In a perfect world, our birds would remain healthy and avoid injury throughout their entire lifetimes  However, it’s more realistic to assume that at some point we will have to medicate our birds for one reason or another. Without preparation, this can be a trying and stressful event for both bird and owner.

Here’s a scenario to consider: your 10 year old amazon has had watery poops for the past three days.You, being the conscientious bird owner, take him to the vet where it is determined that he has a bacterial infection. The doctor gives you antibiotics with instructions that the bird receive the medication two times a day for two weeks. Later that day, you draw the medication into the syringe, and attempt to administer the first dosage. You bird turns his head and refuses to open his mouth. When you persist, the bird struggles free and evades every attempt you make to capture him.What will you do now?

Without having your bird syringe trained, that is, trained to accept a syringe that delivers fluids orally, your only recourse is to towel or restrain your bird when he gets rebellious. Remember that your bird is sick, and probably feeling less than cooperative. And now, he must endure physical restraint, which may be considered by him to be frightening, annoying or as a down-right breech of trust.This is followed by his human forcing liquid down his throat. All of this trauma is unnecessary.

The following video was taken by a member of the Austin Parrot Society, my former bird club. Guest speaker Barbara Heidenreich was present to teach the club how to syringe train their birds using a member’s blue and gold macaw, Joey,  as the model. This video only shows the beginning of the session, but will make the technique clear. Please take careful note of Barbara’s assessment of the bird’s body language throughout the session, her slow introduction of the syringe, and her observance that motivation is lost when the bird is no longer hungry.

• Video from Austin Parrot Society

The first fluid Barbara introduces is water. I think this is a great idea because it is an innocuous fluid that no bird is going to object to and that makes it an easy introduction to the notion that the syringe holds something inside. The bird will be rewarded for accepting the liquid.

Once you have accomplished this, you can move onto juices, which can can also serve as the reward if your bird enjoys it enough. If your bird likes tea (decaffeinated only!), you can use that in the syringe as well. In fact, once you have taught your bird to drink liquids other than water through a syringe, you might want to ONLY serve them that way so that the behavior is continually strengthened.

Because of a bird’s anatomy, fluids should be delivered into the left side of the bird’s beak (your right, when facing the bird) and aimed towards the back of the mouth. Don’t disperse it directly down the throat to avoid the danger of aspiration (choking) but position the syringe so that the liquid stays inside the mouth and doesn’t shoot out the other side of the open beak.

All of the photos in this post show the correct way to deliver juices to your bird using a 1 cc syringe typically used when administering medications. As with the photo of the quaker, and with other small birds, it is advisable to offer medications holding the bird against your chest. This position is comforting to them and allows you some measure of restraint without it actually feeling confining to the bird. Consider that the syringe is a much larger object coming at them in comparison to their small bodies than it is to a larger bird.

When giving medications to my larger birds, I usually place my hand lightly on the back of their head and neck in a way that says affection rather than restraint. Medications are not always eagerly accepted, if only because they taste different. If the bird pulls out of position while I am administering the medication, I can gently re-position their head. I never do this when giving juices, however. It is merely a precaution because of the need for receiving the full dosage.

If your bird is syringe trained, it takes his fear of the unknown and your need to exert force out of the equation when there is an illness. He may not care for his medication, but he will be familiar with the process and therefore more cooperative. It is a simple procedure to teach and I promise it will make a difficult time much easier for everyone.

If you want to obtain one of the syringe’s pictured above you can do so by visiting InnovetPet.com.

I posted this on the blog a long time ago, but it is relevant, funny and oh so true:

HOW TO MEDICATE A BIRD: (author unknown)

Occasionally, we find it necessary to medicate our feathered friends.
Here are some pointers to help you with this task.

FIRST APPLICATION:

Retrieve the bird from the cage.
Set the bird on a table and hold its head by carefully grasping the neck where it joins the lower jaw, or mandible.

With your other hand, grasp the medicine syringe and place the tip into the left side of the bird’s mouth.

Depress the plunger and squirt the medicine toward the back of the bird’s throat.

Wipe excess medicine from the bird’s beak.
Place the bird back in the cage.

SUBSEQUENT APPLICATIONS:

Attempt to retrieve the bird from the cage.

Apply bandages as necessary to wounds on your hands and arms.

Retrieve the bird from its new hiding place under the coffee table.

Carefully immobilize the bird’s head to prevent further tissue damage to your body.

Attempt to break the “Vulcan Death Grip” and remove the bird’s feet from your hand.

Apply more bandages and a strong analgesic cream to the new wounds on your hands and arms.

Immobilize the bird by carefully wrapping it in a bath towel.

Watch in amazement as the bird “morphs.” Its head and tail will probably swap position,
putting your tender flesh in mortal danger again.

Hold the bird snugly in its terrycloth prison.

Grasp the medicine syringe.

Try to stop trembling in fear and pain.

Place the tip of the syringe into the left side of the bird’s mouth.
Ignore the crushed tip.

Depress the plunger and squirt the medicine toward the back of the bird’s throat.

Wipe excess medicine out of your eyes.

Release the bird and squirt medicine in the general vicinity of its face.
Some medicine may actually go into the mouth.

The rest will be absorbed by osmosis.

Shoo the bird back to the cage.

Spend the rest of the day attempting to regain the bird’s affection with yummy snacks and new toys.

Author Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.