# Sticky  My birdy first aid kit



## AnimalKaperz

Its so helpful when you get an emergency to have everything in ONE place, so if your bird needs help, you can do it fast, without running around looking for things.

*A reasonable sized plastic container with a lid that seals to keep everything clean.

Your Avian Vets up to date phone number, including their after hours number taped to the outside of your first aid box so you can contact them easily if needed.

A notepad and pencil. Make notes about the condition of your bird. Pencils are better than pens as pencils do not dry out! 
This will be appreciated by the vet. 
If you have a video function on your phone, then taking footage of your bird can also be very helpful.

A couple of squares of paper towel, for having underneath your budgie to catch their poop, in case the vet needs a sample. 
You never know when you are going to run out in the kitchen, so if its in your first aid kit, you HAVE IT! 

A couple of soft cloths - small towels, tea towels or hand towels, to wrap and restrain your bird.

Bandaging material -paper medical tape, two rolls of gauze bandage and gauze pads. A roll of vet bandage is also very handy.

A small, rounded edged pair scissors. For trimming feathers if needed - especially around birds vent.
Regular scissors to cut bandages and dressings, as long as the scissors don't go near the bird.

Nail clippers and Emery boards - Emery boards are handy for filing nails if needed.

A double ended rubber tipped foreign body removal tool. 
Wet the end and loose foreign body will stick to it. It will not harm wounds and is a gentle way to clean wound.

If you ever have the possibility of steel in a wound, have a magnet in your first aid box too.

Cotton tips (a.k.a. QTips) and cotton balls.

Styptic powder and a small container corn starch (a.k.a. Corn flour) to help stop bleeding.

Betadine for wounds, and saline solution for cleaning wounds. You can also irrigate / clean their eyes with saline solution.

A bottle of Re-Nu (human contact lens cleaner) which is wonderful for removing blood from feathers.

A bottle of Neosporin for wounds.

A small pair needle nose pliers for removing broken feathers.

A small pair forceps and a blunt tip pair tweezers.

Karo syrup for a quick simple energy source.

Pedialyte for quick hydration and energy.

Eye droppers and syringes with no needles. I would suggest a small one ( diabetic size) for medication measuring. Three or four x 5 ml one for feeding babies and two 10 ml ones for irrigating wounds.

A bent at the sides spoon in case you need to feed baby budgies ( some like syringes and others will prefer a bent spoon - photos coming).

A food thermometer for checking the temperature of baby bird formula.

If you are breeding your birds, have at least a small packet hand rearing mix in an airtight container in your freezer.

Pen light.

Heat lamp and/or a heat pad.

A small, rectangular glass fish aquarium, for use as a hospital cage. Should have a lid that keeps budgie in, but allows air. Have a bag of wood shavings (aspen) handy for use when needed (so budgie doesn't keep slipping on glass floor). If you don't have that, then use folded rags with no threads or holes where budgie can get caught in it. If your bird really feels the need to perch, then have a piece of branch cut exactly to size and wedge it along the bottom of the cage, so they can perch, but will not fall very far, if they do fall.

A small bottle of 100% pure Eucalyptus Essential Oil.

If you budgie has respiratory problems, use a couple of drops in a Warm Mist Humidifier.
You can also put a few drops in a steaming bowl of hot water and putting it near their cage, or a few drops in the shower and turn it on hot, with budgies cage in bathroom in amongst the steam created will help ease their breathing. 
Remember to take out their seed and water if you do this. 
Put it back after the treatment 

If you can afford one, a human asthma nebulizer machine is a potential godsend in delivering medication deep into your birds lungs if they develop a fungal/respiratory infection. *


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