Sick Conure?

Hello, I have a one year old Sun Conure named Romeo and I am wondering if any of you out there of experienced this type of behavior due the bird being stressed?

So starting on Monday I was feeding him a new type of food by Kaytee because Petsmart was out of his regular food (Kaytee Fiesta Max). He was very upset about it and was not eating much. He would screech and screech for many days he was so upset. The other issue is they also stopped selling his favorite treats.

Today he starting throwing up his food. I finally got his regular food from the store but when I came home he came on my shoulder and would not get off. I was wearing a baseball cap and when I took it off it scared him to death I guess and he began throwing up again. This time the vomit was clear. After this he went to his perch (he is able to perch but is a little wobbly). He puffed himself out and sat next to his favorite toy and snuggled with it. He kept puffing out and bobbing. He did not want to come to me and was acting like he was drunk.

Now he just drank some water (think he has kept it down) and looked at his food bowl for a moment and went into his little bed. He seems to be a little better since he drank the water and was also making noises puffed out next to his hanging toy (I think this is his girlfriend!) but as I mentioned before he seems drunk.

Has anyone ever experienced a stressed Conure like this? I know my little dogs can get sick very fast just for changing their food, not giving attention, moving to a new location, etc. Is this a dramatic stress thing because of his food or is he sick?

Of course it is Saturday and only ER vets are open. The closest bird ER is at least 45 min away. Money to the side my concern is he is going to be more stressed out from the car ride and if this is already an issue of stress it will only make him worst. The regular bird vet can more than likely see him tomorrow or at the latest Monday.

Any thoughts or ideas? Seems as though its hard to find medical information on birds.

Thanks for the help!

He probably didn't eat the other food...get him some seeds and his regular food...

You say throwing up...what are his actions when he does this?? He could be bonding to you, showing affection..

But if he's throwing his head in all different directions and then throwing up...bad...ya know...your best bet, and the best thing for the bird is to see the vet...

There's just too many variables....that's my opinion.

He is still in his bed and looks like he is sleeping. However, his head is still bobbing, he is puffed out and he is making noises, just like when he was happy when he eats his food.

As far as how he would throw up, its hard to explain. While he was on my back he had like his wings spread on my back then just throw up the clear stuff. When he was perched next to his toy his wings were spread out too with his head bobbing

I agree that he probably didn't eat the food much all week and has somewhat of an empty stomach.

I am going to leave him alone for right now. I know that as always we should take the bird to the vet if they are acting sick or strange however as I mentioned before I am concerned about the stress factor in the car. It is at least 45 minutes away.

Keep him in a darkened atmosphere for transport. Place a dark towel over his vet cage and talk to him during the trip.

Thanks for the posts. I think Romeo is doing better. Not only is he drinking water but he is eating food. Still not 100% but almost there. He also came to me which he was not doing before.

ER Vet called me back and said that there is a possibility that this could be caused from stress. Seems like it is that right now but I will continue to monitor him and if he gets worst I will take him in and if he doesn't get back to 100% I will take him to the regular vet tomorrow.

Last time I took him to the vet I took him in his bed and then in a small box and he still got stressed out about. He even throw up as soon as I got him out of the box.

Fingers crossed that he will continue to get better!

If you have a small travel cage, use that & take him on short car trips & mount/place the cage in the back seat in such a manner that he can see out & watch what's going on. Over the past 20 years all of my birds (some 30 odd) have taken short, as well as trips over 800 miles at a time and none ever got sick or got stressed. I think the secret has been that I always prepped them with just going out to the car & sitting in it.

Without seeing a particular situation, it is hard to offer suggestions.....

If you don't have a suitable travel cage & your local pet store doesn't have something you like, I'm sure you can find something on the internet.

Because my birds are conures or smaller, I have 12 of the top cage, but since yours is also a conure, the cages in the second pic would make suitable travel cages for him, though you might need to use suitable clips to keep the doors closed as I don't think those cages come with latches.....




When you strap your bird(s) travel cage(s) in, it might be advisable to have a piece of plywood or other hard surface to place between the cage and seat back or other upholstery, so your friend(s) are not tempted to re-design your upholstery.....

If you think he got sick from the new food (or sick from being stressed over the new food) I would offer him the old food again, so he is eating again. Then try to introduce the new food slowly. Why are you switching foods?

Oh my. Something is wrong. I would take him to a vet. Birds generally hide illness, as showing signs of illness (in the wild) make them prey (even to their own species). Thus they hide illness sometimes until it's too late. You can guess or try to play doctor. My conure would go to the vet. Question: Have you used incense, cologne, spray of any kind, perfume? That stuff can make them SICK. I pray your conure gets well. Not so sure I helped.

If he seems to be drinking water more often than usual, he may have gotten dehydrated and is catcing up on fluids.

BTW, Petsmart is great about letting you return food that your bird doesn't like, as long as there is still a lot left in the bag, and you have a receipt.

All,
Romeo is doing just fine today and is eating like a horse. I guess he really didn't like his new food. He is eating his old food because Petsmart now has it in stock again. If you read on my first post I said that I had exchanged it for his old food yesterday but he had gotten himself so worked up about it he was too sick to eat it.

Kaytee changed their packing so there is a possibility that I didn't recognize it last week or Petsmart had it in a different place. I figured since I was getting another from Kaytee it wold be similar but I guess not. But he has his food now and is very happy about it! This is a very dramatic bird! He goes well with the other animals and maybe even people in the house.

Kaytee had a recall on some foods. Not sure which ones, but worth checking in to.

momto3 said:

Kaytee had a recall on some foods. Not sure which ones, but worth checking in to.

Click to expand...

Just checked out the recall. It was on Kaytee exact hand feeding for baby birds. Thanks for the info though!

I would recommend switching to a better brand of food, regardless. Kaytee is not considered that great if you can find better brands out there. Roudybush is probably the best that you can find in a chain pet store. Most other brands that are good can be found either in the "mom & pop" kind of shops geared towards birds or from the internet.

here is the latest recall on Kaytee....one of a few in the past year

Kaytee Recalls Bird Treats and Greens Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination from Parsley Flakes