Urgent African Grey Breathing trouble

[Hankmacaw]

She's a fickle little gal. Yes she is.

When both of my macaws had asper and other chronic respiratory issues, I just bored two holes in the box and nebulized through one and provided oxygen through the other hole at the same time. Otherwise i would have been messing with the oxygen/nebulizer box 4 hours of every day.

As far as something to assist fighting against fungus/mold infection with out a medical fungicide I recommend two things. 1. when you order the saline also get some probiotics (Baytril kills everything in the digestive system - good, bad or neutral). Either this one https://smile.amazon.com/Bene-Bac®-...id=1523725630&sr=1-2&keywords=bird+probiotics or this one Amazon.com : Avitech AviBios Lactobacillus and Probiotics - 4 oz. : Herbal Supplements : Pet Supplies Both are highly recommended and used by many on this forum. 2. Put some vinegar (I don't like vinegar, but lots of owners swear by it) in her water. You must use the kind with the "Mother" in it and I don't know exactly the dilution, but I think I remember it's about 1 tsp per quart - or - use Listerine in her water (my vet recommends Listerine) and use approx. 1/2 ml per 16 oz water bowl. This is the vinegar that the users recommend. https://smile.amazon.com/Bragg-Orga...keywords=apple+cider+vinegar+with+mother&th=1

 

[Hankmacaw]

Forgot the humidifier question. I tried using humidifiers for a few months, but didn't like the effects on my birds - that's just my desert dry birds. Lots of people use humidifiers with success. So I have nothing good or bad to say about them.

@Big Blues @WingedVictory @Macawnutz

 

[saroj12]

26.9%alcohol in Listerine.

 

[Lady Jane]

One of the best in the field of avian medicine is: Doctors - Medical Center for Birds - Oakley, CA

Dr. Spears
Edit
Display Name: Dr. Spears
Nickname: avain vet
Email 1: avnvet@aol.com Your doc can consult with him. I communicated with him about one of my birds and he was more than willing to even answer my e mail and recommend treatments.

 

[Hankmacaw]

26.9%alcohol in Listerine.

1/2 ml in 16 oz of water make the alcohol content negligible.

 

[saroj12]

1/2 ml in 16 oz of water make the alcohol content negligible.

Good to know! Thanks ML!

 

[Big Blues]

How is Chyna doing today?

 

[tracey&chyna]

So far so good today. She has pulled on her beak a few times, but not seeing her in distress. I actually finally slept, which was awesome lol! She ate really good today. She is turning her nose up at most stuff she normally likes, but I think she has figured out she can get just about anything she wants right now! lol I am waiting to see hat hapens tomorrow when hubs goes back to work and its just me and her!
Quick q: Do I need to wait until we are done with baytril to start probiotic kind of stuff ?

 

[Lady Jane]

No need to wait.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Sounds good so far - maybe it was an airsac infection that was causing the whole thing. Hope so - that's so much better than Asper or another fungal infection.

 

[tracey&chyna]

ok, the avian vet that sent off the cultures called and said they came back with enterococcus and serrathia plymithica(spelling?) still not really giving a diagnosis and I am not sure what that means but he said to continue the baytril until she has been on it for 2 weeks. He says this was the first he had seen the plymithica, but that baytril should fix both. I am waiting for him to email me the lab reports now. I asked him about the antifungal, he is still saying we dont need it. However, I started benebac today. I asked him: "okay we have done test, cultures, etc.. what is her diagnosis. what is wrong with my bird" he then only repeated what came back in her cultures.

 

[tracey&chyna]

oh, i asked how she could of gotten these bacteria ...he said alot of times from uncleanliness and like they poop in their water, etc. I said no! not my bird...her water is changed about 10 times a day (she likes to make avicake and paper soup in her water lol) and her cage and wherever else she may hang out is cleaned everyday. I remove all fresh food within an hour. She has been the only bird. I dont know, maybe my regular vet will have some insight as well.
I also want to share her xrays, I dont know what I am looking at really, but something may catch someones eye that isnt quite right.

Other than all this, we are doing okay today, all is normal.

 

[enigma731]

Her diagnosis is a bacterial infection. The cultures determined the types of bacteria.

Serratia - Wikipedia

What kind of water dish does your bird have? That would be the first place I'd check for a potential environmental cause in a bird with this type of infection

 

[tracey&chyna]

Thank you enigma!
All of her water dishes are stainless steel. She has a water bottle (glass lixit) as well but wouldnt ever drink from it. Her food bowls are stainless as well except for a few lixit crocks and foraging wheels.
I wonder about her showers? Water she drinks is store bought, but could she be getting something from tap water when she showers? I am just trying to think of anything here.


Here is the lab report:

 

[Lady Jane]

Stress can lower a birds immunity to bacterial infections. Do you think this was a factor? Did you vet mention anything about disinfecting the cage and toys, feed dishes?

 

[enigma731]

By the way, humans can catch serratia, although it's a small risk if you're not immunocompromised. I'd probably be doing extra hand washing if I were you, though.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Serratia plymuthica is the correct spelling and Chyra has contracted a bacteria that there is no record on the inet of a bird getting an infection from it - so I guess she is famous. The Serratia marcescens is more common. Enterococcus is much more common. She just had the bad luck of getting the infections in her airsacs which made her wheeze.

 

[tracey&chyna]

No, he didnt mention anything about disinfecting anything, though i have been cleaning eveything with vinegar and water solution. Is that good enough or is there something better to do? most of her toys are shredding things, stuff i have to replace daily. the others I have out right now about to do a cleaning and change some out. should I wait til this clears up before giving her new things? Is it bad that i am feeling like throwing everything she owns away and starting over? extreme I know lol!

I saw that too Mary...I cant find where that form of serratia has ever been in a bird! Surely the lab got this right?

I am thinking back to when this all started...no stress before that I can recall, but about the same time is when the hormonal stuff started up for the very first time ever. The stress really came after the first time she had resp. trouble (the car trips, vet, meds, toweling..etc)

Enigma, I have been making everyone do everything but gown up when they look at her lol, but to help her from possibly catching anything else(never thought about us getting sick), since I wasnt sure what was happening and how she got sick. so hopefully we are all safe.

 

[enigma731]

If it was truly that unusual, I doubt the lab would test for it in a standard panel. There's a lot of limitation as far as what's available to lay readers on the internet, unfortunately

 

[WingedVictory]

Very strange, I'm inclined to agree that it's not a standard panel. Could it be cross contamination?