Sick tiel

[PoohsMom]

Help! I have a 14yr old male who's been sick for 2 1/2 mos - vomiting. He eats seed and some pellets during the day while we're at work. His favorite people-foods are pasta and rice. At first sign of sickness we rushed him to the vet who put him on 10 days antibiotics. Sick 3 days into meds, then ok until 2 days off - back to vet. Sick in waiting room, so vet was able to get swab from side of cage and found full of bacteria - another 21 days antibiotics. Always seemed a little groggy those 21 days, but thought maybe meds caused drowsiness, and he needed some sleep to aid in recovery anyway. Hadn't been sick in 24 days, 12 days off meds, had perked up back to normal self and got sick again - back to vet. Now three days into third round of antibiotics, and has made drastic downturn again since back on meds. Previous vomiting typically happened after 5pm, normally when I was late home from work so I felt like a horrible bird mom for stressing him when he's already sick. But this latest round of meds has me wondering if it's actually the meds. Previous rounds of meds have always been between 6-7pm, and any vomiting was typically between 4-6. He'd been doing pretty good, then back on meds for third round, which I've been giving a little earlier, and vomiting is now around 2pm, same sort of 22-23 hour after dose timeline???
He's very strong and has been fighting me. First round of meds was done with dropper in beak (at least most of the dose, rest on me or him). Vet suggested scrambled eggs the second time, which worked for a while, but after 15 days of that he got pretty sick of eggs. Cannot get him to eat any dosed food now, back to dropper in beak and all over his belly (he's very good at avoiding the meds as much as he can).
He really only seems sick for 1-2 hours whenever it happens. He seems to feel bad, gets sick, spends some time recovering, then shakes it off and is back to normal. His feathers are fine (he's fanatical about preening). His droppings look normal. He's got plenty of energy - still flies like the wind. No loss of appetite - still eats spaghetti like it's the last piece on earth. Aside from that 1-2 hours, he looks perfectly normal and healthy, highly energetic. No other birds in house.
What is making him sick? I love him to pieces, and this is heartbreaking.

[marieandchirpy]

Did the vet take a swab from his poop to test for candidiasis or a yeast infection?

www.justanswer.com/pet/4tumg-13-year-old-cockatiel-appears-vomiting.html

[PoohsMom]

Vet got a swab of the vomit on second visit. (He'd gotten sick in waiting room, and was sitting close enough to the side of his cage it hit the bars and dripped down to plastic skirt where it pooled a bit against the lip of the skirt.) Other than that, it's never been enough to get a swab. It's usually only enough to 'spike' the tips of his head feathers, rarely enough to get to his back/belly, and because it's so little it dries really fast. Has not tested droppings - they appear normal.
Good article - mentions stress a lot. Pooh's always been a high-strung bird. So although he's frequently stressed just by the fact he's the world's biggest chicken in the body of a small cockatiel, there's been no major changes in his routine or diet that could cause him stress that way.
Next time we see the vet I'll definitely ask his opinion on the candidiasis or yeast infection. Could be a possibility - reading up on that, it indicates that prolonged use of antibiotics could bring it on. He's been on 10+21+counting days of antibiotics now, so maybe? Vet out of town - back Saturday. Will have to see if we can get him in again on the weekend.

[john]

You might try giving him some plain yogurt. And you can mix his meds in it also. I would wash his cage out with a mild disinfectent. Throw all his toys away and get him new ones. Something that he touches is reinfecting him. Keeping him on meds all the time is not good for him either.

[marieandchirpy]

Well the cage is suppose to be washed with a mild disinfectant on a regular basis, but if you haven't washed it out yet since the bird's been sick, then it is a good idea to wash asap.

[PoohsMom]

My baby had emergency surgery last week. He had what I guess you'd call a crop stone. Like a gall stone, but in his crop. It was huge! Vet hadn't felt anything first two visits, and swab showed large amount of bacteria, so we all believed infection. Third visit he immediately felt something. Xray showed a large mass in his crop. Right to surgery. Vet surprised by what he found. We've seen it. Unbelievable! Vet says birds can get stones, but normally lower in digestive tract. He's never seen one in a crop, and never one this big. Stone is at lab for analysis, waiting for results so we can try to figure out what caused it.
~~~~
So here were his symptoms if anyone ever sees or hears of anything like this. Maybe this can save another life.
- vomiting every several days (he was typically 6-9 days, but sometimes only 2-3 days between)
- never vomited much; normally only enough to get the back of his head; only once enough to also get a small spot on his belly
- vomit was just like a clear-ish mucous - only one time had some small chunks, otherwise just liquid
- shakes it off relatively quickly (at the start he'd be back to normal in 15-20 minutes, but had progressively worked up to 30 minutes, then an hour, then up to two hours)
- no loss of energy or appetite (except for during that recovery time right after vomiting)
- otherwise seems perfectly normal and healthy
Theory is that the stone blocked the exit of his crop, which trapped food allowing bacteria to grow, which is why the antibiotics seemed to be doing something but not enough. Every few days, the stone would dislodge and float up causing him to vomit while allowing his crop to drain, then it would settle back down and start the whole process over again. It started off very small and un-feelable, but got to a point where it must have grown very quickly. (Grew from nothing to almost the entire size of his crop in about 6 weeks - at that rate another week or two might have killed him.)
I'd thought stress at one point, but I think it was actually that getting himself worked up caused the stone to dislodge and that was causing him to be sick - not the stress itself but the stone dislodging as a result of panic.
~~~
My little guy is still banned from flight for a few more days, but he's coming around quite well. He'll be one very happy birdie when he gets loose again. And I'll be a very happy bird mom if this is finally all over with. Longest he'd been before without being sick was 24 days, so we have a way to go before I'm convinced it's over, but all my fingers are crossed.

[marieandchirpy]

Hope he gets better.

[White Wolf]

You might try giving him chamomile tea in very small doses [diluted in his water] to help with his tension and high stress. I would suggest 2 teabags over night in a quart of water [in the fridge]. In the morning squeeze the tea bags out and discard. This should last about a week, and then add a tablespoon of that mix to his water twice a day. You should see some improvement within a few days. Also see if you can find someone who is a Reiki practitioner and ask them to do some work on him. I wrote an article about Reiki that should be in one of the upcoming NCS Journals about it, and how it helps our pets. MOST practitioners will not charge you a lot of money and may even be willing to do an "energy exchange" or a trade of equal value to the work they are doing. Blessings Ruth