Pictures Eclectus has aspergillosis, on meds but what can I do about the wheezing??

[brittani299]

Hello,
I don’t know if this was the right place to post this. On Monday my eclectus was told from an avian vet that he has aspergillosis. They said it is the start of it and I caught it earlier as it is only in his syrinx right now. He is on the fungal meds. His wheezing is so bad. The vet said it is just part of the fungal problem. Has anyone dealt with this before? Did you do anything to help the wheezing? He sounds so horrible. I have X-rays and blood work results as well.

 

[zoo mom]

@Macawnutz @Hankmacaw

I am sorry your baby is sick. I have tagged a couple members with experience with aspergillosis

 

[Macawnutz]

What medications do they have your sweetie on? Are they nebulizing medications?

Nebulizing can help, also if you had access to oxygen and made a homemade O2 box. Both are simple to make if your vet thinks they could help.

 

[Hankmacaw]

The colony of Asper looks like it is restricted to the syrinx. His airsacs and lungs look nice and clear (black parts of the xray). With the colony on the syrinx, he is going to wheeze a lot.

Like @Macawnutz said nebulization and oral meds should bring him out of it. The one thing I see constantly is that birds are not medicated for a long enough period and the fungal spores hatch and it starts up all over again. An oxygen box O2 is simple and will give him that extra boost. Make sure he stays warm 80f plus - he's sick and needs all of his energy to fight the Asper and not to stay warm.

Which fungicide is he on? And if he is being nebulized which medication is being used?

I fought Asper with both of my birds (Hank for four years) and I found once they have it it is more likely to come back.

Good luck with your baby and ask any questions you may have.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Just looked at the CBC. His white cell count is high,but not extreme. Hanks was at 48,000 once and one person on this forum had an 80,000+ WBC count on her bird. The WBC should be from 5 - 10 thousand. His PVC is higher than normal, but that is because he isn't getting enough oxygen into his blood to service his body, so his body is making more red blood cells to make up for it. That should go down as his breathing improves.

Here is my O2 setup (in my motorhome) with the oxygen concentrator on the floor beside her be and the plastic tub on the bed. She spends two hours a day, one in the morning and one in the evening) in it every day, because she has chronic cardio/respiratory issues.

 

[brittani299]

Thank you so much for your replies! I have asked this on several Facebook groups and got people misunderstanding me and thinking I needed to go to the vet so I gave up there. So they first thought he had a bacterial infection Monday and started him on clavamox and metacam. He started those Monday. I kept calling them telling them he wasn’t getting better. Finally Friday they called and said he looks like he has a fungal infection so they have us the new meds. I will go look which one it is in a minute.

 

[brittani299]

Also he is going to a different avian vet next Monday (that’s the earliest appt they had). She did though call me between appts yesterday and looked at his records. She said she feels it is fungal. The other vet didn’t give us any kind of breathing devices or help into what we should do. So he is only on the oral meds right now

 

[brittani299]

He currently weights 404 grams and eats well. That doesn’t seem to be an issue at all.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Yeah, I think you need a new vet who shows some caring and doesn't give a bird an antibiotic when it may have a fungal infection. The antibiotics will just give the fungus a leg up by killing all of the flora. Speaking of, as long as the bird is on fungicides or antibiotic you should be giving him probiotics. The meds will kill all bacteria/fungus good or bad without discrimination, so a probiotic is called for to repopulate the good flora. This looks like a good probiotic that you can buy in the UK; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vetark-Avi...869666&sr=1-1&keywords=probiotics+for+parrots

 

[zoo mom]

Thank you guys for answering so quickly. I knew I could count on you to help as much as possible.

 

[brittani299]

Sorry for the long wait. The anti fungal he is on is itraconazole

 

[brittani299]

Thank you for the advise on a probiotic! I will buy some for sure

 

[Hankmacaw]

Itraconazole is the generally chosen medication for Asper, but it is toxic to the liver. It is quite effective and quit toxic. That is what screwed Hanks and Jasper's livers up, but they were on it for a long, long time. Is your boy getting better? How's he doing today?

When you see your new vet, ask him/her about voriconazole. If nothing else maybe you can switch him from Itraconazole to Lamisil or voriconazole after a short time on Itraconazole. And maybe you can ask about nebulizing with Amphotericin B for a few days. With the colony in the syrinx the Amph B would directly hit it and Amph B is the only fungal med that actually kill the fungus. The rest of them interfere with the reproduction of the fungus.

 

[redindiaink]

itraconazole

That medication can damage the liver so keep an eye on your birds droppings. If the urates change to a yellow or green talk to the vet.

My vet said dry air makes the fungal infection worse, and I should bring him in with me when I have my shower. Might also consider getting a humidifier, or misting your bird more frequently.

I wish I could help more, but I'm just learning how to manage this with my bird.

 

[Macawnutz]

Dry air making it worse? I would think the opposite. Fungus does best in warm humid environments.

 

[Hankmacaw]

We actually have quite a lot of Asper in AZ and the vet explained that it is because the air is so dry that bird's mucous dry out and their lungs, airsacs and throats get raw and irritated. But I think @brittani299 lives in the uk and the opposite is true there - it is very, very humid and Asper is pretty common.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Sorry about your eclectus. Hope he will be better soon. Itraconazole aka Sporonox made one of my birds even sicker so she was taken off of that and put on another antifungal. Don't remember what it was, though. In my bird's case we believe that she got asper from tainted pistachios.

 

[StarrySkies]

@Macawnutz @Hankmacaw

 

[Macawnutz]

These are heavy antifungals, many birds have lost their battle using them. Amphotericin B nearly killed Korbel but it also saved his life. Voraconazole was easy on my amazon, no side effects at all.

 

[Danita]

I know the woman who runs this group on Facebook.
Amazing group of experienced Ekkie owners who help others. It is private, they are fussy about who they let in, you need to send a request to join the group. If you contact them and tell them your bird is ill, say Danita sent you.
Eclectus in Eden