Zebra Finch Raspy Voice

[kamoodle5]

I have a zebra finch who's been making hoarse beeps and "coughs" due to a neck injury some months ago. Since then, she's continued to be active and vocal like all is well. Lately, however, she's been coughing and breathing with her beak opening and closing more often. She also has minor bald spots on her chest and back of neck.

I've considered getting her checked at a local vet who does look at birds, but I haven't done so within these past few months because I feel nothing can really be done. I know it's impossible to do any major surgery on such a tiny bird. I've become increasingly stressed due to the likelihood that her health is starting to worsen and I feel helpless. Right now, it's Saturday and the vet won't be open until Monday. Is there anything I could possibly do to help her stay comfortable until then?

 

[Pixiebeak]

It's very possible this is an infection of some kind. Maybe the injury made aspiration happen..or maybe it's unrelated to the last injury

 

[kamoodle5]

Yeah, with the way her coughing has increased lately, it could indeed be an infection. She's done coughing before but not as frequently. Unfortunately, I'm unsure whether to confirm this is a real emergency, like going to vet emergency (since it will be Sunday tomorrow), or to just wait until Monday to set up an appointment. Ginger is still going about as if there's nothing totally wrong with her, as she's eating and drinking and flying around as normal, so far.

Unfortunately, I had another bird who experienced a neck injury due to flying into a wall and had lost much of her voice. She lived a year and a half this way until she started showing sickness a couple days before her passing. One morning, I noticed she was dead, likely overnight in her sleep.

 

[WillowQ]

Any change in voice indicates a problem. I would seek advice on how to give her TLC and hopefully help her to recover. Otherwise I would set up a quiet comfortably warm hospital cage and let her feed and rest. As pixiebeak wrote, she may well have an infection of some kind and need treatment to resolve it. This is more likely to be an antibiotic than a surgery; and antibiotics can be given to these tiny birds pretty easily.

 

[Pixiebeak]

I try and wait till regular vet hours with mine. Tho I am able to call after hours . I'm not comfortable with non avian vets after hours .

I say follow your gut, and how she seems . None of us can know if it's safe to wait or not when dealing with birds.

Keep us updated

 

[kamoodle5]

So, I got an appointment for Ginger, my zebra finch, on Wednesday morning. Fortunately, although she still coughs occasionally, she's been acting quite healthy again. Seems like she'll continue to do well for the next two days, I hope.

I think Ginger has realized that if she beeps, it will hurt. She doesn't speak much aside from little chitchats with the other zebra finches on my phone (I play zebra finch videos for her). I like to believe she knows how to stay comfortable.

 

[kamoodle5]

Got some good and bad news. I took Ginger to the vet today and got the results.

Good news is she doesn't have any throat infections, not even air sac mites. It it true that Ginger never really experienced any congestion or clicking. According to the doctor, she is very healthy and active despite the raspy voice and coughing (she didn't cough once during the visit).

Bad news is she has two other problems: calcium deficiency and a bacterial infection on the back of her neck. I received some medicine for the infection, which involves mixing it into Ginger's drinking water. For the calcium deficiency, I was given several options: sunlight or UV lamp, broccoli, and spreading some calcium powder onto her seeds and millet.

Unfortunately, Ginger is a very picky eater so I doubt she'll get into the broccoli. I have given her some over time and she always ignored it. Also, it's not that she has no access to any edible items for calcium. She gets oyster shells, egg shells, even two of those calcium tablets; I rarely see her peck at those though. Seems like the best options are the sunlight/uv lamp and the calcium powder, although I will definitely not let her out in the triple digit afternoon weather. She received five minutes of sun this morning for starters; that was as much as she could handle before moving into some shade.

I am relieved the visit went surprisingly well for Ginger. The vets there especially enjoyed her adorable beeps.