Treating Giardia with Flagyl

[jorobinson176]

Hi - I'm new to The Parrot Forum. Sorry to jump straight in with a question, but I'm desperate. I live in Zimbabwe, four hrs drive from the nearest vet. I believe my Nanday Conure has Giardia. I've been treating him with a topical mite powder for birds. He has two round sores, one in each wing pit. Yesterday morning one was bleeding profusely. I packed it with wound powder, but it happened again this morning. He's in a weak state now. I've managed to get a bottle of Metronidazole suspension - that's all that I've managed to find - Zimbabwe isn't well stocked on these things. But there isn't any dosage on the bottle, and also the side effects look pretty terrifying. Can anyone please advise me on whether or not I should actually give it to him, and if so what the dosage is. I'd really appreciate any help - he keeps falling over, and looks sicker than anything.

[Pajarita]

Going by the symptoms, it might not be Giardia. I have a tiel that has chronic Giardia and he is absolutely normal in his behaviors and health except he plucks certain spots. But, if it is Giardia, the infestation must be huge and must have gone on for a looooong time so I doubt that metronidazole will be effective (it works only about 40% of the time). Metronidazole is actually toxic to birds so it's not recommended to give it to a weak bird (you'll most likely end up killing the bird with it because it damages the liver severely and impairs nutrients absorption which is a death sentence in a weak bird) but the normal dosage is 11.5 mg/lb twice daily for 5 days.

If I were you, I would treat the bird first with natural remedies as well as a vit B complex, immune system booster, liver tonics and hand-feed it with a formula that has easy to digest protein to build him up a bit before I even try the metronidazole.

Isolate the bird from the others, keep it warm and calm and, please, boil the water from now on!