Macaw vomiting and lung infection

[LordTriggs]

I told the story to the breeder and asked if the mother could have given anything onto jacky.
He told me that she probably got into a fight with the male and she was just found dead on the floor with a puddle of blood around her.

Hm.. thats a diffrent story then what he told me first "just old age", well no bad genetic at least..

from now on believe nothing the breeder said.

I'd be inclined just from that to get animal welfare to visit. The breeder sounds very uncaring to me and seemed very ready to give Jacky to you. Did they make you pay for her or did they give away? If they gave away, fair enough but if they made you pay I'd be demanding that money back

This is very concerning indeed. Mistake number one - selling unweaned babies. Mistake two - lying about how the hen died. BAD BREEDER!! Hope Jacky can make it through all this and pull through.

The unweaned baby I can understand if the male wasn't doing the parental obligations and there were no other birds around. Like if the dad just left the egg alone then incubating and selling the baby then I would class as extreme enough but this person has now changed their story on how the mum died so I'm dubious if the mother did die or was just in a back room somewhere

 

[Martin93]

I hate to say this but we had 3 vomit free days now! Reason why i hate to say it is becouse everytime before when i thought it was going better she started vomiting again that same day so lets see how this goes.
I increased her feeding to 45ml 3x daily now and that is about as much as she can hold in at once and it takes her about 5 to 6 hours to empty. So that is almost normal now.
The past 7 days i've been giving her some apple cider vinegear and it might actually be doing the trick here, i'm giving her about a teaspoon of vinegear each feeding.
Her weight remains around 835, sometimes a little more or less but its no weight gain or loss.
Still not eating on her own unfortunatly but there does seem to be a little interest in certain things. She like banana chips a lot.

 

[Scott]

Definitely progress! Sometimes a few steps forward and one or two back, but the trend-line seems positive!

 

[LordTriggs]

let's say it's a definite sign she's fighting instead of noting it as a true improvement for the moment

If we can get to a full 5 days of no vom then we can mark improvement!

 

[Martin93]

So i did a little experiment, with a positive outcome!
I tried two things, i fed her something diffrent then what i used to, and i also added a lot less water to make her food less watery.
I made oatmeal with applesauce and rasins with some water and fed it to her, no vomiting.
So i tried feeding her more.
Still no vomiting.
I can feed her about 100ml of this and no vomiting.
So 2 possibilities of what might be the problem
1: Allergy
2: Food to watery (and for some reason she cannot handle that)

I'm going to check if it might be an allergy by feeding her a mash of pellets and formula with less water than i used to to see if that will cause vomiting, if it does not than there probably is no allergy. Then i will try feeding her the oatmeal with more water to check if she'll vomit.
I think that way i can identify the problem.
Anyway first real clue!! Pretty excited and gave me some hope that she will survive!

Anyway another thing that still concerns me a little is about her eating on her own.
If i put the oatmeal in her beak she will shake her head and spit it out, if i put it at the back of her throat she will also spit it out. i have to force it down her so she'll eat.
Same goes for formula btw.
I have to hold her beak up and hold her to make sure she wont shake her head and spit it out. She ate corn once but thats about it.
Right now i'm trying to let her get little more hungry in the hopes she'll be more cooperative with the feedings but i have my doubts it will work.
Advice? Is this normal?
I feel like we're finally improving but i want to make sure i make no mistakes along the way now!

i have 2 food bowls in her cage, 1 with seeds and one with some fresh food which i change each day. also one water bowl, but none of the bowls are touched.
Well she often steps in them but not eating or playing with it.
Just before she got sick she started weaning and tried eating all kinds of stuff like seeds, beans, nuts and fruit. but now she'll only chew on something a little bit then pushes it out with her tongue.

 

[LordTriggs]

good to hear the vomiting seems to have stopped. Personally I wouldn't experiment, if what you got is working then it's working

Also I wouldn't let her get hungrier as that's force weaning. Macaws can take ages to wean being bigger birds (I vaguely remember reading it takes almost a year) also with the vomiting do you blame her for being apprehensive to eating? Like every meal she had for a long time resulted in her vomiting. It's not exactly nice and it most likely hurt as well. Just keep feeding and feeding until she's ready, she'll come around eventually

 

[Scott]

I agree the issue may be caused or enhanced by an allergy to one or more items. AFAIK there is no organized protocol for testing a parrot for allergies. Most likely a long trial and error process, especially complicated with feeding commercial foods like pellets. (ingredients may change from time to time)

If you are observing Jacky tolerating foods for a while, perhaps "freezing" the menu will help prove or disprove the allergy notion? If success continues, you can either accept the status quo assuming it is nutritionally proper and wait till she gets older. Like humans, it may be possible to outgrow certain allergies, though the medical science for parrots likely offers little evidence.

 

[Martin93]

Things that definetly induce vomiting are: Formulas, Eggfood, Pellets.

Sometimes a little bit; Oatmeal, Seeds

Good so far: Beans, Peas, Banana, Apple, Potato, Carrot, Lentils, Raisins.

Since i've not been feeding her formula and other watery mash she's not been getting as much water as before. I do try giving her some extra water sometimes but she for some reason wont swallow it and just chokes on it becouse she keeps breathing it in.
I did notice that sometimes in the morning when i wanted to feed her i can feel something in her crop which i suspect is water. also i saw her drinking today.
Eating is still difficult becouse she pushes food out instead of swallowing it.
Also feeding her has become very difficult now since sometimes she wont open up her beak and holds it tightly closed and tries to run away. I suspect its weaning behaviour, also since she's drinking now.
Oh yeah she is slowly gaining some weight also!

I think that all this is overall positive since i've found food that she actually keeps in!
But i keep wondering what might be the trigger to vomit and my number one thought remains allergy.
Allergies can be in the DNA, maybe mom was allergic, ate something she should not have and died? Might explain how the mother died perhaps.
Maybe she's just like me... allergic to everything normal and easy :T

Despite everything it seems that life for her is still enjoyable!

 

[Scott]

I would think allergies may be an explanation. Good job isolating the good from problematic foods! From here you can slowly expand to ensure Jacky receives a varied and nutritious diet.