Im taking my bird back to the vet. He is a 10 month old male eclectus, who is going through his first moult.

We went to the vet about 3 weeks ago, where his bacteria was good in his stool sample but yeast spores were slightly up. He was also skinny, but active and seemingly healthy. BUT I didnt get the usual vet and I was dubious at the vet who did see him, who apparently is an experienced avian vet but, as she kepty referring to my bright green boy as a girl, i got the idea she wasnt very experienced with eccies.

So, he is still happy and ctive, but I have a couple of concerns.

1. His feather have lost their sheen and have started to get black lines on them, which look too neat to be damage from his active play etc. The new feathers coming through from the moult are initially iridescent green but slowly lose their sheen over a few days.

2. He has exhibited a runny 'nose', wet feathers around the cere and, watery, clesar 'drool' from his mouth. I watched him carefully but it went away after one day.

3. His keel bone is very very prominent, and he just looks a bit 'rough'. The last vet seems to think he had just lost a bit from the moult, but I have been feeding him a LOT of extra weight gaining foods and he eats like a horse but if anything, has lost a little more.

I suspect he may have some kind of low grade infection, and probably respiratory/ fungal from the elevated yeast spores.

I so cant afford it but I am taking him in on friday to be on the safeside. Does anyone have any idea what these symptoms might be exhibiting?

He is not 'sick' as yet, but I feel like there must be something wrong with him. My cockateil died recently in similar circumstances - ie, weight loss then she got stressed (got out), I got her back but she died at the vet after 3 days in an incubator. She showed no response to antibiotics such as pittavet.

Ideas? The right questions to ask the vet? Im seeing the proper one on friday.

Thanks!

I think I would trust my 1st instincts. Sometimes we know w/o knowing how we know. Good luck.

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From your description & your Vet appointment being on Friday I would get some Nylstat Oral drops from the Chemist & give him 4 drops into the mouth 3 times a day. Thats for thrush. Also get some Vetafarm Probotics either put it in his water or sprinkled on the fruit & veg. I usually use passionfruit for this. This will help fight any bugs & may help between now & your visit. These 2 products will not hurt him in fact it could save his life.



A pic would be handy as the black color on the feathers are stress or diet related. If you think URD then i would have him checked out for Vitamin A deficiency.

If Nylstat is nystatin, it cannot be purchased in th US without a prescription. Best to see the vet.

Hope he'll be okay.

You are definately NOT paranoid. Follow your instinct. I have heard of these symptoms before but can't recall where. I recently rescued an SI male Ekkie a few days ago. I have a Blue and Gold Macaw and also rescued a Crimson Male Rosella. One thing I do know....if you notice ANYTHING abnormal, you should be concerned. In the wild, when they are ill, it is instinct for them to hide the fact that they feel like crap because they become easy prey that way. That being said, If you notice he just isn't himself? Take him In! You won't be sorry. There is definitely something going on. Trust your gut.

Shaunna/funkygrl

mrob, how did the vet visit go. I have been wondering how your baby is.

Hope all is well.

Hello Everyone!

So we went off to the vet. I found the nilstat eye drops at the chemist and cant get probiotics here, but im hunting for an australian online store that will ship the out here - thanks for that advice Pedro! I feel a lot better having something on hand to treat him straight away if things go wrong.

Turns out, vet said everything was ok. I had a much more experienced vet this time which was good. Gizo has actually gained about 15 grams since we started the weight gain regime, and is looking much better now he is further through his moult. His yeast spores have dropped right back (vet thinks they were up because my fiancee had been feeding Gizmo pizza cfrust the night before the test) and his stool sample was pretty much perfect, as was his bloodwork.

His feathers that were dull and with stress bars have pretty much all fallen out now, and his new ones are back to their normal beauty. So i guess i was being a little paranoid! The vet said he seemed like a very healthy happy bird but that they would do tests anyway, which all came back perfect.
Although, just to be on the safe side, we had another swab taken for chlamydia which should come back soonish. As for the runny cere - as it was only exhibited for a short time over 1 day the vet said it was probably due to a physical issue such as a seed caught and the runnyness was to dislodge it.

In saying all that, we have had a change of routine here which has led to him breaking some shafts of his tail feathers, which is very distressing for him and his mama!! I used to be home all day everyday studying, but now university has finished for the year I have had to be out all day working. He is good at entertaining himself and I have been leaving him plenty to do, but the adjustnent period has been a little stressful for him. Hopefully he stops this behaviour soon or we will have to investigate further - diet and bloodwork are all fine so im leaning toward routine vhange for the cause.

My vet wants me to move him onto pellets, which I have been reluctant to do as he has exhibited toe tappig in the past, although the vet seemed to think this wasnt too much of a problem if he just gets a small amount combined with his usual fruit/vege/soft food/nuts/sprout mix.


So I feel much much better about thngs (and much poorer!). He seems to be all AOK but I will keep a close eye onthe feather issue, and introduce a few pellets in here and there and see how they affect him.

Thank you all for your advice, its great to have this resource available. I think I may have vbeen a bit paranoid after losing my Teil but better safe than sorry I think - Im absolutey in love with my little green monster and want to do the best I can for him!