Really need some advice/help! =(

Hey guys,

I need some advice from the community. I recently became the proud mama to two 6 month old BHC boys Marco and Pollo. I brought them to the vets a week after they got home and turns out Marco had some gram -ve bacteria in the stool and Pollo had a white count of 18, 000.

It was decided to put both of them on Baytril x 2 weeks. That was done. Marco took the medication well with some juice, Pollo took most of his dose but did spit out some but for the majority took most of the meds.

We repeated the tests after the treatment, Marco was cleared/stool clean but Pollo's blood still had a white count of 18,000 UNCHANGED!! and a slight monocyte count which could mean a more chronic ?infection now.

The vet now suggested a 2 week treatment of Septra Antibiotics and see what happens.

The vet bills are getting ridiculous now with the initial exam and medication and repeat blood work, it's already somehow over 1k CAD (she's the only avian vet in eastern Ontario).

I'm just not so sure anymore what we are trying to accomplish.....Veterinary medicine is clearly not evidence based medicine like human medicine.

I have a fair amount of knowledge in human medicine, and I know for a fact that a lot of things that we do to treat animals we definitely don't to human. Experience has taught me that treating unnecessarily actually do more harm.

I just want some advice on what to do next.... and if anybody has any experience regarding something similar please tell!!!

if the next blood work still shows a white count....am I really going to blindly treat him with another antibiotics, do all these screening tests and X rays that was suggested?

He appears as healthy as can be, eating like a pig, playing non stop. I know that birds tend to hide theire illnesses. I definitely want the best for them but this is a little fraustrating...

Some infections can be difficult to treat. When we first got our amazon, he has a long-term low grade infection and it took 2 rounds of antibiotics for him to finally kick it. That plus all his other tests to rule out more serious illnesses was not cheap! He has been in perfect health since then though. I'm glad we found and treated the infection immediately and completely or the vet bills may have been much more if the infection progressed or worse, he succumbed to it at some point.

If it were my bird, I would just get the infection treated. add up *as* quickly from here on out (though AV's are VERY expensive). Best of luck!

Baytril is usually the first round given, as it is inexpensive and often works. However it is not uncommon for pet birds to need a round of another treatment as well, especially because it sounds like the medication was not given efficiently and he may have actually ingested very little of it. When medicating my birds, I always restrain and use a syringe unless the bird will take every drop without that. Now, I have hand feeding experience and know how not to aspirate my bird. Perhaps the vet can show you how? Make sure they show you how far back you need to put the tip no order to prevent aspiration. If the bird doesn't actually take the meds you will just end up wasting money and the bird will remain sick.

Once I had a vet who allowed me to bring my little one in to administer the antibiotics for me. Would they accept to do that?

Thanks everyone for the advice... I'm going to give him the meds best as I can, I think maybe instead of mixing in juice, I'll towel him to make sure he is getting it but even the experience vet techs says he's a "busy" guy...... And had trouble restraining him......

If only I could bring him in for the meds.... Timing doesn't really work well for me to do that.

I guess I'm just afraid to repeat the bloodwork after this next round of antibiotics and still find a white count....

Of course I want the best for my little guy....I'm just afraid I'll hurt him more with all of these antibiotics and stress of medication and blood work...

Vets know a lot, but don't be afraid to do your own research and bring your findings to the vet for his opinion...