Nanday has watery eyes, weakness, lethargy and feels cold.

[kittyp]

I'm visiting my uncle and his Nanday is clearly ill. I'm bringing him to the vet first thing in the morning.

Three days ago he had his foot caught at the bottom of his cage to a towel that had been covering the cage. Nobody heard him screaming until he had been stuck for 2-3 hours because the family was out at a recital. They said he was very shaken and fearful when they freed him. I've looked at his feet and can't see any injuries on them, I don't know if it's related to his illness.

My uncle has never owned parrots before, while I have. He assumed the bird was still just shaken by the incident, and that was why his behavior was off.

He has watery discharge from his eyes, the feathers around his eyes are matted together from it. His pupils are constantly dilated. He is sleeping very deeply and doesn't wake up unless touched. He has muscle weakness and has difficulty balancing on perches and his food bowl, possibly from being injured while stuck but it looks like it isn't just his legs that are affected. He doesn't sneeze at all and I don't really notice any breathing difficulties.

What concerns me the most is he feels VERY cold to the touch. It is very cold in Taiwan right now and I'm worried he got sick because he couldn't stay warm while he was trapped. I've wrapped him up as warmly as I can, and his feathers beak and feet still feel cold. He is puffed up constantly.

He is a bit of a temperamental bird but now he doesn't bite at all when he's picked up or handled. He does talk and chirp a bit, and screamed like normal when I walked away from his cage. Otherwise he is very lethargic.

He is eating normally but drinking a lot. His poop alternates from looking normal to being a bit watery. It's a lighter green than usual.

I feel so guilty. He was originally my bird. I moved overseas and my uncle decided to take him in. I should've educated my family better on caring for him.

Before the time comes to bring him to the vet, does anyone have any ideas? I've found sinus infections match the watery eyes but I don't notice much swelling if any. And I don't notice any respiratory symptoms.

 

[Allee]

I'm so sorry this happened. It sounds like the Conure is seriously ill but there is no way we can guess the extent of his injuries, birds are hardwired to hide symptoms until they can't anymore, the best advice is to get the bird to a certified avian vet as quickly as possible, until then continue to keep him warm. He needs to be near a heat source until he warms up but not dangerously close. Could you set up a small comfortable cage for him, a towel on the bottom so he doesn't have to exert much energy to eat, drink and perch?

I hope your little guy's health improves quickly. Best of luck, please keep us updated, wishing you the best.

 

[Anansi]

I'm so sorry that your uncle's nanday is going through this. Great advice from Allee. It does sound quite serious (as you've already surmised) and getting him to a CAV as soon as you can is the best course of action. Until then, try to gradually raise the heat. (Remember that rapid shifts can be taxing to a bird's system.) Up to the low 80's if possible.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I hope your bird recovers from this....it does sound like he’s sick. If heating the room isn’t realistic, you can put a hot water bottle under a towel, or a heat lamp or light bulb near the cage. Good luck.

 

[kittyp]

It took a while for my post to be approved, thankfully I have mostly good news!

Heitou deteriorated rapidly after I made my post at 3 AM. The only heat source I could give him was a hot water bottle, I kept him wrapped up in blankets and alternated the water bottle to heat him up on all sides but it couldn't get the job done. He tried to eat but was too feeble to even pick food up with his beak. By 7 AM he was near comatose and could barely walk. He would not wake up unless I picked him up, and even then he would fall back asleep within seconds.

We rushed him to the vet the second they opened. The vet told me that he could go at any moment...The first course of action was to get his body temp up, so the vet had him in a small cage with a heat lamp to stabilize him. Thankfully it worked and he was ready to be syringe-fed after 1 1/2 hours. By 5 PM he was able to eat some fruit and shredded carrots, and was able to not only walk again but he could perch as well. He was ready to go home by 8 PM. He had enough energy to try to escape his travel bag numerous times, and was awake and alert about 80% of the time. MASSIVE improvement.

He was so near death that there was evidently no time for a culture or blood panel. The vet prescribed 3 doses of antibiotics per day. Heitou has a respiratory infection and likely an infection in his gut as well. I forgot to mention that his keel was very prominent, so he has probably been struggling health-wise since the weather took a sharp turn about a month ago. The vet said that many birds died or became seriously ill because of the sudden weather change this year. The vet can't detect any injuries caused by the towel incident and doesn't believe it's related, it's possible Heitou was already ill and had a hard time freeing himself because he was too weak.

We actually just hit another milestone 20 minutes ago. Heitou flew up to his cage all on his own. He is able to perch and move around. Earlier he was even able to sleep with one of his feet tucked in. He has a heat lamp now which is much better at keeping his body temp up. He still has trouble with balancing himself, especially when transferring his weight from the side of the cage to the perch and so on, but it is getting less cumbersome for him as time goes on.

He's currently not eating much but I have been syringe-feeding him every time I give him his antibiotics so that may be why he has a low appetite. I know we're not even close to being out of the woods yet but I'm amazed at how well he's doing after coming so close to death. I'll keep updating as things progress from here.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi that is good news that Heitou has improved, take care with the heat lamp it is possible to cause burns and that would be serious. Check and double check all is well. Is it specifically for birds?

If he is at risk of falling you could bring his perches down lower and pad the bottom of the cage with old cushions covered in towels. Well done and wishing Heitou a speedy recovery.

 

[kittyp]

Unfortunately we could only find a heat bulb for reptiles. He can't reach it with his beak or his claws, I placed it so his tail goes well under the fixture when he turns around. It's not foolproof but we check on him often. We have a pillow at the bottom of his cage wrapped in t-shirts but he hasn't fallen once. He just poops on it all day.

He ate enough tonight to not need to syringe feed him. The muscle weakness/ataxia (unsure which it is) has also improved more throughout the day. He no longer puffs up when he walks away from the heat bulb.

His poop is better. Still runny but the color is good, the polyuria has decreased and it's much firmer than before. He was awake most of the day. He was a lot more vocal too.

I'm administering his antibiotics and food orally with a syringe, he has some caked on to his feathers around his beak. He also has some dried discharge around his eyes. I'm wondering if it's dangerous to use a wet towel to clean his face, or if I should wait for him to be more stable.

 

[Anansi]

I'm so happy to hear that he's getting better. It's so good that you were there to make sure all went well. Sounds like a few minutes delay might have ended in tragedy.

As for cleaning his face, I would wait. Even birds who enjoy being touched tend not to really enjoy the feeling of having dried gunk wiped away from their faces. At this point, you don't want to add any stress to his situation. He needs all of his strength going toward his recovery. Once he's a little stronger, you can start looking into that.

 

[kittyp]

Thank you all for your well wishes and advice. It's 11 PM and he's asleep. Tonight he is much more reactive to his surroundings so it's hard to check on him without waking him up. This is comforting. That's one more step towards his normal state.

Thank you Anansi, I've never had a bird so ill before so I'm not sure what to do and when. I feel bad for him when he rubs his eyes, it looks itchy since the dried discharge made all the feathers around his eyes hard and sharp. He doesn't even tolerate getting his pin feathers fixed when he's healthy, so me wiping at his face while he's sick would definitely upset him.

 

[MonicaMc]

Hopefully he continues to improve!

 

[wrench13]

Get better Heitou, we are all rooting for you. SOunds like he is improving, you caught his condition in the nick of time. Make sure your Uncle and family know how to care for a sick parrot, if you have to leave.

 

[kittyp]

He is about 85% normal this morning. Only differences are he is only eating about 2/3 what he needs to sustain himself, he's 10g underweight so I'm syringe-feeding as needed. The muscle weakness or ataxia is close to gone. His feathers look much neater. Poop is almost normal, no more polyuria but the solid portion is not as firm as it could be. He might have taken a bath early in the morning, the discharge and caked on gunk has been cleaned off.

wrench13 Thank you and tomorrow I am leaving for one day, the vet has agreed to take him for the day to administer the antibiotics because my family will be at work when he would need his second dose. Then I'll be returning to give him the rest of his antibiotics. He is very energetic now so it's difficult to give him his meds. The vet will teach my family how to give his meds just in case.

Yes I'm amazed at his recovery so far. He was really lucky. The vet was surprised too that he even survived day 1. Interestingly his vet is not an avian vet, there aren't any near here. He's a "dog and cat vet that also sees birds". Normally this would be a red flag, but I found him extremely knowledgeable. Turns out he's owned and treated birds for decades.

 

[Tami2]

Wonderful news, hopefully he will be his normal healthy self real soon! :heart:

 

[Soyajam]

Oh man what a rollercoaster.

You did the right thing getting advice before you got to the vet, it could have made all the difference.

I'm just glad he's OK.

Looking forward to a full recovery!

 

[kittyp]

Vet checkup is later today. I'm happy that he's doing well but I'm also worried because he's recovered so much strength and agility that it's really hard to get him to take his antibiotics. So I'm not sure how much of his medicine he's actually swallowing, he's flinging droplets of it everywhere (I'm injecting it into his mouth, not his crop). He's more willing to just put up with it if it's very diluted but then I have to fill the syringe 3-4 times, and by the third one he's lost interest and escapes. Obviously this isn't unusual when it comes to giving pets medication but it is a concern of mine.

He is eating enough on his own but unfortunately he has diarrhea. Not sure if it's the antibiotics. I'm judging by his morning poop and I syringe-fed him last night. Color and urates are all normal though.

 

[wrench13]

Antibiotics have the same effect on me ! Try, hard, to get the full course of medicine into him, and talk to the vet about other ways you might get the medicine into him

 

[MonicaMc]

Can you mix the medicine in with any food or drinks to make it more appealing?

 

[kittyp]

Great news, the vet says everything is going well and he should make a full recovery soon. As of tonight he has gained 9g!

I added a little bit of pure juice to the antibiotics just now instead of water and he willingly drank it all without me having to restrain him. Thanks for the tip.

Yes antibiotics do that to me too so I know I shouldn't be too worried about it, it seems worse in the mornings since they're pretty solid by nighttime. And he's gaining weight so more nutrients are staying in than coming out.

I'm so relieved. When he was first getting emergency care at the vet I was stress-puking the entire day and had long talks with my family about what to do with his remains when he passed. Then today while putting him in his travel bag he bit me hard enough to break skin and cussed at me in Taiwanese. He is a MEAN little man, I love him so much.

 

[dhraiden]

Glad to have stumbled on this thread, followed-up, and seen that things turned out well. You don't mention a location but it would be helpful given your earlier comment on the weather and its effects on birds, for any other posters who may come across this thread at a later date. Here in NYC for instance I've made sure to keep the heat on at home and ensure curtains and blinds keep cold air out, and warm air in, even though the weather's been relatively mild. I'd assume that prolonged exposure to a cold draft, coupled with the stress of Heitou getting his foot caught, must've exacerbated his bout of illness.

Sounds you're on the right track with medication and follow-up care. Happy holidays and stay well, both of you!

 

[kittyp]

I'm in central/southern Taiwan, the climate here is usually hot and humid until winter where it's cold (at least compared to what we're used to). We can get the room fairly warm just from keeping the doors and windows closed and running a space heater on the first floor where Heitou lives because the walls, doors and windows are all very thick, so these past few years he's been fine. Right now it's 68° outside for example on a fairly mild day but the day the weather changed we had a sudden 15-20° drop which most likely shocked his system. We've learned not to risk anything once autumn hits, on warm days we leave the door open with only the screen door closed for fresh air but clearly the weather is too unpredictable for that to be safe in autumn.

He took another bath today. He's a "I'll love you when I please and how I please" type of bird and right now he's pretty mean. If he's not feeling as ornery later I'll take a picture.