrys