Concerning Conure Behavioral Change

[Jacob1302]

My pearly conure (2 years old), has recently had a Behavioral change and I'm a little concerned about it.

I need to preface this that I have extremely bad anxiety when it comes to my bird, and even the slightest change ill freak out over, so this might be nothing. 3 days ago I had the day off work, and was at home all day with my bird, he's usually very feisty, but all he wanted to do was sit on my shoulder and sleep, he still ate and drank like normal, but instead of playing like he normally does he just slept, I assumed he just didn't get a very good sleep the night prior, but yesterday and today has been the same. I'm beginning to be quite concerned. When I take out his treat jar he springs back up, does our training, eats his treat and then goes back to sleeping, about a week ago he was molting, I'm not sure if that would explain the change in behavior or not. The only avian vet in my town is closed on Sundays so I'm going to make an appointment as soon as possible. but has anyone experienced something similar, and is this warranted for me to drive to the city to take him to the emergency vet? or am I freaking out over nothing?

Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

P.S Something I just thought of, on Friday the air quality dropped by a good bit and is supposed to remain very smoky until Tuesday , I have Air conditioning and a HEPA air filter in his room, so I don't think that would be it but there's a chance.

 

[LaManuka]

My pearly conure (2 years old), has recently had a Behavioral change and I'm a little concerned about it.

I need to preface this that I have extremely bad anxiety when it comes to my bird, and even the slightest change ill freak out over, so this might be nothing. 3 days ago I had the day off work, and was at home all day with my bird, he's usually very feisty, but all he wanted to do was sit on my shoulder and sleep, he still ate and drank like normal, but instead of playing like he normally does he just slept, I assumed he just didn't get a very good sleep the night prior, but yesterday and today has been the same. I'm beginning to be quite concerned. When I take out his treat jar he springs back up, does our training, eats his treat and then goes back to sleeping, about a week ago he was molting, I'm not sure if that would explain the change in behavior or not. The only avian vet in my town is closed on Sundays so I'm going to make an appointment as soon as possible. but has anyone experienced something similar, and is this warranted for me to drive to the city to take him to the emergency vet? or am I freaking out over nothing?

Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

P.S Something I just thought of, on Friday the air quality dropped by a good bit and is supposed to remain very smoky until Tuesday , I have Air conditioning and a HEPA air filter in his room, so I don't think that would be it but there's a chance.

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this with your conure, @Jacob1302, and believe me, I share your anxiety over my birds' health! Nothing worse than feeling like there's something wrong and they can't tell us exactly what it is!

I have a princess parrot called Peach who experienced a day last week similar to yours, she was still eating very well but in all other aspects she was just not herself. She would have bursts of activity during the day but spent a lot of time fluffed up and napping, so I bundled her off to the vet. Unfortunately she has had a bit of a history with psittacosis, this can be a condition that lies dormant in pet birds, and spring up months or even years later. Not saying your bird has it but it is a relatively common condition that owners often don't know about unless it's specifically tested for. Peachie has perked up considerably now that she's started a course of antibiotic injections, but sadly i am still waiting for the results of her test to come back so I'm not sure if that's what we're dealing with, though my most excellent avian vet suspects that it is. So I think you are wise to trust your gut and make that appointment with your vet. Hopefully a moult is what's causing your baby to be less than his usually feisty self, but for your peace of mind I think a trip to the vet is warranted.

I hope this helps, and I wish you and your little one all the very best!! 🙏

 

[Jacob1302]

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this with your conure, @Jacob1302, and believe me, I share your anxiety over my birds' health! Nothing worse than feeling like there's something wrong and they can't tell us exactly what it is!

I have a princess parrot called Peach who experienced a day last week similar to yours, she was still eating very well but in all other aspects she was just not herself. She would have bursts of activity during the day but spent a lot of time fluffed up and napping, so I bundled her off to the vet. Unfortunately she has had a bit of a history with psittacosis, this can be a condition that lies dormant in pet birds, and spring up months or even years later. Not saying your bird has it but it is a relatively common condition that owners often don't know about unless it's specifically tested for. Peachie has perked up considerably now that she's started a course of antibiotic injections, but sadly i am still waiting for the results of her test to come back so I'm not sure if that's what we're dealing with, though my most excellent avian vet suspects that it is. So I think you are wise to trust your gut and make that appointment with your vet. Hopefully a moult is what's causing your baby to be less than his usually feisty self, but for your peace of mind I think a trip to the vet is warranted.

I hope this helps, and I wish you and your little one all the very best!! 🙏

Thank you for the reply,
I truly wish the best for Peach, Your response is very informative, and has helped me be a little bit less stressed.

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you for the reply,
I truly wish the best for Peach, Your response is very informative, and has helped me be a little bit less stressed.

You're most welcome, and thank you for your wishes for my Princess Peachie! I'm happy to have been able to help you a bit, and I hope you'll keep us posted as to how your little one is doing 💝

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Perhaps it's the time of year? For the last week my birds have been acting a bit like this, they're very subdued and usually they're really energetic and noisy. Yesterday my green cheek conure had a nap when I put her in the cage to go to work which she has never done before! Even my budgies are a lot calmer than usual. I do think it's the change in seasons for mine but a vet visit is a good idea to make sure

 

[Jacob1302]

You're most welcome, and thank you for your wishes for my Princess Peachie! I'm happy to have been able to help you a bit, and I hope you'll keep us posted as to how your little one is doing 💝

An Update:

I took the little guy to the vet Monday afternoon, and got some antibiotics and some blood work, the antibiotics seem to be working, he's not back to 100% but he's starting to get back to his usual biting my hands when I try to type self. The blood tests only came back with a larger white blood cell count than normal, and the antibiotics should help with that.

I hope the best for little peach!

 

[LaManuka]

An Update:

I took the little guy to the vet Monday afternoon, and got some antibiotics and some blood work, the antibiotics seem to be working, he's not back to 100% but he's starting to get back to his usual biting my hands when I try to type self. The blood tests only came back with a larger white blood cell count than normal, and the antibiotics should help with that.

I hope the best for little peach!

Thank you for updating, and for your kind wishes for Peachie 💖 She's doing much better and I'm glad to hear your little one is too. I hope you'll continue to keep us posted and maybe share some pics of your little guy, we'd love to see them 😍 Don't forget to please tell us his name too, will you? I've read your posts a few times but can't see it - my apologies if it's there but I haven't seen it, my eyes ARE very bad these daze!