Post by birdguhl on Apr 12, 2013 13:11:38 GMT
I got Woody home a week yesterday and for the first five days I didn’t see much change in him.
I have been giving him Sunshine Factor (oily yellow liquid that is wax at room temp and has to be melted in improvised bain marie) and Hepatosyl (powder for liver problems). Getting this medication into him is a catch and dropper job, and I decided I couldn’t add this to my morning routine (it takes me two hours from getting out of bed to getting out of door – what am I like?) so have been doing it in the evenings. I had noticed that Woody perks up quite a bit after getting this stuff.
Woody seems to be changing his strategy when it comes to my efforts to catch him. Initially he would give me the runaround for a least a few minutes until I eventually managed to anticipate a manoeuvre well enough to get him (no point in competing on speed). I have noticed that over the past week or so, he is giving me more of a token chase and after a little while he goes to a particular perch and sits still and I can just gently pick him up from there. He has also stopped pecking my hands.
During the day I have been letting him come and go freely from his small cage beside the big one even when I am not around. This is a risk I know but he is an expert flyer and in any case most of the time he was just hopping out and sitting on the perches on the outside of Berry and Luee’s cage. Allowing him the choice of where he wants to be seemed an important concession given his life has been very boring and lonely for quite a while. Although interestingly the other two have been giving him quite a lot of attention when he is on the outside of their cage. It is as if the barrier actually helps and they would ignore him more if he is actually in there with them. The usual scenario is that Luee is hanging upside down on the inside of the cage with his face next to Woody and little Berry is sitting on a bit of cuttlebone above intently observing things. Berry and Woody have also had little face to face chats of their own.
He was supposed to back to the vet for his 2nd antibiotic injection on Tuesday this week but they had a major IT issue and the appointment was postponed until yesterday (Thurs). He had been in all day in preparation for the evening vet trip on Tuesday, as there is no way I can get him back in until he chooses. So, after him being in all day on Tuesday, I decided to give him his meds early evening and then let him out. I was really heartened to see him so lively after doing this. He flew around quite a bit, called to the others, shredded some balsa, deftly evaded my attempts to shut him in, but eventually sensibly agreed that it was bedtime and stayed put. He was the same on Wed evening – really good.
I took him back to the vet yesterday and she agreed his looking better. Today I feel he is a little less perky but maybe the injection is affecting him.
Regarding diet, they have all (well, not Charlie yet) had quite a change. No dry seed constantly available, but rather a mixture of germinated seed, grated veg, herbs and Harrison’s pellets. Of course they dump most of this on floor – so more frequent cleaning up required – but they must be getting some of the Harrisons if only by accident, and they are getting much closer up to the veg offered. Woody has been maintaining his weight, which the vet said was good considering the dietary challenges.
I am collecting 5 days’ worth of dropping samples from all of them to test for chlamydophila psittici.
Oh, and Charlie has to stay in quarantine at least until Woody is finished his injections which is another four weeks, so no introductions for quite a while.
I have been giving him Sunshine Factor (oily yellow liquid that is wax at room temp and has to be melted in improvised bain marie) and Hepatosyl (powder for liver problems). Getting this medication into him is a catch and dropper job, and I decided I couldn’t add this to my morning routine (it takes me two hours from getting out of bed to getting out of door – what am I like?) so have been doing it in the evenings. I had noticed that Woody perks up quite a bit after getting this stuff.
Woody seems to be changing his strategy when it comes to my efforts to catch him. Initially he would give me the runaround for a least a few minutes until I eventually managed to anticipate a manoeuvre well enough to get him (no point in competing on speed). I have noticed that over the past week or so, he is giving me more of a token chase and after a little while he goes to a particular perch and sits still and I can just gently pick him up from there. He has also stopped pecking my hands.
During the day I have been letting him come and go freely from his small cage beside the big one even when I am not around. This is a risk I know but he is an expert flyer and in any case most of the time he was just hopping out and sitting on the perches on the outside of Berry and Luee’s cage. Allowing him the choice of where he wants to be seemed an important concession given his life has been very boring and lonely for quite a while. Although interestingly the other two have been giving him quite a lot of attention when he is on the outside of their cage. It is as if the barrier actually helps and they would ignore him more if he is actually in there with them. The usual scenario is that Luee is hanging upside down on the inside of the cage with his face next to Woody and little Berry is sitting on a bit of cuttlebone above intently observing things. Berry and Woody have also had little face to face chats of their own.
He was supposed to back to the vet for his 2nd antibiotic injection on Tuesday this week but they had a major IT issue and the appointment was postponed until yesterday (Thurs). He had been in all day in preparation for the evening vet trip on Tuesday, as there is no way I can get him back in until he chooses. So, after him being in all day on Tuesday, I decided to give him his meds early evening and then let him out. I was really heartened to see him so lively after doing this. He flew around quite a bit, called to the others, shredded some balsa, deftly evaded my attempts to shut him in, but eventually sensibly agreed that it was bedtime and stayed put. He was the same on Wed evening – really good.
I took him back to the vet yesterday and she agreed his looking better. Today I feel he is a little less perky but maybe the injection is affecting him.
Regarding diet, they have all (well, not Charlie yet) had quite a change. No dry seed constantly available, but rather a mixture of germinated seed, grated veg, herbs and Harrison’s pellets. Of course they dump most of this on floor – so more frequent cleaning up required – but they must be getting some of the Harrisons if only by accident, and they are getting much closer up to the veg offered. Woody has been maintaining his weight, which the vet said was good considering the dietary challenges.
I am collecting 5 days’ worth of dropping samples from all of them to test for chlamydophila psittici.
Oh, and Charlie has to stay in quarantine at least until Woody is finished his injections which is another four weeks, so no introductions for quite a while.
