Pantoea overgrowth

Hey guys, I am curious if any you have experience with Pantoea. Rosie, our 1 year old military macaw, has an overgrowth of this bacteria. She's been losing weight and our vet thinks that she's had it for quite awhile and no one noticed because she was so good at hiding it.

This past week we put her on batryl and she almost passed away from being so malnourished and not eating or drinking for about 3 days. She wouldn't have anything to do with hand-feeding until the 4th day and now she is taking formula like a champ and beginning to put weight back on. She is much more lively and is getting back to her mischievous self again. Her feces have improved greatly as well and are coils with super white urates again, no more diarrhea.

My question/worry is that there is an underlying issue that is causing her illness and the bacterial overgrowth was almost a side effect. From what I've read about the Pantoea bacteria is that it's pretty rare to have an overgrowth and it is a bacteria, like e. coli, that resides in their gut. I am in a catch 22 because she is still weak and drawing enough blood to test for liver and kidney disease as well as viral infections may be too much for her at this point. I'm really excited that she seems to be improving rapidly, but I'm nervous that the bacteria is not the main cause. Any insight would be great.

I don't know that Baytril is the best antibiotic to use....

What about something like Doxycycline? (I don't know if that's the best either, but may be better than Baytril?)

Looked it up online, and it said that the bacteria could come from contaminated soil, seeds or even fruits. I don't know if that's helpful or not, but maybe it will give you clues as to where to look?


I hope she makes a full recovery!

MonicaMc said:

I don't know that Baytril is the best antibiotic to use....

What about something like Doxycycline? (I don't know if that's the best either, but may be better than Baytril?)

Looked it up online, and it said that the bacteria could come from contaminated soil, seeds or even fruits. I don't know if that's helpful or not, but maybe it will give you clues as to where to look?


I hope she makes a full recovery!

Click to expand...

I did forget to mention that she is on both baytril and doxycyline.

In talking to everyone, I'm not so much concerned about the root cause as we keep a really clean environment and it looks like that bacteria can be found in just about everything that she has the chance to come in contact with on a daily basis. It sounds like a fluke thing and with her being a young bird, it's just something that can happen. I'm more worried about the possible underlying causes without being able to tell for sure right now. With the condition she is in I don't want to risk taking blood.