my parrot is sick..!! what do i do?:(

[aasiaafzal]

oh God im freaking out...seriously...its only been a month since jazz( my 8-9 month old CAG) is with me....n it is my first parrot...
i was only just learning, what is normal for him., n what is not..n suddenly here i am, dealing with a sick parrot...
just from yesterday, he started to show some symptoms...before that he was perfectly healthy, eating normally, making his usual sounds, climbing up n down the cage all the time..n suddenly we felt that he is being quiet..soon after that, he started to make those scared kind of small screams if i tried to go close to him, n wouldnt let me touch him...not eating like routine, but still he took some sunflower seeds,.. when i picked him up, after some effort, he snuggled closely to me, not moving at all...

i thought may be he is scared of something ( as we had some ppl to check our refrigerator yesterday n his cage was close by) so i just covered him, n let him go to sleep...hoping the best

today as i returned from work, he had not touched a single thing from his feed...i couldnot wait any longer..took him to a vet...(not an avian certified vet, as i couldnt find any, here in qatar)

he was kind, n reassuring but he said jazz definitely looked bad, n dehydrated...he recommended admission, n wanted to start antibiotics asap..n said he wouldnt recommend to wait for a week for lab works (which have to be sent to a lab in UK)...
he said many breeders do sell sick birds here , n as jazz is with my only for a month, nothing can be said for sure.., n he requested a complete avian panel, with lead levels, n PCR for PBFD...

i dropped jazz there, because they were recommending force feeding for him,, with some special syringe, n i didnt want to do it myself to avoid any possibility of aspiraton..but he looked so scared,. he is still keeping the weight, weighed today at 420 grams...but doctor didnt look very hopeful...

guys plz any suggestions....??

could this be anything chronic...if yes, how could he mask his symtoms so well..?? i know parrots n all the birds are very good at it..but could it be possible that he is all playful in the morning, n completely lethargic in the evening, because of any chronic issue??? i somehow think that as his reaction was very acute, this has to be something acute...

there are few issues i want to ask??

1.i was trying to switch him to pellets...i was using harrison's pellets, as its the only brand i found here, n that too after a long search...he had not actually started to eat any of them,..but could it be somehow related?

2. i gave him a cherry yesterday at lunch time, n i removed the pit as far as i remember, but now im having second thoughts...may be i didnt,..could it be the cause??
i did some research, n it said one pit contains about 80 microgram of cyanide...n they were saying it wud take atleast 20 pits to be toxic...
but at some other place minimum lethal dose studied in dogs was said to be 1.7 mg/kg. if for parrots we assume it less than that, may be 1 mg/kg, we still need atleast 4-5 pits to be toxic...

besides i tried cracking a pit open, n it took some real effort on my part, to crack it open, n reach the actual cyanide part...his beak is very sharp, but i dont think he has that kind of strength, im just hoping against hope that he couldnot have possibly eaten that..

any comments or re assurances???

ill pick him up from there tomorrow, whatever they suggest...its more painful, to keep on thinking abt all the stress he wud be having in that place...besides i also think the hospital could even cause more harm than good, with all the sick pets visiting...


please any suggestions...any ideas?? how should i proceed?? labs are expected to come after a week..i just want to sit n cry...

[marie83]

I'm so sorry to hear about this, unfortunately birds can and do mask things that well but yours may well have been displaying subtle signs which have gone un-noticed through no fault of your own. Even super experienced people may miss subtle signs purely because the bird is new to them so please dont be too hard on yourself.

May I ask what routine you were following to convert your bird onto pellets? I do doubt it is that because 24 hours without eating much wouldn't make a grey that sick. I also very much doubt it was the cherry itself.

Have another good look for an avian vet in your country, even if they are too far away you can ask if they can work together with your vet, to give advice on what other tests, procedures, treatments and doses can be offered.

It honestly sounds like your grey is in the best place and your vet is doing the best he can, he actually sounds alot more sensible than my first vet who was a bird vet! They wouldn't admit a bird unless it was needed- they want to keep you as a customer.


Keep strong and keep us updated.

[aasiaafzal]

Obviously i might have missed some subtle signs...but somehow i dont actually think i did,...!! i am a doctor myself, obviously i have no idea about animals, but still since i acquired jazz, i have been reading a lot about the parrot diseases.. n was keeping a close watch...
though obviously jazz proved himself to be more smart than I....


n before pellets, i was free feeding him on seeds n fruits n veggies...so when i got pellets, i kept pellets in his cage for whole day, n started giving seeds only twice...my plan was to count the pellets he had eaten n then decrease the same quantity of seeds....but as he practically had not eaten any pellet, i ended up letting him have seeds as much as he wanted...!!.n i had started this only 2 days before this whole fiasco...so its not that he was hungry or something..!! Malnourished, yes could be for he was on seed-only diet at pet shop...but not exactly hungry..

so u dont think that cherry pit could have caused it??? atleast its a relieve..!!


n this only 1 day was so horrible...i just wanted to say, that i really respect u for what u r going through for the last whole yr..!!
best wishes..!! stay in touch

[marie83]

I'm no expert no but I really do doubt a single cherry pit would do it, it is of course worth mentioning to your vet that he may have consumed one but your not sure as a small amount may perhaps be exaggerating his other symptoms but I really do doubt its the sole cause.


Lets get him better then see what we can do to help you with his diet.
All the best to you both.

[aasiaafzal]

yeah i did mention it to him..!! he didnt give much importance to the whole story...again i asked if he thought we should get blood cyanide levels, he said that in his opinion it wont be necessary, and he said, he wud look it up..!! anyhow will ask him again tomorrow if he found anything..

[friend2parrots]

sorry to hear that your bird is not well - I don't have any advice to offer, but I hope your feels better soon - let us know how it goes

[aasiaafzal]

guys...!!
jazz died today just before i reached hospital to get him..!! leaving me with the regret that i was not with him, in his last moments.

Thanks to all of u for providing as much help n tips as possible..!!

[Eric&Rebecca]

I'm so so sorry

Did they know what it was? Sometimes knowing why provides closure.

Really i'm so sorry this has happened

[aasiaafzal]

no they could not..!! though some lab work results are expected in a week...

[marie83]

I'm so sorry for your loss but take peace in the fact that you did what you could by getting him to the vets.