Blue has bumble foot - advice on giving meds

[blueandmerlin]

Hi everyone,

I took my 7yo budgie Blue to the avian vet yesterday as I noticed her foot was swollen and she was holding it up a lot. Unfortunately it has been diagnosed as bumble foot, so we have been given loxicom and antibiotics to give her for the next two weeks, where we will then decide wether to go down the surgery route, or wether to go down the palliative route. I’ve been in absolute pieces, I can’t help but feel it’s my fault and I wish I noticed there was a problem sooner. When home from seeing the vet, I gave Blue her first lots of meds and it was very distressing. I had to hold her whilst my dad administered the medication via the syringe. Blue isn’t hand tame and was squawking so much. Please does anyone have any advice for giving untame budgies medication? I feel so stressed out and this will be a daily thing for the rest of her life, I don’t want to be making her stressed out every day but the medication is so important so that she’s not in pain.

She normally lives in our Bella cassa aviary with our other budgie Merlin, but. Merlin started picking on Blue and Blue was struggling to fly (I think she may have hurt herself from all of the stress yesterday afternoon) so I’ve put Blue into the “sick” cage for now so that she can rest. I haven’t stopped crying, it’s so difficult looking after sick budgies, as you can’t explain why you’re giving them medicine etc I’ve had Blue since I was 15, we’ve grown up together and have such a sweet bond. I hate to see her in pain and stressed out

Any advice welcome, thank you in advance

- Lauren

[tweetiepiesmom]

You might go on YouTube to make sure you are holding her properly. There is a video by Ross Perry that I found helpful when I had to give Tweetie Pie drops. He also is not hand tame and yelled and fought to get free. That little guy can bite! When you are holding her, using a finger lightly ruffle her head feathers moving from the back of her head to the front. It will calm her for a few seconds so your dad can get in there and give her the medicine.

Good luck - I hope the medicine works and she gets well.

[Morgan]

In addition to tweetipiesmom’s good advice, have you tried turning the light down low and using a soft cloth to catch her? Sometimes this can calm them down for that part of it. Otherwise, just talk to her softly and move slowly, take your time and be as patient as possible.

Catching birds for medication is always a bit stressful, even if they are somewhat tame.

Did the vet give you any topical antibacterial or other ointment also? Do you know what stage her bumble foot is at? Stages 1-3 should be reversible, so I do hope you don’t have to give her medication for the rest of her life!

Be sure to remove any rough perches, make sure she has a nice platform perch to rest her hurt foot, and you can vet wrap or use moleskin to wrap her smooth perches so they are extra soft and do not further irritate the foot. These can be removed if soiled and replaced with new coverings to keep her perches as clean as possible.

[Hezz]

Get yourself calm beforehand. Being stressed and agitated yourself will affect Blue as well - she will pick up on your anxiety and become stressed herself. The best advice I can give you is to have everything ready before you approach her, have her medicine measured out and the syringe ready to go. Make sure Dad is good to go as well and then once you are both all set get it over and done with as quickly as possible. By being prepared you cut down the time she has to be held to a minimum, if you are calm she is more likely to not freak out either, medicine ready, pop it in, and then gently stroke her face to know that you are there and that she is safe. Once you are done, don’t just let her go to fly out of your hand but rather put her into her cage or up onto an outside perch.

As said above, the degree of bumblefoot, determined by the thickness or depth of the ulcer will decide whether her treatment will be on-going. Hopefully it will not be.