Sick Senegal Parrot medical mystery

[Michael]

Maybe consider taking the water away from the cage and offering from a bowl 2-3 times a day manually. You can only do this if you are certain you will be reliable doing this. Most likely there is an underlying medical problem. But if this is some kind of behavior/boredom quirk, it may straighten at least the water dilemma out. Still keep a close eye on everything else.

[Wolf]

These birds should probably not be eating the high potency formula, I know that for several years DR. Harrison used the high potency formula only when starting a bird on his feed if they were either sick or possibly malnourished. This may have changed but in the case of birds is not always better. He also needs to be eating a much larger variety of vegetables and some fruits.
I am interested in the results of these other tests especially the diabetes test and the pancreatic and kidney ones.

[Pajarita]

No, Michael, this cannot be behavioral, the results are too off for that. Some of them can be attributed to dehydration but others can only indicate a medical cause... the question is which.

I am surprised your vet did not do a 'normal' CBC and chem panel. I can understand the first blood work been sketchy but why do a second sketchy one when the bird is obviously getting worse? That makes no sense to me.

And, yes, I agree with Wolf, the diet needs huge improvement. I don't agree with feeding parrots pellets even when they are healthy but much less when they are sick, and NEVER when they are showing dehydration (pellets would only make things worse).

Personally, I would get a COMPLETE blood panel, test for metal poisoning and put him on a real good diet while I wait for the results because what you have now, in terms of knowledge, is way too little to make any diagnosis or even put him on any kind of support diet. Baytril and whatever antifungal your vet likes is the usual protocol when they don't know what is wrong with the bird but taking into consideration how many unknowns there are here, I don't think I would have gone that route (if what he has is metal poisoning, neither the antibiotic nor the antifungal are going to do anything for him).

[vwbug2010]

Hi guys thanks for your replies regarding the food I was advised by the vets to put him on high potency food Harrison's pellets he was on a seed diet before I could change what I give him any ideas?

Regards blood tests shall I push for a metal poison test? I can wait for the clamiyia test results first. Why do you think the White blood cells are so low? He has improved a bit but Is still drinking water with a wet neck and peeing water but is more playful perhaps the antibiotics are kicking in. It's so frustrating I wish I could find out what's wrong. I may go for a second opinion to anger vets and take the test results with me....

[Wolf]

Ok, then he has not been on the high potency formula for very long and starting them of with that formula is not unusual. The reason they give for it is to bring the birds vitamin/ mineral balance up to where it should be. This makes some sense in a healthy bird, but as Pajarita said not in a sick one or one showing symptoms of dehydration.
I would definitely ask for a heavy metals test. If your vet is a good one, then he/ she would not have any problem with you getting a second opinion or as many as you feel are needed.

[Pajarita]

Yes, High Potency is useful because it's a bomb of vitamins and minerals BUT it is also super high in protein and a bird that has been eating seeds and little else all along needs exactly the opposite (low protein). Avian vets are too quick to tell people to feed this or the other when, in reality, what you need is a diet tailored to the needs of the parrot in question. Personally, I would have put this parrot on a fresh food organic diet complemented with a multivitamin/mineral supplement for the first few weeks or so until I can get the bird to eat a large range of produce.

I would also ask for a heavy metal test but, at the same time, I would get a comprehensive blood test because they've been running half the stuff they need to get a clear idea of what is going on (where is the glucose, cholesterol, packed cell count and red blood cell count, the values for the different types of white cells, etc).

Personally, I would only give a sick bird an antifungal if I knew for a fact that the bird is suffering from a fungal infection. Antifungals are poison, the same way that parasiticides are poison and I don't believe in giving them poison just in case, if you know what I mean. And, I'll tell you something else, in all the years I've been keeping passerines (over 50) and parrots (over 20), I've only medicated with an antifungal once and this was a canary hen that was sick for almost three years before she died (she was sick since I bought her) and nobody could figure out what was wrong with her so, in desperation and after trying several other treatments (3 different antibiotics, liver cleanser and tonic, detoxification, nutritional supplements, etc), I gave her an antifungal (which, of course, did not work).

[vwbug2010]

Thanks folks this is really helpful. I agree regarding the food as well.

Reading some pages on-line I think it might be metal poisoning as the symptoms are similar. They did do a glucose or sugar reading test but told me it came back as normal but I agree about the other tests I am not getting a complete picture. A while ago an energy saving uplight bulb was broken by one of the birds I think the senegals I replaced it and never thought more about it I wonder if this is my source of problems.... However I just cannot be sure - there is also some talk of doing camera examination however all this is costing a small fortune not that I mind but I would like to think its all worth while. I think as you say if the chlamydia test comes back negative we should go for a full blood test and test for toxicity. If it is metal poison can this be solved has my poor bird got a future? I may take him off anti fungal after your comments well!

[Wolf]

The future for your bird if it is heavy metal poisoning is primarily dependent on how quickly the level of heavy metals can be reduced to a normal level. Usually the prognosis is good, but it also depends on how much damage was done to what organs.

[Pajarita]

Don't take him off the antifungal before you talk this over with your own vet and only if you have reached the conclusion that this is the step to take BASED ON YOUR OWN RESEARCH. I always tell people not to take anybody's word for anything, not the vet's, not the so called experts', not mine.

But I would definitely get a heavy metal test and a full blood panel before I commit to an endoscopy. I've known parrots that had already advanced to serious neurological symptoms from metal poisoning which made a full recovery. You might have to watch his diet and observe him carefully for the rest of his life because metal poisoning can cause irreparable damage to internal organs but they do survive it with treatment.

[vwbug2010]

Thanks for your comments hopefully I will get the chlamydia test result back tomorrow and then will ask for a full blood and toxicity test before as you say going for the endoscopy - will let you know when I get the results back.