# tips on giving medication orally?



## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

hey everyone,
so i have to give Ollie oral medication for a couple of weeks. i have done it before and it is a painful process - i syringe it down her beak and she spits it up. sometimes i dilute it with a few drops of water so it takes on a runnier consistencey.
my real question is what are the tips around for getting the bird to take it? sometimes i feel like Ollie spits out more than she ingests so i don't really know what amount she's consuming  advice and stories would be welcome!


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

We once had to give William Nistatin orally to treat megabacteria and at, first . we had the same problem.The vet advised us to have the medication put in a small piece of bread using the dropper and have him to eat it.It worked fine for us.Check with your vet if you can do the same.All the best and,by the way,your birds are lovely X x


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## Fortunate (Oct 31, 2011)

I just came through this problem and 2 of my birds are still learning to trust me so it always turned into a blood bath (for me not the birds) 
I just grit my teeth, bear with the pain and wait it out til they settle, then wehrn i give the meds i put it in the bottom beak under the tounge - it always goes down like that. 
We were on meds so long that the one bird would just open his beak and drink the meds (he realised i would release him faster if he co-operated with me)

Befor i learnt that trick i would put it on their fav food and let them eat it but they soon got wise to that and stopped eating food i offered them (very big setback training wise) so i wont do that again.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I usually press the dropper against the side of the beak and slowly drip it out. They end up licking it because its a liquid on their beak. I was also shown to push it to the back of their mouth (from the right side if they're facing you) and administer it that way. Hershey got so used to that that she didn't even mind anymore and we got most of the meds down.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

This thread contains a youtube video which I found to be very helpful: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=30757&highlight=oral+meds


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## Clair (Jul 31, 2012)

We used Roxy's technique but it took two of us to give him the meds - One to hold him (in a towel at first) and specifically turn his head to the side, and the other to slowly administer the medicine into the side of the beak.


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