Hi everyone. I haven't posted on here for a while, but figured tonight is as good a night as any.
I woke up this morning, got myself ready to go to the parrot shelter (I volunteer at my "happy place" on Sundays and Mondays) and set about uncovering my birds.
When I uncovered my Meyer's, Scooby, I was startled to see a big splotch of orange on the cage paper. Upon looking closer, I found that Scooby had matted pieces of orange "stuff" on his head feathers and there was lots of orange "stuff" flung all over his cage. I quickly realized that my poor little guy had vomited... all over!
I called the parrot shelter for some advice and to let them know I wasn't coming in today. I wanted to stay home and keep a close eye on Scooby. He sat out on my shoulder for about an hour or so and pretty much just slept. He's not a super-active bird by any means and does sleep on my shoulder quite a bit, but this was shortly after he woke up. About an hour after he was on my shoulder, I saw that he had a mouth full of mucusy-looking foam. He was trying to get it out of his mouth and ended up rubbing it on my sweatshirt. I put him on my leg so that I could see him better (hard to keep turning my head to observe him on my shoulder). I was rubbing his head and his neck started moving side-to-side and he was stretching his neck, acting like he was going to regurgitate. It was a slightly different look than regurgitating though. As I continued to watch, he brought up another round of mucus that ended up hanging like a big drool out of his mouth. He was trying hard to get it off/out of his mouth.
That did it for me. I put him in his travel carrier and off we went to the emergency exotic animal vet (I love how emergencies always seem to happen after normal vet hours or on Sundays!)
I took his cage paper so that the vet could see the orange vomit from this morning. She examined him, said that he was alert and responding and his chest, crop and overall body all felt good. They did a mouth swab after I told him that he frequently has mouth infections. The results of the swab showed a slight mouth infection, but nothing that should have caused the vomiting (he's NEVER vomited in all the time I've had him, even with all the mouth infections).
She put him on an antibiotic and told me to keep an eye on him. She said if he gets worse, bring him back, otherwise, follow up with his regular avian vet. She said his regular vet may want to do a crop wash (not sure what that is) or an x-ray to see what is going on.
Sorry for this super-long post. Has anyone ever had an experience like this before? Scooby hasn't thrown up anymore since we've come home, but he hasn't really eaten much either. I did give him his first dose of antibiotics about an hour and a half ago. Since then, he's just been resting quietly, mostly with his head turned around and tucked into his wing.
I woke up this morning, got myself ready to go to the parrot shelter (I volunteer at my "happy place" on Sundays and Mondays) and set about uncovering my birds.
When I uncovered my Meyer's, Scooby, I was startled to see a big splotch of orange on the cage paper. Upon looking closer, I found that Scooby had matted pieces of orange "stuff" on his head feathers and there was lots of orange "stuff" flung all over his cage. I quickly realized that my poor little guy had vomited... all over!
I called the parrot shelter for some advice and to let them know I wasn't coming in today. I wanted to stay home and keep a close eye on Scooby. He sat out on my shoulder for about an hour or so and pretty much just slept. He's not a super-active bird by any means and does sleep on my shoulder quite a bit, but this was shortly after he woke up. About an hour after he was on my shoulder, I saw that he had a mouth full of mucusy-looking foam. He was trying to get it out of his mouth and ended up rubbing it on my sweatshirt. I put him on my leg so that I could see him better (hard to keep turning my head to observe him on my shoulder). I was rubbing his head and his neck started moving side-to-side and he was stretching his neck, acting like he was going to regurgitate. It was a slightly different look than regurgitating though. As I continued to watch, he brought up another round of mucus that ended up hanging like a big drool out of his mouth. He was trying hard to get it off/out of his mouth.
That did it for me. I put him in his travel carrier and off we went to the emergency exotic animal vet (I love how emergencies always seem to happen after normal vet hours or on Sundays!)
I took his cage paper so that the vet could see the orange vomit from this morning. She examined him, said that he was alert and responding and his chest, crop and overall body all felt good. They did a mouth swab after I told him that he frequently has mouth infections. The results of the swab showed a slight mouth infection, but nothing that should have caused the vomiting (he's NEVER vomited in all the time I've had him, even with all the mouth infections).
She put him on an antibiotic and told me to keep an eye on him. She said if he gets worse, bring him back, otherwise, follow up with his regular avian vet. She said his regular vet may want to do a crop wash (not sure what that is) or an x-ray to see what is going on.
Sorry for this super-long post. Has anyone ever had an experience like this before? Scooby hasn't thrown up anymore since we've come home, but he hasn't really eaten much either. I did give him his first dose of antibiotics about an hour and a half ago. Since then, he's just been resting quietly, mostly with his head turned around and tucked into his wing.
Which antibiotic are you using right now? I think a crop wash involves using a gavage needle to rinse the crop a few times to remove any remaining food and then they can test what's in it and/or rinse with an antibiotic or antifungal if necessary.
