Ekkie really stressed or sick after vet visit?

[erinpitts22]

Hello Everyone,

I recently rescued a male eclectus. He is 3 years old, and I have had him for about a week and a half. When I first brought him home he was active, vocal (privately vocal, we would hear him when he didn't see us), excited to get out of his cage and explore or go to his play stand, run laps on the bottom of his cage playing with jingling ground toys, etc.

I took him to the vet for a full work up 3 days ago, full physical, and grooming the nails and beak. I was present for all of it. He was toweled but didn't hold his feet to tightly closed so the vet had zero trouble with the dremel and he did not fight in the towel, or vocalize his unhappiness. He was a little fat but the vet said he is in great health.

After getting home, it was not the same boy that I left the house with (figuratively speaking) he was quiet and kept his head tucked under his wing. I knew it was an emotionally taxing day, but then the next day was no improvement, and then the second day, and now today. I have him up on my nest camera and he is resting now at the bottom of the cage. He had been perching all day otherwise, switching from wood to rope and swings and back again.

Some things that I have considered:
1. he has a new cage bc the old one was far too small, very gross, and was on long legs, the new cage goes to the floor and the sun is shining on the bottom. Could he just be enjoying that warmth? He perks up if the dog moves or responds to sounds.

2. he is still eating and drinking, and poops/urates are all normal

3. I switched him from an all seed diet to fresh chops and a few pellets for supplements.

4. He flew to me from his cage this morning looking to see what I had made for him to eat today.

5. He is doing normal preening activities and stretching through out the day.

Is he just stressed and that's why he is so tired and not vocal? Should I give him a few more days to process? It was a lot, new home, new people, new schedule, new cage, new food and then the mean ol vet to put the icing on the cake.

Or is he magically sick after a clean bill of health just a few days before?

What can or should I do?

 

[Laurasea]

Switching to fast from a seed diet could do it. The fatty liver reacts to this quick change, I can't rember exactly what happens, but it could ( i think) cause some liver inflammation.
Stress of any kind can bring out a hidden illness . So while be may have speared fine at vet , the stress us now allowing an illness to show.
Did you have a CBC done at vets?
Sitting on the bottom of the cage sleeping is never good in my book.
I would call the vet and discuss.
Yes the day of and the day after a vet visit they might not stressed , but shouldn't be on the bottom of the cage

 

[Laurasea]

A nice general article on sick birds.
I also put on Ornithology thread
https://www.littlecrittersvet.com/sick-birds.pml

 

[throwingcopper33]

I am by no means an expert on Eclectus. I have had my female eclectus for 6 weeks. She never went to the bottom of the cage during her transition(diet, vet, new home). But she does love to play with her toys. If I was to put toys on the bottom, she would probably climb down there. You might want to remove all of the toys on the bottom and hang as many toys from the top and sides of the cage to see if your bird will stay up higher in the cage. From what I read, a bird on the bottom of the cage is a good indication of your bird being sick. But yours could be fine, but tempted to be on the bottom due to the toys. I don't see how you will know for sure, until the toys are removed from the bottom.

 

[noodles123]

They need to run blood if they didn't--especially if he is fat. Physical appearance and feeling a bird can only tell you a small amount about what is going on. They should also do a gram stain and they doing even need you there to do that--- just bring in a fresh sample of poop in a bag (put it in fridge for up to 8 hours if you must, but fresher= better). My bird had a liver condition when I adopted her despite the reassurance of 2 vets that she was perfectly healthy-- they were vets that dealt with birds, but NOT Certified Avian vets, which is very important if you live within a few hours of one.
It could be stress and it is good that he is eating and drinking w/ normal urates, but you will want to watch him and request blood if they didn't do it. I would honestly try to take him to a different vet if they didn't tell you that taking blood was something that was important to do on that day or a day in the near future.
If he is on the bottom of the cage playing or scrounging around that could be normal, but it's weird if he is hanging out/sitting down there (in my opinion).
You should also ask about tests for other parrot diseases (many of which have their own lab services/ are not attached to a panel).
I agree that toys on the bottom should be moved (in part to test and see if that is part of it, but also because they get very dirty down there).

 

[charmedbyekkie]

First thought in terms of his behaviour after the vet visit, he might be in pain. Their beaks and nails grow out, the blood follows the growth if they continue to keep growing. So if you suddenly dremel them off, you run the risk of basically cutting the quick or just generally making that area very sensitive. His beak could be hurting to the point of not wanting to eat or play with toys. His toes could be hurting (you'll especially notice if he's trying to tuck his feet up). We had this happen to our little guy once, and it took him a few days to get back to normal.


Now, if your hypothesis is that he prefers the warmth, what is the temperature inside his room? Is he directly below/next to the aircon or a fan? Does he look fluffed up?


Another question would be what is he doing on the bottom of his cage? Is he running around there? Is he playing with something there? Is he sleeping there? And if he's sleeping there, what was he doing beforehand (playing at the bottom or did he make a beeline for the bottom of the cage to go sleep)?


That being said, what does a 'full physical' entail for your vet? As the others mentioned, undergoing a stressful situation can trigger some otherwise silent illnesses (just like in humans). Ideally, it should cover faecalysis, blood work, and maybe some swabs. If a 'full physical' just means an eyeball on your bird, I wouldn't put much stock into that assessment.

Do make sure you're working with an avian vet. Most vets only get a semester to a year on 'exotics', which doesn't extensively cover avians. Avian vets have specific training for avians. And the physiology is completely different. Vets who work primarily with mammals wouldn't know how to diagnose a ruptured air sac, etc.