Please help!

[Hookturn]

I am not familiar with probiotics. What form does it come in? How do I give it to him? And where do I find dosage info? Thanks

[Wolf]

I get them online from WindyCity.com but you can use yogurt from the super market.

[Hookturn]

If he won't eat it on his own should I use a syringe like I do with his meds? How much should he have at a time?

[Pajarita]

No yogurt, it doesn't really help them at all. People think it does and keeps on recommending for birds which are not mammals but even Activia, which is advertised as the ultimate probiotic medium, needs to be consumed in relatively large quantities for it to help (I think the recommendation is 2 a day). See this: http://beneficialbacteria.net/probiotic-yogurt/

Go to the drugstore or look online and buy the one with the most strains (or check here: http://consumersguides.com/probiotics_r ... ex_a2.html), open a capsule and mix 1/4 of it with his soft food (I mix them into the gloop). You don't really need a specific dosage because it doesn't matter if you take 1 or 10 capsules together, they are ALL beneficial bacteria and there is no overdosing with them, the body uses what it needs and gets rid of the excess (see here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/52407 ... -overdose/)

[Hookturn]

Thanks for the info and I'll get him on it today. Just an update, JJ's latest swab showed no more infection so we're off the antibiotics! I am still waiting on the follow up blood work to see where we are with his blood sugar levels. As for the cause of the infection, the vet thinks it may have been a result of the diabetes as opposed to the other way around. I am still crossing my fingers that his elevated blood sugar resulted from his illness and that he's really not diabetic. I suggested this to the doctor and he essentially said that we'll know more after the blood work comes back.

[Wolf]

I am right there with you in hoping that JJ is not diabetic, that would not be good news at all. Please keep me informed about the results of his test.

[Pajarita]

It all depends on the actual glucose value because it normally does go up when they are sick and/or stressed out (up to 100% increase) even more so when they are dehydrated), which he was, and then there are the normal spikes like when they finish eating (like people) but they don't go up as high as with diabetes so avian vets usually don't pay attention to off values because they know they are caused by the temporary condition (like infection). Diabetes is only considered when the values are four to five times more than normal - and their normal is hugely higher than mammals, about 300 mg/d, so, for him to diagnosed as diabetic, he should be showing values higher than 1,200.

I am also hoping for a good value now because, I might as well tell you that avian diabetes is super hard to keep under control. Oh, something else, certain tumors, diseases or injuries cause them to show symptoms of diabetes, too... if I remember correctly, pancreas and pituitary gland are the ones so, if he still has a high glucose, ask your doctor to check them because I know of a macaw that had been treated for diabetes for years before they realized the problem was a tumor. And that's how I know how hard it is to keep it under control with drugs (I corresponded with the lady, she lives in Pennsylvania and has two macaws), this macaw was not doing well at all and his owner was actually going to put him down when she got mad at her avian vet, went to another one and this one thought of checking and that's when they saw he had a pituitary tumor -surgery cost over $4,000 but the bird is now healthy.