emotional help with medication

[GreenCheekGodric]

My green cheek was given fluconazole to help with a suspected yeast issue. He will take the medication when held propperly and obviously I'm willing to do what it takes to help him butnit breaks my heart whemnhe shys away from me afterward. I have a very trusting relationship with my bird and to see itnshaken would kill me. Any advice?

[Eric&Rebecca]

This is just a necessary evil you're not being cruel to be bad you're having to be 'cruel' to be kind to your bird. I train all my birds to accept spoons or syringes so this isn't an issue but this is something you can do in the future.

You have to think of it in the sense of a greater good, it would break your heart more not making him better with the medicine. After the course you may need to retrain and regain trust but it will get better once he better. I promise.

You're making your bird well again, while your bird doesn't understand that its a tremendous act of love

[Strawfrawg]

When Marvin burned his feet last week I had to give him two different meds twice a day, and I was afraid, as you are, that it could interrupt our bond. I decided to teach it like a trick, but on the fast track with no time for messing around. He takes the meds and gets a click from the clicker and a small bit of yogurt "bird candy" that he is only allowed to have for medication. He's very easygoing and doesn't struggle when medicated, but I know he really doesn't like it. The treat gives him something to look forward to, helps take the taste away, and reinforces that I don't mean to harm him and appreciate his cooperation.

[janetafloat]

I've just gone through just this with my Sennie, who has only been with me for 3 months and has had two separate lots of medication, the last one a couple of weeks ago. Although I was able to give him the medication this last time without too much problem, by the last day he'd become really wary of me and it's definitely damaged our relationship in the short term. Day by day it's coming back though, and I do a little training every day on him allowing me to touch his body and wings which he would before the medication and won't now. Still, at the end of the day I had no choice in the matter, and I'm sure that we'll get back to where we were. Remember, he hadn't been with me long and was a rehome so our relationship was in the early days anyway. I think you just have to do what you have to do, as calmly as you can, and know that with a little work on your part, you'll get his trust back over time.
I do relate though, it's not nice. I hope it goes smoothly and that your bird is better soon.

[Pajarita]

You definitely have to do what you have to do. But there are ways that you can 'trick' him. All hand-fed birds would take a feeding syringe VERY willingly but, if the taste is nasty, he will refuse it so what you have to do is get yourself a feeding syringe and mix the antifungal with something that has a strong and very pleasant taste -maybe some creamy peanut butter diluted with a bit of water so it's liquidy enough to feed through a syringe - or a strong organic fruit juice (pomegranate?). Try different things so he cannot anticipate the taste.

Now, what I am going to say now it's not a criticism but birds only get fungal infections when their immune system is not working right so, please, re-evaluate your husbandry: light schedule (VERY important!), quality and quantity of light, diet, out-of-cage time, flying time, general environment, family life (this could be something like been exposed to strangers too much, been handled by children -big birds tend to like them while little ones don't, trips outside the house, etc). Stress (physical and/or emotional) is the number one cause of a depressed immune system so everything needs to be considered...

[KimberlyAnn]

I just wanted to add to what Pajarita said, but I'm not sure if this applies to birds? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

My brother is autistic and a not many know this, but that can come with yeast and other issues too. This can be helped with diet. This is part of the reason why many autistic children are put on a glutten free diet as well as for behavior issues.

When my brother was on different medications, there was a limit to what he could eat because it would interfere with the medication. Some fruits, citrus, some dairy, etc. I wonder if the vet or a human pharmacist can tell you what can go well with the medication to mix it with? It would be interesting to know in case Emmi ever gets sick.

[marie83]

You will get your relationship with your little green cheek back. Mine was the same for about 3 rounds of meds spanning a year and a half but each time he came back to me. It didn't matter how many other nice things I was doing for him, the only thing he was remembering was the medicating- and this was with a bird who was still used to taking a bit of food/liquid from a syringe from training sessions (in case anything like this ever happened) and it was disguised as well as possible. He would literally fly and hide his terror was so great at times and he squeezed himself right down in the narrow gap between the cages and the wall or he would fly off screaming.

Sometimes you can do everything "right" but it still isn't enough, I think green cheeks are a fair bit more fickle than other species in this respect but they soon come back to you afterwards when the meds have stopped as long as your prepared to work on re-bonding and wait for the bird to come to you.

[GreenCheekGodric]

Thanks everyone for theor help! Yes, the ueast eas due to stress, from moving out of our okd house and into our new one. He was being carted around from house to house with me a lot