Hello, I'm new to this forum.
It's going to be a long post, so in short, I'm suspecting aspergillosis for my bird and he is having respiratory distress at the moment. It's been a difficult few months and I would appreciate any support and advice you could give as I am desperate.
My 14 year old black capped conure has been dealing with respiratory issues since last Christmas when we lost power, the room reached 53 degrees, and he was exposed to the room with a fireplace for about 15 minutes (which I am feeling so guilty about). The very next day, his voice changed, and he started wheezing and coughing badly the next few days. I brought him to the vet as soon as I could which was about 4 days later. I told the doctor I suspected Asper due to the voice change but he said there are no spores in the burning wood and it's unlikely that he has asper because we live in the desert climate. The ACV gave him a doxycycline shot, and he'll need at least 2 shots. He did improve for about 3 days since the shot, but the symptoms came back for the rest of the week. He had 3 doxy shots but he kept wheezing and sneezing, so I asked the vet again if it could be asper and if we can do a blood test. He said he can't do blood test on him because he's too small (he won't draw blood from a bird that's less than 200g), and asper diagnosis is just too hard.
So I went to another vet to get the CBC. The test showed normal everything except elevated bile acid, which he has had before. The reading was 82. We also had gram stain done, and the vet found a lot of gram-negative bacteria, so we put the bird on Baytril for 10 days. He did improve after the course of baytril, but the respiratory symptoms came back. Then he suggested Clavamox for a week, which didn't do anything. So we had the x-ray done, and I've attached the images to this post. The vet said there seems like some haziness in his lungs and maybe the air sac and syrinx but can't tell much from that. Then he put him on Nystatin and Diflucan (Fluconazole). The bird seemed to improve for 2 days and then he was the same.
The new vet consulted with other vets and concluded that we should try Voriconazle, which I'll be picking up in a few days. I also scheduled an appointment with another avian vet 2 hours away this Friday because they said they offer asper test, although they wouldn't reveal which one. I read asper tests are not reliable in general, but thought it wouldn't hurt if they can do it.
Currently, he is almost constantly wheezing, sneezing, coughing, tail bobbing, and making clicky noises as he breathes. His weight has been slightly fluctuating between 71 and 72 grams, which is normal for him. He has been eating well and playing as hard as he always has. I want to give him a cage rest but he just won't stop begging me to come out, so I'm grateful for that. But it's been so exhausting and heartbreaking for months because he's still sick after almost a dozen trips to the vet. It's frustrating that I've suspected asper from the beginning, and it's been already 3 months since he got sick but we still haven't started the right treatment for him due to the delay of diagnosis. I know that it's not definite he has asper, but after 3 kinds of antibiotics and 2 yeast meds doing nothing, it seems like that's the only thing left. I've nebulized him a few times with diluted F10 in a box but it doesn't seem to help so far.
Thank you for reading, and I would really appreciate any comments and support. I don't know what I can do more to help him until we see the vet in 3 days. I'm keeping him warm, but not sure about using a humidifier because that could be bad for asper. The humidity is around 30 right now. It's so hard to hear him constantly wheeze and cough...
It's going to be a long post, so in short, I'm suspecting aspergillosis for my bird and he is having respiratory distress at the moment. It's been a difficult few months and I would appreciate any support and advice you could give as I am desperate.
My 14 year old black capped conure has been dealing with respiratory issues since last Christmas when we lost power, the room reached 53 degrees, and he was exposed to the room with a fireplace for about 15 minutes (which I am feeling so guilty about). The very next day, his voice changed, and he started wheezing and coughing badly the next few days. I brought him to the vet as soon as I could which was about 4 days later. I told the doctor I suspected Asper due to the voice change but he said there are no spores in the burning wood and it's unlikely that he has asper because we live in the desert climate. The ACV gave him a doxycycline shot, and he'll need at least 2 shots. He did improve for about 3 days since the shot, but the symptoms came back for the rest of the week. He had 3 doxy shots but he kept wheezing and sneezing, so I asked the vet again if it could be asper and if we can do a blood test. He said he can't do blood test on him because he's too small (he won't draw blood from a bird that's less than 200g), and asper diagnosis is just too hard.
So I went to another vet to get the CBC. The test showed normal everything except elevated bile acid, which he has had before. The reading was 82. We also had gram stain done, and the vet found a lot of gram-negative bacteria, so we put the bird on Baytril for 10 days. He did improve after the course of baytril, but the respiratory symptoms came back. Then he suggested Clavamox for a week, which didn't do anything. So we had the x-ray done, and I've attached the images to this post. The vet said there seems like some haziness in his lungs and maybe the air sac and syrinx but can't tell much from that. Then he put him on Nystatin and Diflucan (Fluconazole). The bird seemed to improve for 2 days and then he was the same.
The new vet consulted with other vets and concluded that we should try Voriconazle, which I'll be picking up in a few days. I also scheduled an appointment with another avian vet 2 hours away this Friday because they said they offer asper test, although they wouldn't reveal which one. I read asper tests are not reliable in general, but thought it wouldn't hurt if they can do it.
Currently, he is almost constantly wheezing, sneezing, coughing, tail bobbing, and making clicky noises as he breathes. His weight has been slightly fluctuating between 71 and 72 grams, which is normal for him. He has been eating well and playing as hard as he always has. I want to give him a cage rest but he just won't stop begging me to come out, so I'm grateful for that. But it's been so exhausting and heartbreaking for months because he's still sick after almost a dozen trips to the vet. It's frustrating that I've suspected asper from the beginning, and it's been already 3 months since he got sick but we still haven't started the right treatment for him due to the delay of diagnosis. I know that it's not definite he has asper, but after 3 kinds of antibiotics and 2 yeast meds doing nothing, it seems like that's the only thing left. I've nebulized him a few times with diluted F10 in a box but it doesn't seem to help so far.
Thank you for reading, and I would really appreciate any comments and support. I don't know what I can do more to help him until we see the vet in 3 days. I'm keeping him warm, but not sure about using a humidifier because that could be bad for asper. The humidity is around 30 right now. It's so hard to hear him constantly wheeze and cough...
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Only one out of the three young birds was diagnosed with asper but then her older brother passed away from an aspergilloma and her younger brother wound up having a myriad of problems including liver issues although I believe he passed from a mishap during a blood draw since the blood work that came back showed improvement. The "middle child" fought for 8 years and was on a myriad of antifungals, antibiotics, vetri-DMG and other supplements. She would get better for days, weeks, or many months and then get very sick again. Unfortunately she didn't win the fight. 
It was weird. They each passed away 4 years apart, in the order they hatched, two on Jan. 1st and then the youngest the beginning of February. This was several years ago.
