Penny is sick, I've been holding back making a thread

[Laurasea]

I'm pretty worried. When first sick went from 74 to 69, then kept going down to 65, then I git her 67 but started back down again to 65 again. With napping all morning...
She had been low dosed, but she has been in azithromyacin since the 8th...
Her weight-loss is 12.2% thats a lot..
Yes my nerves are more sensitive at this point.. im worried........
K off to feed her again and its rough to do, she fights and bites

I got 1ml in her, she got 5 bloody bites in me

To put it in human terms it is like 150 pound person loosing 20 pounds a 13.3% loss ( saxguy can check work) during an illness....its a lot.....and she lost it all in little over a week...scary

I hadn't been force syringe feeding her because its very difficult with her. But I have to now....she has never stopped eating like Penny did ...but she isn't getting enough calories,
Vet said give her an extra dose azithromyacin today
Got 1 more ml in her
So a daily total of 3ml
Hope I start seeing improvement

 

[Laurasea]

(Today was azithromyacin day
Tadah just doesn't do well with it always gags.

She did gain 1 gram to 66, with the hand feeding. Last time when she gained back 2 grams I stopped. I thought she would take it from there, as she hadn't ever stopped eating. But no she started loosing the weight again.

Hand feeding Tadah is not easy or smooth. 1-11/2 ml seems all she can take at a time. Adult's crops can't expand like baby birds. Since it was enough to see a weight gain that's what I will keep doing. I guess I will try and keep it up till she gets to 70...or her normal 74. With Penny I feed her till she was normal weight, then kept it up a little longer
Every finger crease has a bite...lol she's fast and has great aim, hurts to bend my fingers!

Penny was at 102 grams her new high. Doing just great. I gave only 2.5ml last night. So she is weaning off it great and maintaining. Back to being vocal and active. Even tried Spinach for the first time yesterday ! She hasn't eaten lettuces before. Doing great eating her veggies again, carrots, broccoli, sugar snap peas, corn.

When I use hindsight, there is much I miseed.

I'm just not happy with how Tadah is doing ...more naps...such a struggle to get even tiny amounts of hand feeding formula in her. Ugh...so many bites too, but afterwards she forgives me

 

[Lisa999]

(Today was azithromyacin day
Tadah just doesn't do well with it always gags.

She did gain 1 gram to 66, with the hand feeding. Last time when she gained back 2 grams I stopped. I thought she would take it from there, as she hadn't ever stopped eating. But no she started loosing the weight again.

Hand feeding Tadah is not easy or smooth. 1-11/2 ml seems all she can take at a time. Adult's crops can't expand like baby birds. Since it was enough to see a weight gain that's what I will keep doing. I guess I will try and keep it up till she gets to 70...or her normal 74. With Penny I feed her till she was normal weight, then kept it up a little longer
Every finger crease has a bite...lol she's fast and has great aim, hurts to bend my fingers!

Penny was at 102 grams her new high. Doing just great. I gave only 2.5ml last night. So she is weaning off it great and maintaining. Back to being vocal and active. Even tried Spinach for the first time yesterday ! She hasn't eaten lettuces before. Doing great eating her veggies again, carrots, broccoli, sugar snap peas, corn.

When I use hindsight, there is much I miseed.

Glad to hear that Penny is doing great. I hope Tadah will gain some more weight. Thank you for documenting everything. I am learning so much from you. I would've never done it on my own though but getting an idea of how to talk to a vet and what to ask them for.

 

[Jen5200]

(Today was azithromyacin day
Tadah just doesn't do well with it always gags.

She did gain 1 gram to 66, with the hand feeding. Last time when she gained back 2 grams I stopped. I thought she would take it from there, as she hadn't ever stopped eating. But no she started loosing the weight again.

Hand feeding Tadah is not easy or smooth. 1-11/2 ml seems all she can take at a time. Adult's crops can't expand like baby birds. Since it was enough to see a weight gain that's what I will keep doing. I guess I will try and keep it up till she gets to 70...or her normal 74. With Penny I feed her till she was normal weight, then kept it up a little longer
Every finger crease has a bite...lol she's fast and has great aim, hurts to bend my fingers!

Penny was at 102 grams her new high. Doing just great. I gave only 2.5ml last night. So she is weaning off it great and maintaining. Back to being vocal and active. Even tried Spinach for the first time yesterday ! She hasn't eaten lettuces before. Doing great eating her veggies again, carrots, broccoli, sugar snap peas, corn.

When I use hindsight, there is much I miseed.

I'm just not happy with how Tadah is doing ...more naps...such a struggle to get even tiny amounts of hand feeding formula in her. Ugh...so many bites too, but afterwards she forgives me

Glad Penny continues to improve and is well on her way. You’re doing such a great job with them. Tadah will also improve (although your fingers seem to be paying a price). All of my conures have impeccable aim when they are unhappy with something I’m doing. In my opinion having several conure bites hurts more than a single cockatoo bite.

Sending lots of positive thoughts to Tadah - tell her that we all want her to eat and get better!

 

[bug_n_flock]

We're all still rooting for you and sending love, good vibes, birdmagicks, and prayers. Feel better Tadah!!!

 

[Scott]

Ta-dah's warrior spirit keeps her fighting, bites and all. Hope she begins to gain weight so you won't be the "villain" with assertive feeding.

 

[Laurasea]

Ta-dah weight the same as yesterday 66 grams. She eats and eats, she us spending more time eating than she has ever before. And yet she doesn't gain weight...
I'm off to try and force drip food in her beak...
Day 26 of having sick birds....im feeling worn out...and a rough MG day
Thank you all for the support
Edit: ok hard to catch her but once I did feeding went smoothly. Took 2ml her highest. Zero bites @ and that makes me worry is she worse? Or is she understanding the routine now?, Hopefully the second,, right now fixing her feathers.

I'm considering the rest of the flock as recovered . Tho they havev2 more treatments to finish

 

[wrench13]

No one can say that you are not doing everything you can, Laura. Fingers crossed!!!

 

[Laurasea]

Ta-dah opened her cage door and flew to me for mommy and me time. Hopefully this means she feels better. I got lots of Happy Birthday, I just don't know where she picked that up! But it's cute
I got about 3.5ml of hand-feeding formula in her for the day total. The later feeding lots of bites , no blood this day tho..Hopefully see a gain tomorrow, fingers crossed! They loose it so fast but these little ones only seem to be able to gain back a gram every other day.
I want to find a gram scale that does decimal points.

 

[Scott]

That's a positive development for Ta-dah, hope she is steadily gaining weight!

 

[Laurasea]

Azithromyacin day.

Ta-dah still hadn't gained any more weight. Holding at 66 grams. Tadah for years has always weighed 74 grams at every single weight check...im frustrated that she isn't gaining back. I was able to get 2.5ml hand feeding for into her this morning..

Everybody else us at normal. Penny keeps gaining higher than her normal, she is 103 grams Today.

 

[saxguy64]

Come on Ta-dah, you got this! Aunties and uncles all over the world are pulling for you!

 

[fiddlejen]

Azithromyacin day.

Ta-dah still hadn't gained any more weight. Holding at 66 grams. Tadah for years has always weighed 74 grams at every single weight check...im frustrated that she isn't gaining back. I was able to get 2.5ml hand feeding for into her this morning..

Everybody else us at normal. Penny keeps gaining higher than her normal, she is 103 grams Today.

Hmmm. Tadah still worried about Penny, waits till you are not looking and regurgs it all to her?

 

[Laurasea]

I just had her do a nice poop the color if tge formula, like Penny would do. So I'm getting it in her. Her poops are of normal frequency and nirmal fecal matter and normal appearance . Her behavior seems normal.

Obviously she was very very sick, and it takes more than twice their normal calories to recover...but everyone else gained their weight back much quicker...is it just taking her longer?????? Is something else going on???? Did she get parasites??? Its driving me nuts...
If it wasn't for her still being down 10% which is a lot! I'd think she was fine ...

Penny and Tadah are not friends. She and budgies occasionally regurgitate to each other but I haven't seen any of that in long time.

Penny and Pikachu regurgitate to each other all the time...no socially distancing for those two...

 

[LaManuka]

Come on Ta-dah, you got this! Aunties and uncles all over the world are pulling for you!

What the saxxydude said!! I can only imagine how physically and emotionally worn out you must be by now. Sending more love and strength and positive vibes to you Laura, and to my favourite niece!!

 

[Laurasea]

thanks im definitely burned out on sick burds, mine and all that have been on forum lately.

I managed to get a total of 5ml for the day in her.. I probably need to be trying for 10ml daily total... it us extremely difficult, sge spits it out, she fights, she bites, she us hard to hold.

Fingers crossed she gains a gram by tomorrow

Everybody else got better, she just got to get better too!!!

My vet had family emergency. Bless her abd keep her family safe.
So I finally got to talk to her about Tadah weight and lack if gaining. Tadah is a green cheek , so a little bird, and she is older at middle age of 7, abd she was systemic, or septic with eyes dark, green urine...and was low dosed at first. So she may need meds longer. Since behavior, poop, eating, activity, poop, snd eyes are all normal now..just keep feeding her and give her time to gain that weight. But we both don't like that she hasn't.. She us hoping by Friday that I start seeing her trending up.

 

[Scott]

Laura, you're a Florence Nightingale to your flock. C'mon Ta-dah, gain some weight please!!

 

[Laurasea]

Tadah lost weight down 1 gram to 65 again
Also had bright green urine again, was on floor, if this happens again I will take a picture for you all

My vet who had family emergency, so I just caught her up last night.
She checked in first thing this morning, so she knows about green urine and wrieht loss again.

Had me give her an extra dose this morning. And she went through the flock illness records . Everyone seemed to have a bad dsy or 2 halfway through treatment. And if we count when we raised Ta-dah treatment then she is halfway through...we going to extend her treatment ten more days. She wants that heat panel on her, and lots of high foods

I'm so worried and stressed. And want to do lots of second guessing. But I absolutely trust my veterinarian, and her experienceand skill. So we will stay the course...

This is a nasty infection......I could hsve lost my whole flock....

Some on the difficulty in diagnostic
" Abstract
Diagnostic tests to detect evidence of infection with Chlamydia psittaci in live birds include culture, serologic testing, immunoassays, and gene-based tests. Comparing results of the various diagnostic tests is difficult because different values are measured. Controlled studies of chlamydial infections in birds rely on information collected at predetermined intervals after the date of initial infection, whereas clinicians frequently cannot determine when an initial infection occurred in an avian patient. Culture is considered the gold standard of these tests, but it is the most difficult and labor-intensive test to perform. Results of serologic tests will vary because of the length of time a bird has been infected, host characteristics, and the concentrations of circulating immunoglobulins. Immunoassays will fail to detect chlamydial organisms if infected birds are not shedding chlamydia at the time of sampling. Results of immunoassays are also affected by cross-reactions with interfering antigens and the number of chlamydial organisms that are present in samples. Genebased diagnostic testing may prove more sensitive than culture, depending on the sample type, but comparison studies in birds have not been published. Any live bird assay may fail to detect patient infection because of the complex biology of Chlamydia psittaci.

Journal Information
The Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery is an international journal of the medicine and surgery of both captive and wild birds. Published materials includescientific articles, case reports editorials, abstracts,new research, and book reviews":

 

[Scott]

Let us hope Ta-dah has reached the low point as suggested by vet and weight gain is coming. Please don't second guess yourself Laura, this has been a traumatic ordeal for you and flock. Nobody could have done this better or even half as well! Thanks so much for the Chlamydia info, truly nasty bacteria.

 

[SailBoat]

I'm as impressed as Scott!!! You have been a true inspiration to all of us!

You're doing a remarkable job! No need to second guess remarkable!!!