Seriously ill Senegal suddenly gets better?

[JaydeParrot]

Ok, so this is a long one, basically my Sennie got really sick whilst on holiday but I seemed to cure him within about two hours with a jumper, oranges and a banana. I wondered if anyone knew of anything similar, or why something like this would happen? The full story's below:

Hi, I've taken my two Sennies on holiday with me several times (always to the same place), they always seem fine with it, I have a big fold up ferret cage they live in while their on holiday and they can also come outside of the cage and walk around the house.

The first day I was there I had to go out with some people to see an elderly friend of the family, the person I was going with got irritated because I was taking such a long time to get the birds ready before I left them, so I rushed everything, I got them in their cage, put the fruit bowl in, put the water bowl in and put the seed bowl in (they have 3 seperate bowls), it was only later that day when I came back that I realised I'd forgotten to put seed in the seed bowl (the water and fruit bowls had been filled), I wasn't too worried though as there were still a few chunks of orange left in the fruit bowl so figured the fruit had lasted them. It was late so I let them out for a brief play and excercise before putting them back and putting their blanket over the cage.

When I removed the blanket in the morning, my Sennie Cain woke up and looked at me like she does every morning, however my other Sennie Hide, remained perched with his beak buryed in his wings, I thought he was being a deep sleeper or something. I stepped closer to open the top of the cage and stumbled slightly, making a loud banging noise. Hide woke up and looked at me as well, he seemed ok, I opened the top and picked Cain out of the cage and put her on my shoulder, I then reached for Hide (he's not generally as keen as Cain) expecting him to give a small growl before letting me pick him up. I picked him up and he made one of the most horrifyingly weak growls I have ever heard. Immediately I was concerned, I held him closer, his eyes were half shut, he weakly struggled out of my hands and slowly climbed up my shirt to sit with his mate.

His grip was awful and I quickly picked him off my shoulder and put him on the bed instead (not wanting him to fall off my shoulder. Cain stood next to him on the bed and ate some seeds while I looked worriedly at him, he just stood still on the bed with his eyes shut.

I was in tears, the closest avian vet was three to four hours away and I was convinced he wouldn't make it. The people I was with had to go elsewhere, I was in a house in the middle of nowhere and was left without transport.

I felt Hide's stomach, he seemed suprisingly thin, I wondered if he hadn't been eating properly, I wrapped him up in my jumper, stood him up and leant him against the head board of the bed. I remember when I used to have convulsions my mom would give me oranges to increase liquid and glucose levels within the body.

I went to a close house and asked to borrow a couple of oranges. I brought them back and sat next to Hide, cutting a slice of orange with a knife and trying to feed it to him. His eyes remained closed but he seemed concious, I opened his beak slightly and put the orange slice in his mouth, he didn't respond so I closed his beak by gently pushing down on his top mandible, and then gently pulled the orange away from him, causing the orange to be squashed and sprayed into his mouth. His tongue moved slightly in responce so I repeated what I'd just done until he weakly (and slowly strongly) began to chew on the orange slices in responce to having them in his mouth.

He still kept his eyes closed but I decided he'd probably need some solids as well so I peeled a bananna, opened his beak and placed very small pieces of banana inside his mouth, he was strong enough to chew slightly and swallowed about half of every banana piece he was given (accidently spitting the other half out as he chewed).

Slowly he began to open his eyes, I brought Cain over to him and they looked each other for about a minute before I put her back in her cage (I left the cage top open), I fed Hide a final orange slice so his mouth and tongue wouldn't feel too dry after the banana, before leaving him to fall asleep wrapped up in my jumper. I went down stairs and watched tv to give them an hour or so of peace before going up to feed him again.

While watching tv I heard a fairly loud Senegal call, I went back up stairs and found that Hide had freed himself from the jumper and was making his way across the bed to go back to his cage (the cage was right against the bed. Smiling I watched as he climbed off the bed and into the cage, snuggled up next to his mate for a few minutes and then went straight to the seed bowl and ate like a pig.

Now that he seemed a bit stronger, I took the cage with them in it down stairs where it was warmer and I could keep an eye on them, I put a blanket around half of the cage and left them to it.

I was so happy, me and my two well and 'ALIVE' birds came home today and they are now happily in their cage playing around, interacting with me and each other and eating and drinking to their hearts content.

What could have happened to Hide though? Had he starved himself and gotten a little sick or what? He's never been like this before and I certainly don't want it to happen again, any idea of what could have happened to him?

[Harpmaker]

I don't know, but while you are waiting for someone with experience to come on-line, I would suggest taking Hide to an avian vet to be checked out.

I hope I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like Hide was concealing an illness and transport to a different place pushed him over the edge. TLC brought him back to where he can conceal it, but he may not have recovered as much as he seemed to.

[JaydeParrot]

I've just noticed that Hide seems to have a slightly swelled crop. I also remember that about 5 or 6 days ago I showed him my necklace made up of children's plastic beads. He suddenly grabbed a bead and smashed it with his beak I was sat on the sofa so all the pieces went into the sofa and were impossible to find, I wonder whether Hide could have accidently swallowed a piece, which could have caused his crop to swell slightly?

[Pajarita]

I would also recommend you take him to an avian vet for a thorough check-up because it sounds as if he was dehydrated but that makes no sense if he had a bowl with water and fruit in his cage...

Now, a word of caution, senegals require more protein than other parrots (like amazons, for example), they are actually quite similar to grays in the amount of protein they need to consume so leaving a pair of them with just fruit and water is NOT a good idea. Free-feeding oil seeds is also not a good idea so I suggest you think their diet a bit more thoroughly (I would suggest giving them cooked whole grains instead of seed in a bowl for all day eating).

[JaydeParrot]

Interesting, what kind of grains would you suggest?

What would a vet do? Can they diagnose anything without an expensive test like an x-ray, endoscopy and/or a blood test while under anaesthetic? Have you have a bird show similar symptoms, any idea what it could be?

Sorry for seeming ignorant, but the last avian vet I went to, I was really unhappy with, so I'd have to travel a bit to get to a better one.

[marie83]

What a nightmare, definitely get to a vet though, yes there may be lots of expensive tests but on the other hand they might find what the problem is right away without all that. If you have a budget that you must not exceed then tell them that and they will try to work with you to diagnose and treat your bird within that budget. Good luck and keep us updated.

[Pajarita]

Well, avian vets are expensive but those bills are part and parcel of owning a parrot. Now, check his weight, appetite and poop because, if there is something there and he is not passing it, you will notice symptoms: decreased to no appetite and poop and weight loss. Mind you, parrots have a high metabolism so a couple of days of not eating right can be REAL serious - thus the need for a check-up before it gets to that point. The bare minimum would be a CBC and an XRay.

As to grains, I use oat groats, wheat kernels, dehulled barley, kamut and Indian or Indonesian brown basmati rice - sometimes I also use black rice and teff mixed with small white beans (the only kind I use), lentils, flax seed, sesame seed and cooked and chopped veggies.

[JaydeParrot]

Would porridge oats be ok?

He's preening, skirt dancing to his mate and eating plenty of food, he did have a 'giant' solid poop on his way home in the travel carrier so I wonder whether he unblocked himself, admittedly he did seem to be having trouble going poop when he was ill so maybe he was a little blocked...

[Pajarita]

I only use oatmeal in their birdy bread. They prefer the 'nutty' texture of the whole grains.