Conure with Seasonal Allergies - Please Help!

[CaSandraTye]

Our four month old Sun Conure, Ari, seems to be having seasonal allergies. My fiance and I have called every veterinarian clinic in our area and were informed that multiple birds in the last week have been diagnosed with seasonal allergies. Apparently the sage in the area is a big problem.

The problem is that nobody but the avian veterinarian can recommend anything for the allergies and for some reason every avian veterinarian is out of the office today in all clinics. The soonest appointment we could schedule for our baby is on August 20th, 2018. Other than that we can make an emergency visit but that is not an option atm.

As all allergy medicine is OTC for humans, what is available and SAFE for a Sun Conure? Is there such a thing as an avian allergy spray? Anything natural? I am not going to give her anything designed for humans unless specifically instructed to by a vet so I am asking for something natural or intended for birds.

One veterinary technician did say that applying small amounts of saline is okay and should help a little bit. As far as anything else, she cannot say or does not know.

Please help! Ari is itching her nostrils and eyes so badly that there has been ever so slight amounts of blood around her eyes and nostrils.

 

[SailBoat]

Take the approach that your child has Allergies and the OTC stuff is either not available or not advisable. And, in this care, Not Advisable Applies.

Air Conditioning and Filtering systems is the direction you want to begin. You will find it healthier and happier for the Humans also. This year has been a difficult one in North America and is not showing any signs of easing.

 

[CaSandraTye]

Take the approach that your child has Allergies and the OTC stuff is either not available or not advisable. And, in this care, Not Advisable Applies.

Air Conditioning and Filtering systems is the direction you want to begin. You will find it healthier and happier for the Humans also. This year has been a difficult one in North America and is not showing any signs of easing.

Thank you for taking the time to help, SailBoat! It's very much appreciated! Unfortunately I don't have children so my frantic search for guidance on the matter is likely similar to a first time mom.

Air conditioner and filtration is a really good suggestion, thank you! We will be addressing that first thing in the morning.

We so far had great success doing her first bath/shower in our attempts to relieve her symptoms. Not only did we learn that she is going to be super fun and pleasant for bath time but also that the baths seems to alleviate her itching.

So now there is a new question; How often is too often for baths? Once a day? More? Less? I have more research to do.

Also, we snipped the very tips of her nails. We both have huge amounts of experience trimming the nails on cats and dogs so we researched how to for Conures and decided for her safety that it needed to be done. She didn't care for it too much but snuggled and cooed happily after her abundance of positive reinforcement for being such a good girl.

Therefore we have discovered the baths alleviate some itch and her newly snipped tips prevent her from cutting herself any further. We will address the house filtration to further help her symptoms, thank you again SailBoat!

Any other tips or tricks that may also help alleviate Ari from her allergies?

 

[Scott]

Thanks for joining, and welcome to an oppressive summer!

I echo everything suggested by Sailboat, and am thrilled the vet practice is cautious and deferred to the avian vet for advice. So many are quick to prescribe or recommend substances satisfactory for mammals but possibly hazardous for parrots.

Serious house filtration should help abate Ari's symptoms during the next roughly 3 weeks until the scheduled vet appt.

Depending on your method of filtration, (whole house vs single room) might want to use the search engine to scour the forum for recommendations. This has been discussed and some good archived info is available.

Good luck, let us know what you decide!