You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

The dose of a drug that has to be given to a bird is calculated based upon it's metabolic size - a function of body surface area and body volume. 

Whenever possible birds should be given drugs that are licensed for use in the species, and the dose rate should be that recommended by the manufacturers datasheet. 

However, if the dose rate of a drug has to be calculated, a useful formula to calculate the dose of a drug for a bird is as follows :

E = ( W x 0.001) x  0.75  x D

E  - Dose of drug in mg  

W - Weight of the bird in grammes

D - Dose of the drug for a larger vertebrate (cat or dog - use the lowest published dose rate for such a calculation)

Birds should always be weighed accurately using accurate scales, otherwise gross discrepancies can occur in  dose rates administered.

Updated January 2016