Sick Bird lovebird, please help!

[CharlieChick]

So I have 2 lovebirds, one of them is sick though the other one is completely fine
My sick bird has the following symptoms:

Puffed up feathers
Inactivity
Sleepiness (he sleeps most of the day)
{Dec 7} Fewer droppings and consisting of 60% urine (though his poops seem fine now, still he excretes less)
{Since Dec 7} reduced appetite
Difficulty breathing
Slight tail bobbing

I would be taking him to the vet soon (today) though there isn't any avian vet near me... the only avian vet is 43 km away, and I can't travel that far with a sick bird. The vet that I would be taking my sick birdie to does sees birds, but I doubt if that vet is experienced (would update soon). Also, I have read and heard that it is better to separate sick birds from healthy birds... but my lovebirds have mated and if I separate them, wouldn't it cause stress for them both?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[Scott]

Sorry to hear your lovebird is unwell. Birds are hard-wired to hide illness until unable, chances are your bird has been sick for a while. Based on symptoms, particularly difficulty breathing and tail-bobbing, a visit with avian vet highly recommended.

Diagnostic tests helpful to determine illness, and most importantly, choice of meds if warranted. Unfortunately, inexperienced vets resort to guessing and prescribing antibiotics, etc until arriving at therapeutic choice.

Best bet for now is keep him comfortably warm, fed, and hydrated. Separating a bonded pair always problematic - if he has been sick for a while, chances are high the mate is similarly affected. May be a delay showing symptoms, or possibly strong enough to fight off offending organism(s). I'm not familiar with lovebirds and defer to those with experience.

Good luck, please keep us advised!

 

[CharlieChick]

So I went to the vet earlier today and it is what you would expect, he was not an avian vet but a normal vet that is a bit experienced with birds. Because after-all, a vet who is a bit experienced with birds is better than no vet at all. The vet gave me multivitamins and a tablet that I am supposed to crush and put in his water. If these meds don't work or his health deteriorate then I would message an avian vet with photos and video recordings and go to the vet's office to pick up all the medicines, since that avian vet is miles away and it is not advisable to travel for nearly 2 hours with a sick bird. Even though December is rolling around, the area that I live in doesn't get really cold. It was 19 C today afternoon... still though I have turned my heater on (it remains on for about half of the day) and give my birds steam (through a cold-cough steamer).

Thank you Scott for your reply, I agree with everything you've said!

 

[Laurasea]

Sorry you have a sick bird. Warmth is a big hop. I'm going to add some links, if you can't follow them let me know I will copy paste
https://www.dvm360.com/view/avian-treatments-work-proceedings

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/sickbirdcare.html

 

[Laurasea]

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/common-conditions-of-birds
This is a good one
https://www.littlecrittersvet.com/sick-birds.pml

 

[Laurasea]

This one also covers common diseases
Bird Diseases: Everything you need to know

 

[CharlieChick]

Thanks Laurasea, you clearly put in a lot of effort for me and my birds!
I appreciate that and am extremely grateful to be able to get a reply from you.
I definitely learned many new things which will help my sick lovie get better, he's doing much better now. Also, do you have any opinion on whether or not should I separate my 2 lovebirds?... it is recommended to keep sick birds 'stress-free' and I think separating them can be life threatening especially in the case of lovebirds.
I would love to hear your opinion and thanks for all the effort!

 

[Laurasea]

Keep them together. The other has already been exposed to anything. And it would definitely cause stress, and wouldn't benefit anything.

Can you tell me the name of the tablet?
Also as was recommended to me before, add egg food, offer millit to temp your sick one to eat more, offer nutriberrues grind up if needed. If the diet doesn't include fresh veggies and leafy greens start offering them in seperate shallow wide dish. Leafy lettuces have vitamin A , as well as peppers, cooked sweet potatoes offer warm and mashed. Often low Vitamin A leads to respiratory disease, it plays a huge roll in health.
I live in Florida, and even in the middle of a hot summer I would offer supportive supplement heat for a sick bird!! Its thst important, saves a sick bird calories, and promotes healing. I prefer radiant heat, I recommend tge sweeter heater , but you can see what your feed store has for chicks, as I'm sure rge sell some type of radiant heat. I font like heat lights at all to many creatures get burned.

 

[CharlieChick]

Alright, thanks for all your effort. This was actually my first thread ever and I can't believe I got so much help. I wish there were more people like you.

The tablet's name is 'bayrocin' the vet said it can also be used for birds.


I live in India and unfortunately, there is no avian vet here because people don't take care of birds AT ALL, they keep them in a small cage, give them seeds, maybe a colorful, hard toy that the bird doesn't even like and then they keep their small cage on a shoe rack or something and place a flower pot next to it calling a 'perfect decoration'. There are only a few people that actually like to care for them, since here everything has to be imported making the item wayyyyy too expensive. For example- tops pellets that will last about a month for me (like 250 grams) costs 4500 rupees almost $60. That may not sound much to you, but that's a good amount of money for me and I can't get my parents to buy it.

 

[Scott]

Bayrocin appears to be a broad spectrum antibiotic identical to Enrofloxacin with generic name of Baytril. A good choice in the absence of diagnosis based on lab tests. Here is a link with a domain located in India: Bayrocin Tablets 50 mg(Enrofloxacin Tablets) | VEA IMPEX

Additional information, see Enrofloxacin, page 463: http://avianmedicine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/18.pdf

Very sad to know birds are often minimally cared for. Thanks for doing the very best possible for your lovebirds!

 

[Laurasea]

Alright, thanks for all your effort. This was actually my first thread ever and I can't believe I got so much help. I wish there were more people like you.

The tablet's name is 'bayrocin' the vet said it can also be used for birds.


I live in India and unfortunately, there is no avian vet here because people don't take care of birds AT ALL, they keep them in a small cage, give them seeds, maybe a colorful, hard toy that the bird doesn't even like and then they keep their small cage on a shoe rack or something and place a flower pot next to it calling a 'perfect decoration'. There are only a few people that actually like to care for them, since here everything has to be imported making the item wayyyyy too expensive. For example- tops pellets that will last about a month for me (like 250 grams) costs 4500 rupees almost $60. That may not sound much to you, but that's a good amount of money for me and I can't get my parents to buy it.

aww your thank you warmed my heart.
$60 is very high for me too.
The good thing is if you get your love birds eating a wide variety of leafy green lettuces, and vegetables, a few fruits, occasionally pine nuts or other nuts, your seed mix, maybe sprouts yiu can have a really healthy diet.
Here us example of my birds food fir today breakfast ( I change and rotate what's offered) blackberry, cranberry, romaine lettuce, sugar snap peas, asparagus, celery, and broccoli. They aldo got a table spoon of warm cooked oatmeal to share because I had it for breakfast. Tomorrow I will have scrambled eggs and share that with them. They have free choice seed mix, and because its easy for me , pellets too.

Lunch i plan to steam mix vegetables and rice, so i will share some me with the parrots too.

You can have a very healthy diet without pellets.

You can make your own toys. A cup full of plastic bottle caps entertain mine. We have a DIY toy page I think.

On the antibiotics tablet. That type of medication , enrofloxcin , is widely used here in the states too. Tho not as a tablet to water. It is a good medication, and broad spectrum. But I think doxyclin or tetracycline in water is better choice, for respiratory symptoms. But Americans vets often use baytril ( enrofloxcin) first too. But your vet seems to be good, as often low Vitamin A leads to infections. And you said gave antibiotics, and vitamins, so they did good.

How is your bird today??, better??

And what do your love birds eat?

 

[Laurasea]

Trying to find links to Vitamin A deficiency and respiratory disease articles.
A-Z
VETERINARY / ... / NUTRITIONAL DISEASES OF PET BIRDS
Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds
By Sharman M. Hoppes, DVM, ABVP (Avian), Texas A and M University
Last full review/revision Oct 2015 | Content last modified Oct 2015
Proper nutrition for companion birds historically has been and continues to be a concern for avian veterinarians, aviculturists, and owners. Although avian nutrition has greatly improved in the past decades, nutritional disease is still common in pet birds.

Many of the illnesses seen in pet birds have their basis in malnutrition. This includes hepatic disease, renal insufficiency, respiratory impairment, musculoskeletal disease, and reproductive problems. For additional information on nutrition in pet birds"

" Because vitamin A maintains mucous membranes and other epithelial surfaces, low levels of vitamin A will result in decreased resistance of these tissues to disease-producing organisms. As a result, respiratory and sinus infections are more severe in birds with deficient levels of vitamin A."


Will add some links on healthy foods to offer
https://www.thesprucepets.com/super...f vitamin A whereas carrots only contain 40%.

 

[Laurasea]

This also nice article on sick birds,
https://lafeber.com/vet/avian-emergency-critical-care-summary-page/

 

[CharlieChick]

Thank you Laurasea, sorry haven't been able to post recently.

Anyway, my sick birdie is doing a lot better now (almost back to normal)... he even wants to fly. Though both my birds seem to be having a bit of a watery poop, but that's just a side effect of bayrocin.

My birds are currently eating seeds but they generally eat zupreem fruitblend. When I was looking for good pellets I read some forums and pellets reviews and thought this was good for them. I learned later that it was NOT!. Since then I have been looking for good pellet options that I can afford, and I think roudybush is the best for me. But during the lockdown it wasn't available and after the lockdown ended it still wasn't. I looked on amazon and it always showed 'this package cannot be shipped to your location' or 'currently unavailable' (it also wasn't available locally). So I stuck to zupreem fruitblend for a while. Now roudybush is available and I have planned to give my birds a 50/50 of zupreem fruitblend and roudybush (along with veggies, my birds don't like fruits) once they have recovered completely.

You can generally find some good toys on amazon India here, though not any shreddable ones made from materials like cardboard, corn husk, palm leaves, finger tarps etc. Just wooden ones or rattan balls at max. So I do make my own bird toys.

Thank you for all your effort, I agree with everything you've said . Though my lovies hate vegetables and it seems like I will always have to force them to eat it. So haven't been able to give them veggies recently either.

 

[Scott]

Glad to see improvement, hope the course of antibiotics results in complete cure!

Zupreem Fruit Blend is far from the worst pellet. I used to feed to my flock for years and eventually transitioned to Harrison's. Primary criticism is high level of corn, sugar, and artificial colors. It can be said almost any pellet is better than all-seed diet, but that may not be the case with lovebirds. (some smaller birds need seeds) Please check with folks more familiar with these species.

Birds can be stubborn and often resist dietary change. If you offer another pellet, consider trying Harrison's conversion protocol. Worked for my flock of 8 and ought be successful with any brand. https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/using-our-foods/small-bird-conversion/

 

[CharlieChick]

Thank you Scott, it's good to hear some positives on ZuPreem fruitblend.

If I had the things my way, I would've stuck to Harrison's, but unfortunately after all the shipping charges I can't . Anyway, thanks for all your effort.

Does anyone have any opinion on roudybush's pellets?
I'd love to hear a response.

I agree that zupreem fruitblend is not the worse, some people even report that their birds had the diet for years and all their diagnostics came back good. Some pellets have pretty much the same ingredients... so it's important to choose carefully. Unfortunately though, so many pet products are purely based on hype.

My lovebirds don't really seem interested on toys right now though

 

[Flboy]

Alright, thanks for all your effort. This was actually my first thread ever and I can't believe I got so much help. I wish there were more people like you.

The tablet's name is 'bayrocin' the vet said it can also be used for birds.


I live in India and unfortunately, there is no avian vet here because people don't take care of birds AT ALL, they keep them in a small cage, give them seeds, maybe a colorful, hard toy that the bird doesn't even like and then they keep their small cage on a shoe rack or something and place a flower pot next to it calling a 'perfect decoration'. There are only a few people that actually like to care for them, since here everything has to be imported making the item wayyyyy too expensive. For example- tops pellets that will last about a month for me (like 250 grams) costs 4500 rupees almost $60. That may not sound much to you, but that's a good amount of money for me and I can't get my parents to buy it.

$60!!! I pay $12 for a 1361 grams bag of TOPS! 3 lb bag

 

[Littleredbeak]

Alright, thanks for all your effort. This was actually my first thread ever and I can't believe I got so much help. I wish there were more people like you.

The tablet's name is 'bayrocin' the vet said it can also be used for birds.


I live in India and unfortunately, there is no avian vet here because people don't take care of birds AT ALL, they keep them in a small cage, give them seeds, maybe a colorful, hard toy that the bird doesn't even like and then they keep their small cage on a shoe rack or something and place a flower pot next to it calling a 'perfect decoration'. There are only a few people that actually like to care for them, since here everything has to be imported making the item wayyyyy too expensive. For example- tops pellets that will last about a month for me (like 250 grams) costs 4500 rupees almost $60. That may not sound much to you, but that's a good amount of money for me and I can't get my parents to buy it.

$60!!! I pay $12 for a 1361 grams bag of TOPS! 3 lb bag

Where do you buy it for 12?!

 

[Flboy]

Alright, thanks for all your effort. This was actually my first thread ever and I can't believe I got so much help. I wish there were more people like you.

The tablet's name is 'bayrocin' the vet said it can also be used for birds.


I live in India and unfortunately, there is no avian vet here because people don't take care of birds AT ALL, they keep them in a small cage, give them seeds, maybe a colorful, hard toy that the bird doesn't even like and then they keep their small cage on a shoe rack or something and place a flower pot next to it calling a 'perfect decoration'. There are only a few people that actually like to care for them, since here everything has to be imported making the item wayyyyy too expensive. For example- tops pellets that will last about a month for me (like 250 grams) costs 4500 rupees almost $60. That may not sound much to you, but that's a good amount of money for me and I can't get my parents to buy it.

$60!!! I pay $12 for a 1361 grams bag of TOPS! 3 lb bag

Where do you buy it for 12?!

That was what I was paying at a place in Loveland,Co. actually I think it was $14!

My best deal now is directly from Tops! Was $35 for 2x 3lb bags, now $40! Includes shipping! Get on their mailing list, deals pop up now and then!

https://topsparrotfood.com/collecti.../3-lb-small-pellet-two-pack-includes-shipping

 

[CharlieChick]

Thanks Flboy, didn't know that... also they DID put in shipping charges. Now that's a total of $122
After-all shipping takes a lot of work.

My birds are doing a lot better now, just some watery poops but I know that's a side effect of bayrocin and would go away when I stop using it (I think), they also seem a bit disinterested in toys, never were to be honest. Both of them were bought from a pet shop and birds who've never had toys before often don't know what to do with it. But I know my birds will come around. Seems like they know what to do, just don't want to.

I thank everyone for all their replies
Thank you Scott, Laurasea, Flboy and Littleredbeak... will remember these names forever.