Bird may be sick. Need help

[Snowbird]

Hi, my cockatiel, Princess may be sick. About 4 days ago, she woke up with dried poop on her vent. I helped loosen it up so she could clean it off herself. It appeared to be a one off event, so I didn’t bother to take her in to the vet. 2 days ago, she started to slow down on her eating and drinking. She was also molting. She appeared lethargic and breathing a bit harder. Yesterday, her eating and drinking picked up. I was beginning to think she was okay. She was more active and eating and drinking well. Today, she seems to be doing okay although she looks a little lethargic now and then. She has recently had two sneezing episodes when she was eating. She made a squeaky noise followed by multiple sneezes. Her breathing has been heavier off and on.

In any case, I can’t get her in to see the vet until Monday morning. Anyone have any advice or ideas on what this could be? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Is her seed quality good hun? Some seed mixes these days are dusty? Does she/will she eat any veggies, grated to be easy to eat? Definitely make that appointment on Monday hun. Is her cage kept really clean to minimise dust? Wishing you both well hun.

 

[saxguy64]

A consultation with your avian vet as soon as possible, even if just by phone, is really important. Hopefully your little one will be okay until she can be seen, but better to call and ask to speak with the vet/request a call back if possible. Explain the situation, and ask questions.

As prey animals, parrots will mask symptoms of illness until they are unable to do so, at which point it's much harder to help them. Time is not your friend when your bird is ill. Please don't think this is meant to scare you. I'm no expert, and I truly hope whatever is going on is minor, but we've too often seen sad things happen quickly. Good on you for making an appointment with your vet as soon as you could.

If nothing else, keep her warm. Maintaining body temperature takes a tremendous amount of energy for them, and she needs to conserve what she can to help fight whatever is ailing her.

Please keep us posted. Sending healing thoughts and prayers for your little one!

 

[Littleredbeak]

Apple sauce or apples may help in hydration and keeping energy up. A bird friendly heater To help her maintain her temperature so she can focus her energy on getting better. . I’d look at Laurasea Cat Bite thread there is a lot of helpful first aid tips in there. My RN had a pretty bad infection in her foot/ankle that went to one of her airsacs. It’s important to get a culture to make sure you are using the correct antibiotics. Wishing you and your birdy well!

 

[noodles123]

The squeaking sound etc makes me nervous, as does the sneezing. I would get an appointment as soon as you can, just because they do hide illness and because you will feel better with confirmation. If she keeps eating and drinking and there is no tail bobbing or hanging out on the cage floor, you could possibly wait until Monday, but the frightening thing is that it can change quickly...Birds are scary in this respect. SaxGuy has given you some very good advice (if you do use heat, make sure it is not some random space-heater, as they can be deadly due to PTFE/PFOA/PFC/Teflon fumes). Applesauce etc can also be good, but you must make sure it isn't fortified, has no sugar added, and has minimal citric acid.

If your emergency vet/weekend vet doesn't know birds that well (or just sees some birds +dogs/cats and has no true avian certification) then you may decide to wait-- in theory-- if you have a better alternative for Mon-Fri and if you don't see any increased sneezing of lethargy, it could work, but it is a gamble. Sometimes a bird needs basic support (in terms of fluids/electrolytes/oxygen) and in some cases, even an exotics vet could be better than nothing if things are getting bad. At the same time, someone who doesn't know enough about birds (even an exotics vet) can make serious mistakes when diagnosing/treating, so it's hard to tell you exactly what to do without knowing who you normally see etc.

It's a tough call because birds are very fragile.

 

[Laurasea]

Hi, sorry about your sick one, a soiled vent is never to be taken lightly, nor are the other symptoms. I would try and phone your avain vet specialist right now.
Supporting care by you can make all the difference, warmth is critical. It aids in healing, it helps conserve calories. You can offer yogurt on the tip of your finger, you can touch just the tip of the beak with yogurt and see if she will lick it off, my birds like yogurt. Make sure it has live acidophilus culture, and no artificial sweetners, sugar is ok. This really helps balance the gi flora. You can get emeriade bird feeding formula from pet store, if you fo thst add a little yogurt to the formula .

Also since this is a female, you could have an egg binding situation going on, and that is an emergency. Gently run a finger just above her vent and see if you feel an egg...

Nursing a Sick Bird - The Parrots Helping Hand

https://www.littlecrittersvet.com/sick-birds.pml

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/sickbirdcare.html

http://parrotshelpinghandfund.weebl...leting,on maintaining normal body temperature

I do have tips and info spread out in my thread
http://www.parrotforums.com/budgies-parakeets/87759-cat-bite-parakeet-blue-boy.html

 

[Snowbird]

Update, my bird died. She went quick. She just collapsed. I was there with her when she died. I biggest fear is that I possibly did something that killed her. I tried to take care of her the best I could. I’m hoping the vet can call tell me what she died from. My mind is filling with a lot of “what if’s” right now. I wish I pushed harder to get her to the vet. Maybe that would’ve made a difference. What if I pushed for some antibiotics until she could have been seen on Monday? Maybe that would’ve helped if she had an infection. It seriously makes me question whether I’m fit to have another bird in the future if I wasn’t able to stop her from dying.

 

[LaManuka]

Snowbird I feel your pain, I truly do. Please accept my deepest condolences to the loss of your beloved Princess.

I too lost a precious baby much too soon, and very suddenly. My baby Baci the green cheeked conure was only 5 years young when he died of acute pancreatitis two years ago, and it absolutely shattered me. I don’t think any of us who have lost a beloved baby ever feels like we have done enough, and all the “what ifs” are especially difficult to deal with. I’m so terribly sorry that things turned out this way for you and your Princess, but in sharing your story you may have just helped another. In time I feel you will be ready to take on another birdie, but you will need time and plenty of it to heal from this heartbreak.

Godspeed to the Rainbow Bridge, beautiful Princess, until we all meet again.

 

[wrench13]

You have my sympathy Snowbird. Princess is flying over the Rainbow Bridge, flying high.

 

[Laurasea]

I'm so sorry she lost her fight. You have to fight against going down the what if road. You were trying to do all you could for her. Im so sorry for your loss.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

So sorry to read this..I feel your pain :02:


Jim

 

[Scott]

I am so sorry, my deepest condolences for your loss of Princess. May her beautiful memories bring you comfort.

 

[noodles123]

Update, my bird died. She went quick. She just collapsed. I was there with her when she died. I biggest fear is that I possibly did something that killed her. I tried to take care of her the best I could. I’m hoping the vet can call tell me what she died from. My mind is filling with a lot of “what if’s” right now. I wish I pushed harder to get her to the vet. Maybe that would’ve made a difference. What if I pushed for some antibiotics until she could have been seen on Monday? Maybe that would’ve helped if she had an infection. It seriously makes me question whether I’m fit to have another bird in the future if I wasn’t able to stop her from dying.

So sorry to hear this. I hope you don't beat yourself up too much-- You care enough to still discuss it, and that is huge...and they are really hard to read in terms of sickness.

If you have your bird still, consider a necroscopy (to determine the cause). This part always sounds insensitive and awful, but if you pursue this, you should put your bird in a ziplock bag in the fridge to better preserve things..

Hang in there....I'm sorry...It sounds like you really really loved your bird, and I'm sure your bird felt that too.

 

[Taw5106]

I’m so sorry for your loss.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Snowbird]

Thank you all for the kind words and attempts to help Princess before she passed. I’m trying my best not to beat myself up over it. All your comments really helped. I have a suspicion it could’ve been her heart. I’ll be talking with the vet in the morning to get her opinion, and seeing about getting Princess cremated and put in an urn with her favorite toy. I’m trying to take solace in the fact that she was a very happy bird the last few years of her life when I took her in. It was something she didn’t have before that. I’m sure I will have another feathered friend in the future. I just need time to deal with losing Princess right now. Thank you all again. I’m sure I’ll be introducing a new feathered friend to you all some time in the future.

Fly high, Princess! I’ll see you again one day.

 

[Laurasea]

Please wait at least 3 weeks. Clean every inch of the cage, throw away anything that can't be cleaned well. Each bar of tge cage needs to be wiped down, I use dilute vinegar in water. Because this could have been Infectious you must clean and re clean.
I would also get a digital kitchen scale, so you can weigh the new bird, and track weight.

 

[Snowbird]

Well, the vet suspected what I was suspecting. She thinks that poor Princess had heart disease. A few of her symptoms seems to have suggested that to be the case. The main one being the momentary inability to perch or stay upright when excited. Although she can’t be 100% sure unless she actually checked her for the cause of death.

I’m definitely going to be waiting quite a while before getting a new feathered friend. Although, I do feel that my next bird will be a Green Cheek Conure. I am suspecting that I may have questions for you all when it gets closer to preparing for my new friend. At the moment, I’m in the process of getting Princess cremated with her favorite toy. She’ll have a very beautiful urn with carvings of birds flying in it. I’m still planning on sanitizing everything when I feel I can handle doing so just in case.