Klebsiella

[feedmeplz]

Hello everyone!
Vivi is a green cheek conure and I've had her for 13 years and she's never been sick until now.

Vivi has been sick since September. In September she showed symptoms of sneezing(no discharge), and lethargy. When she showed symptoms of tail bobbing we went to the closest exotic vet. The vet found bacteria in her crop swab and was prescribed Enroflaxin for 10 days. That was on September 20th.
After those 10 days, she got much better, but after a week she started sneezing again. We went back to the same exotic vet and there was still bacteria in her crop swab so we did another 10 days of Enroflaxin. That was on October 21st.

While she was on Enroflaxin I went ahead and made an appointment with an avian vet, just in case. A week after finishing her second round of Enroflaxin she started sneezing again. I went to the avian vet and she did a crop swab and found bacteria she also did a nasal flush and sent the culture to a lab. The results came back that she has Klebsiella. The culture sensitivity said that Azithromycin would work. Vivi was prescribed Azithromycin 0.07ml every 24 hours and Tobramycin drops in each nostril twice a day for 14 days. Everything seemed great but on the last three days on antibiotics she started sneezing again! I called the avian vet and talked about my options and she thought the best course of action would be to take Vivi to an avian hospital that can do a radiograph (and is about 3 hours away). Or I can continue seeing her and trying something different. I told her I would take a couple of days to think about it.

She's not losing weight. She eats well and her poop looks good. No coughing, vomiting, tail bobbing, or diarrhea. The only symptoms are lethargy(at times) and sneezing with no discharge.
I disinfect her cage with F-10 once a week, have a great air purifier, and make sure she has clean water and I never leave out old food or anything else she can get into.
At this point, I'm lost. Has anyone else had issues with Klebsiella? I understand it's an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Could it be something else? Help!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Im a retired medical lab scientist. Klebsiella (likely Klebsella pneumoniae) is a bacteria found mostly in the lower gut and feces, both human and animal, including birds, including some pet birds. It's a part of the normal flora for humans and some birds and has been isolated in cloacal and respiratory swabs. It causes urinary tract infections in humans and sepsis if it gets into the bloodstream. The elderly can get pneumonia from it. Not all strains are antibiotic resistant.

I googled "klebsiella birds" and learned the info about birds from the Merck Veternary Manual online and a few other reliable source articles. You should Google it and read up. The Association of Avian Veterinarians article Bacterial and Fungal Infections of Pet Birds said that vegetarian birds don't normally have gram negative bacteria (like Klebsiella) in their gut. Omnivores and carnivores do.

It's unclear whether the Klebsiela isolated from your bird is causing his illness because it CAN be found in upper respiratory swabs from healthy birds. It normally only causes respiratory illness in compromised individuals. HOWEVER, I would follow up with your vet and try to get this bug eliminated from your parrots' respiratory tract. Not sure what good a radiograph would do. I always ask what they are looking for and what the plan is if they find it. My avian vet does imaging in his office but he has his own small hospital. Maybe an other local avian vet can do imaging. I've had x-rays and ultrasounds on some of my budgies and they did fine with the anesthesia.

How did your parrot acquire the bacteria? Likely from a human or another animal source like dogs or cats who carry it in the gut. It's not something that's really environmental except contaminated water or food including contaminated produce. It wouldn't harm humans usually to consume produce with Klebsiella on on it because it's normal gut flora.

I hope this helps some.

 

[feedmeplz]

Im a retired medical lab scientist. Klebsiella (likely Klebsella pneumoniae) is a bacteria found mostly in the lower gut and feces, both human and animal, including birds, including some pet birds. It's a part of the normal flora for humans and some birds and has been isolated in cloacal and respiratory swabs. It causes urinary tract infections in humans and sepsis if it gets into the bloodstream. The elderly can get pneumonia from it. Not all strains are antibiotic resistant.

I googled "klebsiella birds" and learned the info about birds from the Merck Veternary Manual online and a few other reliable source articles. You should Google it and read up. The Association of Avian Veterinarians article Bacterial and Fungal Infections of Pet Birds said that vegetarian birds don't normally have gram negative bacteria (like Klebsiella) in their gut. Omnivores and carnivores do.

It's unclear whether the Klebsiela isolated from your bird is causing his illness because it CAN be found in upper respiratory swabs from healthy birds. It normally only causes respiratory illness in compromised individuals. HOWEVER, I would follow up with your vet and try to get this bug eliminated from your parrots' respiratory tract. Not sure what good a radiograph would do. I always ask what they are looking for and what the plan is if they find it. My avian vet does imaging in his office but he has his own small hospital. Maybe an other local avian vet can do imaging. I've had x-rays and ultrasounds on some of my budgies and they did fine with the anesthesia.

How did your parrot acquire the bacteria? Likely from a human or another animal source like dogs or cats who carry it in the gut. It's not something that's really environmental except contaminated water or food including contaminated produce. It wouldn't harm humans usually to consume produce with Klebsiella on on it because it's normal gut flora.

I hope this helps some.

This helps a lot. Thank you!
I'm not sure how she got the bacteria. I don't have any other pets, but I do have another conure. I wash my hands often but her favorite place is the bathroom (She loves to take showers.) And as much as I vacuum, sweep, and throw away old food she will look in every nook and cranny to try and find something. Sometimes she will walk around the kitchen floor to find something that I may have dropped. She'll also try to eat soil from the potted plants or drink from the aquarium or eat the aquarium plants(I have a cover but she always tries to squeeze in.) she's truly chaotic. I'm taking steps to keep her from foraging in off limits areas, but she's fully flighted and stubborn to boot.

I'll make another appointment right away and I'll keep reading on Klebsiella and other infections. The Merck Veterinary Manual is pretty helpful. Thank you!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

It is probably impossible to prevent your bird from acquiring some of our usually harmless normal flora bacteria. Fortunately, a bird with a normal immune system is unlikely to become sick if he does. If birds could not tolerate our bacteria they wouldn't be the successful companion animals that they are. Good luck with Vivi.