In the early 90s, we inherited an African Grey parrot named,Laura. Her original owner,my wifes aunt could not look after her,due to her failing health and asked us to take her. Laura became a great favourite. She couldn
t say much as my wifes aunt had lived alone for many years and never spoke to Laura. As with African Greys,they don
t seem to like men,and my young daughter was the only one who could get near her without being nipped. I ,myself had several scars....lol.
Both my wife and I worked shift work so,when Laura wasn`t looking or feeling too good,we took her to the vet,who said she had a cough and prescribed some medicine containing ipecacuanha for her. The dose was on the bottle and was ONE tablespoon in her water once a day. Afrer a few days,Laura fell off the perch and was lying flat on her back,but climbed back up. This happened a few days later and i was able to pick her up without being pecked. We wondered why this was happening, so i spoke to the vet and he said she might have had a heart attack,but because of her age there was little they could do. I was around when my daughter next did the medicine and i watched in horror as she fed Laura a Tablespoon of the medication straight off the spoon !!!
Laura loved it but very soon fell off her perch again, and appeared intoxicated !!. We remedied the medication and she recovered after a few days !!!......Could have been fatal,but she was a tough old bird !!!
Sadly she died a few years later but the kids remember her to this day !!