Penny is sick, I've been holding back making a thread

[Scott]

Phenomenal job Laura! This thread will help save a lot of birds if folks follow your advice and apply themselves!

 

[Jen5200]

Oh my goodness - so happy to hear this latest update! Great job - your nursing skills and patience saved the day. Your vet is amazing and between you the progress is impressive .

 

[Laurasea]

Thanks everybody @

I'm a tad fearful,
Ta-dah lost 1 grsm 66
Penny lost 2 gram 99
Pikachu lost 2 grams 105

Orbit gained 1 gram 94

I ran out of yogurt yesterday. I just git some and gave . If they all gain back tomorrow, will now how well that yogurt works.

I just want them back at their normal weight, and completely well

 

[Lisa999]

Thanks everybody @

I'm a tad fearful,
Ta-dah lost 1 grsm 66
Penny lost 2 gram 99
Pikachu lost 2 grams 105

Orbit gained 1 gram 94

I ran out of yogurt yesterday. I just git some and gave . If they all gain back tomorrow, will now how well that yogurt works.

I just want them back at their normal weight, and completely well

Hope that they gain weight tomorrow. It's been up and down, Laura! I am thinking of your birds and checking this thread every day!

 

[Laurasea]

Thanks everybody @

I'm a tad fearful,
Ta-dah lost 1 grsm 66
Penny lost 2 gram 99
Pikachu lost 2 grams 105

Orbit gained 1 gram 94

I ran out of yogurt yesterday. I just git some and gave . If they all gain back tomorrow, will now how well that yogurt works.

I just want them back at their normal weight, and completely well

Hope that they gain weight tomorrow. It's been up and down, Laura! I am thinking of your birds and checking this thread every day!

Thank you
Its probably no big deal for everyone except Tadah ....she needs to be gaining!!

 

[Ellie777Australia]

I just pulled out a 'birdie muffin' mix to make for my guys and wondered if your flock likes birdie bread or muffins? It may be a way to get 'carbs' into them (I make a gluten free flour - rice flour/quinoa flour/chickpea flour/buckwheat flour mixture) along with corn, mashed pumpkin, carrot, and sweet potato to top off regular fruit and veggies??? Allee posted Poppy's Jolly Jungle Bread recipe which could be modified as appropriate for your guys. The steamed mashed veggies can be frozen and used later in a bread/muffin recipe so you need never have a veggie go off, plus advance prep makes the recipe go quicker next time.

 

[Laurasea]

I should never have celebrated
Ta dah lost 1 more gram back to 65
She eats frantically, eats all day long more than normal. Poops great , not napping, not letting head hanging down like before..behavior seems great bright and active
Waiting to hear from vet.
I don't know if this is just up snd down while healing..or if because of low dose before bacteria is becoming resistant??? IDK
I'm trying to offer higher calorie foods.
But I don't like it
When the parakeet gained his weight back he was never backsliding ..
Edit: heard from my veterinarian, she feels its a need for extra calories , takes a lot to heal, and she is starting from a big loss. Keep trying high calories foods. Hand feeding formula ideal.....but I'm having a very hard time with that in Tadah....I made some extra thick and tried to get to eat from my fingers, she took a couple of bites .
The quakers for some reason are willing to just run over and take from syringe, all 3 , like it's a treat. Nit my GCC, she acts like its poison

Everyone else back up

Pikachu up 2 , 107
Penny up 3 to 102
Orbit same 94

 

[Scott]

Hopefully Ta-dah just needs more concentrated calories. Plain peanut butter, no added oils/sugar/salt?

 

[Laurasea]

Hopefully Ta-dah just needs more concentrated calories. Plain peanut butter, no added oils/sugar/salt?

You make me think you are psychic lol
Been feeding her peanut butter today. Fresh corn too. Oatmeal rejected, will try plain pasta , bread , anything

Penny just said a new phrase, one I've been saying to her so much lately, " come on little baby " as I encourage her to live, to eat, to get better

 

[Laurasea]

Ok I found a new method to get formula into Tadah!! I know she like to steal from my mug. So I put some in a mug and turned on it side. And walked away. Sure enough she stole several mouthfuls!!!! Thank goodness!!@ some supporting food for her now.

 

[Scott]

I'm loving every trick in your book, Laura! Thankfully Ta-dah is as well!

 

[Laurasea]

I'm loving every trick in your book, Laura! Thankfully Ta-dah is as well!

Thanks! I'm glad that trick worked! She wouldn't try it just from a bowl....
I weighed it she took 3 grams of baby bird formula!!!

I will add this again as nutritional support is so important, you have seen that play out twice with 2 different sick birds in my flock

" Special nutritional requirements for debilitated birds

Extra nutritional support for debilitated and diseased birds is vital and plays an essential role in ensuring recovery of the avian patient after disease or debility. Enteral nutrition is currently the most usual method of supporting the debilitated patient, with parenteral (intravenous) nutrition still being in its infancy in avian therapeutics.

First, fluid requirements should be assessed, as any animal will succumb to dehydration long before starvation. The reader is referred to chapter 14 for a more detailed discussion of this topic.

Second, energy requirements should be estimated. These can be calculated roughly from the MER by multiplication as follows:

Starvation = 0.5 × MER

Trauma = 1.5 × MER

Sepsis = 2.5 × MER

Burns = 3–4 × MER

From these crude estimations, a rough idea of the levels of nutrition demanded and the energy concentration of the diet can be derived.

Third, protein requirements should be evaluated, as debilitation will increase amino acid and protein turnover. This may be through the increased use of proteins in the immune system response, or for repair of damaged tissue or simply after using tissue proteins as an energy source."
https://veteriankey.com/avian-nutrition/

About weight loss as early sign of illness .
What is Weight Change?
Evolution equipped birds with the habit of masking any illness as a survival tactic. A sick bird was an open invitation to predators who were attracted to target the weak and sick. Even today, your pet bird still retains that instinct to hide how it is feeling.

By regularly weighing your bird and teaching him to step up to the weight perch and hold, then step down, it will make your life easier to monitor his weight. Weight change is one of the best early indications that your friend is not feeling the best.

A weight change in your pet bird may be a sign of a serious health issue; it is often the first warning of disease.

Symptoms of Weight Change in Birds
You will need to weigh and record your bird's weight around three times per week to establish a normal weight.

Be observant for other signs that can indicate all is not right such as behavioral changes
Your bird may act bright and alert when being watched but lapse into a huddle and fluff up when it thinks it is not being observed
Wing droop, one wing may dip lower than the other
Sitting on the ground rather than on its perch
Tail bobbing
Open mouthed breathing
Changes in appetite and eating habits
Types



A weight loss of more than 3% of body weight from your bird over several days, indicates that your pet should be taken to your veterinarian soon. If your bird loses over 5%, then this is a very serious situation and needs immediate help. It may be life threatening for your pet so don’t linger.
https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/weight-change

 

[LaManuka]

Ok I found a new method to get formula into Tadah!! I know she like to steal from my mug. So I put some in a mug and turned on it side. And walked away. Sure enough she stole several mouthfuls!!!! Thank goodness!!@ some supporting food for her now.

Brilliant strategy, Laura! What a great idea to disguise her formula as one of those forbidden foods she knows she's not allowed to have, and it saves your fingers from being mauled into the bargain, awesome!!

 

[saxguy64]

Oooohh, just wait until she figures out she's been tricked. You're gonna pay!!! Lol!

 

[Laurasea]

Today is azithromyacin day
Ta-dah up 1 gram to 66 grams ( 74 grams normally)
Ta-dah aspirated a little medicine, I can't catch a break! I held her firmly turned her upside down head down towards floor and gave a couple if hand flicks down to help her clear it... like you would a choking baby. When I put her back in cafe she had some tail bobbing and crop adjustments. She struggles so much with treatment. You have to be so careful with oral medication. As you do if you are syringe feeding, which I only do a drop at time and let them swallow. She is eating now, no more tail bobs, I hope she is ok.
Edit: Ta-dah didn't eat very well today. No tricks worked on getting formula into her....so I'm worried ....im hoping she maintains her 1 grsm weight gain...maybe she ate more than I saw. We will see tomorrow. Vet said aspiration may set her back, and delay recovery, but that we will get her better. I very much hope so..

A little eye candy from happier times for all you who have been sticking with this looong thread.

Penny is recovering great. I'm down to just 3ml baby bird formula about an hour and half before bedtime. So she will have a full belly to get her through the night. She had been on about 20ml a day spread out every 2.5 hours or so. She is eating on her own her normal foods now. Even back to eating some veggies. Gave her some cooked egg whites this morning she gulped it down so fast.....such a difference from when I tried to get her go eat tiny tiny little pieces before.
She deserves a happy update picture. So I will take one later.

This is some information from Harrison on helping sick birds. I used exact baby bird formula because that's what I could get quickly. A BIG warning, do not tube feed unless directed by an avain veterinarian abd trained. Aspiration, and crop tear is a huge risk in a sick bird, especially if trying to do by yourself!!!! My veterinarian did not under any circumstances want me to do this by myself!! And I have had experience with this before. Because your bird will struggle and is weak, bad things could happen like death if you tube feed!! I only used a syringe to out a drop at tge front of the beak , at time, and then she quickly started asking fir it and opened her beak to take a drop at a time, I used a 1 ml syringe to make giving a drop at time easier and safer than a bigger syringe. You read above Ta-dah choked on only 0.2ml of medicine that's just a big drop!!

But I like thus information, because it stress starting out with more runny for first feeding because of likely dehydration. As my veterinarian had me do this. Then working up to yogurt like thickness , as I aldo did. But I did NOT tube feed, I offered by syringe.
https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/...r-injured-birds-or-critical-diet-transitions/

 

[Laurasea]

Penny before, right eye squinting, right nostril intermittent draining

Penny pretty sick in this older pic, not taking care of feathers

And Penny now! Right eye wide open no draining in a week . At seed bowl chomping!

Obi, just offered artichoke for the first time@@ ( spines cut off) he was on it in seconds

Ta-dah despite how morning started, was second to give the artichoke a go! She is back in cage with heat and high calories foods now

Pikachu also bold enough to give the artichoke a go!! Penny is looking at which seed she will chomp in her dish.

 

[saxguy64]

Penny before, right eye squinting, right nostril intermittent draining

And Penny now! Right eye wide open no draining in a week

YAAAAAYY pretty girl!!!

 

[Laurasea]

Ta-dah eyes have finally lightened back up. Not well documented, but the iris of birds sick with a chlamydia or systemic bacterial infection can darken. It was very dramatic in Pikachu because he has blue eyes, I will add those pictures too.

This is Ta-dah with dark eyes from infection

Today is the first day they have returned to normal color

Pikachu with dramatic dark iris change! I had circled the orbital sinus swelling, but we are looking at iris color in this picture. The white skin around eye is a little pink to. His sclera was bright red as well but I couldn't get a pic of that.

Now normal blue . But you can see some feather thinning and redness from eye up towards nares in skin showing through.

Doesn't talk about eyes. But some info on chlamydia and other diseases
http://freedomflightsparrotrescue.ca/diseases/
Poop talk
http://freedomflightsparrotrescue.ca/is-your-bird-suffering-from-poopology/

 

[Laurasea]

So Ta-dah did lose 1 gram from yesterday, so back st lowest ever of 65 grams......freaking me out.....
But she does seem to eating better today already, than yesterday when she aspirated....
I may try and towel her and drop in hand-feeding formula......ugh..

Edits : she was napping most if morning, grabbed and she was a little weak.. I toweled and git 1 ml in her very slowly. She perked up and started eating some millet spray when I put her back by heat...
Will repeat in an hour

 

[Scott]

Not to minimize Ta-dah's 1-gram loss, seems the roller coaster is a bit more mellow. Hopefully a good appetite will soon show on the scale! (it does for the rest of us!)