Sneezing

[wgator1958]

My blue fronted amazon is about 5 months or so old. He or she has been sneezing quite often. Sonny hasn't really been exposed to any drafts . My room is warm. 70 75 all times. Seems very normal . Active and no fluid or discharge from nostril . I took him to the vet the second day I got him and he complimented his health. Is it normal for a parrot to sneeze a lot. Some times once or twice a day. Sometime s he continuos sneezes for a few min. Some days nothing at all. Any comments greatly app. We are already very attached to sonny and love him. Worried.

[Wolf]

This may be off base or not, but does anyone in your household sneeze , like from allergies? I ask this as my Amazon, Mimi will sneeze for about 15 minutes every now and again. the good news is that Mimi is just mimicking the sneezing and it is just hilarious to watch and hear.
Except for as just described it is not normal for a parrot to sneeze. Take your bird into the bathroom when it sneezes and turn on the hot water so as to steam up the room. If this solves the sneezing then get a humidifier as the air in her space is too dry and is the cause of the sneezing, in all likelihood. f course a trip to the vet to make certain that your bird doesn't have any respiratory issues would also be a good idea. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

[Pajarita]

You need a humidifier regardless. Especially in winter. Anybody with a parrot needs one unless one lives on or very near the tropics and uses no air conditioning at all (they need a minimum of 60% humidity but are most comfortable at 70-75%). Now, imitation human sneezes are not like bird sneezes because one sounds like a human and the other sounds like a bird sneezing (same as dogs and cats sneezes don't sound like ours). Besides, the imitation sneezes are a noise from the throat, without head movement while the real sneezes are a noise from the nares with slight head movement. Now, dryness in the air is a main cause for bird sneezes (as it's anything in the air like room deodorizers, scented candles, etc) but lack of betacarotene is another (did the vet look inside the beak, at its throat?) so what does your parrot eat? Mind you, not what you feed the parrot but what he actually eats.

[wgator1958]

Thanks for the feedback from you both. I know it's not mimic. I did entertain the thought hoping but that's not the case. He has his own little sneeze. It's there and doesn't seem to change. The room is dry and we just started using the furnace here in md. It just started getting cold at night. Our furnace ducts may need to cleaned. I do have potable electric radiator type heater I use at night . I have been letting him in the shower on a perch . The shower hasn't been directly on him but he gets pretty wet. I also turn the heat up a bit on shower days( about once a week ) while he is drying. I do admit it is dry in here. He eats zupreem pellets. And a fruit nut mixture called golden feast. He was properly weaned on pellets and does eat them. Treats are walnuts broccoli carrots and apples so he likes. I will try a humidifier ASAP and keep you posted. If it doesn't give me quick results, I guess it's back to the vet.

[Pajarita]

Well, I don't feed pellets. I don't think they are the best option when it comes to parrots diets. And I don't know which Zupreem you give your bird... the 'fruity' one is actually the worst pellet in the market for parrots, the 'natural' is a bit better because, at least, it's not loaded with artificial things. But they are both too dry (parrots natural diet consists of plant material that has 85-95% moisture while pellets are usually a max of 10% -big difference which doesn't help their kidneys at all!). Plus, you simply do not know how much protein you are feeding because all you get is a
minimum value - in the nut/fruit blend and Zupreem pellets are 14 and 14.5%' so, for all you know, you could very well be feeding 17 or 18% which is waaaaay too high for an amazon (they only require 17% when feeding babies). I have other issues with them (man made vitamins, final form of vit A which is not healthy, continuous feeding of vit D3, high processing, and the fact that they are made with soy).

The shower is good because of the steam but hot or warm water should not touch his feathers (it strips the natural oils from plumage and skin). Get yourself a humidifier (I use a warm one during the cold months), set it near his cage and feed him betacarotene rich food (sweet potatoes, carrots*, red peppers*, dark leafy greens*, etc) on a daily basis.