# Can I apply Ivermectin without holding my budgie?



## Daeva (Dec 18, 2016)

Is there a way to apply an Ivermectin 0.1% drop on the back of the neck of my budgie without holding him? I don't want to traumatize him and lose his trust. :/


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## Therm (Aug 2, 2015)

Sadly not. 

You want to make sure you get it into contact with the skin. If you applied it without holding your budgie, you will have it just go on the feathers and it would likely not be as affective. 

Is your budgie step up trained? Are you able to stroke him/her at all? If you are you might be able to gently hold your budgie from this position and then apply the drops. 
Or you could take your bird to a vet to have it done (this would involve a trip to the vets which would likely be more stressful). 

Be sure you use some sort of cloth to hold your budgie so they don't associate your hand with being caught. 

If it makes you feel any better, I have to catch one of my girls monthly for a beak trim and although she has never been tame, she doesn't run in terror whenever she sees me. 
Be as calm as possible, be ready with what you need so you can make the process as quick as possible (make sure you look up how to hold a budgie so you don't hurt them) and then give them some space.


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## aluz (Jul 24, 2011)

I don't see how that is possible because the area in itself is very small and without having control over the budgie you run a much higher risk of entirely missing the target or even of directly soiling the feathers or accidentally affecting the eyes for example, when trying to apply the product. 
The skin on the neck must be visible to place the drops of Ivermectin.
If you don't want your budgie to associate your hands with something bad, you can either use a small cloth to gently hold him or place a glove on your hand.

As for the potential of some of the trust to be lost, while this can happen, the health of the bird is much more important and should always come first.
When a good, solid bond is previously established, the setbacks in trust are much lessened, in some cases it's even non existent. The stronger the bond is the less time it will take for the bird to "forgive" us and for everything to go back to normal.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I agree with Therm and aluz.

The health of your budgie must come first and to be effective it is essential the medication be applied properly.

If you don't want to do it yourself, you can take him to an Avian Vet for treatment.*


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## BlueBirdNYC (Aug 26, 2016)

I had to treat my budgie and he forgave me if that makes you feel any better. ( Be sure to apologize to him/her afterwards & explain what you were doing. : ) I think budgies might have a way of knowing that you're doing something to heal them. 

It's just a moment ( every 2 weeks for about 3 times ) & if you are respectful of your budgie in all other ways it should be fine, & as others noted the health should come first.

I had a hard time with the back of the neck with my budgie, because he was so squirmy with his head. I found more success putting drops on the inner thigh. It was not the first choice of the vet ( he prefers back of the neck) but, we talked about it & he said it was ok because I was more comfortable and had better success getting it on the skin with the inner thigh. There are videos online showing how to do this, but you might want to try to do back of the neck first. It might be good to have a helper for the back of the neck. One person holds the budgie and the other does the drop.

The more confident you are the better this will go. 

Best of luck. 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## Daeva (Dec 18, 2016)

Well if there's no other way around then so be it. As you said health comes first and I think I'll get some help. I know someone who'll be more confident than me to hold him and at least maybe he'll hate that person and not me. :lol:


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## BlueBirdNYC (Aug 26, 2016)

That's not a bad idea. Someone else holds while you do the drops.


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