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This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE
Urgent Ballooned neck zebra finch
- Thread starter Ron Valli
- Start date
expressmailtome
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Is the wound open? Are you able to have a veterinarian look at it and prescribe any needed medication?
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that it appears to be a ruptured air sac, but I am not positive.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that it appears to be a ruptured air sac, but I am not positive.
I believe you’re right @expressmailtome - ruptured air sac.
This can only be treated by a vet. Please remove him from other birds, to a small hospital cage so he won’t injure himself further.
This can only be treated by a vet. Please remove him from other birds, to a small hospital cage so he won’t injure himself further.
Thanks for the concern,
It doesn't appear to be an open wound, as I don't see anything moist. But I really cant get a close look. I'm not truly a bird person, I rescued three zebras a year ago, and this one was hatched a few months later. The cost of veterinarian care in New York City is exorbitant, so I'm not inclined to go that route for a finch. Yet I do care for them well, and I want them to be healthy and happy. With lack of experience I'm extremely hesitant to handle them; when one got out of the cage I accidently injured its wing and I was devastated. -Its OK now BTW, just the right wing isn't completely aligned to its body. So yeah, I don't want to handle them, as my hands are not that of a violinists.
Thank you. I'm reading up on this condition and treatment now.
Maybe there is a rescue that would take care of him?
Alternatively, perhaps you could call the vet and get a price quote.
Alternatively, perhaps you could call the vet and get a price quote.
Update
I watched videos on treating a ruptured air sack. I gently caught the finch and held him correctly in my hand, applied iodine to the surface and used a sterile needle to pierce the skin and allow the air to deflate. Upon closer look, there was a scab in the center, so it's possible the older male pecked and caused an initial trauma. It's now isolated in a small cage next to the others, and recuperating.
PS,
I grew up with strong farm and nature influences. I've treated all sorts of animal ailments with much success... because I really do care and take the time to do things right. Pets such as dogs and cats I wouldn't hesitate to bring to a vet on medical issues. However, while it is a living creature and I value all life, the hard truth is, I cannot afford to spend NYC vet bills on a relatively very low cost lesser animal. This is where reality conflicts with empathy. I did what I could, and I hope for the best. Thanks so much for all your help and concerns!
I watched videos on treating a ruptured air sack. I gently caught the finch and held him correctly in my hand, applied iodine to the surface and used a sterile needle to pierce the skin and allow the air to deflate. Upon closer look, there was a scab in the center, so it's possible the older male pecked and caused an initial trauma. It's now isolated in a small cage next to the others, and recuperating.
PS,
I grew up with strong farm and nature influences. I've treated all sorts of animal ailments with much success... because I really do care and take the time to do things right. Pets such as dogs and cats I wouldn't hesitate to bring to a vet on medical issues. However, while it is a living creature and I value all life, the hard truth is, I cannot afford to spend NYC vet bills on a relatively very low cost lesser animal. This is where reality conflicts with empathy. I did what I could, and I hope for the best. Thanks so much for all your help and concerns!
If you are unable or unwilling to give any pet quality vet care then you should not have that pet. Full stop, the end, no arguments. If you had a child you wouldn't deny it medical care just because you're not a kid person, because that would make you a monster. This mindset also makes you a monster. Surrender your bird to someone who will vet and care for it.
I respect your opinion.
Yet you drew this opinion based on a few words, which in no way establishes the "type" of person I am, what I may/would or maynot/wouldn't do, and how I actually treat animals. For one thing I saved these birds from someone who discarded them and left them to die, and I gave them a new large cage to see to their happiness, feed, water, clean, and generally care for them with love. Aside from what you may think of me, I attempted to get veterinary counselling on this matter, when I brought one of my dogs to a vet. Unfortunately he had no expertise on birds. I have another route, where a friends daughter is in her 3rd year of Veterinary college. Am trying to contact her and find out options.
Let me ask you, would you pay a vet bill of $10k for a, lets say, pet snail? We all have our personal limitations, which our conscience cannot dictate. I'd like to have the best possible treatment for anyone of any creature in my care. Yet we all have personal limitations.
I recognize it's human nature to be judgmental. Maybe next time ask some questions and get to know someone before speaking so harshly on their character -based on a few written words. Do you like being judged and have your character drawn in bad light based on a few written words? Never make a mistake? Always explain everything in your entire life the best possible way?
Right. Judge not, lest thee be judged.
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As it happens, I do have a pet snail. I paid $8 for him, he's about the size of a golf ball, and as far as I'm concerned he deserves just as much respect as my parrots. If faced with a medical emergency I could not afford to treat, I would either surrender him or have him humanely euthanized, which are both options I am urging you to consider. I would not attempt to fix the problem myself at the risk of making it worse, and I certainly would not leave him to suffer.
You said you value all life, and in the same breath dismissed your injured finch as a "lesser animal." What determines the worth of a life? Body mass? Price tag? How cute the face is? Why is a cat or dog worth the trouble, but a bird is not?
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Respect, yes. And I admire your sentiments. But you continue to nitpick what I wrote, and sidestepped my question about how much you'd actually pay a vet for the pet snail. The unfortunate truth is, healthcare does have a pricetag, despite anyone's lofty ideology, and each of us has to give it a value which we can handle; I may not be able to spend $200 cash, but I can afford 20 hours of my time.
When I was young and raised Pigeons with my father, we treated them well. Splinted wings and the like, and on rare and unfortunate situations, euthanized. When I worked on farms, I was exposed to treating animals with health procedures when possible, and of course getting the vet when necessary. People I know are hunters, but me? I cannot hunt, I cannot kill animals. I have great difficulty even with mice and yell at people who use glue traps. When I can, I'll save and rescue them. I'll go out of my way to do so. At work, some would try to kill racoons, possums that get in the building (yes, there are wild animals in parts of NYC). I got them used to letting me handle catching and trapping so I can relocate them to safe places. I've raised fledgling starlings who dropped out of their nest and would have died. A squirrel once too. This is me, *not* your assumption of me.
Strange how I came to a site thinking/hoping I'd get help, instead of "you have to take it to a vet, you monster!". I did get help with diagnosing, I just needed additional help with trying to learn if I *could* treat the finch myself, as I was accustomed to throughout my life.
Have a wonderful day.
Oh, and please stop making snap judgments on others, as it doesn't flatter your good and obvious love of animals -we have that one thing in common.
Sigh. I thought I had answered your fantasy scenario pretty clearly, but I apologize for the confusion: Of course I wouldn't spend $10k on healthcare for a snail, but I also wouldn't spend $10k on healthcare for me. I do not possess those kinds of funds. But like I said, also I wouldn't leave it to suffer, and I wouldn't possess the pride to think I could fix a problem so out of my depth. I would surrender it to someone who could, or I would opt for euthanasia. Again, as I already said.
But we are not talking $10k. We are talking $200. Nothing to sneeze at I'll grant you, but a responsibility you signed on for when you brought the animal home nonetheless. If you cannot fulfill the promise you made by default of adopting the animal, then you shouldn't keep the animal.
Any other and previous animals are irrelevant. You're choosing to keep this finch in a state of suffering because you don't think it's important enough to receive medical care. You're being judged for your words and actions and if you don't like that, pick different words and actions.
I don't give a hoot what you think of me, and we are not alike. I would not be allowing this finch to suffer any more than I allowed my starling to suffer when he wracked up a hefty triple digit vet bill last year. I am not criticizing any sincere inability to pay, but your refusal to acknowledge other options outside of leaving it to languish is disgusting.
I had a Purple Martin chick with a ruptured air sac. I assumed a toenail from either the parents or another chick caused it. It took a couple weeks & several deflation's to finally get it over it. I had to leave it it the nest with the parents & clutch mates to recover, as it was a wild bird. It did well. I sterilized a needle, wiped the chick down with alcohol & pierced the skin. I had to do it twice a day for a few days before it stopped filing up with air. After that it healed nicely & you couldn't even see where it ruptured. The chick fledged with it clutch mates.
In your case I would keep the finch isolated. Check it daily, morning & night, as it may need to be deflated several times. Hopefully once it's healed it won't come back. Rupured air sacs can cause pressure on the crop, hence the chick can loose weight due to less space for food. If the keel bone is sharp, then the chick has lost weight. I would suggest keeping it isolated until it regains weight.
In your case I would keep the finch isolated. Check it daily, morning & night, as it may need to be deflated several times. Hopefully once it's healed it won't come back. Rupured air sacs can cause pressure on the crop, hence the chick can loose weight due to less space for food. If the keel bone is sharp, then the chick has lost weight. I would suggest keeping it isolated until it regains weight.
