African Grey still sick!

Hello I have a year and a half old African Grey named Rex. He started breathing heavily so I took him to his vet. They prescribed medication and he finished it all about 5 days ago. Yesterday he began panting and wobbling again. He isn't talking I can tell he is still sick and I do not know what to do. In my area there is literally ONE yes ONE avian vet, and he just went on vacation for 3 months. I am at a loss. The vet also told me he is over weight, he is extremely picky and HATES all veggies and fruit. I am in the process of trying all the new methods such as different forms, as well as baby food. I am sorry for the all over the place post I am just stressed and worried, and literally do not know what to do anymore. If there are any suggestions please help me. Again before someone suggests an Avian vet I have tried and tried there are none within a 4 hour radius of me. Thank you very much in advance.
Sydney

Get him back in to see the Vet and assure that your Vet will interact with the Avian Medical Professional. 12 month ago, FaceTime or like technology was rare in the Vet World, today its standard.

Does /can your Vet comfortably take a full spectrum blood sample. ASK!
Does/ can your Vet complete a gram stain. ASK!

The Avian Professional will likely ask for other tests! Will your Vet provide those tests? ASK!

Get Your Parrot in the Vet ASAP! Call them stating your Parrot is Sick Again!
Reaction time is critical!!! Call Now!

Sydney, I'm so sorry your grey is not feeling well. It's scary for sure. Is there any possibility that you might be able to do a virtual visit or a phone consult with a vet? With covid restrictions, many offices have started doing that. Worth checking in to, and it takes distance out of the equation. Wish I could be of more help. Prayers and positive thoughts heading your way. Please keep us updated!

Welcome, very sorry to know Rex may be acutely sick. Assertive advice suggested by Sailboat directly above this post is your best offense. Your next best bet may be an "Exotics" vet within reasonable distance. Exotics often have good experience, ability to draw blood, and pharmacy of effective meds. How to search for avian vets - some may be "exotic" qualified: https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

I could speculate about causation from excess weight and/or diet, infection, etc, but veterinary assessment most pressing need. Lab studies of prime importance for proper diagnosis and effective therapies.

Wishing Rex the very best, please keep us updated!

I am not a vet.
But African grey’s can easily suffer from calcium deficiency
The wobbly stance could be related to that.
I don’t know if calcium deficiency can cause breathing problems.

Hello everyone, I am new so could not see how to reply individually. I called every vet within my area to ask for exotic vet per recommendation. They were either all booked out or would not see parrots. I called the specialist he usually sees and they said they left a message for him to get in touch, but is out of the country. I am very frustrated as I keep getting turned away vet after vet. I do not really know what to do but am truly considering driving 12 hours to his vet in California before we moved 6 months ago. I even had one vet say she was not comfortable seeing rex because she had only ever clipped wings. I am at a loss. I have been keeping him warm his wobbly stance has gotten much better, but I just feel like I need to get him back in but nobody will give me the time of day. I will continue to update, and any further suggestions I would appreciate. Trust me if I could take him to a vet right now I would.
Sydney

For sure the vet that is standing in while yiur vet is on vacation can help,

What medication was he on? Its possible just needs an extended dose. I myself hsve 7 sick birds, with Chlamydia. They had a full treatment, then relapsed 10 days later, and niw are halfway through a second round of treatment and doing well so far.

For my sickest birds I had to hand feed bsby bird formula. Most liked it and took eagerly if it was warm and thick like greek yogurt almost to thick to draw up in a syringe.

If your bird is eating a seed only diet, then he will be low on many needed nutrients, like Vitamin A and as above calcium. These effect the respiratory system and immune system.

As baby bird formula is nutritionally complete. Feeding some as nutritional support might help.

I suggest to aldo feed some Greek yogurt with Acidophilus as one of the live cultures. It also will provide some calcium and vitamin D. My burds will link it off my finger. I think a half teaspoon to a teaspoon is good. You can do daily for at least week since he has been on antibiotics. If the restart the antibiotics then continue daily until he finishes them. And then a couple of times a week. I have and am doing this with great success. It helped mine who developed loose stool from the antibiotics.

Warmth is very important for sick birds. 80-90 f . I use a radiant heat panel called tge sweeter heater. There are other similar options. Do not use a heat lamp, nasty things that lead to so many burned birds.

Warm cooked sweet potatoes are a great source of vitamin A, many parrots will eat. Also many parrots like cooked oatmeal, and you can grind up pellets dampen thrm with a small amount of apple juice and mix into the oatmeal. I also suggest a little boiled egg, has vitamin B and E, and protein .

Regardless of him being overweight, birds loose weight when sick. You dont want him to loose weight that way. So have a kitchen scale abd track his weight daily.

I would like to see him and his poop. A quick way to share a picture is click go advanced under text box, click paperclip choose oic, hut upload on far right, when loaded close window and post. Pic attach as thumbnail under text.

This is good info for sick burds
https://www.littlecrittersvet.com/sick-birds.pml

From above article
" African Greys: Are often subject to calcium deficiency and will require higher calcium content in their diet then other birds. The best way to provide this is by providing calcium rich foods such as cheeses and yogurt in moderation. Almonds are also a good source of calcium for birds."

I also add you can feed the boiled egg with a little crushed shell. My birds will eat the egg shell sometimes, abd us a source of calcium

The other vets at the office are not avian or exotic. Although he did email me and said the avian vet in a few towns over about 3 hours will see him on Monday for me. I am hating this town we have moved to more and more! Here I am attaching a picture of him. Just so everyone knows he has a WAYYYYYY bigger cage but the vet told me to keep him in a smaller one lower to the ground for a few weeks to lower the risk of him falling. I just don't want people to think he has a tiny cage because he has a very large cage usually.

Keeping him low to the ground is a good idea if he is unstable when perching.

Poop pic?
Is he fluffed? I dont care about cage sizes, but he needs a big thick perch to rest on abd us more supportive, can relax better

Ok ill check tomorrow. I'm going off for the night

He has perches on the inside he just prefers to sit up there lately. Here is a picture of his poop.

Its pretty green. Can be a sign not eating enough, or bacterial infection, or liver Inflammation.

What does he eat?

If he is preferring to sit higher, offer something better to perch on up there. Hopefully he would choose that...I know parrots can be goofy, but he needs to be on something better

He has perches on the inside he just keeps going up there for some reason. Here is his poop.

A cage that is sitting low to begin with, it is not uncommon for a Parrot to move to a higher perch to get above the cooler zone near the floor. assure that the perch height is level with your heart when standing. This will get him into a warmer zone.

May need to provide additional warmth to his area.