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Post by blueelephant on Mar 17, 2023 18:27:23 GMT
Ira I suspect Toby will be equally uncooperative. He's already staring at me with a right look when I bring his nasty tasting water in. He's also being quite clingy to me. Which is unusual and I tend to only see when a bird is quite poorly. Feeling a bit worried about him to be honest. I've been weighing him fortnightly since November and he's been pretty consistent. Within a gram or 2 of 44g. Then back at the vet they weighed him and he's dropped to 38g. The vet described 44g as the perfect weight for him, with most budgies he sees being obese. So he's not exactly got it to loose. Any tips for me on catching them to administer medicine? Do you use a cloth? Is he forgiving you?
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Post by Loz on Mar 17, 2023 18:33:18 GMT
Bear in mind, no two scales read alike. It's possible yours over-reads a little and the vet's under-reads.
Best advice I've had from the forum for catching unwilling budgies is, do it in the dark! As much as possible while still seeing what you're doing.
I catch mine wearing green gloves. That way I don't feel any bites as keenly plus the buds don't associate my bare hands with nasty capture routines. Of course, they don't like the gloves all that much.
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Post by blueelephant on Mar 17, 2023 18:57:06 GMT
When I got him back from the vets in November I weighed him straight away. He was the same as the vet had said. He's also only 38g now on my scales too. He's just lost a lot in the last fortnight it seems.
Dark is quite a good idea. I might try that.
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Post by Ira on Mar 17, 2023 21:12:57 GMT
Ira I suspect Toby will be equally uncooperative. He's already staring at me with a right look when I bring his nasty tasting water in. He's also being quite clingy to me. Which is unusual and I tend to only see when a bird is quite poorly. Feeling a bit worried about him to be honest. I've been weighing him fortnightly since November and he's been pretty consistent. Within a gram or 2 of 44g. Then back at the vet they weighed him and he's dropped to 38g. The vet described 44g as the perfect weight for him, with most budgies he sees being obese. So he's not exactly got it to loose. Any tips for me on catching them to administer medicine? Do you use a cloth? Is he forgiving you? I find a cloth gets in the way or makes the bird too hot, I just use my hands. Most of my hand interactions with my flock have some ritual to them, though, so they can usually tell when I'm going for a catch rather than inviting them out, etc. Yuki happens to my easiest bird to catch and my most handled due to often needing his rump washed, night frights, and just looking like a soft fluffy marshmallow that I want to cuddle. He nearly always goes to the cage floor and is easy to scoop up from there. Once I let go he'll just wander across my hand to get to the perch in front of him. I've found it easiest to use my chest to help pin him in place, freeing up more of my fingers to hold his head still. I can try to get OH to record the morning medicating if you like.
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Post by Ira on Mar 17, 2023 21:14:50 GMT
When I got him back from the vets in November I weighed him straight away. He was the same as the vet had said. He's also only 38g now on my scales too. He's just lost a lot in the last fortnight it seems. Dark is quite a good idea. I might try that. Dark is a great aid. Especially if you can make it dark suddenly. Gloves is also good. Although I once made Munchy too toasty with gloves. Depends how badly your birds bite.
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,776
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Mar 17, 2023 22:38:46 GMT
Paul catches the wriggly ones and I administer meds.
Paul has plasters on his fingers to hold budgies as some of them can nip pretty hard (Penny!)
We have had to clean droppings of Penny's vent in the past and also I had to clean her toe when somehow the nail came off and the toe was bleeding. She even bit me when I tried to transfer her from one cage to another.
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Post by Hezz on Mar 18, 2023 1:30:04 GMT
I don’t like gloves or cloth. I find you lose a degree of control using either, plus the cloth or gloves are just as scarey for them as your hands. Because budgies are so small it is quite easy to hold them firmly (not tight), getting the meds into the beak once they wake up to what you are up to is another issue altogether. I use the tip of the syringe to catch the tip of their beak and lift it open. it usually works but the most important thing is to be all prepared before you catch him, have everything laid out and measured so the whole process takes the shortest time possible. It will go wrong sometimes, just start again.
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Post by blueelephant on Mar 18, 2023 6:10:01 GMT
Yes please to a video Ira. I've only ever caught Toby before to scaly face drops and he absolutely would not keep his head still even for that 🤣 Thank you all for the tips.
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Post by Ira on Mar 18, 2023 9:49:49 GMT
blueelephant I'm not sure how helpful this will be. Also, like Hezz says, having everything drawn up and ready is best. I'm down to one syringe, and not even one from the vet so it's a bit bigger than normal, and trying to give two medications so I usually fold Yuki up in my skirt or top. Today I went for a hoodie with a pocket and you can see how well that goes. If Yuki has to have medicine for longer I'll be asking the vet for a supply of syringes! In the interlude I tricked him back into the cage with millet. Also apologies for my face and voice.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Mar 18, 2023 15:53:36 GMT
Ira that is so funny - putting him in the pocket of your hoodie between med doses. Looked like it worked great! Yuki got his treat at the end and we got our video treat at the end also! I have also found the little rub, head feather ruffle does calm them a bit. Talking to them also helps because they know you are there.
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Post by Ira on Mar 18, 2023 15:59:48 GMT
Pockets are useful! Although he flew out the other side and I had to get him back! The vet tends to give them a head rub. If nothing else it at least seems to distracts them. I remember chatting with a bird ringer who said some ringers sort of discourage you from talking to the bird and I'm just like... why though. Hunting animals don't tend to make noise, so surely chatting pleasantly means the bird might be a little reassured that it isn't about to get eaten? So yeah, I'll just babble away to them about anything. Except when Pippin bites me. Then I sort of shove his beak into a fold of clothing! 🤣
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Post by blueelephant on Mar 18, 2023 21:05:00 GMT
Ira that is fabulous. How much volume of liquid are you giving him each dose? I see you do it in a few pushes of the syringe rather than just one. Definitely agree with the millet treat afterwards.
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,776
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Mar 18, 2023 22:21:15 GMT
I noticed he got a claw caught on you at one point. But he took the millet at the end, so he holds no grudge for being grabbed
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Post by Ira on Mar 18, 2023 22:29:24 GMT
Marianne Marlow Yeah, it's hard to find clothing that they don't get their claws caught in, especially the way Yuki kicks and pushes with his feet. Unhooking them is just another part of my job. They nearly all always accept a reward after handling. We've dubbed it the 'forgiveness millet'. blueelephant The first one was 0.04ml, which is the largest volume I've had to give, and the second is 0.02ml. The 0.04 he can take in one go (as found out when the syringe has just gone at the slightest nudge in the past) but I like to be careful. Plus then it's less likely to just dribble out the side of his beak onto my finger. And often I'll have air behind the medicine, so if you depress that the entire way it'll give them what's in the tip too, and thus be too much. But I'm keeping the air to then push that remaining medicine back into the bottle because there isn't much left.
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Post by Hezz on Mar 19, 2023 1:09:40 GMT
Ira as a FYI you can draw both meds up in the one syringe; just make sure you don’t contaminate the second med, is all. (You know that, I don’t need to preach) You can get good at estimating the volume needed I’ve found and can then put about what you need into a small open container and then draw it up on top of the first. You do waste a bit, but once you can determine the volume needed, it isn’t that much. Other than that, your method is very similar to my own, using your chest as a third hand to hold him still, talking softly, the little head rub, I find stroking their cheek feathers seems to work well for calming afterwards - even Bunji stops for a couple of seconds when I do that. Well done, presenter, client and videographer.
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