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'Stressed' Tiel

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ktemkin

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Last Thursday, my fiancée and my molting 'tiel suffered a night fright, and banged herself up a bit. We were lucky in that there was almost no blood loss; the blood feathers that bent clotted immediately, and were subsequently removed.

The next night, she started exhibiting signs of illness- she was intermittently fluffed and suffered on-and-off diarrhea. Worried, we took her to an avian vet, who gave her a one-over and came to the conclusion that she was stressed.

The vet surmised that she was having some difficulty dividing her energy between the molt, healing after the night fright, and maintaining her body temperature. We were instructed to increase the ambient heat and humidify of her cage so she could better devote her energy to healing and growing.

It's now Monday, and though she no longer appears fluffed, she still shakes intermittently and suffers diarrhea.

Do you guys really think this is caused by stress, or should I take our 'tiel back to the vet?
 

Birdiemarie

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It could be stress related but with that amount of time that has gone by to be safe, if she were mine, I would take her back to the vet to make sure she did not suffer a head injury. :hug5:
 

birdlvr466

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Did they do any kind of testing? Bloodwork? I dont think it is just stress IMO. Do you have a heat lamp that you could put on her cage? I think you need to take her back. Birds can decline so quickly. We have a lot of Tiel owners here who could probably help you out on trying to prevent night frights. Please keep us updated but if it were me, I would take her back for some tests.
 

Jeddy

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It could be stress related but with that amount of time that has gone by to be safe, if she were mine, I would take her back to the vet to make sure she did not suffer a head injury. :hug5:

I'am with you on this Marie . I would for sure be back to the vet.
 

ktemkin

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Hi
Did they do any kind of testing? Bloodwork?
No, the vet didn't perform any blood or stool work. If she did, I'd feel less worried about the whole thing.


Do you have a heat lamp that you could put on her cage?
I don't own a heat lamp; right now I've been using a PTFE-free heating pad. I think I'm going to pick one up after work, along with a cold vaporizer.

Is she perching?
Yes. (I'd be freaked out of my mind if she started staying on the bottom of her cage.)

--

Her diarrhea has subsided for now- her current droppings are normal. Her droppings were normal for a while yesterday as well. It seems very on-and-off, and I don't know what that indicates.

The house stays between 78 and 85 normally, so I don't think it'd be normal for her to be cold, though their body temperatures are in the ~110 area.

Her behavior is normal, and so is her appetite. She's very active and remains very vocal.

I'll see if I can get a vet appointment first thing tomorrow- doesn't seem like any spot's free today.

--

Side note on night frights:

The night frights aren't so much the worry- I think the last one happened because her cage was in a different place than usual. I currently work from my home and decided it might be better for her if her cage was in my office, where both I and Ada (my tiel) spend most of my day.

Because I was worried about the possibility of a night fright where we couldn't hear her, I went downstairs to see if I could rig up some software to make a baby monitor from an unused cell phone. When I came back up, she had already had a night fright, despite the night light.

She's back in our bedroom now.
 
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srtiels

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The diarrhea is going to dehydrate her. When dehydrating the body tends to not hold heat as well. If she is drinking OK you might want to add some plain Pedialyte to her water bowl. If she is eating you might offer her some additional millet, it has carbs and will help with her energy levels.

OK...another thing that will healp a stressed bird is to give it some Brewers Yeast. This can be found at a Health Food store such as Whole Foods or GNC...in granule form. As long as the tiel has watery droppings it is also excreting the water soluble nutrients in the body. if they are not replaced they may sometimes eat their own feces to replentish these nutrients: Here is an article I have on my website: Eating Droppings - Just Cockatiels! Though your teil may not do this the Brewers yeast will help. At the bottom of the page is a link to more info on the results of stress.
 

birdlvr466

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Sounds like you are a very caring bird owner and are trying your best to get things figured out. You can get a ceramic heat lamp at places such as Petsmart or Petco and they have a clamp so it hooks right onto the cage. Susanne gave you some great tips too in the mean time.
 

Anne & Gang

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AI think you need to get her back into the vet and DEMAND that tests be run...
 

ktemkin

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I'll definitely look into brewer's yeast and pedialyte- I'm pretty sure my local Wegman's supermarket (which is incredible and has almost anything) has it in stock.

She's still eating and drinking like normal- which is to say a lot. Since she started molting, I've been giving her (and she finishes) a stalk of millet a day in addition to her seed/pellet mix (she's in the middle of a very gradual conversion).

I've purchased a heat lamp and cold mist vaporizer for her- I'm going to set them up shortly. I'm letting the vaporizer run through a tank in another room so I can get rid of any traces of manufacturing compounds before I bring in in her.

---

I think I'm noticing a trend in when the diarrhea is occurring- it might be the diarrhea is related to her bursts of activity. When she spent the day climbing around her gym next to my office desk, or trying her best to get in the way of my typing, her stool was loose; when I put her back downstairs, they normalized.

They're looking normal now- going to carefully monitor her tonight and see if she's at all symptomatic- and if she is, I'll take her in and ask nicely for blood and stool work.
 

Anne & Gang

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also hens start to get loose bigger stools when they are starting to get ready to lay eggs so that might be something to watch for as well....and it is not necessary to convert to pellets as long as she is getting fresh veggies and other foods besides.
 

birdlvr466

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Can you take some pic's of her poop? Maybe what you think is diarrhea isnt. Also dont be afraid to speak up for you companion. We shouldnt feel like we have to tip toe around our vets to be sure they didnt miss anything. We have to be our pets advocates. You have done wonderfully. I made a thread about what to know before your bird gets sick. My Quaker was sick in November and boy did I learn a lot about what to have on hand. I am very impressed with how you have handled this situation. The quicker you notice things arent right, the better chance you have to get them well. :hug8:
 
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ktemkin

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Can you take some pic's of her poop?
I will if they become abnormal again. For now, I'll try and describe how they were.

I assumed diarrhea because the feces itself appeared soft, and in one case the whole dropping was a uniform green color as if the feces and urine had mixed.

--

Right now I'm still using the heating pad instead of the heat lamp, as I've locked the summer heat in the room, which is keeping it at about 85 degrees. I don't want to push the temperature in the cage too high, and I don't want the light shining and disturbing her sleep.

The fact that the diarrhea has been intermittent is perhaps of some comfort. I'm praying that it won't come back.
 
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