owltrees
Moving in
- Joined
- 9/8/18
- Messages
- 6
Hey everyone. My 10 year old lovebird Tica has come down with something gastrointestinal related. Some background:
Tica has intermittent seizures that started a few months ago. She was put on Keppra long-term and will seize if she misses a dose. It's hard to know if the seizures are related to her current illness, because the only reason I noticed she was napping a lot during the day was because I got a Nest Cam to monitor her seizures while I was at work. She tested negative for lead/zinc my vet is inclined to believe it's a separate issue.
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Currently: Her poop has been off. It alternates between normal and strange (polyuria + bubbly, diarrhea, and polyuria + squiggly). She naps A LOT during the day, and thus far has had two black stools that were positive for blood (I have a hemoccult at home that I use to test suspicious stools).
About 2 weeks ago we did a contrast dye study and the xrays showed enlarged intestines:
We did a CBC and her white blood cell count was slightly elevated, but that was a bit confounded by how stressed she was at the time (it was a 3 hour car ride). Fecal float, gram stain, anaerobic and aerobic cultures, lead/zinc blood tests all turned out negative. On one fecal 3+ weeks ago, my vet saw a few yeasts hanging around (nothing alarming) so she was put on itraconazole for 14 days - I didn't see any improvement.
She was sick in February (congestion in lungs) and went on one round of antibiotics which cleared it up. She lost weight back then but recently has been gaining weight back despite having gastrointestinal issues right now. Her appetite has been good for now, which is relieving.
We moved to a new city a few months ago and because it wasn't sustainable for me to keep driving 6 hours round trip to my ABVP vet, I went to a new avian vet in my area today (which is always nerve wracking when you don't know if you can trust a new vet!). Fecal smear on-site showed nothing, and we tested for polyomavirus, chlamydia, giardia, and did a gram stain. I will get results back in a week.
I expressed discomfort going home without any sort of medication when she obviously is sick, so the vet prescribed doxy (.16 mL per 10mg/mL) for 30 days, though told me to stop if I see no sign of improvement within 10 days. I have read that doxy is a very robust drug, is it alright to give it to her before starting more holistic antibiotics like metronidazole?
When I expressed concern about doxy and yeast infections I was given some benebac also.
Sorry this is so long and thanks for reading, was wondering if I could get some thoughts on current treatment plan or other tests I could do to help illuminate what's going on.
Tica has intermittent seizures that started a few months ago. She was put on Keppra long-term and will seize if she misses a dose. It's hard to know if the seizures are related to her current illness, because the only reason I noticed she was napping a lot during the day was because I got a Nest Cam to monitor her seizures while I was at work. She tested negative for lead/zinc my vet is inclined to believe it's a separate issue.
-
Currently: Her poop has been off. It alternates between normal and strange (polyuria + bubbly, diarrhea, and polyuria + squiggly). She naps A LOT during the day, and thus far has had two black stools that were positive for blood (I have a hemoccult at home that I use to test suspicious stools).
About 2 weeks ago we did a contrast dye study and the xrays showed enlarged intestines:
We did a CBC and her white blood cell count was slightly elevated, but that was a bit confounded by how stressed she was at the time (it was a 3 hour car ride). Fecal float, gram stain, anaerobic and aerobic cultures, lead/zinc blood tests all turned out negative. On one fecal 3+ weeks ago, my vet saw a few yeasts hanging around (nothing alarming) so she was put on itraconazole for 14 days - I didn't see any improvement.
She was sick in February (congestion in lungs) and went on one round of antibiotics which cleared it up. She lost weight back then but recently has been gaining weight back despite having gastrointestinal issues right now. Her appetite has been good for now, which is relieving.
We moved to a new city a few months ago and because it wasn't sustainable for me to keep driving 6 hours round trip to my ABVP vet, I went to a new avian vet in my area today (which is always nerve wracking when you don't know if you can trust a new vet!). Fecal smear on-site showed nothing, and we tested for polyomavirus, chlamydia, giardia, and did a gram stain. I will get results back in a week.
I expressed discomfort going home without any sort of medication when she obviously is sick, so the vet prescribed doxy (.16 mL per 10mg/mL) for 30 days, though told me to stop if I see no sign of improvement within 10 days. I have read that doxy is a very robust drug, is it alright to give it to her before starting more holistic antibiotics like metronidazole?
When I expressed concern about doxy and yeast infections I was given some benebac also.
Sorry this is so long and thanks for reading, was wondering if I could get some thoughts on current treatment plan or other tests I could do to help illuminate what's going on.
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