# Cut tongue and bleeding



## MCM (Aug 14, 2013)

I've been giving my bird an antibiotic with a syringe and following a bit of a struggle tonight administering it, she started bleeding from the mouth. I think she must have cut her tongue. No avian vets available. Does anyone have any advice?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

how bad is the bleeding? if its not excessive or has stopped, i'd leave it for now.

if it is excessive and is not stopping bleeding, then for this one you might need to locate an emergency vet, avian or not. a regular vet should be able to stop bleeding all the same, but be prepared just in case


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## MCM (Aug 14, 2013)

*What is excessive?*

Thank you so much for your response! It seems to have slowed but after an hour there are still signs when she bites a paper towel. Is there nothing I could feed her to help it coagulate?


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

its tricky... because i would think flour would be okay, i just worry about the possibility of dust from it being aspirated... so i am leery on that in case she inhales it.

you can try cayenne pepper powder paste. if she will eat it... you can make a thick paste with water and cayenne pepper powder. its not spicy to them and it might help with pain and infection as well. 


if the bleeding is only a very small amount, i would leave it and let it slow on its own


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## MCM (Aug 14, 2013)

Thank you for your advice. She seems to be sleeping and I think I'll leave her alone and hope for the best. I have a message in to our vet and expect to hear from him in a few hours. It's just a matter of holding on (fingers crossed). Thank you again.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Good luck! I hope everything turns out OK


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## MCM (Aug 14, 2013)

Thanks all. 
So happy to report that Max made it through the night. We talked with her vet today (an awesome fellow!) and what he says makes a lot of sense: "If you couldn't find it [the source of bleeding], my best guess would probably be that it was from the beak itself. Sometimes as they get stronger they start biting down on the syringe harder and they can actually bite down hard enough to break the beak (right back at the angle of the mouth). Since the beak is very similar to a dog's toenails, it would be akin to a dog breaking a toenail down to the quick. These tend to bleed for quite a while before they finally clot (and, although it looks like a lot of blood, it's not life-threatening)." 

I also learned that being overly attentive can make the situation worse. It would have been better to calm her down instead of checking the bleeding every few minutes. Her heart rate would have slowed down and she wouldn't have bled as much. After making her comfortable and giving her some space, the bleeding slowed and eventually stopped. This morning she cleaned herself up and although a little tired, is eating and drinking and overall appears to be through the worst of it.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I'm glad the vet trip turned out OK


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

That's awesome, thanks for the great update.


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