Joined: Jun 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 20 Location: Rhode Island
Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintroduce « Thread Started on Oct 6, 2009, 7:44pm »
Hi my name is laura....I live in RI - I work as a vet tech at an animal hospital that has an avian vet which is so convenient!! I had created an account some time ago, but my life has been a little crazy since..... I have a sun conure named Kisses who I adopted 3 years ago she is approximately 4 yrs old. I also have a parakeet who i adopted 3 weeks ago from someone who had just bought it from a pet store then decided it was not the pet for them. My sun conure is absolutely wonderful....she is the greatest! Unfortunately right now she is very very very sick and we are unsure why. I was wondering if anyone had any insight......or any experience with an ill bird. she was her normal wonderful animated self saturday am before I went to work and she was her normal self all night saturday - she ate all her veggies/fruits/cereals/seeds...sunday morning was a totally different story she could hardly keep her balance she was all fluffed she didn't scream or talk at all (very weird) she refused all of her food (except a few crackers with p- butter, a dried mango, and 2 teaspoons of seeds....very very very unlike her, she usually eats everything) she has never had a problem before; her poop looked normal.....sadly it was sunday - figures - thankfully I was able to contact the vet i work for he advised a warm rice filled sock (kept warm) and pedialyte every two hours to keep her hydrated until he could see her. She made it through until monday ok, though she looked awful. We analyzed all the changes over the last 3 weeks (sadly there were a lot of changes ....which is out of the ordinary for my life) obviously the parakeet was new, and though I was careful of contact between the 2 and washed my hands...you never know and i should have been way more careful (i do know better - should have quarantined - but I didn't because we were rearranging our other room and painting so we had to make do space wise) anyway that was the big change (and the one the vet is most worried about - since I don't know much about the previous home) - another change is that I also bought a new toy 1.5 weeks ago that I ordered online (I had a gift certificate from a relative and thought she would enjoy a new toy...it was wood - and the wood was dyed red (should have stuck with the normal plane natural wood - )) any way knowing a conure she ate it right away not all of it but it is considerably chewed. And the last change was a change in diet (I have not in 3 years been able to switch to a pelleted food...so I weaned her from one brand to another - vet is not worried about that because she eats primarily veggies/fruits/cereals and was weaned from one to another.... So monday am she had a thorough physical (everything felt fine - heart lungs sounded good) palpitation of organs felt normal - she was a little chunky but the dr said if it had been her wellness exam he would have given her a clean bill of health based on palpatation and sound of heart/lungs. She definitely looked awful otherwise. We did blood work and had it sent out to the lab - a complete panal or everything (will never use fedex kinkos again... no offense to anyone) The lab was unable to use the first sample so i had to bring her with me again today for more blood to be drawn. Its overnighted to the lab and will be there tomorrow ......as well as a chlamydia test - so we are waiting for results.....I was wondering if anyone had any similar experiences either with an illness or a toy causing this - I am very worried and feeling so guilty that I wasn't more careful about the new bird and the toy - she did eat seeds today (about 3 tablespoons - I was psyched so was the vet since she hadn't eaten in a day) I am still doing pedialyte every 2.5 - 3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night she si still on her warm rice pack....and she is on an antibiotic orally (ciprofloxacin) and for the last 2 days has been given a tiny bit of meloxicam (for pain relief - which peps her up alittle bit). I am committed to getting her better if it is possible...though I am very worried she looks alittle better now but she is very weak and unable to stand or perch. She is still fluffed and has still refused any fruits/veggie/cereal. Has anyone had any experience treating chlamydia (we haven't gotten results yet but that is what the vet is leaning towards). Has anyone had any success with ill birds......I have separated the parakeet...they never had physical contact but they are housed in different rooms, kisses is in a cat carrier which prevents her from climbing around or perching (to prevent injury) .....I will keep you posted on lab results when we get them...I really hope she does ok until we figure out what is going on!!!
God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
Joined: Aug 2004 Gender: Female Posts: 3,241 Location: Western NY
Re: Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintrod « Reply #1 on Oct 7, 2009, 12:56pm »
Okay First ====Glad to see you posting again. It makes me feel a bit presumptuous to give advice to a vet tech but I'll try .
It is possible the keet brought something in but that would be on the bottom of my list since the previous owner had it for a while & you had it for 3 weeks. Besides you were careful handling them.
My first thought is paint fumes. Most new paints are pretty safe but if you were using oil based paints ,or the fumes were concentrated that could 've caused the symptoms. Also sanding dust ,paint thinners,or removers are dangerous. Also strong odors from cleaning solutions or floor waxes.
Any chance you use teflon or other non stick pans. Overheated ones are dangerous as well as appliances like space heaters ,irons , ovens. and hair dryers that contain teflon.
THe toy is probably not the culprit if the dye was food coloring. Maybe actually ingested some splinters or something else that caused a blockage?
My last thought is metal poisoning caused by an unsafe metal on a toy or cage.
Joined: Jun 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 20 Location: Rhode Island
Re: Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintrod « Reply #2 on Nov 6, 2009, 12:33am »
Hi I just wanted to update on kisses - it has taken a while to get her back to her normal self and though we are not there yet we are close!
The blood work came back relatively normal the only abnormality was her liver values which were about 10 times what they should have been. Both the vets who consulted were leaning toward heavy metal poisoning of some sort i.e. lead or zinc - they believe from a new toy introduced to her environment about two weeks prior. We are not totally sure if that is what caused her rapid decline but this was what they were leaning towards given her blood work results and physical. We kept her on an antibiotic for 2 weeks and added milk thistle to help her liver and for about 2 weeks she was syringe fed pedialyte every 2 hours and kept warm and confined. It was really touch and go for about a week before she started doing better. She is in her own cage now and is flying around, eating all her fruits/veggies/cereals/seeds on her own, and talking/screaming up a storm. She is still very unsteady and not quite as good with climbing or flying as she was but she is getting there. She is also a lot more apprehensive to come out of her cage and has to be encouraged but I am very very happy that she is doing as well as she is. We are not sure whether she will regain all of her balance, but we can definitely make do! I just wanted to update!!!!
God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
Joined: Aug 2004 Gender: Female Posts: 3,241 Location: Western NY
Re: Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintrod « Reply #4 on Nov 6, 2009, 8:03pm »
Glad to hear the bird is doing better. Maybe if Tuesday is around she can compare symptoms with your bird and some of hers that had similar symptoms. If I'm not mistaken someone else had a bird with metal poisoning. In any case do not blame yourself as many of the toys come from formerly very reliable companies who now get their toys from China where they don't seem to care what they export as long as it looks good and sells well. If you finally do get the cause pinpointed please do inform us. This will be very interesting information. Thanks for the update and don't be a stranger.
Joined: Aug 2004 Gender: Female Posts: 584 Location: califorina
Re: Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintrod « Reply #5 on Nov 6, 2009, 10:39pm »
clydmidia is weight loss. but eating like a pig parakeets are known carrier actually they are born with it , depending on health issue it may never come alive , but if it does , then every bird needs medication for 50 days , its not hard. metal posion sounds about right. , liver damage is a possiblity , we did have a bird whose liver was not working right between meds and warmth he surived for a year but it took its toll good luck ,
Joined: Feb 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 1,715 Location: Butte, Montana
Re: Hi it has been a while i guess i will reintrod « Reply #6 on Nov 8, 2009, 5:05pm »
Gosh that is scary! So glad she is doing better. Sometimes they seem so strong that we can't believe something so simple can cause things to go so wrong so fast! Good luck! Pat
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since she hadn't eaten in a day) I am still doing pedialyte every 2.5 - 3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night she si still on her warm rice pack....and she is on an antibiotic orally (ciprofloxacin) and for the last 2 days has been given a tiny bit of meloxicam (for pain relief - which peps her up alittle bit). I am committed to getting her better if it is possible...though I am very worried she looks alittle better now but she is very weak and unable to stand or perch. She is still fluffed and has still refused any fruits/veggie/cereal. Has anyone had any experience treating chlamydia (we haven't gotten results yet but that is what the vet is leaning towards). Has anyone had any success with ill birds......I have separated the parakeet...they never had physical contact but they are housed in different rooms, kisses is in a cat carrier which prevents her from climbing around or perching (to prevent injury) .....I will keep you posted on lab results when we get them...I really hope she does ok until we figure out what is going on!!!
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