Is Georgia sick??

[SarahP2010]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and I joined hoping to get some advice and opinions from fellow bird parents. I have a green cheeked conure named Georgia who is about a year and a half old. Today she has been acting rather lethargic and not like herself at all. She's hardly made a peep all day, doesn't seem to want to play with her toys or even come out of her sleeper. My aunt tried taking her out of her cage earlier and was bitten very hard. I tried to take her out myself when I got home from work and though she wasn't aggressive toward me, she's refusing to step up or let me take her out. I was told by my aunt that she noticed Georgia sneezing several times yesterday but I haven't noticed any runny nose or sunken/discolored eyes. I took her outside and to petco yesterday to get some supplies and she seemed perfectly fine and her stools were normal all day as far as I could tell (I'm not sure about today because since I just got home from work I haven't seen her poop yet). Anyway, maybe I'm just being paranoid but I was just wondering what some of my fellow more experienced conure owners think. Is it something I should be concerned about and take her to a vet or do you think it's just an off day and will pass? Any input is appreciated!

 

[Birdman666]

1. If there's no nasal discharge I wouldn't worry about a sneeze.

2. Lethargic can be anything from "I'm just tired" to "I'm on the brink of death." I might at least call a vet and get his opinion. So, it's very hard to diagnose this one over the internet.

I would certainly monitor him.

Did he eat the normal amount today?!

 

[MikeyTN]

It's best to have a local vet look at him just to be safe. I would highly suggest not to bring your beloved parrots into pet shops where there's other birds around. If there's anything airborne, your baby can easily catch them.

 

[BoomBoom]

How's Georgia doing? Hope she's gotten better. It's always a good idea to monitor your bird's weight. A sudden drop will warrant immediate vet attention. It happened to my bird and had I waited, it would have ended badly.

Monitor the quality of the poop too making sure the urates and the solid green stool has good separation.

 

[SilverSage]

Any update? Birdman put it perfectly as far as what lethargy can mean. Personally I have rushed 3 birds to the vet for nothing more than "not seeming like themselves" and one died before the vet could do anything, the other two made it;barely. Another time I had a pair who I just had a bad feeling about, even though I couldn't put my finger on anything different about them, and sure enough, both had serious bacterial infections even though they were not showing any signs. I'm the person who always says "get that bird to the vet this very minute!"

That is also a good point by boom boom... Regularly weighing and recording the weight of your bird is very wise and easy and sometimes can save a bird from a "mysterious death" caused by them hiding an illness from you.

 

[SarahP2010]

Hi everyone,
Sorry for such a late reply (I don't get on here much unless I'm waiting for an answer to something) but since a few of you asked for updates Georgia is doing well. I was keeping track of her weight and never saw any sudden drops and within a day or two she was completely back to her normal self. I guess she was just having an off day just like the rest of us do sometimes! But thank you to everyone who posted and offered advice!

 

[SilverSage]

So glad to hear it!