Urgent Tiel losing weight fast - what do I bring to the vet?

[pawilliams]

Hi folks. Looking for some advice from experienced parronts.

As the title says, my daughter's cockatiel (Sam) has been losing weight fast: 7g in the last three weeks, with most of that occurring in the last 10 days. He plateaued at 80g for about a month before that, but mostly he's been in the 74-76g range for the 6 months we've owned him. He was down to 73g when she checked on him this morning. Since that's below his previous baseline, I'm thinking something's wrong with him rather than something was wrong with him when he was heavier than usual.

Background: He's a Craigslist special, which I agreed to buy for her as a high-school graduation gift, but also to rescue him from a bad situation: 5-6 tiels in a tiny cage big enough for maybe one budgie, at least one of whom had bullied Sam by chewing off his tail. I don't know how old he is, or anything more about his background. The avian vet said he was <1 year because he hadn't had his first molt of adult feathers yet. And for the first month, he wouldn't come out of his cage, so I don't know how much he weighed to start.

My daughter is setting up a vet appointment for Sam tomorrow, but what do we bring with him? I've got my weight chart (I weigh all three of our birds around the same time every week on Saturday AM), and I asked my daughter to thoroughly clean Sam's cage as well as his toys while I'm at work today, so that any poop sample we take with us will be less than a day old.

Question: Is there anything in specific I should remember to take, to help the vet diagnose Sam? I mean, if it's an impacted crop [this is my guess] there's really nothing but an exam (or XRay?) to go on. But if it's a viral or bacterial infection that's causing the weight loss, I'd like to go into the vet appointment prepared.

And of course, a pic of the potato himself (note the prominent crop-bulge):

 

[Mizzely]

I usually line the carrier with wax paper so it's easier to collect a fresh fecal sample

 

[pawilliams]

I usually line the carrier with wax paper so it's easier to collect a fresh fecal sample

Great idea, Mizzely. I'll do that after work.

 

[mythic55]

@Mizzely is correct. I put my guys in a carrier with wax paper- once they go in the carrier- they 'go' (sure beats getting stuffed into a ice cream bin at the vets office- less stress and feather loss).

I see he is missing a tail. Were you informed why?

Make sure they do a full panel if you are concerned, and check for PDD. Often for PDD they need a clocao swab, feces and bloodwork (as an example). So be prepared to 'handle' your bird as they may wnat your help in restraining. I know when my guys get thorough panels- its better if I hold them (vs a vet tech).

Make a detailed list of the foods given, and possible quantity consumed: Example: 2 spoonfuls of seed, broccoli and cherry slices, romaine lettuce, millet sprigs and 2 scoops harrisons pellets. This will help immensely when they ask on the spot.

Also- depending on the time of the appointment. I always recommend a fasted: bloodwork, ultrasounds, etc are more useful- and of course if they need to sedate. Good luck!

 

[pawilliams]

@Mizzely is correct. I put my guys in a carrier with wax paper- once they go in the carrier- they 'go' (sure beats getting stuffed into a ice cream bin at the vets office- less stress and feather loss).

I see he is missing a tail. Were you informed why?

Make sure they do a full panel if you are concerned, and check for PDD. Often for PDD they need a clocao swab, feces and bloodwork (as an example). So be prepared to 'handle' your bird as they may wnat your help in restraining. I know when my guys get thorough panels- its better if I hold them (vs a vet tech).

Make a detailed list of the foods given, and possible quantity consumed: Example: 2 spoonfuls of seed, broccoli and cherry slices, romaine lettuce, millet sprigs and 2 scoops harrisons pellets. This will help immensely when they ask on the spot.

Also- depending on the time of the appointment. I always recommend a fasted: bloodwork, ultrasounds, etc are more useful- and of course if they need to sedate. Good luck!

Thanks, m55.

I don't have any true answer about the lack of tail. Based on Sam's cage-manner and behavior with my green-cheeks, I hypothesize that he was getting bullied by one or more cagemate. However, I've also considered that he may have simply broken them off, or his breeder - a very shady character on CL - might have cut them off. I don't really think I'll ever get a true answer; I just hope they grow back when he finally molts!

I'm anticipating Sam getting an evening appointment, since I have to work outside the home and my daughter keeps putting off getting her drivers license. I would think getting fasting labs would be difficult.

 

[sunnysmom]

What a little cutie. How does his keel bone feel? Checking the keel bone is a good way to check if a bird is over/under weight. I ask because if that's a recent picture, he looks good to me. (I know birds hide their illness- so definitely take him to the vet- but he doesn't look like a bird who just lost a lot of weight.) How do his droppings look?

 

[enigma731]

Is he/has he been molting recently?

 

[Lady Jane]

I have nothing to add except you are well prepared to take care of this cutie and I hope the exam goes well. Make sure to cover the travel cage on the way. If the bird has not been in a travel cage before you might want to do a few trial runs first. Putting him in and out of cage. Is this an avian vet?

 

[Lady Jane]

Are there any updates?

 

[Zara]

I know birds hide their illness- so definitely take him to the vet- but he doesn't look like a bird who just lost a lot of weight.

I would have thought the same, however when my lovie Sydney was sick recently, (his usual weight is 55g) the vet put him on the scales an apologized to me saying he couldn´t get a good reading and his scales must need calibrating because it was saying 46g. Sure enough, I checked at home and he was 46g.
I was shocked. He looked the same but had lost 9g.

It´s fantastic that you are monitoring weight @pawilliams , it really is important. I hope all goes well at the vets

 

[pawilliams]

Ok, got a happy update.

Good news from the avian vet yesterday - he diagnosed Sam with a likely bacterial infection, and gave us some basic antibiotics.

In related news, my daughter put a new perch into Sam's cage about 3 weeks ago. Only yesterday after the vet visit did she tell me that she kept having to change his water dish, because he kept pooping in it while on enjoying his new perch. Yup - that's her teenager logic: why bother improving an unsanitary environment, or even mentioning it, when you can just ignore the problem until it goes away. That usually works!

So my uneducated guess it that's exactly what gave Sam his stomach bug.

I gave my daughter the choice to move either his new perch or his water dish. She moved the water dish to the other side of the cage. Between that and the antibiotics, I'm hoping this resolves happily and soon.

 

[sunnysmom]

That's good news. A bacterial infection should go away fairly quickly. You might want to add some probiotics too for awhile. My vet usually would have me give probiotics for 30 days when my tiel was on antibiotics. Might be something to ask your vet about.

 

[pawilliams]

That's good news. A bacterial infection should go away fairly quickly. You might want to add some probiotics too for awhile. My vet usually would have me give probiotics for 30 days when my tiel was on antibiotics. Might be something to ask your vet about.

Thanks for the advice about probiotics. I'll call him about it... I'm just so relieved it wasn't an impacted crop and pending surgery.

 

[Monica]

Here's a thought.... Are you sure that Sam isn't a Samantha?

 

[pawilliams]

Here's a thought.... Are you sure that Sam isn't a Samantha?

He might be! (that was a key reason we went with Sam, in fact!).

But Sam’s my daughter’s bird, and she always lengthens it to “Samuel” when she’s trying to get him to do something he doesn’t want to do. My gut tells me she isn’t going to change that habit, even if he starts laying eggs.

I know our vet told us some way to mostly-check after the first molt. But Sam hasn’t fully gone through one yet. I forgot it already. I don’t see a real need to get blood drawn; he loses enough blood as it is, cracking feathers when he tries to fly without a tail.

And as another good update: his weight’s back up to 75g this morning! Yay!

 

[enigma731]

You don't have to change their name based on gender! I have a lovely lady tiel named Kevin.

 

[Monica]

I know our vet told us some way to mostly-check after the first molt. But Sam hasn’t fully gone through one yet.

If you can find out whether or not Sam's mother is an Ino (lutino/albino), that could potentially tell you right away if Sam is a "Samantha" or a "Samuel"! That is, if Sam's mother is *NOT* an Ino, you have a Samantha! If Sam's mother *IS* an Ino, then it could go either way.

If Sam is *NOT* a pied, then you can sex via the wing/tail method. Females will have spots on the outer wings, bars on the tail feathers (and rump feathers!). Males will molt those out. They are harder to see on Ino birds, but they *ARE* there! Black lights can help show them, too!

(if Sam is a pied as well, then the tail/wing method isn't completely reliable)


I also had a female tiel. The hellhole she came from called her "Tom" because they thought she was a female. I knew she wasn't a male but they didn't believe me until Tom laid eggs... When I finally managed to get her away, I called her Tomi Girl. She was a quirky tiel!

 

[enigma731]

Just wanted to add: Obviously you observed actual weight loss and that's a problem. But not having a tail will make them weigh less compared to the averages for tiels, so he may not have been AS under weight as the numbers suggested. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[pawilliams]

Just wanted to add: Obviously you observed actual weight loss and that's a problem. But not having a tail will make them weigh less compared to the averages for tiels, so he may not have been AS under weight as the numbers suggested. Just something to keep in mind.

This is true - the decisive factor for me was the speed at which Sam lost significant weight.

One Saturday he weighed 80g, the next weekend 79g, and the one after that was 74g. After we saw that, we started weighing him daily, and he dropped to 73g two days after.

He stabilized on the antibiotics for the first few days at 73g. As you say, that’s not that far off the average, from an absolute perspective. However, going from 79–>73 was concerning in a small bird, especially with my daughter observing increased grouchiness and lethargy.

Objectively speaking, I sure wouldn’t mind losing 8.75% of my weight in 15 days... though that would definitely make me grouchy and lethargic, too.

 

[pawilliams]

Oh, and another good update per my daughter:

Sam’s up to 76g this morning, which returns him back into the weight band (76-80g) he usually occupied for the 4 months I’ve been weighing him. Hooray!!!