baby bird vomited—what do I do?

[Francie Mae]

Hey guys, sorry for the amount of posts. This continues to be a journey.

My 3 month old galah threw up after flying around (it is highly possible that pressure was applied to her crop during landing/when trying to help her) and now she’s sneezing and seems sleepy. It’s close to her bedtime but I’m worried something is wrong.

Mischief ate about an hour and a half ago. She was acting notably more agitated than normal, but we figured it was because it’s close to her bedtime. I didn’t want to put her in her cage right away because I didn’t want it to seem like punishment. She likes music, especially piano, so I played for her and she immediately calmed down. Right when I stopped playing she started flying in circles around the room, which is very unusual for her. Maybe because she’s not as familiar with the room the piano is in.

She kept trying to land on picture frames on the walls and losing her balance. Her landings were rough and she was freaking out, so my dad had to intervene and help her off a picture frame. I’m worried that he squeezed her crop because she threw up on me.

Since then, she’s been sitting on her cage, beak clicking and making her normal little squeaks. But she’s also been sneezing since then (been about twenty minutes since she threw up), which makes me concerned about aspiration. She also keeps closing her eyes, but again, it’s close to her bedtime.

Edit: she’s now showing interest/nibbling on her kibble

Does anyone have any insight on this?

 

[Francie Mae]

I’m waiting to be contacted by an online 24/7 vet clinic. We’re monitoring her. She’s crying for food now, but we took her kibble away after she had a few bites because we weren’t sure if it was a good idea for her to immediately start eating after vomiting. I tried to listen to her breathing for wheezing but she just started screaming for food when I got close to her.

Even if she seems fine now, I’m still worried about her developing aspiration pneumonia, especially because she’s sneezing. I know it’s important for her to sleep but I’m hesitating putting her to bed because I don’t want to find her really sick or worse in the morning.

 

[TiredOldMan]

If she is hungry I would feed her.
I understand your concerns about aspiration and possible complications. If she is breathing normally and it's just an occasional sneeze then I wouldn't be too concerned.
If you are worried than by all means stay up with her. I know we all try to keep a somewhat rigid routine but occasionally we will stay up WAY after our appointed bed time for various reasons.
I would see what the online vet says and if you are still worried contact your regular vet asap tomorrow.
I know it's not much help or comfort but it's the best I have.
Keep us posted please

 

[Francie Mae]

If she is hungry I would feed her.
I understand your concerns about aspiration and possible complications. If she is breathing normally and it's just an occasional sneeze then I wouldn't be too concerned.
If you are worried than by all means stay up with her. I know we all try to keep a somewhat rigid routine but occasionally we will stay up WAY after our appointed bed time for various reasons.
I would see what the online vet says and if you are still worried contact your regular vet asap tomorrow.
I know it's not much help or comfort but it's the best I have.
Keep us posted please

Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I’ll keep you guys posted.

She’s in her cage with the door closed and the light in that part of the room is off, but we haven’t covered her cage as we want to keep an eye on her. However my mom is going to cover her now because Mischief is getting frustrated with her toys the way she does close to bedtime when she’s feeling grouchy. But she has been playing with her toys and doing her normal whistling/squawking. Her ‘signature sound’ is ‘woo, woo!’ and she’s been doing that as well.

The vet said if she’s behaving normally then there isn’t too much cause for concern. She said to just keep an eye on her and listen for irregular breathing or wheezing. I have the best hearing out of all of us but she screams when she sees me, so my mom has to check. She said she isn’t breathing strangely from what she can tell.

Here’s a picture of her I just took right now while she was doing that ‘feed me’ swaying that babies do. Her crest is up and she’s energetic.

 

[TiredOldMan]

Sorry Francie, geezers tend to go to bed early
I'm glad she seems okay

She sure is a cutie!

 

[Francie Mae]

Sorry Francie, geezers tend to go to bed early
I'm glad she seems okay

She sure is a cutie!

Haha no worries! I usually go to bed early too, actually.

And yeah she’s such a pretty bird I’m glad you agree.

Health update wise, she was being extra rambunctious this morning. She seems to be extra agitated if she can’t find her balance when perched on the couch and will start screaming and stretching her wings out like it’s the universe’s fault. She’s silly. She seems healthy and energetic, though. Right now my mom is playing the piano for her and she’s pretty entranced as far as I can tell. She screams if we hit the wrong note for songs she’s never heard before. It’s like she recognizes that it’s dissonant.

 

[TiredOldMan]

Chester the M2 just melts for the blues and classical. I guess the old saying is true "music hath charms to sooth the savage beast" or something like that.
I very glad she seems fine today.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

When a baby bird aspirates food he becomes very ill pretty quickly and refuses to eat. A young man I was helping a couple years ago was handfeeding a 4 week old baby cockatiel and had a feeding accident with a syringe. The baby got very sick and died less than two days later. That's one reason I always tell people not to syringe feed.
Keep us posted.