Possibly Sick Parakeet?

[thegeeko]

Hello there! I'm here on the forum to ask some questions for my mom and about our English Budgie, Sunny. Sunny is about three years old now and has been healthy the whole time that he's lived with us. I think the most abnormal thing about him is that he molts a LOT. I personally don't think its a husbandry issue because he's out several hours a day and my mom cleans everything once a week.

Anyway, my mom has just noticed that he isn't eating as much and his molt seems to be really bad right now. He still sings and talks whenever she holds him, but he just seems generally weaker. He has been eating a lot of dried protein egg food that my local bird store recommended.

I'm mostly concerned because our first parakeet passed away in 2018 (I believe) from what the vets thought was psittacosis or PID, I believe. I have attached a picture of our first bird (I'm not asking if he was sick, I know he was. I'm asking for Sunny) to get some thoughts on it, but it might be difficult to look at for some people, because the eye is very inflamed so please look only if you feel comfortable.

I guess my biggest question is mainly about psittacosis. Can it remain dormant in birds? Do all birds get it in the area? Should I also be worried about my green cheek who is kept in the same room? Is there any sort of treatment to help him, or is this just a bad molt?

After we lost our first bird, my mom doesn't really think exotic vets can do anything sadly, and I've been trying to convince her to go, but I can't do anything about it because I can't drive and don't have the money. I know the best thing to do would be to go the vets but I am so sorry to say that that isn't really an option here. Thank you! I really appreciate any sort of help.



Sunny! This is an older photo, but he isn't really showing any sort of physical symptoms besides a LOT of pinfeathers.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yAnc44PQvGFLKvNtQpBVMUVBOJ0mmYOl/view?usp=sharing

Sky! This image may make people slightly upset, so just be warned!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1urdRLRz7J_n6Z7haFxjflQMW4x8BS7-l/view?usp=sharing

 

[Laurasea]

Hi,
psittscosis is vey contagious and persistent. It is also a very treatable and curable! A two week or longer treatment with doxycycline ( cheap antibiotics) for two weeks or longer all whil cleaning everything in the cage every day and throwing out anything soft that can’t be scrubbed or thrown in the washing machines. Exotic vets aren’t the best a true avian vet is the best. But for this I might ask the vet to treat all the bird for it, the meds are pretty safe doxycycline and the disease is well known and pretty common.

The picture of the eye, it could also have been a tumor, tumor are not that rare in parakeets

If you add anything to the birds water like vitamin stop, it rots in the water and throws off the gut flora. You could try offering a little live culture yogurt, just scrape a little spoon full near the food and try to temp them to lick it up, or offer on your finger, my parakeets will lick it up. Remove after ten minutes or so if they don’t the probiotic in the yogurt will help balance the gut. Pet stores in America sell probiotics for birds you can sprinkle on food never add to water. But I prefer yogurt to offer my birds once or twice a month

Parakeets are constant shedding those little down feathers that’s normal, as is a random over feather here and there.

You can get a digital kitchen gram scale and start tracking your burdscweights this is a very good practice!!! I do it for all my birds,

Also parakeets seem to really love leafy greens, does your parakeets get any leafy greens or veggies? If never had might take a little while for them to try but still Ofer every day, offer choppy up veggies on plate in the bottom of the cage, for leafy greens I spear them in a stick, or weave in the bars if the cage, they seem to like to nibble leaves that are hanging better and romaine is a favorite !

 

[thegeeko]

Okay, thanks for all the feedback!! If it's easily curable, I don't think it's psittacosis, I don't remember what the vet actually said the diagnosis was. I don't believe he had a tumor because the eye inflammation started the same time that my first parakeet got sick.
I do use the food that you sprinkle on top of food! Sunny loves it a lot actually. I had never heard that about the live yogurt culture though.
I weigh my green cheek pretty regularly, but I will have to start weighing Sunny too lol. I mentioned it to my mom but I don't think she's taken the time to do it yet.
Our birds get leafy greens/veggies everyday! They go nuts for them!! Sunny especially loves his greens. That's kind of why I'm not thinking its a husbandry issue and perhaps something he's had dormant in him? Bird health issues have always really confused me, and I was just wondering if anyone else had had a similar experience like what has been happening here.
I really, really appreciate that you took the time to respond and answer my confusing post. It means a lot to me! I really love our little guys (and my mom does too! I feel like I may have not painted her in the best light. She just doesn't trust vets with our birds which can be frustrating at times) and they do get good care, which is also why it can be difficult to see why they may not be 100%.
Once again, thanks for helping me out! I'll do more research into psittacosis. I really hope that isn't what it is, but only Sunny is having any issues so I doubt it. Have an amazing day <3