Igor - advice needed

[lexied]

Hoping for a bit of advice please.

Igor has an intermittent 'squeak' with the bobbing tail. I tried to get him to an Avian vet but the only one in Edinburgh isn't taking on new clients.

Apart from the squeak he seems fine, eating, drinking, flying, playing, preening himself and chatting away.

I've taken him to a vet who initially had been reluctant and told be to go to an Avian vet but when I explained they weren't taking on agreed to see him.

He's been prescribed

Loxicom 0.5mg/l - 0.01 ml once a day- given by syringe orally.

Baytril 2.5%oral - 4ml in a litre of water and given as drinking water

To me (who hasn't been to vet school) the baytril dosage seems very low. I'm putting 1ml in 250 ml water but he obviously doesn't drink all that before it's changed and refreshed.

What are other people's experiences of giving this medication? Do you have any tips? Yesterday he had apple which went down very well, I wondered if it would be less traumatic for both of us if I put the loxicom on some apple?

Thank you in advance.

[ladybird]

Hello lexied , sorry I can’t give advise but more experienced members will be along soon to help you. Do you think you could get a vidio clip of Igor , it would be a great help.
I do know that Loxicom is a painkiller so I am surprised the vet gave this seeing as you say he doesn’t seem to be in pain. How are you getting on giving it with a syringe?
Hope you don’t have to wait long for more experienced help.

[lexied]

Oct 29, 2021 11:23:14 GMT ladybird said:

Hello lexied , sorry I can’t give advise but more experienced members will be along soon to help you. Do you think you could get a vidio clip of Igor , it would be a great help.
I do know that Loxicom is a painkiller so I am surprised the vet gave this seeing as you say he doesn’t seem to be in pain. How are you getting on giving it with a syringe?
Hope you don’t have to wait long for more experienced help.

Hi, I'm struggling to upload a video but will keep trying. The vet said the Loxicom was an anti-inflammatory rather than a painkiller. I worry that more I's going on the feathers on his chin than in his mouth which is why I'm hoping someone will have some tips 

Thanks 

[ladybird]

Yes Loxicom is used for pain and as an anti inflammatory you are correct. My Charlie had it when he sprained his leg. More people tend to be on here at night, so I will keep bumping your post up until you get help. Are you able to upload a vidio to u-tube?

[lexied]

Hi,

Thanks again, hopefully this works. Listening to it back, I now realise he doesn't sound as bad as he was, so hopefully something's working.

[ladybird]

I can definitely hear him and he doesn’t sound right and breathing very fast. I wonder if he has a seed stuck…….. Hopefully someone will be along with advise soon.

[ladybird]

How is he ?

[clt80]

I use loxicom for my dogs arthritis, never given it to a budgie before. Sounds like your budgie has a respiratory infection, hopefully the baytril will get rid of it. You can put baytril in the water as a dose of 1ml per every 50ml or you can syringe straight to mouth twice a day as 0.03 ml (3 of the little lines as per picture I will attach).

Straight to mouth works best as you know they are getting the medication into them. It is tricky and it takes two us of: one to hold a budgie and the other to gently open the beak and give the baytril.

[clt80]

Can you see where my finger is by the third line down, that's the dosage for straight to beak.

Interestingly my vet has put a dosage of 1ml per 100ml for John (who is on baytril at the moment) but in the past it has usually been per 50ml, maybe it depends on the weight of the budgie. It was irrelevant to me as I wasn't diluting i was doing to beak. 

[lexied]

Oct 29, 2021 20:37:24 GMT clt80 said:

I use loxicom for my dogs arthritis, never given it to a budgie before. Sounds like your budgie has a respiratory infection, hopefully the baytril will get rid of it. You can put baytril in the water as a dose of 1ml per every 50ml or you can syringe straight to mouth twice a day as 0.03 ml (3 of the little lines as per picture I will attach).

Straight to mouth works best as you know they are getting the medication into them. It is tricky and it takes two us of: one to hold a budgie and the other to gently open the beak and give the baytril.

Thank you, that dosage sounds more like it would have an effect. My problem with straight to mouth is it's just me doing it, my boyfriend is too scared of hurting then to hold them with his (his words) big clumsy hands. The vet gave me syringes marked with with 0.01 markings.
Thank you.

[lexied]

Oct 29, 2021 20:41:18 GMT clt80 said:

Can you see where my finger is by the third line down, that's the dosage for straight to beak.

Interestingly my vet has put a dosage of 1ml per 100ml for John (who is on baytril at the moment) but in the past it has usually been per 50ml, maybe it depends on the weight of the budgie. It was irrelevant to me as I wasn't diluting i was doing to beak. 

Thank you,I was glad to read on John's thread that he's feeling a bit brighter. I hope you're doing OK too

[lexied]

Oct 29, 2021 20:35:47 GMT ladybird said:

How is he ?

He's fine just now, for Whatever reason he doesn't seem to make any noise at night. He's all fluffed up so you can't really see his breathing, but his tail is still. We've only had him a couple of months so he's just a little baby 🙁

[ladybird]

The avian vet gave me Loxicom for Charlie and said not to worry that it said for cats on the box…….. Could you catch him and open his beak and your boyfriend give the medicine?
It does sound like a respiratory problem , and if you could even give the first couple of doses by syringe it would help.
   Is he covered at night?  I would think keeping him warm would help too.

[lexied]

Oct 29, 2021 21:08:23 GMT ladybird said:

The avian vet gave me Loxicom for Charlie and said not to worry that it said for cats on the box…….. Could you catch him and open his beak and your boyfriend give the medicine?
It does sound like a respiratory problem , and if you could even give the first couple of doses by syringe it would help.
   Is he covered at night?  I would think keeping him warm would help too.

Yep he is covered at nights. During the day he spends a lot of time on.my ceiling light fitting which I guess is where the hot air rises to as well as being the high place budgies like. One of my neighbours used to have budgies so I'll maybe see if she will help. Yes my loxicom box has a cat on the front too but the vet said that was only as the don't make a dedicated bird one. If Igor stops squeaking and starts meowing I'll know why!

[criswell]

Hello,

I hope Igor is soon feeling better. The dose for medication does depend on the weight of the budgies as clt80 suggested. Do you know how much Igor weighs? I'm glad you did find a vet that would see him. There really aren't enough avian vets around.