sick male cockatiel

[dj ven]

i didn't know what subject to put since there are a lot of things going on.
First i have a male cockatiel who got himself into a fight with another male and his feet was injured. It was fine for a couple of weeks but then it was swollen he took amixiciclin for some days and some ointments applied on the finger two times per day. After the last ointment which had cortisone he showed excessive thirst and polyuria for two weeks 'till last Sunday. Last Sunday water passed through his nostrils, he stood still, no eating, no water, only sleeping for the rest of the day. He went straight to the doctor for the third time in 2 months asap (4 hours by car), he kept him for three days and now he seemed to have recovered from this, the vet said that might water went to his lungs but he still put his nostrils into the water dish and start sneezing and irritate his nostrils. I changed many times the dish and now i have this bottle thing with the edge. But the vet told that although the big amount of polyuria has stopped the cortisone ointment caused him kidney damaged and he will die! In addition, someone gave me a sick tiel he couldn't take care of and the vet kept the new sick tiel in the same room with my tiel (Zarathustra) and told me that the only thing i can do is to treat Zarathustra with antibiotics in case any bacteria will be transmitted to him and just leave him.
And what about Zarathustra's health issues, i asked.. - We cannnot do anything about that, he told me.
I took Zarathustra and the new one to another avian, (5-6 hours away by car), he told me that i shouldn't worry about Zarathustra and gave me Augmentin (which is a medication for children and consists of amoxycillin and claruvanate) but after he took it his droppings became green, now i am waiting to see how it goes to contact again the second vet. He looks fine after all, eating e.t.c. , his droppings are like diarrhea now, he drinks water and has droppings at a regular pace now.
Sorry for the long post, sorry for any mistakes, thank you in advance.
How i know that i am doing the best to help him? To give him augmentin or tetracycline (the first vet said tetracycline to protect him against diseases)? I'm confused and i don't know what vet to trust, the one that i have for years or the other who is younger but to some extent famous in greece for his speciality in exotic animals and birds?

[marie83]

That sounds very difficult. Diahrrea is never a good thing though so go back to the vets, it may be related to the kidney problem though.
I think gut feeling can go a long way in making a decision, I wasn't happy with my first vet the moment I met him but I kind of went along with it as my birds appeared to get better only to relapse at which point I switched vets and instantly felt like my birds were in much better hands.

I have no experience with the problems your birds are facing but I would say do as much research as you can on their symptoms, medications given and side effects etc, this may also help you reach decisions about the right path to take from this point on. Also post on as many bird forums as possible as other people may have experiences of this particular situation, then you can take any ideas to your vet and put them to him. A good vet will take the ideas into account and either explain why it would/wouldnt work or look further into the idea unless its completely ridiculous.
Avian medicine is still a fairly new thing so alot of times the owners need to be proactive about ensuring the birds get the best care possible.

Anyway I know that I haven't been much help here but I hope I have written something you can have a think about. I wish you and your birds the best and hope that you will keep us updated so we can learn too.

[GreenWing]

Zarathustra -- great name! ^^ So sorry to hear of this stressful situation. It is upsetting to be told different things like this, and especially get bad news like that! I would contine seeing the more compassionate vet who is actively treating your bird. Perhaps get a third opinion, too. Monitor Zarathustra closely as you have been doing. I'm sending love and positive energy your bird's way. Please keep us updated.

[dj ven]

The second vet told me to give augmentin, which is amoxicilin with clavulanate, unfortunately i did the beep to give it to him last saturday, but at least i gave him the 1/3 of the oral dose that the vet told, to find out later that he had green droppings and that amoxicillin isn't good if you have kidney problems( it was extremely difficult for me to find this info, even on medication's leaflet they said that you can give it if your doctor says so). Didn't i tell him that he may have kidney problems? Didn't i tell him he had full watery droppings? Where his mind was? For God's sake! I tried to contact him.. Nothing!
Our vet, the first one gave two wrong medications for Zarathustra's swollen toe, fusicort (netamethasone) and then propiogenta with (gentamicin!) and then the problems started!
But i searched many avian vet manuals and found about gentamicin who cause polyuria, renal damage e.t.c. and guess what?! They said that usually the side effects are reversible! After 2 weeks of polyuria his droppings are much better, they started to be solid, have a shape, consist of 3 parts like they should be. The vet insists that it isn't reversible. Maybe he needs to study more.
There are no avian vets in Greece! Believe it or not, i took him to the biggest animal hospital in Greece with a vet who was saying that he worked in NY and several zoos with birds but he is useless so far. I keep him as second opinion. I have a vet near me who was working with birds in the biggest animal organizations in Greece and when i contacted him he told me that he doesn't look after smaller birds because it is big responsibility, although he knows so many things.. that's bad..
Another vet in Athens, while talking at phone told me she could a lot of things to help him and when called her second time to make an appointment, she refused! Are you kidding me? I contacted other who told me in general that they know some things but they aren't sure , but they don't have a problem to take a look! For God's sake! My babies aren't toys!
Anyway now i treat him with terramycin for chlamydia psitacossis (did i mention that Zarathustra may have chlamydia due to vet's fault?!) and wait to see how things goes. It probably is just a reaction to gentamicin and when he comes back to normal we will do what can do to help him in case he has an internal infection ongoing inside the toe. I see an improvement in droppings, big improvement and hope he will get over it.
Do you know how hard this guy is? He got over pacheco's disease, Newcastle disease now.. chlamydia.. and toe problem.. I'm studying all day avian manuals and books and about these ingredients to be able to help him. I may lose my job because i have no time to go to work, i will do anything to help him.
Yesterday he was singing and dancing after 3 weeks of silence. He is very active and happy like a healthy cockatiel, And the second vet said that Zarathustra is in excellent condition and not going to die. Times like that i wish to change positions with him so i can take away all this stress off him. I would really give my life for him, i'm sure you get what i mean.

[dj ven]

While still looking and thinking over and over again what vets told me..
They told me that polyuria happened due to cortisone and i kept wondering why since there was no cortisone in propiogenta but there is corticosteroid, betamethason. Yes.. ok.. but Polyuria happened due to gentamicin .. this is what all the books say.. (propiogenta has both ingredients) They don't even know which ingredient did the reaction!