BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Question about friends sick bird...

Well what I hope is a small improvement tonight. Matt Bird (I don't know why I can't just call him Matt but hey we just recently found out he was a he, not a she, Mathilde Grey, or Matti as we were callingher for the last 5 years) was doing some slow and careful somersaults in his cage, but definitely trying to play. He also was sporting an attitude when I reached in to ask him to up up, which is more like him - he doesn't like to be taken from his cage but taken from the top of it. He hasn't fallen off his perch once since we have been home. He has been vocalizing a little more and when my dh was holding him, he did fly off my dh's hand but landed a little more controlled than he has been, landind on his feet and tail instead of crashing crazily. I hope this is the start of him becoming well again.
Gay, he is underweight - our vet pointed this out to us when we took him up for all his tests. She knew we were offering him free access to plenty of seed mix and offering him veggies and fruits but said it was not optimum and that he had probably just become really run down from being sick and not eating much for a while. He is still pretty boney in his breast area so I am hoping to do two things: get some weight on him fast so he has more energy/fat stores to help him heal up. I will have to check into a high quality formula food at the store where we bought his cage tomorrow. Anyone else have any input into this? Also Gay, I live in the state. If you are familiar with Washington, I live about a half hour west of Olympia - I am about 2 hours southwest of Seattle and the vet where I have been taking Matt Bird is in Lakewood which is near Tacoma - about an hour and a half away. I am willing to travel! I have done a search online in the yellow pages to find a second avian vet for a second opinion but got nothing. The one I am using was recommended to me by 2 different people and she does seem knowledgable - we just have a communication problem I think as well as a cash flow problem at the time. It's called getting too many animals when things are going well and still having too many animals when things aren't going as well. Thanks for your input - it is much appreciated. I just want to get him feeling better again even if it means listening to his crazy talking and whisteling when I would rather not ;-). It's been much too quiet around here since he has been under the weather.

Margarita...that is great news and I hope things continue to get even better!

Gay...what is "birdie bread" and where do you find it or do you make it yourself? Never heard of it, but I would like to let my bird try some! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Margarita...that is great news and I hope things continue to get even better!

Gay...what is "birdie bread" and where do you find it or do you make it yourself? Never heard of it, but I would like to let my bird try some! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Gay - thanks for coming in to help out here. Your advice is always appreciated. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

As for birdie bread Lydia, its something you make yourself & there are dozens of recipes around. You can find Bobbie's Birdie Bread at Parrot Talk Connection Recipes

Thanx Mavis! Sammy bird should like that! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And if you don't want to use the corn muffin mix, you can substitute one box of the muffing mix=1 1/2 c. yellow cornmeal and 1 /2 c. flour

Gay

Well we are sort of on a holding pattern right now. Matt seems to be showing a few small signs of improvement and as he is scheduled to go up for a recheck on his bacterial infection to make sure it is gone on my dh's next payday we felt (after talking to the vet) that he is in no immediate danger. He is vocalizing more now, and trying to play a little in his cage rather than being listless all the time. ALso he has not fallen down from his perch or crashed into anythign for the last 21/2 days although last night while playing on the couch he walked right off of it as if he hadn't seen the edge. The vet told me she had checked his eyes but I wonder if they need to be looked at more extensively? If he wasn't able to see well (he can see some, he tracks with us when we move our heads around - bobbing etc, but other times you can put your finger right up to his eye and no response at all) would this be causing enough stress to make him weak and obviously he would be disoriented.
Thank you Gay - I realized that I hadn't told you that! I appreciate everyone's help here as I am stumped at the vet didn't seem to have a very concrete idea of what may be going on.

Well Matt-Bird is going back to the vet Friday for his re-check. He is still showing signs of improvement however he has started scratching at his nostrils again and they are all bruised looking around them. I am going to borrow a camcorder and tape his behavior here at home and also so the vet can see his surroundings - maybe she will see something that will give us a clue as to what is causing some of the problems or at the least his scratchy nose. He hasn't seemed to gain any weight yet although I have been watching him carefully and he is eating and I am hand feeding him the aforementinoed foods plus now a mash mix. He only eats a few bites of each but they are big bites.

Well Matt Bird is not recovering as well as I had thought based off his sudden improvement in playfullness and coordination. Not to say that he is back to normal, he's not, but has had a big improvement. He has lost weight since his last apt. The vet took a new culture to recheck for the bacteria we treated him for. Then we discussed what might be causing the problems he is still having. She took a culture from his nostrils as well as he has become stuffy again and is scratching his nose again. She thinks that he may have a fungal infection - can't remember the name right now - that is commom in Greys even though his culture came back normal. We are thinking that after Tuesday (when we are to check in with her on his results from the cultures she took today) we will go ahead and treat for the fungal infection, and also make plans for x-rays as she wants to make sure he has no lesions inside. I guess he has little lesions in his mouth and also some weird gray patches that are inflamed in his mouth that she said were there when she first saw him and are not normal. As far as his weight she said to continue what we are offering him and gave me some other ideas as well. Matt is now fairly stable, he has fallen only once in this entire week - a huge improvement. His feet are gripping alot better and he is actually playing! Thanks everyone for your input and support and I hope I will have better news for you soon.

I found this article and thought you might read it and ask about Vitamin A deficiency. It doesn't sound exactly like what is wrong with your bird, but I didn't figure it would hurt to check into it. Connie Vitamin A Deficiency in Parrots