Bella's first vet check

[adz1984]

Culture results back and another med is being sent out, he said to continue meds and if she's sleepy today I may need to bring her in to stay for couple days for crop flushes/food, I'm not too fond of the supps but I'm going to stick to his plan, atleast for a little while since shes not eating a good amount of anything healthy atm

 

[EllenD]

Oh I'm sorry the culture came back positive for something, better you caught it now though than not doing it at all and waiting...Did he say what bacteria is causing her infection or where?

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[adz1984]

He did explain and name it but I didn't comprehend 100%. I understood its all basically from her gizzard and digestive problems, she's doing well today so far 3 hours after morning meds , eating and not sleepy. Maybe a silly question but is it ok to shower her during sickness/meds? as she is molting now I believe.

 

[adz1984]

Bella has shown some improvement, one of her symptoms was not eating much during the morning and day and today she ate well through out the whole day, hope she continues to fight and does well tomorrow! I am also starting to trust the vet more, the way i'm looking at it now is the vet had a budget to work with and Bella has a serious condition that needs to be addressed asap while a cbc is very helpful it's more of a long term benefit. He did mention that she will need blood tests next visit.

 

[SailBoat]

He did explain and name it but I didn't comprehend 100%. I understood its all basically from her gizzard and digestive problems, she's doing well today so far 3 hours after morning meds , eating and not sleepy. Maybe a silly question but is it ok to shower her during sickness/meds? as she is molting now I believe.

Yes, you can shower her. Depending on the temperature of your home, be careful not to soak her. Maybe 'misting' specific areas at first and work to a showering. The goal is to reduce any undo stress! NOTE: Some Parrots Love a good bath and for them it would be comforting.

 

[snowflake311]

It is so heart breaking when you find out your bird is sick. SO sorry you had to go threw this. I see you live in Australia so I have NO Idea what the cost of vet bills are there. From my understanding things in Australia are always a bit more expensive than here in the USA.

Good luck. Get well soon little Bella.

 

[adz1984]

Another med + more clear results was sent to me today, I'm giving the meds via mouth in a 0.2ml dosage twice a day as I find it more reliable and she actually likes 2/3 so its easy.

 

[adz1984]

UPDATE:
Took Bella in today for a recheck, we did a CBC, gram and cultures. The gram stain came back clean and other results I get on monday. I'm guessing her gizzard is still not 100%. Was told its very important that I fix her diet into a more fresh food base but that's easily said and not easily done (have tried many vege's in different ways) and will continue to do so.

 

[Kentuckienne]

That's a bit of good news, hope things keep improving!

 

[adz1984]

CBC and other test results back, no meds needed and was told to feed his immune/digestive aid food supp program for 8 weeks aswell as daily fresh veges, any input or suggestions are welcome!

 

[adz1984]

Is anyone familiar with this diagnosis and has some suggestions?

 

[adz1984]

My vet is on holidays for another week and I don't think Bella is fully recovering as she's not very active (same as before I took her to the vet) and her poop hasn't changed much for the better (sometimes really small and possibly not as frequent as a healthy parrot). She was showing improvement for a few days during the second week back, very active and more vocal but that quickly died off.
Basically from what I understand all of Bella's problems started from her ingesting a lot of something that's hard to digest (I'm thinking it's wood) but I don't really know what it was because even with x-rays, it doesn't show what it is, it did show an enlarged gizzard and stuff stuck in there.. So gizzard overload along with other digestive problems lead to infections that have been cleared but I'm pretty sure it's just going to come back if her digestion isn't normal.

My big issue right now is food. She's on the vet's suggested digestive and immune support diet which consists of sterile seeds and supps along with fresh veges twice a day. The problem is I feel like she's not eating that much anymore, she's starting too only pick out the few sunflower seeds in the mix and eating less and less of the millet (sadly which is where most of the supps are on) If I refill the seed bowl she's instantly there before I can close the door to eat the sunflower seeds quickly then back to perch she goes.... and with the veges shes only sucking out the juices from pea's and corn and ignoring everything else.. overall I don't feel like she's eating much. She's always been stubborn with healthy food in the 4month's I've had her so I don't know if it's because she's sick or just a stubborn seed weaned baby, basically she will only eat for a long time if it's sunflower seeds or tropimix.

Right now I'm considering hand feeding formula atleast twice a day (morning/night) and keeping her seed diet with sups in the cage throughout the whole day to maybe:
A: Make sure she's getting enough energy and nutrients
B: Possibly be easier to digest and may help out her gizzard problems
My idea might be completely off but right now I'm at a loss for what to do. I mean if done properly it can't hurt right? I'm all ears if anyone has any suggestions!

 

[adz1984]

Spoke to my vets nurse and she agreed formula would be a good idea until the doc gets back next week, 10ml two or three times a day.. so I bought some roudybush f3 and a bent spoon, get home and read the mixing instructions that was written so poorly which in turn lead me to stressing more about if the thickness was right or not and ofcoarse bella wasn't interested and I'm not experienced enough to crop or force feed, has been a horrible month for me, my grandma whom i'm currently taking care of (more stubborn than bella) and my bird are both sick at the same time won't be suprised if I don't join them soon from all this stress, also kinda surprizing noone has any input at all on this for a couple of weeks now.

 

[adz1984]

Little update.. while 10cc does seem kinda low to me for an alex I can't even get that much into her so I just been giving as much as she will eat from a spoon first thing in the morning (probably like 5cc or less) I figure a little is better than nothing, then I free feed for the rest of the day. She's up 5g at the end of the day so I know she's eating but I'm still worried as she is down about 10g over a month on her morning empty weight. I'm hoping some of the lost weight could be from her impaction clearing out some!

 

[adz1984]

At this point I doubt anyone cares, vet still away and Bella still going downhill I guess she will just rot away like this thread did, almost 5am here time to try and sleep again.

 

[YUMgrinder]

I say keep going with the formula, find another vet for a second opinion....

 

[adz1984]

I'm already 1500 deep with this vet to 'start over' is not an option at the moment.

 

[adz1984]

Little update..
I'm happy how things are going atm gram stains came back clean and shes pretty active.
Bella (ex seed junkie) is now eating her pellets/sprouts completely well and no longer needs seed but still gets a bit, she also has put on all her lost weight (about 20g) and then some more.
I still need to get a recheck cbc and xray to know 100% but i'm holding off for now as she's doing well and the fact that they will cost about $700
Pic taken today

 

[LordTriggs]

sounds like a good turn around!

Clearly the vet near me is very cheap. A wellness check, gram stains, bloodwork, microchip and DNA sexing was quoted to me being £260. Probably about $300-$350 in the states.

I'd suggest getting Bella insured. Can really help out with costs especially in this kind of situation. For a small parrot here it costs £16 a month and all check ups are covered along with £2000 worth of treatments each year

 

[adz1984]

There is no bird insurance over here, with insane vet costs believe me I have thought about doing that before!