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Apple Cider Vinegar dose

Alic

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5/19/25
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1
Hello everybody!

My 10 years old budgie, Pippi, hasn't been well lately. After a fecal smear, my vet has found an overgrowth of bacteria in his GI track and we started a round of Enrofloxacin and Nystatin to prevent fungal growth. The antibiotic made him miserable and nauseous, he lost a ton of weight and got diarrhea from it. However the nausea didn't seem to subside even after I was done with the medicines, and my vet suggested to put some unfiltered ACV in his water - 1ml in 100ml of water.

I already used to put 4-5 drops of vinegar in my budgies' water daily because my other boy has PDD and the vet mentioned it could help with emptying the crop and preventing bacterial growth. I thought 1ml was way too much (it's about 17 drops!), but I tried anyway. After 3 days, Pippi seems a bit better - he's not nauseous anymore and the diarrhea stopped. However, when I asked my vet how long should I keep putting the ACV in his water, she said it's a lifetime thing.

I've been seeing this vet for years and she has always been amazing with diagnoses and therapies for my birds, she has budgies herself too. But I'm wondering if that much ACV daily could be harmful, especially to my PDD budgie that already has a sensitive crop because of his illness. I also wondered if she meant 0,1ml (that would be about 2-3 drops), but when I asked about it she seemed adamant about it being 1ml instead. Has anybody else had their vet suggest something similar?
 

rocky'smom

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laurie

Rebel

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I dont know about that particular antibiotic but vets will usually give probiotics with antibiotics or atleast recommend you get some. Some people use greek yogurt.
 

MommyBird

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Hello everybody!

My 10 years old budgie, Pippi, hasn't been well lately. After a fecal smear, my vet has found an overgrowth of bacteria in his GI track and we started a round of Enrofloxacin and Nystatin to prevent fungal growth. The antibiotic made him miserable and nauseous, he lost a ton of weight and got diarrhea from it. However the nausea didn't seem to subside even after I was done with the medicines, and my vet suggested to put some unfiltered ACV in his water - 1ml in 100ml of water.

I already used to put 4-5 drops of vinegar in my budgies' water daily because my other boy has PDD and the vet mentioned it could help with emptying the crop and preventing bacterial growth. I thought 1ml was way too much (it's about 17 drops!), but I tried anyway. After 3 days, Pippi seems a bit better - he's not nauseous anymore and the diarrhea stopped. However, when I asked my vet how long should I keep putting the ACV in his water, she said it's a lifetime thing.

I've been seeing this vet for years and she has always been amazing with diagnoses and therapies for my birds, she has budgies herself too. But I'm wondering if that much ACV daily could be harmful, especially to my PDD budgie that already has a sensitive crop because of his illness. I also wondered if she meant 0,1ml (that would be about 2-3 drops), but when I asked about it she seemed adamant about it being 1ml instead. Has anybody else had their vet suggest something similar?
I wrote down what my my avian vet said: 1/2 teaspoon vinegar per 8 oz cup water, (equals 2.5 ml per 8 oz cup of water)
 

Coffee4359

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3/29/25
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Im currently doing a treatment of ACV for one of my cockatiels. If the dosing is roughly the same regardless of species, I was told half an ounce in 1L of h2o. Terrible measurements, lol, but works out to ~14.7ml in 1000ml, so 1.47 ml in 100ml. this was told to me by the most experienced person I know in real life for avian care.

Im assuming the dose is regardless of species, but my apologies if that is not the case.
 

Finchbreed

Strolling the yard
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5/25/25
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128
Budgies - which mother is still breeding in her 90s - are close enough to the same as cockatiels - which she retired from breeding in the past 5yrs.
ACV is highly regarded by many of my Finchbreeder mates too. It seems to be recommended as a gut cleanser.
Neither I or mother use it for our birds. But then we have very little health problems, in our avairies.
Birds are kept on natural seed and seeding grass diets, with grit and eggshell during the moult and breeding seasons.
This has worked for us for over 30yrs.
All birds are kept and bred in outdoor avairies, most are native here in Australia.
 
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