# Metronidazole - Overdose Questions



## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Hi, I've had my budgie (5 months) on metronidazole, her first course of 10 days was fantastic, she became so much better and had more energy than I'd ever seen. It didn't last and she quickly relapsed with her same previous issues. Vet recommended I get her back on metronidazole and bring her in for a checkup (which we're still in the process of organizing, as the vet is extremely busy with their fulltime job at the zoo).

I got my budgie back on metronidazole and it was going well for the first 3 days. She wasn't as good as she was towards the end of her first treatment, but she was back to chirping and flying. My only concern is it's now day 5 and she began to seem extremely sick last night (day 4). She appears to have an issue with her balance, and will occasionally fall off her perch - a total of four times yesterday, and twice so far today. She is also much more hesitant jumping or flying places, almost like she can't judge the distance and is apprehensive, so she resorts to using her mouth and slowly and cautiously making her way to wherever it is she wants to go. This can lead to her being stuck on the bottom of the cage as she doesn't like to fly when this happens and will instead attempt to climb up the bars unsuccessfully. There's a lot of head movement before she moves, similar to when they're judging distance of a jump / flight. She used to fly out of the cage onto my hand really accurately, but today she was so hesitant and when she eventually flew to my hand, she hovered above it for a few seconds almost as if she couldn't tell if she were there or not. She's also very unsteady on her feet.

I had a big scare last night where she may have been seizing, but I'm not sure. She was in the cage just before bed, eating pellets, when she went upside down and under the bowl. I initially thought she was playing, but after a few seconds I could tell she wasn't. I put my hand underneath her and gently took her out and she was sitting on my hands and her head kept drooping until her beak would touch my palm. Her eyes looked completely dazed as she lay there, but the movement of her head was so strange. She'd droop it slowly down, then it would bounce back up and she kept repeating this. From my perspective, it looked like she was having a very strong dizzy spell. She has spent almost all of today sleeping, and just seems very "out of it". The only good sign is she's preening herself a lot! Other than that, she is so muted and sleepy.

*My question is: are these symptoms of a potential metronidazole overdose? *I am extremely careful when giving her the dose, but every now and then she will shake her head and refuse to accept it, which causes me to miss. I then readminister her the dose as I know it's important to keep up the antibiotic treatment. Is dizziness a side effect of too much metronidazole? If I have accidentally caused her to ingest double the amount of antibiotics, will she eventually overcome these neurological issues?


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Consider holding off on a dose, I don't know about the overdose in birds but I had a cat on it so I looked into overdose symptoms and it does seem to match what you are describing check out this link but keep in mind this is addressing cats The Side Effects of Metronidazole for Cats


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Cody said:


> Consider holding off on a dose, I don't know about the overdose in birds but I had a cat on it so I looked into overdose symptoms and it does seem to match what you are describing check out this link but keep in mind this is addressing cats The Side Effects of Metronidazole for Cats


That is scarily accurate. I'm going to withhold giving her any more, I'm taking her to the vets tomorrow hopefully if the vet is able to fit me in. How long until your cat recovered, or were you just doing your due diligence so you knew what to look out for if an overdose did occur?


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

I was just doing my due diligence, as I always check things like side effects and OD symptoms before I give a med.


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

My incompetence might cost her her life. I don't know if she can overcome this and get back to normal, I don't know how long toxicity takes to clear out in a bird, or if these are just early symptoms to something fatal.

She was on my hand just now and I moved her towards her perch as I could tell she wanted to go inside the cage. She was hit with a big bout of dizziness as she moved across and took off backwards and fell onto my bed, thankfully. Spent about 30 seconds on my bed with her wings splayed out and flapping, looking so confused and her head doing the bobbing and refocusing. Getting her to the vet ASAP tomorrow.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I hope things go well with the vet visit. Please keep us updated. 💙 *


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Took her to the vet, xray was done. The vet said the worst of the symptoms are definitely metronidazole overdose and stopping it immediately was the right call (Cody, you can't understand how much I appreciate you giving that level headed advice, it may have saved Wasabi, as I've always had it drilled into me to stick to a course of antibiotic no matter what). She was very very wobbly 3 days ago, to the point where flying or moving caused her to fall. 2 days ago she was slightly better but flying was still too dangerous. Yesterday and today has seen major improvement, she's hopping between perches, the vet said she flew fine in the clinic. I'm still keeping her cage bound just for her own safety, as she's not 100% yet, and only let her out if I'm keeping a solid eye on her at all times. My biggest regret is not going into the clinic with her, but due to covid restrictions I had to wait outside. Just makes me feel awful as I know how to handle her and could have made it a lot less of a horrific experience for her, I've been beating myself up about it all day and wishing I pushed harder to go in. When they taped her down for the xray, the tape pulled out some chest feathers, but I think those were baby feathers that were on the way out as she's in the middle of a moult and I hope it didn't hurt her.

Xray showed a slightly enlarged liver, the difference was quite obvious between a normal budgie xray and Wasabi's. Her lungs were great and had no issues. Vet recommended we focus on supporting her liver back to full health, by giving Legalon and cutting out seeds entirely, so I spent all day today making chop and I'm just gonna have to get them used to it. Vet said we'll do a week of liver support and legalon, and if she still has diarrhea and iffy poops, we might look into getting her back on antibiotics (that I won't screw up this time), as she said it was reassuring that the original course of metronidazole wiped out her poop issues, which indicates it may be a bacterial thing too.

It was an absolutely traumatic day for the poor baby but I gotta keep telling myself it was worth it. I've never hated a country more for having such **** poor veterinary services, but people here just consider budgies as perishable and replaceable. Fingers crossed this is it for good. *So for future people Googling*: if your budgie has diarrhea and bulky poops that look fluffy and yellowish, it's most likely liver related, check out my other thread for pics and descriptions of her behaviour. Cut the seeds out, get them on pellets and veg / fruit. Vet said some are just predisposed to not handling seeds very well, whereas others can pick up bacteria or something from the seeds themselves that end up damaging their livers. I'll never know if it was just a genetic thing, or something the breeder did, or something I did that caused her to get sick. Just have to play catch up to fix the issues and get her back to her old self. When this is all over, I'll breathe a sigh of relief, I absolutely despise playing doctor and putting my bird through this. I sincerely can't wait for her to just be healthy again so I never have to stress her out.

Here she is letting me cuddle her once we were home, with the feather bald spot from the tape  I put her in the car with my cousin whilst I spoke with the vet outside, and he told me that as soon as he started soothing her and got near the cage, she ran over thinking it was me, then backed off when she realised it wasn't. So at least deep down she knows I have her best interests at heart. Tomorrow is gonna be a full day of just bonding with her and spoiling her to make up for these past few weeks.


http://imgur.com/4GlLG2v


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

So glad she is better and on the road to recovery, you can tell in the video how happy she is to be home. Please keep us updated on her progress. Be really careful with the diet change, it is important that she eats while she is recovering so start slowly with the change in her diet. It would be a good idea to get a gram scale and weigh her every morning that way you can be sure she is not loosing weight. A gram scale is often used in a kitchen to weigh food so they should be easy to find and purchase.


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

I told the vet I was worried about changing their diet, as they're both difficult with it. She sent me two huge pdfs of different enrichment methods to entice them into eating. Right now I'm just sprinkling the tiniest pinch of seeds on the chop to get them started. I'll get a gram scale as well.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Thank you for the update and I'm SO glad to hear that Wasabi is now on the road to recovery.
You can tell in the video how much she loves and appreciates you! 💚💚💚*


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Best and healing wishes for Wasabi!! Fingers and toes crossed for your little one


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Streamable Video


Watch this video on Streamable.




streamable.com





She's doing great. I was scared for a bit as she lost all sense of coordination, but she's back to how she was before this mess. Zero lasting neurological issues.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I'm SO glad Wasabi has returned to 100%. 💚 *


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

What great news!! I'm so happy to hear that


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