Urgent Help with medicine please

[Kate5795]

My cockatiel Leo has been put onto two different medications, we’ve been fighting a lung issue for a 9 months now from when I first got him. He’s never had issues with medicine before but all of sudden he is. We got him off medicine for about a month to give his body a break. But now when he takes medicine he gets horribly wheezy, coughs likes he almost chocking on it. He will sit with his mouth open trying to breath for like an hour after given his medicine. Vet said he would be fine and to continue but I feel like this is going to kill him if I keep going when I give him medicine he never fights so I don’t have to hold him down. I do tiny little drops at a time and give him breaks but nothing seems to work.

 

[Kate5795]

Second post of this as I put this originally in the wrong form My cockatiel Leo has been put onto two different medications, we’ve been fighting a lung issue for a 9 months now from when I first got him. He’s never had issues with medicine before but all of sudden he is. We got him off medicine for about a month to give his body a break. But now when he takes medicine he gets horribly wheezy, coughs likes he almost chocking on it. He will sit with his mouth open trying to breath for like an hour after given his medicine. Vet said he would be fine and to continue but I feel like this is going to kill him if I keep going when I give him medicine he never fights so I don’t have to hold him down. I do tiny little drops at a time and give him breaks but nothing seems to work.

 

[sunnysmom]

@Hankmacaw ? @Birdbabe ?

 

[MiniMacaw]

Has the vet tested for the efficacy of the antibiotic? Some birds can build up a tolerance for certain meds over time and also develop a sensitivity to certain meds months in. My vet takes a blood sample of my bird to send to the lab to verify if there’s either of those issues going on during long term medicating. Good thing too, because my bird did come back with a complete tolerance after only a month of one med (that was supposed to be a three month supply) and shocked everyone. It’s just something to ask about.

 

[Birdbabe]

Are you getting the syringe past his glottis? You need to get it far enough down the throat so he dosent hack,, or aspirate..but still might.. so Its very stressful for him, also can cause what your seeing,, poor guy,,, if your not feeling good about it, then tell your vet, ..". he will be fine ,"...yea, vet dosent know your baby like you do..you must be persistent here,, also. . Thinking, baby may be allergic to the meds...it happens, ,..what meds is he on?

 

[Kate5795]

Has the vet tested for the efficacy of the antibiotic? Some birds can build up a tolerance for certain meds over time and also develop a sensitivity to certain meds months in. My vet takes a blood sample of my bird to send to the lab to verify if there’s either of those issues going on during long term medicating. Good thing too, because my bird did come back with a complete tolerance after only a month of one med (that was supposed to be a three month supply) and shocked everyone. It’s just something to ask about.

Yes we have, tested him a couple times throughout the past 9 months. When we got him back on medicine again he has been moved to a different antibiotic this time around! Only been taking for about 5 days now

 

[Kate5795]

Are you getting the syringe past his glottis? You need to get it far enough down the throat so he dosent hack,, or aspirate..but still might.. so Its very stressful for him, also can cause what your seeing,, poor guy,,, if your not feeling good about it, then tell your vet, ..". he will be fine ,"...yea, vet dosent know your baby like you do..you must be persistent here,, also. . Thinking, baby may be allergic to the meds...it happens, ,..what meds is he on?

I wasn’t aware I was needing to get it down that fair... vet told me just to put a a drop or two under his tongue so he will swallow it on his own than repeat the process till it’s all gone. I hadn’t thought about him being allergic to them as he starts to act normal again after an hour or so and gets a good drink in. I’ll definitely call the vet again tomorrow, been asking tons of questions to them but they just keep telling me to just keep doing what I’m doing and that he might just not like the flavor of the medicine. But the two he’s been put on is Doxycycline for 45 days than Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethopim for 28 days

 

[Clueless]

I don't know the answer but I'm going to tag someone for you @Hankmacaw had macaws

@finchly has smaller birds

Maybe one if them can answer for you

 

[Hankmacaw]

What was his diagnosis from the vet? What are the names of the medications you are giving him? How long has he been. taking the medications this time? Why did you take him off the medications for a month? Have you called his vet and discussed this problem with him again (best solution)?

 

[Birdbabe]

what I’m doing and that he might just not like the flavor of the medicine. But the two he’s been put on is Doxycycline for 45 days than Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethopim for 28 days
@Hankmacaw ...dosent this seem way to long? Usually its 10 to 14 days??

 

[Zara]

(Threads merged for continuity and to keep responses in one place)

 

[Hankmacaw]

Has your vet given you a diagnosis. There are some bacterial infections that will take a longer time to medicate. Length of medication also depends on the severity of the infection.

@Birdbabe Yes those do sound like long times for antibiotic therapy. When Hank had MRSA he was on antibiotic treatment with Doxy for four months, but MRSA is an antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Doxy and STM are both generally very effective antibiotics. Has your bird started with these symptoms since you changed to the STM? That is a sulfur derivative antibiotic and birds are more likely to not tolerate it.

 

[Kate5795]

What was his diagnosis from the vet? What are the names of the medications you are giving him? How long has he been. taking the medications this time? Why did you take him off the medications for a month? Have you called his vet and discussed this problem with him again (best solution)?

He actually has never gotten a diagnosis, we’ve taken him in at least 20 times in the past 9 months (the day I first go him we immediately went straight to the vet) his medication right now is 0.1 ml of Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethropim twice a day for 28 days and 0.2 ml of Doxycycline once a day for 45 days he’s only been on these meds for about a weeks now. The reason why we stopped for a month is cause the vet said we needed to give his body a break from all the medication and scans we have been doing of his chest. But yeah I called again today and all they told me that they could do for him otherwise would be giving dissolvable pills that can be put in his water. But like I said in another post is that he’s never had issues with oral medicine ever but this time around I can’t seem to figure out what to do. Would watering down or adding some juice to the the medicine a bit help it go down a bit better so its not as thick? Another thing to add to this is that he acts perfectly fine he’s constantly playing and singing, looks fine, has a never ending pit of a stomach haha and drinks plenty. Just sounds horrible at times especially after doing laps around the room. Leo has a eye issue also where he can’t close his left eyelids at all so I’m constantly cleaning it out. So the vet is saying he might just have a weird issue with his lung that he was hatched with just like his eye issue and that it may be something we can’t do anything about

 

[Hankmacaw]

@Kate5795
Has your vet every ordered a culture and sensitivity? (ususal cost about $150) In this procedure a sample from the throat or anus or blood serum is place on a matrix in a culture dish and whatever microbe present are allowed to grow. A sample of the microbe is spread on a slide and stained then identified under a microscope. On the culture dish are put little dots of several antibiotic samples and after sufficient time for growth it is observed which of the antibiotics has suppressed the growth of the microbe best.

This identifies the microbe and the most effective medication (antibiotic/fungicide) to eliminate it - without just guessing.

You need a diagnosis and not just a guess. There is the possibility that the infection is fungal and not bacterial at all.

 

[Kate5795]

@Kate5795
Has your vet every ordered a culture and sensitivity? (ususal cost about $150) In this procedure a sample from the throat or anus or blood serum is place on a matrix in a culture dish and whatever microbe present are allowed to grow. A sample of the microbe is spread on a slide and stained then identified under a microscope. On the culture dish are put little dots of several antibiotic samples and after sufficient time for growth it is observed which of the antibiotics has suppressed the growth of the microbe best.

This identifies the microbe and the most effective medication (antibiotic/fungicide) to eliminate it - without just guessing.

You need a diagnosis and not just a guess. There is the possibility that the infection is fungal and not bacterial at all.

No they haven't, Ill have to give them a call about it on Monday they're closed tomorrow. We've ran so many different tests on him but that's not one we've tried yet I believe. It sucks not knowing what's wrong with him, he hears my other birds in the house and starts yelling at them. He hets so excited but I don't allow them to meet till I can hopefully figure something out. Don't want it to be something that can spread to my other birds. Thank you everyone for the help! Hopefully, the vet can find something out soon.

 

[Crazy4parrots]

Any news? @Kate5795