My budgie is very ill and avian vet did not help

[Lizardpeeple]

My 1 year old male budgie Aleksi suddenly took a bad turn on Saturday. Out of nowhere he started gagging and throwing up white liquid, which later turned into just throwing up whole seeds. I had to wait until tuesday to get him to an avian vet because of memorial day. Those 2 days after saturday were really bad, he barely ate anything and basically was unresponsive to anything i did. His poop was terrible, like a tar color and consistancy.

After dropping him off at the avian vet on tuesday she called me about 10 minutes later and said that he was in pretty bad shape and they were going to start tube feeding him and running tests. Nothing came up in the tests. She thought it might be one of two things, gastric yeast infection or zinc poisoning. I am very careful about metals and dont see how zinc would be it. She then said that overnight if the anti vomit injections did not work then it was probably zinc toxicity.
I get a call in the morning saying that he did fine overnight and that he still wasnt eating on his own but to keep him any longer would be a 975 dollar bill. I would pay that in a heartbeat but i just simply dont have the cash on me at the moment.
I go pick him up and basically his release papers say the diagnosis is up in the air, the tests came back normal and they give me 3 meds to administer at all different times for different durations. Those meds are : amphotericin B, Enfrofloxacin, and metoclopramide. Ive been doing all of them but this morning he started gagging again and even had some liquid come up on my arm when we were laying together. He wont eat, he goes to try but then just rubs his head on stuff like it bothers him to eat. I dont know what to do.
I want to try to feed him with a syringe, give him some strength back. What can i feed him and how much?
I dont want to hurt him but i feel so helpless.
I paid every cent i had to the vet and i feel like they did absolutely nothing for him and gave me nothing to work with.
What can i do for him???

 

[MonicaMc]

My first thought is AGY, which it sounds like the vet is treating him for, despite the test coming back clear. I would say this is probably a good route to go since the results came back inconclusive.

I had a budgie years ago that died from AGY with those symptoms... he never once tested positive for it, and was never treated for it... I had multiple tests done and he was seen by 3 different vets.... two at the same practice.



It doesn't hurt to look into providing electrolytes to him... if you give him human ones (instead of bird), you want to dilute 50% with water.

Keep him warm. Taking him into a bathroom and running *HOT* water may help clear up some of the sinuses - just be watchful for any signs of stress. (more than normal)

There is handfeeding formula as well as supplements from Lafeber and Harrison's for sick birds that you can look into. The problem is, it may be difficult getting him to eat something like this without aspirating him if he doesn't want to eat it. You can certainly try though...



So sorry you're going through this with him.... In the event that it is AGY, I would recommend keeping him on the amphotericin B for at least 30 days.

 

[Lizardpeeple]

Thank you for your quick reply.
Im sorry to hear you lost your bird, its a terrible thing to go through.
I think that might be the issue as well, poor fella.
I am afraid of him suffocating but he needs water and food in him ir he'll just die any way. What an awful thing.
If he makes it 30 days i will indeed keep him on that.
Thank you again for the advice.

 

[GaleriaGila]

If you are interested in a second opinion or more resources...

Good luck to yoy!

Certified Avian Vets
https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/
If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet, although exceptions do exist!
Sometimes, it helps just to Google "avian veterinarian - [YOUR LOCATION]"

Ad a link concerning COVID issues...
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/85090-covid-19-veterinary-care.html

 

[Flboy]

Hi, without any solid lab results, it looks like your vet took the right action!

 

[MonicaMc]

My heart goes out to you.

I was in a similar situation like you, when my budgie got sick about three weeks ago ... he was vomiting and eventually lost the ability to digest food, so my vet told me he has only days to live.
I was also frustrated with the vets at first because they were giving me mixed diagnosis - at first it's bacterial, then it could be yeast (which is hard to detect is some cases, they explained me) then PPD (which is a virus) ...

It's crazy how much they wanted to charge you! My bird stayed 2 nights at the clinic, got taken care off untill he was able to eat on his own, and all together with meds I payed about 70€!

Do you have an option to take him to another vet; maybe that isn't that expensive? If it doesn't get very better soon, taking him back to the vet is the only option.

Don't feed him with fruits like bananas or other types that have a lot of sugar in them - that is basically food for yeast/bacterias... also, get him probiotic. My vet gave me this ones: https://www.nekton.de/en/product-reader/nekton-biotic-bird-210.html And yes, I agree with the comment above, keep him warm and also feed him slowly, so he doesn't suffocate. Hugs/sending lots of love to you and your little one.

Wow... that sounds cheap! Pretty sure the vets over here would charge more than that for just one night stay!


Hopefully your little guy is on the mend!

 

[Scott]

I hope Aleksi is improving with a broad brush medicinal approach.

Unfamiliar with AGY and located a few informative articles:

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952966
https://nilesanimalhospital.com/files/2012/05/Megabacteriosis-Avian-Gastric-Yeast.pdf