Our GW is not doing well :(

[JerseyWendy]

Can you contact your vet if in doubt? Was she able to identify what type of bacterial infection she has?

She's probably tired due to the infection, plus spending 2 days at the vet's office may have some effects on her. I bet she's happy to be home, in her usual environment.

Can you monitor her weight, to make sure she's not losing?

Happy to hear you're having no issues giving her the antibiotics.

 

[junglenutcracker]

Can you contact your vet if in doubt? Was she able to identify what type of bacterial infection she has?

She's probably tired due to the infection, plus spending 2 days at the vet's office may have some effects on her. I bet she's happy to be home, in her usual environment.

Can you monitor her weight, to make sure she's not losing?

Happy to hear you're having no issues giving her the antibiotics.

I think you may be right, Wendy. All of this travelling to and from the hospital and the fact that she’s battling an infection, molting, might have made her more tired.
Heck, I know how us humans feel when we’re battling something and taking antibios too!
The vet wasn’t able to identify precisely the type of bacteria but said that she was happy with the progress she saw in our bird compared to when I brought her in.
Right now, our girl is actually eating pretty well and being more active than yesterday. She’s opening her wings and displaying them from time to time. Good sign.

The vet is not available because of the Easter long weekend but I am monitoring her very closely to detect any loss of appetite, quality and quantity of her poop, etc.
I have an emergency hospital I can go to if ever I see a decline in her overall health –*the vet was good enough to send them our GW’s file just in case.

 

[Scott]

My experience is that significant and consistent improvement may not occur for several days. If you have any questions, please consult the vet - you've come too far to not trust your instincts.

 

[junglenutcracker]

My experience is that significant and consistent improvement may not occur for several days. If you have any questions, please consult the vet - you've come too far to not your instincts.

Luckily some of her old behavior is coming back, like trying to feed me, grabbing at her tail feathers with one foot while I scratch her head and either saying hello or screaming when the phone rings.

 

[JerseyWendy]

How's your girl doing now???

I truly hope she's well on her way to being back to completely normal.

 

[junglenutcracker]

How's your girl doing now???

I truly hope she's well on her way to being back to completely normal.

Well, she’s not entirely back to her old self yet.

Some days she seems to be making more progress than others, like this morning, she was quieter and less energetic.

However, as I am writing this, she is looking better. I don’t know if this a normal progression or not with antibiotics in general - kind of a two step forward, one step back thing. She is also going through a rather heavy molt, which probably drains a lot of energy from her as well.

Tonight, she did her macaw calls, bopped her head up and down, welcomed me with open wings, sang along with me and even wanted to play ball! Her eyes look clearer, she eats well and her poop looks normal. Good signs, I guess.

Since this morning, we have resorted to towelling her when administering the meds. Obviously she hates being towelled but I just wasn’t sure how much she was actually getting when it was mixed in the food. She was becoming very choosy...leaving behind anything with the meds in it.

The vet called this morning for a follow up and we are scheduled to connect again tomorrow and see if she should get a few more injections to help her along. Apparently they are much more potent than the meds we have.

As always, we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[Anansi]

I do remember that certain antibiotics did have the effect of making my bird drowsy. Don't remember which ones, but it did happen.

And good call on forcing the meds. I did so whenever necessary as well. And for the exact same reasons. I prefer to know for sure how much medication is actually making it in, and I never felt 100% sure when I put it in food. Birds just send bits and pieces of their food flying every which way.

I'm hoping the vet finds that she's made progress enough that shots won't be necessary. And I definitely cosign Wendy's suggestion about weighing her daily. Weight is always a great indicator of whether a bird's condition is deteriorating.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thank you so much for the update!!!

She'll forgive you for having to towel her while administering the meds, no doubt about it. At least you know then she's getting the full dose.

I'm sure her heavy molt has something to do with her not feeling tip-top.

Please let us know how things progress. I know a whole lot of us are rooting for you. :heart:

 

[junglenutcracker]

Well, our girl is making good progress and gaining much strength. The proof? She’s putting up quite a fight when I try to towel her. She’s also gaining more strength in the voice department...yep, the decibels are back.
It’s getting a bit harder to try to convince her to step up onto my arm as she knows it’s med time. Luckily she doesn’t hold a grudge for too long. The next morning she’s forgiven me....well, most of the time. Can’t wait to end this treatment though. It’s been 8 days now.
Just a few more days to go...

She will be back Friday next week for a check up at the vet for some blood work.

 

[Flboy]

Awesome! A thought, have her step up for anything other than meds, 20 to 1! Reinforce the positive!

 

[RavensGryf]

Great to hear this kind of update! Good to hear your girl is definitely improving . I'm sure she'll be back to normal in no time.

 

[DiscoDuck]

Being a new owner of a GWM my heart goes out to you. Vibes for a speeedy recovery.

 

[Scott]

Glad to hear of improvement!! Thanks for the update!!

 

[Dharma1911]

So so sorry. Please keep us posted. My 43 year old GW died last week from the same symptoms but he had been groaning for a few days and we didn't recognize it as a sign of discomfort.Would be very interested to hear the diagnosis and praying for recovery.

 

[Birdman666]

Having to medicate a bird is not fun or pleasant. I do not envy you this one... but it has to be done.

Glad to hear he's doing better. Sounds like the worst is over. Keeping my fingers crossed that the blood work comes back WNL.

 

[junglenutcracker]

So so sorry. Please keep us posted. My 43 year old GW died last week from the same symptoms but he had been groaning for a few days and we didn't recognize it as a sign of discomfort.Would be very interested to hear the diagnosis and praying for recovery.

Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear this. All my thoughts go out to you...

Thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers.

The diagnosis was that is was a severe bacterial infection. They’ve also tested her for chlamydia but the results came back negative. I was very lucky that my wife noticed her odd behavior in the morning and called me at work. I took her to an avian vet on the same evening. She was going downhill fast so I can’t imagine how it would have turned out if she had been home and we’d only noticed it at the end of the day.

 

[junglenutcracker]

Having to medicate a bird is not fun or pleasant. I do not envy you this one... but it has to be done.

Glad to hear he's doing better. Sounds like the worst is over. Keeping my fingers crossed that the blood work comes back WNL.

I hate doing this as much as my GW hates it! Luckily, she doesn’t keep a grudge for too long. If she’d only take the meds from the syringe without a fuss, then we wouldn’t have to go through all this towelling and feather messing...but so it goes! As you say Mike, IT HAS TO BE DONE.

I can tell she’s getting better as it is becoming harder to hold her still.
Good sign, I guess. Oh well, another 5 or 6 days more to go...

 

[Dharma1911]

I will be following your updates and praying for full recovery soon. I believe our GW had an undetected disease and it manifested so quickly we couldn't catch it in time.

 

[junglenutcracker]

Ooops! Sorry Birdman, in my previous post I of course meant to write Mark...Not “Mike”!

After each towelling and med session, we now have this little ritual. After all the praise and saying how much she was a good girl, we rekindle our “friendship” by eating a few nachos together and then I let her choose and pick a few of her favorite shelled nuts directly from the container. She then spends the next 30 minutes on my arm preening and getting her feathers back in place.

 

[junglenutcracker]

I will be following your updates and praying for full recovery soon. I believe our GW had an undetected disease and it manifested so quickly we couldn't catch it in time.

Did you find out what the disease was? What kind of signs did you see in your bird?

On our GW, the telltale signs she wasn’t doing well were: half closed eyelid on one eye, general lack of energy & vocalizing and apparent weakness. She had difficulty cracking the shell of a nut (which she usually cracks open in a matter of seconds).