Update on Tak

[Tro]

Hi,
For those who are wondering about Tak's health I'm posting an update. I noticed Tak seemed tired more than normal and brought him to the vet. The next day the vet put Tak in an incubator over night did some blood work and some X-rays w dye. The blood work showed signs of infection and the vet put Tak on an antibiotic (trimeth sulfa I believe is the name). Tak has been on this since Tues night. He has shown slight improvement but he is still not himself I'm worried that the antibiotic is not the right kind for the bacteria that is affecting him. The vet mentioned an antibiotic that is injected 3 times a day but that could affect the parrot relationship w me so I'm really hoping that I don't have to do that. He has a follow up appointment on Sunday so we will see what the vet thinks. The vet also sent the X-rays to a specialist in reading them because he noticed some oddities so will get results from that back on Sunday as well.

At home Take has been keep in a room that is 80F with 50% humidity. His weight has been pretty stable but I feel like I'm having to force him to eat.

I'm very scared and stressed out right now. I just want to kiss it and make it better and I feel helpless when I see him siting on his perch all tired out from whatever is going on in there.

[Wolf]

Did the vet say what type of bacteria that he is treating Tak for? Using an injectable antibiotic is a pretty serious step and is not normally brought up this quickly as a means of treatment, it is something that is normally avoided. What are the results of the blood work?

I am so glad that you listened to your instincts and took him in as quickly as you did, sometimes it is all that we have to go on because even when we can't describe what is wrong, we know our bird is not acting right. Please keep us updated.

[liz]

Kudos to you for seeing he was tired and taking him to the vet before he showed any other signs.

Being prey animals they hide their weaknesses until they are not able to hide them anymore. By that time they are very far in the illness. I have lost 2 Cockatiels because they only showed signs for a few hours before they died. I hate myself for not seeing it earlier.

[Pajarita]

Trimeth Sulfa? Your vet is using this antibiotic? Is this vet an avian vet or even a vet that is used to treating birds? Because I have to tell you that it doesn't sound as if he/she knows what he/she is doing. First of all, I've never had an avian vet send XRays out, they all know what they are looking at. And NOBODY uses this antibiotic for birds anymore. This is something we used to use 20 years ago for aviary infection prevention (you can even get it without a prescription) but no longer do (well, with the possible exception of racing pigeon keepers, I think). The thing with this antibiotic is that it's really not very good as a wide spectrum and it damages their liver so no exotic or avian vet uses it... everybody prescribes enrofloxacin for any and all non-specific bacterial infection in birds. It's 100 times more efficient and it doesn't have the bad effect on their livers. And to put the icing on the cake of lack of knowledge, he/she recommends three injections a day on a GCC?! WOW, that's a big no-no! My dear, if i were you, I would take my bird to another vet because this one doesn't seem to know the first thing about birds. Antibiotic injections are only given to parrots in emergency situations and then ONLY to larger species and ONLY once a week! Some vets would want to give a bird with low vitamin A an injection of it and even though it's a one time thing, I still would never agree to it because they cause A LOT of damage to the muscle tissue (I have never allowed a single bird of mine to get an injection).

He also needs to be kept at a higher temperature (90 degrees min -their body temperature is around 103 degrees)