bright_eyes
New member
- Jul 28, 2017
- 10
- 0
- Parrots
- Yellow-sided conure named Mazzy
Hi everyone!
Okay, so Mazzy started vomiting about a month ago. I took her to the vet within 2 days and she had a lot of yeast and a bit of bacteria. They sent me home with a 1-week prescription of Nylstatin for the yeast infection.
She started plucking a bit during this time, and I figured it was because she was stressed and bored. Stressed because of being sick and because she really didn't like the taste of the medicine.
I focused my attention on alleviating boredom, and have been trying to introduce foraging activities for her ever since, but it's slow-going because it's very hard making or finding toys that won't positively kill her and are the right size (online and local stores only have very large ones).
She also started molting all over her body during this time.
After the prescription period, she was still vomiting (though less) so I took her back, and the bacteria had grown, but almost all of the yeast had gone, so they sent me home with a bit more Nylstatin and 10 days of Baytril as well. By the end of the 10 days, most of her vomiting had gone but I still saw her bobbing her head a bit 1ce a day, so I continued giving it to her for 2 more days (the vet's nurse told me it should be OK) until I stopped on my own because I started wondering if all the scratching and plucking might be because of a reaction to the meds.
This is because for a few days in the middle, her feather-plucking stopped, but then it came back again, and it came back HARD! She's losing piles of feathers every single day. I think I'm losing my own hair counting. I sweep them off to come back and find 3 new ones underneath her. But here's the thing:
I am doubting it's just because of boredom now, because even when I'm in the middle of engaging her in some activity, and she's in a good mood, she'll stop suddenly and attack a certain spot on her body viciously like it's really bothering her. She also scratches at her head with her nails like it's really itchy. From what I've seen, habitual pluckers actually pluck, but she's scratching it all off. Even when the feathers on her body fall, they come off after she's scratched really hard at that area and I've never seen her take it out with her beak.
Up to now, I've been diagnosing it as boredom and so have been very intensely trying to distract her, and figured any itchiness was because she's now molting even heavier than before...all over her. My vet is closed until tomorrow but I already left a message yesterday requesting an appointment. I'll probably get one on Thursday, unfortunately, though I'll try for sooner.
The quality of her feathers also looks bad...she's got those small darkened stains on them that my vet once told me is a result of stress, and the hairs on them are looking un-together and scruffy. She's got small spots that are almost bald.
I'm realizing now it must be horrible itchiness... but what do you think??? Is there anything I can do to alleviate it until my vet's appointment?
Extra facts:
- She's around 6 months old.
- I never put her outside and I haven't seen any tick-looking creatures in her feathers. Question: if she did have ticks, would I also feel itchy, since she spends a lot of time nuzzled under my hair?
- There are no other birds in my house.
- I did try looking up these symptoms online, but I keep finding stuff about liver and kidney disease, and other really serious things that I will keep in mind but I don't see why she should have these things when she's so young and her diet's been... not very unvaried. Actually, here's the thing about her diet: she eats pellets, but since she started vomiting, I haven't been giving her fruits because of the sugar, as that's what my vet told me... so for one month she basically hasn't had fruit. I have only sometimes successfully fed her veggies, but she hasn't taken to them yet. I've also only a few times given her sprouted chickpeas and walnuts, but I heard nuts because of their fat-content should be given sparingly, so I've just been spending a lot of time figuring out what snacks I should give her. So her diet hasn't been the most varied (I'm working on it, though suggestions are welcome) but she shouldn't have gotten liver disease because of it, right?!
Thank you so much...I'm so stressed.
Okay, so Mazzy started vomiting about a month ago. I took her to the vet within 2 days and she had a lot of yeast and a bit of bacteria. They sent me home with a 1-week prescription of Nylstatin for the yeast infection.
She started plucking a bit during this time, and I figured it was because she was stressed and bored. Stressed because of being sick and because she really didn't like the taste of the medicine.
I focused my attention on alleviating boredom, and have been trying to introduce foraging activities for her ever since, but it's slow-going because it's very hard making or finding toys that won't positively kill her and are the right size (online and local stores only have very large ones).
She also started molting all over her body during this time.
After the prescription period, she was still vomiting (though less) so I took her back, and the bacteria had grown, but almost all of the yeast had gone, so they sent me home with a bit more Nylstatin and 10 days of Baytril as well. By the end of the 10 days, most of her vomiting had gone but I still saw her bobbing her head a bit 1ce a day, so I continued giving it to her for 2 more days (the vet's nurse told me it should be OK) until I stopped on my own because I started wondering if all the scratching and plucking might be because of a reaction to the meds.
This is because for a few days in the middle, her feather-plucking stopped, but then it came back again, and it came back HARD! She's losing piles of feathers every single day. I think I'm losing my own hair counting. I sweep them off to come back and find 3 new ones underneath her. But here's the thing:
I am doubting it's just because of boredom now, because even when I'm in the middle of engaging her in some activity, and she's in a good mood, she'll stop suddenly and attack a certain spot on her body viciously like it's really bothering her. She also scratches at her head with her nails like it's really itchy. From what I've seen, habitual pluckers actually pluck, but she's scratching it all off. Even when the feathers on her body fall, they come off after she's scratched really hard at that area and I've never seen her take it out with her beak.
Up to now, I've been diagnosing it as boredom and so have been very intensely trying to distract her, and figured any itchiness was because she's now molting even heavier than before...all over her. My vet is closed until tomorrow but I already left a message yesterday requesting an appointment. I'll probably get one on Thursday, unfortunately, though I'll try for sooner.
The quality of her feathers also looks bad...she's got those small darkened stains on them that my vet once told me is a result of stress, and the hairs on them are looking un-together and scruffy. She's got small spots that are almost bald.
I'm realizing now it must be horrible itchiness... but what do you think??? Is there anything I can do to alleviate it until my vet's appointment?
Extra facts:
- She's around 6 months old.
- I never put her outside and I haven't seen any tick-looking creatures in her feathers. Question: if she did have ticks, would I also feel itchy, since she spends a lot of time nuzzled under my hair?
- There are no other birds in my house.
- I did try looking up these symptoms online, but I keep finding stuff about liver and kidney disease, and other really serious things that I will keep in mind but I don't see why she should have these things when she's so young and her diet's been... not very unvaried. Actually, here's the thing about her diet: she eats pellets, but since she started vomiting, I haven't been giving her fruits because of the sugar, as that's what my vet told me... so for one month she basically hasn't had fruit. I have only sometimes successfully fed her veggies, but she hasn't taken to them yet. I've also only a few times given her sprouted chickpeas and walnuts, but I heard nuts because of their fat-content should be given sparingly, so I've just been spending a lot of time figuring out what snacks I should give her. So her diet hasn't been the most varied (I'm working on it, though suggestions are welcome) but she shouldn't have gotten liver disease because of it, right?!
Thank you so much...I'm so stressed.
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