My other cockatiel is now sick...

[a11ycat]

The cagemate of the cockatiel that died, was taken to the vets yesterday because a) I thought it wise to give her a check up and b) I could hear slight wheezing with every breath.

The vet agreed that the breathing wasn't normal and gave her an antibiotic injection and a vitamin injection.
She's been given a course of antibiotics to be given orally to last till friday.

I am unsure on how to give oral antibiotics in a bird successfully as I have never done it before.

Her breathing is 'clicky' now more than wheezing, she seems a little tired but is wandering about a little, exploring.
I haven't seen her eat or drink anything, and she's not showing interest in food I'm offering her by hand.

Is there anything that can be done to make sure that she eats/drinks something?
Is there a particular food/liquid that I should offer her?
How warm should she be kept (bearing in mind she is a house pet anyway)?

Is there anything else that can be done for her?

She also seems to be sneezing, sometimes it seems to make her shake her whole body.

[a11ycat]

She's had alot of diarrhoea white and green overnight and this morning... large volumes of it. Anything I can do about that?

[battybirdie]

Hi Allycat - so sorry to hear the news. If it was me I would take her back to the vet immediately. It's just possible that she is having some kind of reaction to the medication, and he would at least be able to rule that out for you. Is it an Avian vet that you have?
The other thing that I would suggest doing to help keep her a little warmer is a hot water bottle underneath a blanket in the bottom of her cage. Even though she is inside, we all get the chills when we are poorly and can feel cold when everyone else is warm. I would think birds are exactly the same in that respect.
If she really isn't taking any liquids, one way that you might be able to try is to move her into a more humid enviroment for a short while - that way she would be taking moisture from the air. Perhaps run a hot shower to steam up the bathroom, then sit her cage in there for a little while - just be careful not to overdo it or you could risk overheating her.
Do you currently give her egg mix? If so you could mix up some of this in a really watery form (better still get hold of some hand rearing food), and feed a little of this to her either on a spoon or from a dropper.
I hope she picks up soon sweetie - but first and foremost I would get her back to the vets
I'll drop you a PM later to see how she's doing.

[a11ycat]

Thanks for all the help.
So far she's still alive, she still seems to have a mind of her own - flying down onto the floor for a wander around. The antibiotic is specially for exotics, and is the best thing for respiratory problems.
I got some fresh millet today, and she has had a bit, and I've put some glucose into her drinking water to keep her energy levels up.
I'm going to set up a heat pad near her cage to try and keep the temperature up for her.
Managed to get a full dose of antibiotics into her this afternoon.

Aslong as she keeps wandering about, then I have hope for her, she's also doing a lot better than Minstrel did. She's still very tired though.
The sneezing really does make her whole body shake, and I think that puts her off her food a bit.

I think I'll try and keep track of her weight so I can monitor her better.
Any further advice, will always be appreciated.

On an aside, I took all the remaining birds to the vet, and they've been given a three day course of antibiotics too to try and protect them, so I feel I'm giving them all the best chance possible.

[orange]

I think you are doing all you can A11y cat, I wouldn't worry about the sneezing shaking her whole body, sneezes can be pretty violent sometimes even for us, I know sometimes when my dogs sneeze they look like they might shake their brains out! And a bird weighs so little I am not surprised she is shaking so much!
Out of interest what antibiotics have been prescribed? Is it Baytril Oral Solution?

I hope she gets better soon. I know what its like, I have had some ups and down with my Puku, she keeps scaring me into a rush to the vets every now and again. Everyone in the Orange house will be keeping their fingers, paws and claws crossed for her x

[a11ycat]

I think it is the Baytil Oral solution.

[a11ycat]

Hi,
She's still with us. Her breathing seems better today, but she's very tired.
I've tried the mashed egg but she's not interested. Not having much luck with getting her interested in food. It seems like she's got constant diorrhea stuff coming out of her. I gave her about 1.5ml of water with glucose last night, and she's had another .5ml this morning. I weighed her yesterday morning and again last night and she lost 15g. She's now down to 65g. I'm just going to try and keep giving her more fluids throughout the day, and hope that that makes a difference.

[orange]

I am glad to hear that she is hanging on in there.

[Julie]

Could you try trickling a little honey and water into her mouth?

[Scully]

Im sorry to hear about your Tiel Alleycat, she sounds very poorly. I hope she soon picks up.

fingers crossed you will give us some better news tommorow

[a11ycat]

She died, she was very weak this morning and just got worse.
I'm getting an autopsy done to try and find out what the cause is to protect the other birds.
So I'll let you know what happens.

[a11ycat]

In the end decided not to get an autopsy done.
Would have cost £50+ and as the body would have had to be sent away, would not have had the results back for at least 6 days. At the rate that my birds have got sick and died, this would likely be too late to help any of my existing birds anyway, plus they have no different antibiotics to offer my birds, and if mine are still getting sick when they have antibiotics the antibiotics won't be working. I'm keeping a close eye on the budgies who do seem a little tired, and have separated my senegal parrot into a different room, as he was in a different cage and hopefully has less chance of catching it.

[orange]

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that she died!