HELP !!! My African Grey WON'T eat

[noodles123]

SO glad to hear he's eating again!!!

Long term, I am still worried that you don't have a vet that can check a gram stain..Do they just flat-out refuse to do anything more than look at birds in the office?
A gram-stain is basically staining some of the sample on a slide and looking at it under a simple microscope to identify types of bacteria...many of which are common in other animals...
Not sure how a vet could NOT have a microscope.

https://www.microscope.com/education-center/how-to-guides/grams-stain/

 

[zedindiano]

SO glad to hear he's eating again!!!

Long term, I am still worried that you don't have a vet that can check a gram stain..Do they just flat-out refuse to do anything more than look at birds in the office?
A gram-stain is basically staining some of the sample on a slide and looking at it under a simple microscope to identify types of bacteria...many of which are common in other animals...
Not sure how a vet could NOT have a microscope.

https://www.microscope.com/education-center/how-to-guides/grams-stain/

I know the vet that I last visited yesterday has a Microscope in their office but when I tried to ask them, they said that they don't have the requirements tools for gram stains so I can't say anymore :')
But in the future I will ask again if there's a vet that can do and hopefully there's one

 

[noodles123]

I understand-- they can be super stubborn about that stuff (especially if they are worried they could get sued or something)

If you can't find an actual avian vet, when shopping for a vet here are some of the most important things your vet should be able to do:
1. can do gram stains
2. could trim beak/nails (safely) if needed--someone who has done it on birds numerous times.
3. someone who can take blood without having to put your bird under anesthesia. An avian vet usually will take blood from a vein. Sometimes less-experienced vets with birds will take it from a toe-nail (which can still work, but that is more painful for the bird and it can be harder to get the bleeding to stop afterward).
4. Someone who could do crop swabs and cultures.
5. Could remove a broken blood feather if needed.
6. This one is LESS important, but still important--- do an X-RAY

Now, AVIAN vets can do MUCH more than these things, but an exotics vet (where I am) can at least do items 1-6.

My parents live in a small town and none of the vets there will even agree to trim nails because they just don't have enough experience with parrots...so when I visit them, the potential for any emergency makes me nervous because it would be at least 30 minutes to an exotics vet and an hour + to the nearest avian vet.

If you absolutely cannot find an avian vet within a few hours of you, try to find an exotics vet that sees a lot of parrots, BUT with exotics vets, it is very important to double check what they tell you with other sources (be it websites, other vets over the phone etc). There are often avian vets in big cities and they will sometimes answer your questions even if you aren't a patient (you can just call without telling them you don't actually live in the area LOL--or explain that you are desperate because there are no avian vets near you)

I know you don't have a veterinary degree- neither do I lol! But in the past, there were a few exotics vets who told me some questionable things about Noodles that turned out to be incorrect--and they sometimes are unaware of the impacts that certain medicines can have on birds..so just research what they give you or suggest before you do it (unless that is not a possibility and you are pretty confident in their abilities).

Often times, with exotics vets, you also have to push for your own testing because they are not as trained in identifying all of the possible issues in a bird, so if you already have done your research, you can explain what you are worried about and then they may decide that you could be correct and test etc.

On a semi-related (but kind of random) note:
**If you don't already have it on-hand, in case you ever have a bleeding emergency, I would get some corn-starch so that you could try to temporarily stop bleeding yourself on a broken feather, as you can't wait for a bleeding bird to stop bleeding in many cases** This has nothing to do with your bird's current situation, but it popped into my head when think about emergencies.

 

[Ira7]

On a semi-related (but kind of random) note:
**If you don't already have it on-hand, in case you ever have a bleeding emergency, I would get some corn-starch so that you could try to temporarily stop bleeding yourself on a broken feather, as you can't wait for a bleeding bird to stop bleeding in many cases** This has nothing to do with your bird's current situation, but it popped into my head when think about emergencies.

Ooooooohhhhhhh!!!

Good to know!!!

 

[noodles123]

On a semi-related (but kind of random) note:
**If you don't already have it on-hand, in case you ever have a bleeding emergency, I would get some corn-starch so that you could try to temporarily stop bleeding yourself on a broken feather, as you can't wait for a bleeding bird to stop bleeding in many cases** This has nothing to do with your bird's current situation, but it popped into my head when think about emergencies.

Ooooooohhhhhhh!!!

Good to know!!!

It's a temporary fix, but it's better than just waiting.