I am looking for assistance in figuring out what I should do with my conure, as my vet thinks he is healthy but I have concerns.
Background Info
About four months ago we adopted Mango, a sunday conure (mix between a sun and jenday conure) from a local rescue. He is 12 years old, and since the first day we brought him home I have thought he sneezed more frequently than a typical healthy bird should. We just moved about 2 months ago, and the sneezing seemed to worsen after the move. We don't use non-stick pans, aerosol, self cleaning ovens, or anything scented in the house. The only real change since the move is that his cage went from a bedroom to a living room. We are looking into replacing our air purifier next to his cage for something that can handle larger square footage. He does like to be in the kitchen/dining room with us when we cook, but like I said, we are using bird safe products and the kitchen is well ventilated.
Symptoms
On average I would say I notice about 6 sneezes an hour, but those are only the ones I see directly, and I'm assuming he is sneezing more. When he sneezes I can feel/see extremely tiny bits of clear fluid exit his nares. Right in the morning when he wakes up, he usually has a little spell of rapid fire sneezing and is shaking his head from side to side. This only lasts about a minute. He also takes his toe nail and digs inside of his nostrils on both the left and right side periodically throughout the day, and this usually induces a sneeze.
Treatment
We have taken him to the vet 3 times now for this. Once immediately after we adopted him, and twice in the last few weeks. We take him to the same vet that the bird rescue uses for all of their parrots. After the exam each time the vet has said that physically everything checks out, which is very confusing. As is typical, the first thing we tried was an antibiotic. Mango was on Baytril for 7 days, but then the vet recommended that we stop early before reaching the full 10 days because it seemed like the digging in the nostrils was becoming more frequent and he thought it was possible he was itching as a side effect. We then did a nasal flush and everything ran through fast without any blockage, and there wasn't any discharge.
Other Behavior
Mango eats and drinks without any issue, and his stool seems completely normal. When he is interacting with anybody, his energy is at 200%, but he does fluff up a tiny bit when he is by himself and relaxing throughout the afternoon, and sometimes he takes an afternoon nap. The vet said that we shouldn't be concerned about the little bit of fluffed-up-ness as this can be normal when just relaxing, and just to make sure he isn't doing it when he is typically excited.
I don't know what to do next!
So right now we aren't doing any treatment, just keeping a close eye on him. His behavior all seems completely normal besides this! Our vet said that we could continue testing but because he does seem so healthy it probably wouldn't be worth putting him through all of it at this time, and it is safe to wait. Those next steps would be either a nasal swab, x-rays, blood work, or an anti-fungal. He said it is highly probable that his nares could just be highly sensitive compared to other birds, and this could just he his normal behavior. I am happy that he is still healthy, but I am still worried about him!
What do you think?
I have owned other small/medium birds for about 12 years, but this is my first conure. I am very curious if anyone else, conure or not, has seen similar symptoms, and what it turned out to be. Or what the community recommends I should do. Continue testing, or wait a little longer. Thanks so much for your time in reading this, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Mango and I greatly appreciate it!
Background Info
About four months ago we adopted Mango, a sunday conure (mix between a sun and jenday conure) from a local rescue. He is 12 years old, and since the first day we brought him home I have thought he sneezed more frequently than a typical healthy bird should. We just moved about 2 months ago, and the sneezing seemed to worsen after the move. We don't use non-stick pans, aerosol, self cleaning ovens, or anything scented in the house. The only real change since the move is that his cage went from a bedroom to a living room. We are looking into replacing our air purifier next to his cage for something that can handle larger square footage. He does like to be in the kitchen/dining room with us when we cook, but like I said, we are using bird safe products and the kitchen is well ventilated.
Symptoms
On average I would say I notice about 6 sneezes an hour, but those are only the ones I see directly, and I'm assuming he is sneezing more. When he sneezes I can feel/see extremely tiny bits of clear fluid exit his nares. Right in the morning when he wakes up, he usually has a little spell of rapid fire sneezing and is shaking his head from side to side. This only lasts about a minute. He also takes his toe nail and digs inside of his nostrils on both the left and right side periodically throughout the day, and this usually induces a sneeze.
Treatment
We have taken him to the vet 3 times now for this. Once immediately after we adopted him, and twice in the last few weeks. We take him to the same vet that the bird rescue uses for all of their parrots. After the exam each time the vet has said that physically everything checks out, which is very confusing. As is typical, the first thing we tried was an antibiotic. Mango was on Baytril for 7 days, but then the vet recommended that we stop early before reaching the full 10 days because it seemed like the digging in the nostrils was becoming more frequent and he thought it was possible he was itching as a side effect. We then did a nasal flush and everything ran through fast without any blockage, and there wasn't any discharge.
Other Behavior
Mango eats and drinks without any issue, and his stool seems completely normal. When he is interacting with anybody, his energy is at 200%, but he does fluff up a tiny bit when he is by himself and relaxing throughout the afternoon, and sometimes he takes an afternoon nap. The vet said that we shouldn't be concerned about the little bit of fluffed-up-ness as this can be normal when just relaxing, and just to make sure he isn't doing it when he is typically excited.
I don't know what to do next!
So right now we aren't doing any treatment, just keeping a close eye on him. His behavior all seems completely normal besides this! Our vet said that we could continue testing but because he does seem so healthy it probably wouldn't be worth putting him through all of it at this time, and it is safe to wait. Those next steps would be either a nasal swab, x-rays, blood work, or an anti-fungal. He said it is highly probable that his nares could just be highly sensitive compared to other birds, and this could just he his normal behavior. I am happy that he is still healthy, but I am still worried about him!
What do you think?
I have owned other small/medium birds for about 12 years, but this is my first conure. I am very curious if anyone else, conure or not, has seen similar symptoms, and what it turned out to be. Or what the community recommends I should do. Continue testing, or wait a little longer. Thanks so much for your time in reading this, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Mango and I greatly appreciate it!
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from the diet. But if eating the veggies . 
