Canary with Ataxia

[PinkyB]

Hi all, I'm new to this community and am very happy to found this place.

My family welcomed our first avian friend - Ball-ball the canary - to our home about 6 months ago. He is orange and very energetic.

Recently we noticed he is not looking well and took him to a vet. He was diagnosed with ataxia, however the vet was unable identify whether it is from a stroke or infection. Sometimes he would look perfectly fine, standing and eating, then the next moment he would fell on the floor, laying either on his side or back.

His legs were to weak to perch. The vet suggested to remove all perches and keep him on the floor for now, to prevent him from falling and hurting himself further. We have setup Ball-ball's cage with bubble wrap + newspaper + paper-towel, as the vet recommended.

He has regained appetite since he got sick. It's a good sign to see him eating, drinking and defecating. He seems to be in good spirit and he is not ready to give up yet.

Now coming to the day-to-day of taking care of him, here're some challenges we have noticed so far:

1. Since Ball-ball's legs are weak, he seems to have developed a habit of laying on his side or back. He started eating while laying on his side or back, instead of standing up-right. I'm a bit concerned if he would choke...

2. Again because his legs are weak, he seems to have trouble tucking his head under his wings while sleeping without tumbling around. I have often noticed he would fall asleep (eyes slowly closing) when he is standing, or sometimes he would sleep while laying on side or back. Typically sleeping on the floor is a sign of a bird not well, but in the case for Ball-ball, is this normal behaviour, especially sleeping on his side or back?

3. As he often lay on his side or back, his feces keep sticking on his feathers (rule of gravity). I'm now picking him up daily to clean his vent and feathers with q-tips, to prevent vent blockage. Has anyone experienced this? I thought typically Canaries do not like being handled a lot, and I'm not sure if Ball-ball likes being picked up and cleaned everyday. Any tips on improving the situation?

4. For birds with similar situations (paralysis, broken legs, etc.), do they eventually learn to stay up right? Or whatever posture they are comfortable with, including laying sideways or on back?

Thank you very much for reading my lengthy post. All comments are welcomed.

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Sorry about Ball-ball. My sparrow has two non-functional legs and can't perch. He can grasp with one of his feet. He does lie on the bottom of the cage or in a bowl which has been padded with paper towels. You may want to put a small bowl or a box with low sides that he can rest in and then easily get out of as needed. Spee has known nothing different than this since he has been this way since he was a baby.
Is the food on the bottom of the cage or in dishes that are low or on the bottom? Spee's food and water are in small dishes that are adjacent to the bowl so he can easily access them although he is generally able to grasp the edge of the dishes to lift himself up on his one working foot and eat/drink.

 

[Lady Jane]

@finchly

 

[PinkyB]

@iamwhoiam
Thank you for your response. I trust Spee is having a good life with you.

I put both food and water in small shallow dishes by the corners at the bottom of Ball-ball's cage. I also put apple slices and broccoli just on the floor, so he can access everything easily.

His food dish is probably just 0.5 inches high, I have seen Ball-ball laying on his back against the dish and rests his neck on the edge, then turn around his head and eat from the dish... I can stop but laugh at him when he does this...

He is currently in his hospital cage, which is a lot smaller than his own cage. Today I find him getting a bit more flighty in which he start bumping to the sides of the cage, and I'm worry that he might hurt himself.

Also when I took him out of his cage to clean his vent, he tried many times getting out of my hand and fly. Then fell on the ground. Because of his weak legs, he can't properly land with his feet. He's been landing in his head or back, and again I'm very worried he will hurt himself further.

I find Ball-ball getting more comfortable laying on his back, that he would sleep on his back and legs tucked under his feather. Does Spee lay bottom up on his back?

 

[finchly]

Hello, I have never had this situation specifically but I can offer a few ideas.
I will try to go in order of your questions but this will probably get random.

Eating while laying down is a chance for aspiration of food and is not desired. Are you home during the day? If so consider feeding him meals every couple of hours, at least until he's back up on his feet.

He's having trouble figuring out how/where to go to sleep, as their instinct is to go 'up' and he can't. Sleeping on the floor right now is fine.

When you clean his vent, put his neck between two of your fingers. That way you can hold him securely and he won't get away from you while you're cleaning his vent. This is probably reversed from the way you are holding him but it is a good standard practice IMO to hold them this way.

It really doesn't matter if he likes being handled or not --- right now you have to do this.

Consider lining the hospital cage with towels, at least on the bottom part, so that if he bumps around he doesn't get injured. Injury is a very real possibility when they crash around, and you don't need that on top of the other.

I cant answer #4 because I have never had this in my aviary. What is his prognosis, according to the vet? Is he on medications right now?

I'm sorry this happened to your little friend. Sounds like you are doing a good job.

 

[iamwhoiam]

You may want to take him into a smaller room such as a bathroom to clean him up. Put toweling down on the floor and sit on the floor with him.
Spee does fly in his cage a little but doesn't land well. I keep everything in the same place for him. Try to be consistent with Ball-ball and keep dishes in the same place. Do consider giving him a resting bowl or box....very low sides so he can get into and out of it easily.
Spee usually lays on his side or his chest/stomach. The bottom of his cage is lined with several layers of paper towels.
Hoping for the best for Ball-ball. Work with his legs, massage, manipulate, if he will let you do that. It's possible that nerve and muscle function will return.

 

[PinkyB]

Hi @finchly and @iamwhoiam,

Thank you very much for your kind response.

This is currently how I have set up Ball-ball's cage. Very basic, also to give him enough room to move around. He is on a mix of pellets and mash, the vet recommends this have more nutrients than regular seed mix.

The vet says this situation really depends on mother nature. He has seen animals who he thought would not make it but came back lively. He has also seen those who looks healthy but suddenly gone next day. So he really couldn't tell how Ball-ball would do in future, but take it on a daily basis.

Today when I cleaned his vent, I took him into the powder room and lined the floor with towel. After cleaning, I sat down with him on the floor and helped him fly a bit. Basically let him sit on my palm with/ his legs dangling, and he would fly whenever he feels like it. Then crash land on the towel. I noticed one of his legs is not very responsive even as I was holding him. I was also worried he may hurt himself, but he seemed to enjoy flying over and over again. I guess this could be some kind of physiotherapy?

BTW, in addition to cleaning his vent, whenever he made a big mess of himself (rolling on top of wet poop), I would take him for aa assisted bath. I'm concerned he may drown himself if I give him a bird bath. Then I would use paper towel to dry him up, then use hairdryer to dry further with low heat. Is it ok to use hairdryer? Otherwise what would you do to help drying a wet bird?

Thankx.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I don't have any experience with canaries or birds that can't use their legs well, but I have a couple of ideas.

• Definitely, use towels to pad the bottom of his cage. Whenever I need to pad the bottom of a cage, I use those beach towels you can get for 9 dollars in the summer.
• For a padded box like the others suggested, maybe you could use those ones jars are in at the store? Like the ones Gatorade is in on the shelves.
• At pet stores, in the cat section they have really shallow saucer-type dishes, maybe something like that would be useful?

 

[iamwhoiam]

Seems like you are doing the best you can for him. You may want to put the food and water dishes closer to one another. Also, if you can find a natural wood perch or branch you might consider putting that on the bottom of the cage although it depends on if you think it would work for him or if it would not be a good thing right now.
You might want to give him a small piece of millet.
Here is Spee's bowl. It's a small Tupperware type bowl lined with paper towels.


He has a multi-branched perch on the bottom of the cage and part of it is wrapped with a paper towel. He can't perch but he likes to put his foot on it. It's flat on the bottom so it's stable.


As for drying a wet bird, just use a towel.

 

[PinkyB]

Thank you for all your support. Ball-ball has been doing fine lately. Last 2 days he has been sitting more on his bottom than side/back. He also seems to start getting used to the flying practice in the powder room and is using more of his wings to balance himself moving around in his cage.

Today when I cleaned his vent, I noticed his abdomen (just above his vent) seem to be swollen slightly. Upon closer look, I noticed there is a dark coloured patch on the skin, underneath seems to be something white coloured. Please see attached picture for reference.

Does anyone know what this is?

 

[Lady Jane]

@Milo may be able to give you an educated answer.

 

[Milo]

That's pretty concerning, to me it looks like hemorrhage, either new or old. How is he acting? Does his poop look normal? Definitely at least call your vet and talk to them about it first thing in the morning.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Good that Ball-ball is doing better. As for the discolored area, have no idea. Looks like dried blood but ???? Best to have the vet check that out.

 

[Lady Jane]

Please have your vet look at this. Could be painful to him

 

[PinkyB]

That's pretty concerning, to me it looks like hemorrhage, either new or old. How is he acting? Does his poop look normal? Definitely at least call your vet and talk to them about it first thing in the morning.

Thankx everyone for your feedback.

His poop look very normal. Double checked several times today. No blood, clear urine, white urate, tubular feces. Since his recent condition of ataxia, I can't tell if he is reacting any different. Sitting at bottom of his hospital cage, doesn't like being handled. His appetite is normal. Poop count is normal. He does start biting me more when I pick him up. I'll call the vet tomorrow and ask.

 

[PinkyB]

Took another picture tonight and got a clearer shot. Both the dark area and white stuff are underneath skin. The dark area seem to have decreased - it was like a patch this morning and tonight looks more like a thick vessel. The white stuff below the dark area is more apparent now.

I know I kept saying Ball-ball is a male... Could the white stuff be actually an egg and Ball-ball is a female?

 

[Familyof12]

I have chickens and I check their cloaca every day. Please take him/her to a vet immediately. It could be a prolapsed vent. It is a serious condition. A lower part of a birds vent coming out and bulging. It can be handled if taken to the vet quickly.

Whatever it is, that vent doesn't look okay at all. Please please take him/her in immediately. Please let us know how he/she is doing. I'm so worried.

 

[PinkyB]

Update:
I have been checking on Ball-Ball's condition frequently tonight, and noticed he was having trouble passing fresh stool out of his vent, straining. There were still soft stool stuck in the opening which made his vent cannot close. After using q-tip to help clean his vent, I noticed his abdomen was not as swell as earlier and the dark area has further reduced. I was suspecting if he was having too much stool collected in his colon and therefore making the abdomen swell and put pressure on blood vessels.

Still wondering if Ball-Ball is egg-bound, I wanted to give him(her) a warm bath just to be safe. As I picked him up, he passed through two more large lumps of stool. After which his abdomen is no longer swollen and the dark spot has gone. I tried feeding him water from a q-tip and he seems to like nibbing from it. I'm suspecting Ball-Ball might not be drinking enough water and therefore constipate.

Good thing is the swelling and dark spot are now gone, and there is no flesh coming out from his vent. I'll keep monitoring him closely if any further conditions developed. Thankx.

 

[Milo]

You should still contact your vet and let them know what's been going on. Since they've done a physical exam on Ball-Ball they will have a better idea of what you should be worried about and what warrants another vet trip