What to do about my sick bird...

[mslade]

Hi,

I was away for a week on business while my wife was taking care of our birds. When I came back I noticed that my green cheek, Bubba, is acting sick. He's squinting one eye, sneezing, vomiting, and his droppings are watery. His morning droppings were less substantial than usual. He is eating and his weight is okay.

My wife is indisposed so I can't ask her details about how he was while I was gone. But over the past month or so we've taken him to the vet many times due his sneezing behavior. They've run all possible tests, flushed nares and tested the discharge, taken blood, etc. All came back clean. They gave us two separate antibiotics to try (a few weeks apart) and neither worked.

His vomiting started during the course of the second antibiotic, and it's a known side effect of his medication. Unfortunately I'm not sure what the name of the medication is - my wife was taking care of this aspect. I know she stopped giving it to him sometime this past week based on our vet's advice, due to the vomiting it was causing.

I'm really not sure what I should do. I feel like all I can do is wait - all tests say he's healthy, and even though he clearly isn't, I don't know what a vet trip could do for him. He gets stressed easily by car rides and the vet is ~20 minutes away.

I guess I'm partially posting because I'm scared and want to do something other than wait. If anyone can give advice, even shots in the dark, I'm all ears. Our home is free of things like Teflon or harsh cleaning chemicals. We keep both birds' cages clean on a pretty regular basis. He does like to forage and we frequently have to run him away from foraging under my OTHER bird, where both food and droppings fall, but we keep a good eye on this and it's been going on for years anyhow.

[Cockatielsongs]

Sorry but there honestly isnt much I can say but Ill give it a shot

Does his diet contain vegetables or fruits which have a lot of water in them? If so that could be the reason for his runny droppings. Aside from being watery is the colour and everything pretty much normal? Could you tell us exactly what his diet consists of? It maybe easier to figure out the problems with his droppings if we knew what he eats.

Maybe your GCC is allergic to the dust from carpet? Ive read a thread or two on birds sneezing because of it. That is if you have carpet. You could get an air filter and see if that works. He could just be allergic to something in the air.

I dont know what else to say... Is he still vomiting or is it really just the side effect of the medication? Could you tell us exactly what tests the vets have run? Maybe someone on this forum knows of a test that you havent tried yet Continue to monitor his weight and eating.

Im sure someone can be more helpful than I am but just waiting or not you're being a great parront and your little guy is lucky to have you

[Cockatielsongs]

Oh and Forgot to say! House your GCC away from the other birds if he is sick because your other birds can get sick too. This is very important. If you havent already separated your GCC you might want to clean and disinfect the other birds cage and your GCC while your at it just in case.

[mslade]

Thanks for the feedback.

His standard diet is Harrison's pellets, and we usually supplement with stuff from what we're eating (veggies, nuts), but for this past week I'm not sure what specifically his diet has been. My wife was having some health issues and may not have been keeping up with her standard routine.

I don't know exactly what tests have been run. My wife has been managing his vet trips and didn't leave me any notes on it; I'm going to call his vet tomorrow to find out.

Today's my first day back with him (I got in late last night) so I'm watching him as it goes along. I notice that he's drinking a lot (it was the first thing he did in the morning and he's been drinking more than eating from what I can see). I'm guessing he's losing fluids and trying to stay replenished.

I found his antibiotic that he's been receiving until sometime this week -- baytril. Unfortunately I don't know if she stopped it on Monday or Friday or anywhere in between, so it's hard to speculate whether this is a med side effect or something more. I also just recalled that my wife was giving it to him with yogurt to help administration (he hates baytril). I just googled around and it looks like he shouldn't have had anything milk-based, and that this can cause diarrhea. Perhaps vomiting, too?

The sneezing and squinting I do think could be allergies. We have some hardwood but the room where he spends most of his time is carpetted. I'm going to vacuum it tonight after he's in bed.

[Cockatielsongs]

If he is drinking a lot that could also be the reason for his runny droppings.
Depends what yoghurt, birds should only be allowed plain yoghurt, plain yoghurt doesnt have the stuff (which i cant remember what it is right now) that milk has which birds cant digest so plain yoghurt is okay.
Carpet seems like the problem with the squinting and sneezing seeing as tests say his healthy. So hopefully its just that. I'll see if I can remember the tests that can be done on birds and see if you havent had some done yet. After the carpet is cleaned and such seen if the sneezing and squinting stops.
And hows your wife as well? Hopefully she'll get better soon!

[Pajarita]

You are on the right track: no dairy whatsoever - it not only works against the antibiotics, it also gives birds diarrhea as they are not mammals and lack the enzymes to break down milk products (yogurt has less lactose but it still has some). Baytril is actually one of the safest wide-spectrums there is for birds and the number one antibiotic prescribed when they don't know what is causing the problem but, for diarrhea, I have found that metronidazole is more effective (ask your vet about this).

Please get him some Pedialyte and put it in his drinking bowl. It will help keep him hydrated until you can get some avian electrolyte solution but, if in a hurry, you can make your own as follows:

1 quart bottled water
3 teaspoons of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Keep him quiet and VERY warm (that means between 85 and 95 degrees) -cover his cage on all sides and top with a towel or quilt or whatever and leave only the front open (for light) and place a heating pad at the bottom of the cage. Some people use heat lamps but I don't like to do that because:
- the source is usually on one side instead of the bottom (heat rises)
- you need to block the light and that blocks the heat also
- the heat is concentrated where the bulb is and radiates in circles so it's not even throughout while when you put a large heating pad at the bottom, it rises evenly warming up the entire cage.

Eliminate greens from his diet (has his diet changed? -this is not because the greens might be causing it but because you want him to drink the electrolyte solution and no greens will make him thirstier) - a bit of fruit is OK (my GCCs eat HUGE amounts of fruits and they don't get watery stools so I doubt that is the cause of his diarrhea), especially raspberries which have an element that kills the type of bacteria that causes it (you can use raspberry tea instead of water in the electrolyte solution) bananas, oatmeal, white rice and dry toast are good too.

Also, VERY IMPORTANT! probiotics added to his water to help replenish the intestinal flora that was 'washed' away with the diarrhea and killed by the antibiotics (again, there are avian probiotics available online but, in a pinch, you can use human ones (try the one with the most number of different cultures).

Has the vet done a fecal on him? Could he have gotten into something toxic in your house? Lots of houseplants are not good for them (the vomitting worries me).

Good luck and let us know how he is doing.

[Cockatielsongs]

Ta da! More useful information ^^^^ In my defence im 13
Probably not but might be worth mentioning
Has he been exposed to air freshners or scented candles? Or teflon? They trigger vomitting in birds...

[marie83]

Get another opinion ASAP, there are quite alot of avian vets out there who aren't as good as you would think.

[Eric&Rebecca]

That's very true Marie, haivng been to some awful ones a second opinion won't hurt.

[mslade]

I wanted to give an update. First, thank you all for your terrific advice, support, and insight.

Bubbba seemed to get better throughout the day. His appetite is healthy for foods he likes (papaya, carrots) and his droppings started alternating solid and runny. This morning they were considerably more substantial than yesterday (albeit still runnier than I would like) and there was no vomiting. He is also notably less lethargic and not squinting.

He spent most of yesterday cuddled into my hand which is standard fare for him. He wasn't as active as usual but over the day he did get more active.

I also checked his weight throughout the day and he went from being 1-2mg lower than typical to being a bit over later in the day.

At this point I'm keeping an eye and making sure he's eating, excreting, and staying hydrated. Coloration of his droppings looks okay. He's been through a rough month with the vet visits so my hope is that this is all just fallout from antibiotics.

So at this point I can say that from my observations he is moving in the right direction, and as long as he continues to do so I'm going to just make sure he's eating right and I'm cleaning up any overdue spots in the house. He is absolutely not exposed to Teflon, scented anything, or the like. But carpet allergies or similar is a possibility so I've been airing the room out as much as I can.