At The Vet

[Rik398]

Hi folks. I am new on here so hope that this is posted in the 'correct' section.

I have a sun conure (jenday conure... think they are the same thing) and he is 11 years old at the moment, and never had any problems or need to go to the vets at any point in her life.

However, the bird developed a tendancy to hide under the newspaper at the bottom of the cage, and made a few strange noises. I was concerned that this was egg laying behaviour, and it had been going on for a couple of weeks, so concerned about egg binding I took her to the vets.

The good news: No egg found in xray
The bad news: Fairly low white blood cell count.

The Vet said that normal range is 7-14... and my parrot had 1. He didn't seem massivley concerned, and I am picking up some pills tommorow.

Problem is... all this blood testing and investigation is bound to turn up something. The bird is perfectly fine, active, loud as ever (always been noisey) happy to get out the cage and run around, still eating and drinking normally, and the x ray showed nothing to be worried about at all, the Vet said the bird is in good condition, and all other blood test criteria came out normal.

So what is going on? No symptoms, just nothing. If it was not for the test, I would have no reason to worry.

I have heard a low white blood count can be really serious? Or could it just be that she had a cold or something and has only just got over it?

any suggestions?

Thanks very much.

 

[suebee]

all i know id that birds when ill will only show symptoms when they are at deaths door

ask the vet what could of caused this to prevent it happening without her showing any signs, also was it an avian vet

an welcome to the forum an pics please

 

[Rik398]

Yeah it was an Avian Spe******t. Was a professor at a university for a while.

But yeah it is quite worrying. The birds liver and lungs and all that came up on the x ray and he said that it was all perfectly good. And everything else came back normal... except the white blood cell.

Surley there would be some symptoms... I have heard of conures having wet noses as a sign of a cold for example

I will get some pics up asap

 

[cdog]

First off, jendays are not the same as sun conures. Second do you take your bird to the vet for an anual check up? You need to take your bird to the vet at least once a year to make sure everything is ok, the vet could have caught the low white blood cell count earlier if you had taken him for an manual check up.
Parrots are prey animals so they have adapted to not show signs of illness until they are about to die.

 

[Rik398]

Well that makes sense.

And no, like I say first time he has been in 11 years. That sounds stupid now, but nobody told me anything about having to take them to the vets once a year, and a pet is not generally something I would feel the need to ask online about until something was wrong. I even got a couple of books on it and they didn't mention yearly check ups.

What could be causing low white blood cell count?

 

[Mayden]

Low white blood count is a sign of a virus, wheras high white blood is a sign of bacterial infection.

What pills is he giving you?

Sun conures and jendays are different, if you post a pic we can probably tell you which you have

 

[Rik398]

Anti-Biotics. Says a quarter of a pill twice a day ground up. I am assuming that this is a safety measure to prevent any further potential illness whilst the count is low? Mainly becuase I am faily sure that anti-biotics are no good for viruses, and more for infection purposes.

He said to pick them up tommorow. I have an exam tommorow so my mother is picking them up. Hopefully I will know more by that time.

I will see if I have a picture ready to go or not.

 

[Beako_N_Kiwi]

So sorry to hear. I hope everything is okay. We are still learning a bunch about our birds. One is sick and needs bloodwork done often! It gets scarey, and we are always picking our brain. Good luck!

 

[MikeyTN]

You could ask for liquid form as they would mix it with something tasty that the bird is more willing to accept. Then you will need to measure it with a syringe and syringe feed your bird the meds.

 

[Rik398]

It is difficult. The vet just seemed so void of affection that it was hard to tell if it was particulalry bad news or not, and how serious it was or is not. I am sticking with the pill option as the bird is not fussy about food in any way. I may be able to mix it or something anyway.

Hope the picture worked.

As I said I just need a gauge of the seriousness or what can be done about it really.

 

[MikeyTN]

That would be a Jenday. You'd be amazed on how fussy they can be with meds! Meds are bitter....

 

[Rik398]

Yeah gunna see how the pills go and then the Vet said that they have most stuff on site so they can change to liquid if needed.

This whole not showing symptoms until its too late things is scary. I mean... what do you do? You can't exactly take the bird for blood tests every 5 mins, in fact, the Vet said that it was fairly risky taking blood. In which case... it is risky to check on the birds health? crazy.

So basically... Low white blood cell count is due to a virus?

Would that mean that she currently has one at the moment? or would that mean that she is getting over one? and how do anti-biotics help if it is a virus?

It is all rather confusing to be honest.

 

[cdog]

What is his diet like?

 

[Spiritbird]

A decrease in the WBC count is called leukopenia. The most common causes of this include acute viral infections and the end stages of blood poisoning. Is there another avian vet in that office you could get a second opinion from? Not a good thing for an avian doc not to establish rapport with a bird or guardian.

 

[Rik398]

Diet is ok as far as I know. The food I use is basically like a millet seed thing with sunflower seeds. Its like what a budgie would eat with some other stuff mixed in, Vet said that was fine. On top of that is grapes every so often and oranges. Quite likes a piece of tomato given the chance.

Bannana is a definate no no, as is apple. Other than that most things really.

Likes Kiwi but I dont often have than in, mainly becuase I generally hate the stuff.

But yeah basically seed and ocasional fruit. She needs to be in the right mood for fruit but once she is it goes down quick lol. But fruit a couple of times a week, and general seed mix.

Also has one of those calcium cuttle fish in there and some of those things that are like seeds stuck to a stick you hang from the cage.

 

[Rik398]

He is the only avian Vet there. It is a tiny Vet practice in the middle of a tiny little village.

I just don't understand why anti-biotics have been given if its is something like blood posining. How would she have got it and does that basically mean she is dying?

 

[cdog]

That is not a good diet. He needs to be on pellets with fresh fruits and veggies every day. He also needs eggs once a week, pastas, and beans. Why is bannana and apple a no no? Grapes are mostly water so hedoesnt need much of those. But melons, papaya, green veggies and orange veggies are all great for them. That is not a good vet if he tells you that seeds are a good diet.

 

[Rik398]

I will grab some stuff on the way back tommorow.

The Vet guy seems to know what he is talking about but yeah it seems everywhere you turn you seem to get conflicting advice.

Could diet then be a potential contributing factor towards low white blood cell count?

 

[Rik398]

Ok update time.

GOOD NEWS

I managed to crush up the quarter of a pill into half a grape, and its good news in that he ate it just as easily a he would if t was not there. So there is no need to go to the drops.

I have found something on another forum that says that Bee Pollen is good for their immune system, and can help bring up WBC count. I had a look in the journal of Immunology & Molecular Biology and there are several papers that seem to agree with this (I get free access to scientific journals due to University)

POTENTIAL BAD NEWS

The vet mentioned that 'it could be the case that he has stoped producing white blood cells'. Now... this is obviously bad news if it is true, But at the same time I find it rather the over reaction when we sont know what is causing it yet... so to jump streight to that conclusion seems a bit strange to me.

Secondly, my girlfriend has developed tonselitus. Bearing in mind the low WBC Count of the bird, it is obviously best to keep the bird away from any kind of potential illness. Can the bird cath something or be infected in anyway by someone with tonselitus? sounds strange I know but rather paranoid at the moment due to the birds low immune system

Thanks again. I appreciate that you all use your spare time to try and help other with there problems.

 

[Rik398]

we have the pills now and we aree mixing them in with half a grape and she loves it, she is actually licking the mushy powder of the grape first them going in for the kill of the grape, we read somewhere that bee pollen is good for there immunity and and fether pluking and more but she seems to love that to, its like cats with cat nip, and im not sure how much she should be having, i know its good stuff for them like a super powered pill, but surly there is a limit, cuz if not she would eat the whole lot if she could