Heavy breathing when nervous/after flying

[sgtpepper]

Hello!

Dino and Zaura are doing great, annoying me (a bit) at the food part, but we've come up with some solutions, such as mashing their favourite nuts into their veggie dinner(also semi mashed), so they HAVE to eat everything.
Their behavior has improved and Dino is becoming sweeter every day. He still will not step up (YET) but I really think there is a big progress.

We have a health "issue" though, as sometimes we can hear Zaura's breathing after flying, or maybe when she is nervous/agitated. There has always been a noise which was not present in Dino's breathing, but the truth is we thought it was maybe from the poor diet, which probably caused fatty liver, or hypovitaminosis A.
It was not getting better, and not getting worse.
You can only hear the noise if you focus, but still, there is something.
We decided that the best thing is to go to the vet, and just ease our minds about everything.But today after going and spending $300 on it, it seems like we've better stayed home. Well, at least we microchipped both..
The vet is one of the very few avian veterinarians in Denmark, so probably that is what all would say.
THE GOOD THING was that he made a "basic" consultation and said that they both are healthy and normal, so Zaura has something with the upper respiratory tract. But he did not say more, he just said to ignore it, maybe it will get worse, maybe not.

Has anybody ever encountered this??
Also, how can I help her ? I know eucalyptus and thyme are natural helpers, but are they safe for parrots?(especially the eucalyptus)

Thank you!

PS. i will post some more recent pictures tomorrow:)

[Wolf]

I don't like your avian vet, but it appears that like many of us you are limited on choices. I thought of thyme for your Zaura, and possibly echinacea and maybe dandelion as well.
Pajarita is your best bet on here for herbal remedies, my knowledge is severely limited as I am just beginning to learn about this area of parrot husbandry. I also considered slippery elm because of its effects on mucous membranes, but decided that it would be of little value here as it is best used for digestive disorders. The fact that I even considered it shows my limited knowledge.
I am so happy to hear that they are improving, as this has been a difficult time for you and them. Thank you for staying with them while they were going through this difficulty that was imposed on them. I hope that you have not pulled all of your hair out in frustration.
I would love to hear more about them, you have something very special with them. Despite the difficulties that all of you have had t go through, I am extremely jealous of you for having them, and am looking forward to you pictures of them.

[Pajarita]

What, exactly, did the avian vet do, Sarge? Was there bloodwork? If so, can you get me the results? Was there a full body XRay? Because, for something like this (labored breathing that does not get better or worse), if nothing abnormal came up on the bloodwork, if I were her vet, I would want to see what her organs look like (enlarged heart? enlarged liver? fluid? a mass?) first before I explore further.

As to what to do, I would not use anything until I would know for a fact what I'm dealing with because labored breathing doesn't necessarily come from something that went wrong with the respiratory system, many things can cause it... and it varies greatly! - from heart problems to liver to an actual obstruction which only needs to be removed (like a rhinolith or even a seed hull).

[sgtpepper]

There was no bloodwork, no xray, no nothing.

I spent $150 and he just listened to her heart,lungs and checked her mouth and nares.

[Hookturn]

Wow that's expensive for jus an office visit. Normally that would run around $50

[Wolf]

If that is all that he did, regardless of the price, I would do my best to find another vet, because this one don't give a ---- about your birds. That is my opinion.

[sgtpepper]

Unfortunately as i told you he is one of the best..and the best on this island(we live in copenhagen) .

Any advice?

[Wolf]

Unfortunately, I have to leave this to Pajarita as I don't have the required knowledge to be of any help.

[Pajarita]

I would just go back and tell him to do blood work (CBC, avian chem, bile acids) and, if nothing comes up abnormal in the blood work, I would ask for a full body XRay - and, if everything looks good there, I would ask for a endoscopy of her respiratory system (but, if they are going to give her some anesthesia for the XRay -some AVs would only do them this way- I would ask them to look into her nares while she is asleep). I was thinking about your bird yesterday and I realized I forgot to mention one other possibility: an aspergilloma and that's another one that, usually, the only way you can tell it's there is through internal examination because, very often, birds that develop this kind of aspergillosis test negative.

Yes, the price was steep for a mere visual physical (very little you can tell from it, actually, and I bet it took just 5 minutes). Around me, an exotic examination goes from $50 to $75 but I would assume that if he is the ONLY avian vet, he can pretty much set his own pricing.