Little Baby Cockatiel

[vancha]

Yes, we have ground ginger so I will add that in his next feeding. Do you think the medication might irritate his crop/digestive tract a little bit? He'd never regurgitated beforehand. It may just be a side-effect. Should I continue to give him the ginger until after his course of medication is up?

 

[srtiels]

Yes...the med is probably irratating the GI tract. Give the Ginger for a few days after you stop the meds. Also, if you have probiotic or plain yogurt you might want to add a little of that during the last days of treatment and a few days afterwards.

 

[vancha]

He hasn't regurgitated since I added the ginger, so all is well for now.

 

[srtiels]

That is great Now tell the little sweetie to start getting bigger...LOL

 

[vancha]

I spoke too soon... he's been regurgitating today. After his medicine in the morning. Even after a normal feeding a little while ago I see that most of it was just regurgitated from the crop. I really don't know whether to continue this medicine. His urates look the same. He'll start losing weight progressively if this continues.

 

[srtiels]

OK...I would back of from the meds then. Poor little baby Keep an eye on the crop skin. You can feel the thickness between your fingers. The skin should feel like the double thickness of a paper towel when pressed between the thumb and index finger. This is how I check for yeast in the crop. the skin starts to thicken if there is yeast building up. If you suspect so, then a drop of ACV in the formula.

 

[vancha]

His crop seems to empty fine and seems like there's no yeast in there right now, but yeah, he wasn't holding anything down for a while there. I've decided to halt the medicine for a while in favor of him keeping down his food. I'll tell you how he is in the morning.

 

[avianantics]

Awwww.... just like human babies, you forget how tiny they are!

 

[vancha]

After 24 hours off the meds he is still regurgitating. The feathers on his chest, and around his beak are matted with it, and he often gets it on his beak and around his nares as well. He wasn't regurgitating earlier today, but only started later in the evening. Maybe because I fed him more, and at a thicker consistency because he was keeping it down. I am now feeding smaller amounts, at a thinner consistency.

Other than that, he seems incredibly enthusiastic and has a big appetite. Is it possible for the medicine to cause irritation this long after ceasing it, or are we looking at a larger issue? Is it possible this is a bacterial infection? His crop seems to have some prominent veins but is not thickened, and empties well. If bacterial it may be in his crop. If bacterial, the medication did not help him. I know it's effective against anaerobic bacteria but is it possible this isn't what we are dealing with? Or is this just a side effect that will go away with time? Now that I think about it, the rice water may have been out of the fridge for too long one time... Perhaps this is unrelated to past symptoms and even to the medication. Perhaps this is a bacterial crop infection because of that.

I've gone ahead and added pau d'arco and garlic in his last feeding. I'm updating this post from earlier to leave more information. He regurgitated again since his last meal. He doesn't seem to be regurgitating all of it, though, and is still passing the food so that is good. He is very energetic and has been climbing around. He can perch and jump. May have lost a gram or more because of all of this. On the amtyl that I bought, the directions say to mix a certain amount to a gallon of water and use this as their sole water supply for 1 week. The directions for the ronivet are very similar. Should I follow the directions or should I dose the amtyl differently, if I am to use it? He's been getting probiotics all along, just as a side note.

 

[srtiels]

The red veins in the crop are an infection, most likely a bacteria, but not sure what.

Had you been using the amtyl all along? If not them use the directions for mixing in the water, and use that as the water. And the probiotics and ginger.

 

[vancha]

No, I hadn't been using the amtyl all along, unfortunately... I should have been. I figured it was an infection. I was up really late last night and managed to figure out the dosage of amytl to 3 cups of water, mixed it up and fed him a last feeding with the amytl. He didn't regurgitate at all after it. I don't know whether that is coincidental or not. I've heard antibiotics can help very quickly, but is it possible that it helped? He'd been regurgitating consistently after every feeding for over nearly 12 hours at that point.

 

[srtiels]

Yes...it sounds like the Amtyl helped. I know when I have a baby that has a 'suspected' bacterial problem, and is regurgitating, I will use Keflex and the baby is acting OK and digesting well by the next feeding. When an antibiotic is doing it's job you should see positive results within hours.

 

[vancha]

I think the antibiotics may be working. I looked at his crop and I'm pretty sure I can't see any more red veining. However, I'll have to see if he starts regurgitating again.

 

[srtiels]

Tell him Grandma Birdie Susanne said to straighten up and stop giving you grey hairs

 

[vancha]

Will do. I only hope he listens!

 

[srtiels]

Will do. I only hope he listens!

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He better listenTell him he has alot of people waiting to see him grow and be a big bird

 

[vancha]

I've got good news. Ever since the first dose of antibiotics, he hasn't regurgitated once. He's starting to eat different foods now. He gets very experimental in between feedings. He's also jumping and flapping a bit, and climbing all over. He really is insistent on perching, and also will step up and step down, although not on cue yet.

So here he is! His little face got messy so it's wet from a cloth.

Oh, and I should mention. I've discovered that both of his parents have darker feet and dark beaks, as well as the father having faded patches on his feathers, similar to your picture here:

I've used a lot of your pictures to communicate with the owner of his parents. The birds' beaks aren't that dark yet, but are getting darker. Same with the feet. Also the male is almost the same tone as a normal grey (more tan-colored, however), but like I said, some feathers are lightening from what I have been told. Interesting, I think.

 

[srtiels]

Ah...it sounds like he did have SFDS parents.

He looks GREAT...bright eyed, and alert. Since the anitbiotics worked so fast he must've had a slight bacterial infection. When the meds are right, the changes are fast.

 

[vancha]

Yes, I'm just glad he's doing so much better. He's also putting on weight.

 

[srtiels]

He's also putting on weight
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Yay!...he's one the way to be a big little bird.