dose #8 and #9 happened on friday with the goldfish crackers.
dose #10 and #11 happened today.
im glad to say that zeba has been happily eating the goldfish completely covered with his meds. i know its not the most healthiest way of administering the meds to him, but its the least traumatic way.
i have been trying to put it on grapes...zeba only ate one of the grapes so that wasnt really helpful. i also tried putting it on pieces of pasta...he caught on that one pretty quickly for some reason and didnt touch much of the pasta.
with the goldfish crackers, i have been trying to rub as much of the salt from the outsides off as much as i can.
what has also happened lately with zeba is his excitable/aggressive side has been showing. he has bit me a couple times at the base of my right thumb (since it is the easiest target to get to when i try to have him step up on my hand. i've been allowing it to heal (no blood but i had some tenderness and bruising) before i try to ask him to step up again.
i think his aggression could stem from two things - from me towelling him a few times to give him meds, and hormones. the mix of the two seems to have really made things a bit worse. zeba has also charged at my hand if i got to close to me, and lately when i have been approaching his cage, he starts to his and display his wings, tail and pin his eyes. when he does this, it is very dangerous to get close, so what i do is turn my back on him and pay attention to something else - read a newspaper/magazine/book, work on my laptop, eat a walnut, hum to myself, etc. then when i dont hear him, i turn to him and softly talk to him.
usually he then calms down and i can give him a head scratch. i also allow him some out of cage time. when i open the door, he usually perches on top of the door for a bit, till he feels like wandering over to me (i usually situate myself about 10 feet away) where i am doing my own thing, not paying attention to him. (i also entice him over to me by showing a large piece of nut next to me). when he walks over to me, he is usually very calm. if he starts to hiss, i just dont pay attention to him. if he is calm, i give him small pieces of nut and give him head scritches.
i just dont want to reward aggression. i completely ignore him when he shows aggression, i try to turn my back on him when possible. nothing from me for about 20 - 30 seconds.
i also baked some "birdie bread". it came out a little wetter than i expected, but i should've known since i put in 1 egg, 1 cup organic pureed pumpkin, 1/3 cup organic apple/apricot sauce, and 1 1/4 cup of freshly minced stuff(beet greens, mustard greens, carrots, and 5 almonds) - all wet stuff. the dry stuff was an organic cornmeal mix with no sugar (2 1/2 cups), so that wasn't too much dry stuff...i should've added some flour...well, next time.
my birds devoured it within an hour or so. zeba didn't really touch his. i will try to offer it to him again tomorrow.
i also added 1/2 tsp. of an organic powder that i bought yesterday from Whole Foods. it is a mixture of bee pollen, spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass and barley grass. ive done a lot of reasearch on the web and these things work wonders on a bird's plumage and immune system. but it is also VERY POTENT. just 1/2 tsp is enough for a dose to an amazon-sized bird. i used 1/2 tsp. to make 21 muffins. and i only gave zeba 1/4 of a muffin. its good to start small and slowly.
oh, and zeba is starting to like my husband more and more. zeba allows him to get up to his cage, as my husband quietly talks to zeba. zeba then climbs down to a spot in his cage closest to where my husband sits. they just quietly converse, zeba doesn't display and pin his eyes at him too much nowadays, zeba even allows him to scratch his head. those are extremely great steps. i asked my husband if he wants to try and let zeba out of his cage while he is in the room, but it seems that my husband isn't ready for that great leap of faith just yet. i can't blame him. not after seeing how quickly and far zeba can jump with clipped wings! we'll see what the next few days brings.
dose #10 and #11 happened today.
im glad to say that zeba has been happily eating the goldfish completely covered with his meds. i know its not the most healthiest way of administering the meds to him, but its the least traumatic way.
i have been trying to put it on grapes...zeba only ate one of the grapes so that wasnt really helpful. i also tried putting it on pieces of pasta...he caught on that one pretty quickly for some reason and didnt touch much of the pasta.
with the goldfish crackers, i have been trying to rub as much of the salt from the outsides off as much as i can.
what has also happened lately with zeba is his excitable/aggressive side has been showing. he has bit me a couple times at the base of my right thumb (since it is the easiest target to get to when i try to have him step up on my hand. i've been allowing it to heal (no blood but i had some tenderness and bruising) before i try to ask him to step up again.
i think his aggression could stem from two things - from me towelling him a few times to give him meds, and hormones. the mix of the two seems to have really made things a bit worse. zeba has also charged at my hand if i got to close to me, and lately when i have been approaching his cage, he starts to his and display his wings, tail and pin his eyes. when he does this, it is very dangerous to get close, so what i do is turn my back on him and pay attention to something else - read a newspaper/magazine/book, work on my laptop, eat a walnut, hum to myself, etc. then when i dont hear him, i turn to him and softly talk to him.
usually he then calms down and i can give him a head scratch. i also allow him some out of cage time. when i open the door, he usually perches on top of the door for a bit, till he feels like wandering over to me (i usually situate myself about 10 feet away) where i am doing my own thing, not paying attention to him. (i also entice him over to me by showing a large piece of nut next to me). when he walks over to me, he is usually very calm. if he starts to hiss, i just dont pay attention to him. if he is calm, i give him small pieces of nut and give him head scritches.
i just dont want to reward aggression. i completely ignore him when he shows aggression, i try to turn my back on him when possible. nothing from me for about 20 - 30 seconds.
i also baked some "birdie bread". it came out a little wetter than i expected, but i should've known since i put in 1 egg, 1 cup organic pureed pumpkin, 1/3 cup organic apple/apricot sauce, and 1 1/4 cup of freshly minced stuff(beet greens, mustard greens, carrots, and 5 almonds) - all wet stuff. the dry stuff was an organic cornmeal mix with no sugar (2 1/2 cups), so that wasn't too much dry stuff...i should've added some flour...well, next time.
my birds devoured it within an hour or so. zeba didn't really touch his. i will try to offer it to him again tomorrow.
i also added 1/2 tsp. of an organic powder that i bought yesterday from Whole Foods. it is a mixture of bee pollen, spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass and barley grass. ive done a lot of reasearch on the web and these things work wonders on a bird's plumage and immune system. but it is also VERY POTENT. just 1/2 tsp is enough for a dose to an amazon-sized bird. i used 1/2 tsp. to make 21 muffins. and i only gave zeba 1/4 of a muffin. its good to start small and slowly.
oh, and zeba is starting to like my husband more and more. zeba allows him to get up to his cage, as my husband quietly talks to zeba. zeba then climbs down to a spot in his cage closest to where my husband sits. they just quietly converse, zeba doesn't display and pin his eyes at him too much nowadays, zeba even allows him to scratch his head. those are extremely great steps. i asked my husband if he wants to try and let zeba out of his cage while he is in the room, but it seems that my husband isn't ready for that great leap of faith just yet. i can't blame him. not after seeing how quickly and far zeba can jump with clipped wings! we'll see what the next few days brings.
posted by kate franz mickaboo.org at
11:33 PM
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