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Lovebird abdominal growling sounds and vomiting

Sierra81

Sitting on the front steps
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Monica
Hi Sierra,

These may not be directly related but i still hope to share... i had 6 Lovebirds and some weeks back, 1 contracted single problem. First suspecting it was mosquitoes bite (Thailand has plenty), I just drip eyes drops regularly. Day by day, this Particular lovebird became recluse and refuse to eat and sleeps throughout the day. Then he died one morning. Following, another of my Yellow one contracted the same problem, again, i thought its mosquitoes bites but i isolated this birdy to another cage. The same symptoms appears as first one and then 3rd and the 4th bird follows. Immediately i realise something is not right even though they were isolated form the infected one so i brought all my 3 birds to the VET. She took all 3 birds Poo for immediate testing and results shows negative with 5 times the amount of bacterial infection in it. After questioning me on few issues of their diet, feeding, timing, accommodation and food, the VET she immediately pins down the problem. Its my food management issue. You see, i used to finished all the wet food within a day when they are chicks but i still continue to fed them daily morn as the food i provide are very good grade supplements with higher nutrients. However as the birds grew and able to feed, they are less dependent on my feeding and hence, i have left over. I celo wrapped them and keep refrigerated. I microwave the leftover food before feeding them daily. Over a period of 3-4 weeks, the birds develop symptoms. So, the conclusion are simple, feed them and throw away the leftovers.

The cause : My birds developed 5 times the level of bacterial infection in its intestinal system. Due to this infection, they cant absorb food daily and hence, they stop eating. They tends to hibernate throughout the day (conserving energy), stays inactive and hardly sings. They also display signs of weigh losses, swelling of their eyes and tearing. No, I did did not witness signs of vomiting (although i may not be there to witness if they did while i was away at work). If left untreated, the birds will die.

Medical Remedy : VET prescribed Anti-biotic, Anti-inflammatory and liquid injection. Daily oral treatment of liquid antibiotics to subdue the bacterial for 1 week. Anti-biotic eye drops (non steroid) and carefully orally feed them regularly on small amount till they regain energy

Practical Remedy : Clean the cages, food trays and accessories thoroughly to rid of possible bacteria, disinfect all their birds houses/Nest, change brand new beddings.

My birds are showing signs of recovery and i must admit my stupidity :dance4: but after this lesson, im relief to see them recovering :heart:.

Cheers
Jay
Hi Jay! Thanks for trying to help!
The symptoms in my case are different and have been like that for 2 years. It might be related to the same problem -leftovers, bacteria in the water, but my bird eats dried poop from anywhere he can find and even if I clean everything, he'll eat it from his own cage. If he can't find papers, dried leftovers, or cat litter from a corner (yeah, he likes to check the floor too), he eats large dust particles. It's not up to me, unfortunately.
In the mean time he vomited again for 2-3 days, then acted normal, then vomited again for 2-3 days, then again normal, and now he's fine since 2 days or so but I still can hear those sounds producing from time to time.
It makes me think it's related to food, leftovers and the other stuff he eats when I'm not in the room. When he vomits, he weighs about 46 grams, then gets back to 50 grams, and so on. I feel like vomiting too when I see him like that and when I hear those sounds I feel bad in my stomach.
I don't know... or maybe it got something from my 2 budgerigars who died a year ago, the one with the dilated abdomen, who was also vomiting, and the female, who was also vomiting since I got her here.
I have to find the cause someday... hopefully when my aga will be 16-20 years old...
 

Sierra81

Sitting on the front steps
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Monica
Pica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder) Eat's non food items.

Can you send samples here? Contact Information

If I were you I would start calling local zoos. See if they can give you a direction. :hug8:
I read about everything except pica. Thanks for mentioning it. I'll read more about it. I had that disorder too when I was little :p
A year ago I sent chest feathers to Avian Biotech to test for Avian Borna Virus. It came negative and then they haven't replied to my emails anymore. I was asking them about what other tests to pick for all these symptoms. Then I asked a few vets and they told me fecal samples have to be in the lab within 2 hours after taking them directly from the cloak/beak, so it's no use to send samples to their UK lab.
There's one "zoo" here with exotic birds but I don't trust their opinion because what they know is the same other vets here told me, and that is either that they don't know the cause, or it must be a food disorder that will pass.
I took samples to a lab here... but they told me they'll test for all bacteria and fungus and they gave me results for Salmonella only.
The aga was treated orally by the only experienced avian vet here with a form of Enrofloxacin (like Baytril), a complex of vitamins and minerals called Duphalite and a powerful antibiotic called Lincospectin. If the cause for pica would have been some lack of vitamins/minerals, then the complex should have solved it. No change. Was vomiting 3 days, then next 3 days was fine, and so on. The poop has bubbles only when he vomits, then gets back to normal.
Maybe he has a food disorder and symptoms show up when he eats poop and leftovers/dust/paper. If the 4-weeks treatment had no results, maybe it's not life-threatening, don't know... The vet who treated my bird told me it's definitely not megabacteria/AGY, but another bacteria, like Pseudomonas, and that treatment should have eliminated it.
 

Macawnutz

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Hankmacaw

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I think Erin might have found the answer - Some bacterial infections, most often those caused by one of the group of Clostridium bacteria, may cause gas bubbles to form in the droppings. A bird with gas-forming bacteria may make a sound when passing a dropping, and the droppings may appear foamy. If this type of behavior or dropping is seen, you should have your bird evaluated by a vet.

Danita's Bea (African Grey) had a bad case of clostridium when she rescued her. I remember it took a long time to cure and I can't remember the antibiotic and anti-fungal she used.

Clostridium

 

Macawnutz

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KiwiFruit

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minimize dill, parsley and cilantro. only very little OK for bird in fact them really need neither.
 

waterfaller1

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Oh dear..I am so very sorry for your loss.:( RIP little one and suffer no more.
 

Sierra81

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Monica
All I could hear from vets in Romania was "birds are not so evolved, like the other animals", "even if we could perform lab tests, we couldn't get enough blood from him", " oh he is not sick. You're just paranoic", "yes in US they can test and treat because there is $500 a visit to a vet"(forgot about Germany, UK?), "there are just a few medicines to treat birds", etc etc etc. They didn't even want to look at the bird and they gave me vitamins. Our pet shops are full of small and medium parrots. I had the chance to listen to an audio recording from a conference in Europe where a famous vet took a speech and when he mentioned a case of a parrot brought to him by his owners from another country, he said "and guess what! He had to be euthanised" all the doctors in the room started laughing.
 
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