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Hello! It's been a while since I've posted, but for the most part all has been going very well with Raisin (our cockatiel) and budgie (who never got a name, but we love him just the same). Well, it's been going well possibly until now! To give you some background -- I first posted last summer (July 2008 or thereabouts) when we brought Raisin (aka "Baby Raisin")and Budgie home. At that time, I took them both to the avian vet for checkups and they had cultures done and they were both healthy. They did not have a psittacosis test done at the time. In December my 14 year old daughter (mommy to both birds) who had both birds living in her bedroom, came down with pneumonia which was quite severe. She recovered, but then got pneumonia again at the end of January. She has never had pneumonia before and never been so sick. I was quite concerned and it made me think about the birds and after doing research, I decided that I had to immediately go and get psittacosis tests done so as to rule out the possibility that the birds were making my daughter sick. I took the birds to the avian vet that Saturday morning and they had full check ups, Culture & Sensitivity tests and Chlamydophila DNA Probe test. The vet did not think it likely that the birds were sick or that they made my daughter sick. He thought that at least one of them would probably have symptoms. Neither of the birds really had any symptoms at the time, although I did mention at the time that I thought Budgies poop looked different. I had also noticed that he can't really fly, but then again, we've only had him since July and his wings were clipped so I've never really seen him fly. Raisin's wings have already grown back and she has regular flying time around the house each morning. The vet said that if the test was positive, then they definitely had psittacosis, but if it was negative, it was not a sure thing. (I guess this means possible false negatives?)

In any case, my daughter recovered and we moved the birds downstairs (on her pediatricians advice just for allergy purposes) and all the birds tests came back fine. The psittacosis was negative. So, I stopped worrying, until now. Raisin is fine and we are not worried about her at this time. Budgie, I think is sick. He has never been extremely active, and never flys, but it just seems nowadays that he is more and more lethargic and clumsy. He looks sleepy all the time in his cage. Today, we noticed that his poop looked greener and there were even some brown/yellow stains on the paper towels beneath him. We keep the cages very clean, every morning, we change the paper towels and wipe things down. Budgie seems to spend most of his time hunched and fluffed on the top perch and when he goes down to eat, he just seems so clumsy and drops to the ground sometimes. I gave him some millet in his food bowl this evening because my daughter said he is very thin when she feels him. He loves millet and he made his way down to the food dish and heartily ate it which was good to see. My daughter has also found a little lump on his back under the feathers. I think it is a hard lump, but its difficult to tell because its hard to keep Budgie still while holding. He also seems to have a dirty vent sometimes, although I think it is because his perch is fat and the poop drops onto the perch sometimes and he kind of sits in it.

Anyway, before I go on and on. I am going to make another trip to the vet tomorrow, just with Budgie. Raisin is not displaying any symptoms and if Budgie is found to be sick, I figure they will treat Raisin too without me having to have the expense of a third avian vet trip. I have spent more on these birds in the last six months, than I have on my dog in 7 years! I guess I just want some advice on what to ask the vet or maybe even what types of other tests to get? Is there some other psittacosis test that is more reliable? Do I need to get another psittacosis test done? I know the vet said it would be extremely difficult to take blood from Budgie. I think it might be impossible now, if he really has lost so much weight. ( I don't know for sure, I dont' have a scale -- in December his weight was fine). Is there any other disease that could cause these types of symptoms? Has anyone dealt with psittacosis and successfully treated it? From what I have read, it seems to be very difficult. I am hoping that this is not pssitacosis, but I think I've made myself paranoid about it and I have no experience with any kind of bird sickness. Since the Culture tests were fine (taken on January 31, 2009) and the psittacosis was negative (possibly false), are there any other tests that we missed?

I posted here instead of on the Budgie forum since this may be affecting Raisin too, but also because I know more people post and read posts here! I hope you don't mind. If anyone has any advice before tomorrow morning/early afternoon, I would appreciate it. I just want to go to the vet and ask all the right questions, so that we don't miss anything this time.
Thank you for any help!

With the time difference, I am not sure if you have already been to see your vet but I see no one has responded to your post yet.......
I can't help you I'm afraid Hopefully Budgie will get better though he does sound like a sick little birdie to me
Glad to hear your daughter has recovered though! A pneumonia is a nasty thing!!!
I don't think it's healthy to have birds in a bedroom, especially not birds as dusty as tiels, so good move to take them out of her room.
Let us know what happened with Budgie's vet visit..........

Thanks Claudia. I know I posted this late to get replies, but I wanted to give it a try! I haven't been to the vet yet this morning, but I plan on leaving in the next hour as they open at 10:00am. Yes, I'm glad we moved the birds out of my daughters room too. She keeps the playgym in her room now and just takes the birds up there to play. We have a dog, so either the birds or the dog has to be behind closed doors!

Budgie was down on his bottom perch this morning and then when I went to feed him, he climbed up to his top perch and then I had to help him get to the food dish as sometimes he just gets onto the side of it and can't pull himself up. He ate a bit, but seemed to take pauses as if it was quite tiring. Raisin was also on her bottom perch this morning, but she has been using her bottom perch quite a bit lately, especially in the evening as she is getting sleepy. I know the bottom of the cage is not a good sign, but I wonder if the bottom perch is also a sign of something since it was never used much before. Oh well....... I will check back here before I leave and then I'll post back after the vet visit.

Thanks again!

Hello again! I went to the vet this morning and poor little Budgie really showed him how sick he was. He stepped onto the doctors finger and was all wobbly and could hardly struggle while doing the exam. His normal weight was 34 grams and today he is only 29. The doctor saw his poop and thought it looked quite normal. He said he wasn't concerned at this time by it being psittacosis, but that it could be a variety of things and that he would start him on a broad spectrum antibiotic to hopefully knock out whatever it is. The doctor said that his first choice would be to keep him for a couple of days in an incubator, or I could take him home and treat him myself. I opted to bring him home. Poor little budgie got two shots. One antibiotic shot and one steroid shot ( I think it was a steroid) which the doctor said would temporarily make him feel better and give him some strength to eat. Now I have a little bottle filled with strawberry flavored liquid antibiotic which I have to give him via a syringe twice per day for 7 days. My daughter is with her father this weekend and I can't wait for her to come home because she will be much better at this than I. I am almost afraid to handle him because he is so wobbly and thin. I noticed it more this morning when I was cleaning the cage and had to help him get on his food dish.

So, I am so glad I took him to the vet. I hope and pray that this is going to make him better AND that Raisin is not going to get sick also. The vet didn't really give me any advice for caring for him other than giving him the antibiotic, so if there is anything I should be doing please let me know. Also, one question: Will the antibiotic give him any side effects? Could he get a yeast infection like people do from taking them? I have this probios powder that I got last year, I wonder if I should put that into the water. I forgot to ask all these things at the vet. I will probably call him Monday.

The budgie probably has a nasty bacterial infection. Hopefully you caught it in time and he will recover. Keep him warm and comfortable and away from Raisen. Most importantly keeping the food and water dishes super clean.If he likes millet give him that. You can line the bottom of the cage with old dish towels (The ones without the loops)
It is doubtful your daughter caught anything from the birds. It is more likely she could be allergic and it aggravated her cold symptoms.

Poor baby. I really do hope that he gets better, I know how heartbreaking it is to have one of them sick. I am no expert but I would definitely say to keep him extra warm now that he's sick. Good luck with everything and please keep us updated, I will add little budgie to my prayers.

Thanks for your advice and prayers!! I am really worried about Budgie this morning. When I uncovered the birds to feed them, Budgie climbed down to his water dish as he usually does first thing, but the poor baby couldn't balance and practically fell into the water. He reeled himself backward and fell off. Now I'm afraid he could drown, so I don't want to keep a full water dish in there. Then he tried to get to his food and couldn't balance. So, I ended up taking him out and putting him on a towel on the table with a spray of millet and some nutriberries crunched up. He ate some of the millet, but he seems weaker than ever and looked like he was falling asleep as he ate. I am scared that I'm not getting the antibiotic into him properly and that I took him to the vet too late. I know I got some of the antibiotic on his face because the seed started sticking to it. The only thing he seems to summon up the energy for is to climb to his top perch. I think it is because he knows he can hold on there -- it is a concrete perch. My daughter will be coming home today so perhaps the two of us will be more successful getting the antibiotic into him. I am going to take him out every couple of hours to try and give him some water with the syringe and to see if he wants to eat, otherwise he will starve since he can't get on the food dish. Sorry I'm writing so much. I guess its like therapy for me too!

I have now moved Budgie to another room and partially covered the cage. I have also removed the feeding dishes and the middle and lower perches and I've put his food and water in very shallow dishes on the towel on the floor of the cage. He is still perching on the top perch and I want to move the perch down so he won't have to fall so far or expend so much energy to go down or getting back up to it, but he won't step up (or doesn't have the energy) and I don't want to upset him. He loves his top perch. I hope that moving him to another room or moving his food won't upset him. I don't have a heat source. I'm not sure if I need one or not. I read that you can fill a sock with rice and heat it and then make sure it's not too hot and put that in the cage. I'm afraid he will fall on that. For now, I've turned the heat up in the house a couple of degrees.

A bare lamp bulb next to the cage will provide heat, so will a heating pad hung on one side of the cage. Sick birds need to be at 85 F, so please do one of these things.

What about baby food with the syringe? Or perhaps some pedialyte (sp)? I had to give Dino antibiotics when he was still being hand fed and I thought that was hard! I can't imagine trying to do it with an adult

Hoping he pulls through.


Jo

Thanks for the heating pad and baby food ideas! I do have a heating pad, so I will hang it on the cage. I have a blanket partially over the cage, so I could hang it ontop of that so he can't get burned by it...does that sound ok? As for the baby food -- do you mean like rice cereal or pureed fruit or veg? I did read that it was good to give them carbs while sick. The good news is that I've been peeking at him and/or checking on him in the room all day and just a minute ago, I caught him on the ground and he had eaten the entire millet spray. I'm so glad he is eating something, but I know that millet may not be the best thing. Should I let him continue eating as much millet as he wants or do I need to limit it even while sick? I think he may also have eaten some of the nutriberries too, but that is harder to tell. When I came in, he still seemed very weak and didn't really move off the ground, so that gave me the opportunity to move his top perch close to the ground. Then I helped him get onto it and he seemed okay. Thanks again. I'm going to go and get the heating pad now.

The heating pad can be put underneath the cage or on the side... although I'm not sure how much heat he'd get if there's a blanket between the cage and the heat source. Before we had any good sources for extra heat I'd use a regular desk lamp with a regular bulb... although it was bright, it still provided heat. Hot water bottles can also be used, wrapped in paper towels.

As for baby food, something like Gerber baby food without zinc, and preferrably a veggie type or similar. You could also try some handfeeding formula for parrots in a syringe.

Is it possible for him to get a yeast infection? Yes. This is something you're better off speaking with your avian vet about... although you could try some ACV with "mother" in it mixed in with his water.

The probiotics are good to use, although it's usually recommended to put them in food, not water.


Just be sure to move all of his perches down low and to keep him warm and hydrated. It's a good idea to put some Pedialyte, Gatorade, Powerade mixed 50/50 with water as a little "pick me up" or if you could get it, Spark, ElectroVites, Cool Bird, Prime, or Ornalyte.


You may want to speak with your avian vet before providing any additional supplements.

Thanks MFids. I just got back from the store and I have some pedialyte and baby food. I also bought a new heating pad since mine is about 20 years old and I'm afraid to leave it on all night. Do you think it is okay to keep the heating pad on continuously for days? I will ask the vet about the probios powder. He is supposed to be calling me back tomorrow to check on Budge. My daughter and I managed to get a good dose of the antibiotics into him when she came home, so that is good. He spent quite a bit of time on the floor of the cage this evening which worried me, but then he got back up on his perch. I hope he has a good night and is better or at least not worse in the morning. I'm worried about what I will wake up to.

Thank you everyone. I will keep you posted.

I believe that all NEW heating pads are manufactured to automatically shut off after about two hours. Your older one would probably stay on all night.

Does the cage have a grate with a tray underneath? If so, then pull the tray out and slide the heating pad under the grate so that Budgie can't actually touch it.

Millet is fine for him to eat while he is sick.When Whook was sick I made sure he had millet. Think of it like oatmeal. When your sick it is a good thing to eat. When you are well it is fine to have it for breakfast but you eat other things as well. Hopefully your budgie will recover.