New member with a sneezing linnie

[Gotta_love_linnies]

Hey guys.

I'm struggling with figuring out what is wrong with our male lineolated parakeet Cappy. I would be so grateful for any help you could give.

It started about a year ago with sneezing and slightly laboured breathing.
At first it was barely noticeable, but over a few months it progressed to the point were it seemed pretty severe. He's also scratching his left nare with his foot. He stopped chirping and talking almost completely as well. The issues have stabilized over the last six months or so, so at least it's not getting worse at the moment.

He has better days and worse days. Sometimes it seems like he's getting better for a few days and then the following morning he'll be back to sounding like he's not gonna make it.

No other symptoms. No nasal discharge. His feathers look fine. He eats well, he playes, flies, he's got his usual energy (except that he needs to rest often to catch his breath).

Been to the vet, they have no idea what it might be. They did put him on baytril for 10 days - didn't do a thing. (to be fair, they are not avian vets - the nearest avian vet is many hours away)

Other things things I've suspected and tried are:

Vitamin A deficiency - We used to have a few budgies as well. The Linnies had the habit of sneaking into their cage and eating their seeds instead of their own food. We gave the budgies to a friend and the linnies get a high-quality diet with Harrisons high potency pellets (which they love) and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Cappy loves carrots and broccoli. Some other fruits and veggies I also give them are: Sweet potatoes, melon, apple, orange, passion fruit, persimmon, pear, blueberries, peas, ruccola, fresh basil, kiwi and more. They are not picky but will devour almost any fruit i give them. I've made sure they eaten well for at least the last 6 months. Does anyone of you guys have experience with vitamin a deficiency and how long the problems can remain?

Dust - our old home was pretty dusty. We have since then moved and the birds have their own room with an air purifier in it. The air quality is excellent. Their room is basically empty now and is kept very clean.

Humity - Had a warm mist humidifier in their room for a few months and cleaned it every day.

Air sac mites - Treated with scatt

Aspergillosis. I would not be the slightest bit surprised of we had mold in our previous home. However, he has none of the other common symptoms. He doesn't seem tired or depressed and he eats very well.

Something irritating/stuck in his left nare - Since he's mostly scratching his left nare I thought that maybe a husk or something got stuck in there. Ive looked and looked and can't see anything. I've flushed his sinuses several times with a lukewarm and sterile saline solution to no avail. It all seems normal.

It doesn't seems to be contagious as his buddy doesn't show any similar symptoms at all.

Do you guys have any ideas or thoughts?

I realize that the best for him would be to see a proper avian vet, but that just not possible.

I'm grateful for all ideas and suggestions!!

[Wolf]

I would still say to take it to an avian vet, I have to drive for just over 2 hours to get to the closest one to me, it ain't no picnic but my birds are my friends and are a part of my family so there is no way that I am going to let money stand between them and medical attention when they need it.

[liz]

I would still say to take it to an avian vet, I have to drive for just over 2 hours to get to the closest one to me, it ain't no picnic but my birds are my friends and are a part of my family so there is no way that I am going to let money stand between them and medical attention when they need it.

You are such a good parront.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! Well, first of all, ten days of Baytril is not enough. In my personal experience, when it comes to respiratory infections, birds need 3 weeks worth of antibiotic so it's possible that the infection that was there never did cleared up completely.

I am sorry for the difficulty but you really need to would take the bird to an avian vet because, if nothing else, you need to get more medication as well as get some bloodwork done (which I assume was not done before by the non-avian vet) as he could have aspergillosis. Just because he doesn't show any other symptom is not an indication that he doesn't have it. For one thing, it could be a chronic, almost subclinical condition but, for another, it could also be an aspergilloma.

Also, if I were you, I would not feed them High Potency. This food is NOT meant for little species -even Dr. Harrison will tell you this (more is not better when it comes to certain areas of nutrition, sometimes, it's actually worse). It's too high in protein and fat (and that's why they like it) and the little ones, been all of them grass seed eaters, cannot stand all that protein and fat (grass seeds are around 12% protein and 5% fat while High Potency is 18% protein and 15% fat MINIMUM so, in reality, the figures could very well be higher) and, in time, the High Potency will destroy their livers. As a matter of fact and for what I know, linnies should never even get a pellet only diet, the most you can give them is 40% pellet, 60% seed precisely because of the high protein and fat of the pellets.