Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and new to owning a quaker. JJ the Quaker parrot came to me after his owner suffered a medical emergency and could no longer care for him. As far as I know, he is about 15-20 years old and I've had him about 2 months. He shares the room with my two budgies who are healthy. This morning, JJ seemed totally fine, hollering, whistling, playing with his toys, but by afternoon he got quieter and quieter, and now, about 6pm, he's sitting in the bottom of his cage, generally lethargic and breathing a little heavy. He has still been moving around some and preening. I can't hear a rasp in his breath, but when he squawks or talks he sounds a bit hoarse and raspy. He's not fluffed up, actually his feathers are sort of slicked down. His droppings seem fairly normal and he was eating as of this afternoon but not now. He occasionally rubs his beak on the bars and scratches his neck/ throat area with his foot, but he doesn't seem to be choking. I don't see any discharge coming from his nostrils, but I'm wondering if he could have some kind of sinus/respiratory issue? The only other thing I can think is that he had a "night fright" last night. Could he have injured himself? Again, he seemed quite happy and energetic this morning. Any advice is greatly appreciated; we are way out in the country and there are no avian vets within many hours drive of us, which makes this difficult.
I'm new to this forum and new to owning a quaker. JJ the Quaker parrot came to me after his owner suffered a medical emergency and could no longer care for him. As far as I know, he is about 15-20 years old and I've had him about 2 months. He shares the room with my two budgies who are healthy. This morning, JJ seemed totally fine, hollering, whistling, playing with his toys, but by afternoon he got quieter and quieter, and now, about 6pm, he's sitting in the bottom of his cage, generally lethargic and breathing a little heavy. He has still been moving around some and preening. I can't hear a rasp in his breath, but when he squawks or talks he sounds a bit hoarse and raspy. He's not fluffed up, actually his feathers are sort of slicked down. His droppings seem fairly normal and he was eating as of this afternoon but not now. He occasionally rubs his beak on the bars and scratches his neck/ throat area with his foot, but he doesn't seem to be choking. I don't see any discharge coming from his nostrils, but I'm wondering if he could have some kind of sinus/respiratory issue? The only other thing I can think is that he had a "night fright" last night. Could he have injured himself? Again, he seemed quite happy and energetic this morning. Any advice is greatly appreciated; we are way out in the country and there are no avian vets within many hours drive of us, which makes this difficult.