- Joined
- 5/3/19
- Messages
- 14
- Real Name
- Clarissa
Hello again everyone, I hope you are all doing well
I've come to ask for some assistance.
This is about Turon, he is my house sparrow, I've had him since 2018. Three weeks ago I took him to an avian vet because two days prior I saw blood around his cage, perches, lining paper and then his beak. He also had a swelling on the edge of his beak, just on one side. I talked to the vet on that day, and I was told that as he was not bleeding and his behavior was normal, it wasn't an emergency so I should take him there on a business day. And so I did on the next Monday.
He was examined thorough: the vet looked inside his beak, an x-ray was taken, a swab from his beak and cloaca was taken.
The results were: his beak was normal on the inside, his liver is twice the size as it should be (probably due to a wrong diet) and the swab came back negative for gram negative bacteria, but with low count for the good bacteria he should have.
The vet concluded, after observing Turon's behavior (opening the beak, swallowing frequently, and rubbing beak and eyes against perch) that he had a sinus infection. I should also point out that during all this time he showed no change to his routine: he was playing, eating, taking baths, flying and doing everything that he used to do. The only thing he reduced the frequency of was pecking the cuttlebone; he would peck a bit and then stop, I think because he could have been feeling discomfort due to his beak injury.
The recommended treatment was:
He responded to treatment well and went back to pecking the cuttlebone as he always did. And he kept at that for a week or so, until I noticed that he started to rub his eyes against the perch again. Then earlier today I noticed that the swelling was back, and when it was time to cover his to sleep I saw blood again on his lining paper, perches, and beak - same way as it was before I took him to the vet.
I'm reaching out to the vet, I just wanted to community opinion on this. Could all this be caused by a sinus infection and then should the treatment be longer? Or could this be mites or something?
I've attached photos I just took, just a warning as there is blood on his beak.
Thanks in advance!
I've come to ask for some assistance.
This is about Turon, he is my house sparrow, I've had him since 2018. Three weeks ago I took him to an avian vet because two days prior I saw blood around his cage, perches, lining paper and then his beak. He also had a swelling on the edge of his beak, just on one side. I talked to the vet on that day, and I was told that as he was not bleeding and his behavior was normal, it wasn't an emergency so I should take him there on a business day. And so I did on the next Monday.
He was examined thorough: the vet looked inside his beak, an x-ray was taken, a swab from his beak and cloaca was taken.
The results were: his beak was normal on the inside, his liver is twice the size as it should be (probably due to a wrong diet) and the swab came back negative for gram negative bacteria, but with low count for the good bacteria he should have.
The vet concluded, after observing Turon's behavior (opening the beak, swallowing frequently, and rubbing beak and eyes against perch) that he had a sinus infection. I should also point out that during all this time he showed no change to his routine: he was playing, eating, taking baths, flying and doing everything that he used to do. The only thing he reduced the frequency of was pecking the cuttlebone; he would peck a bit and then stop, I think because he could have been feeling discomfort due to his beak injury.
The recommended treatment was:
- a drop of prednisolone once a day in his beak
- inhalation with antibiotics (we bought and inhalation machine and put the output on top of his cage twice a day with the medication)
- adding probiotics to diet for a month
- Silybum marianum to this water (1ml to 100ml) for a month
- switching diet to a full pellet diet for passerines (previously it was a mix of grains and a crumble ration for finches - currently switching, still on the 50/50 stage)
He responded to treatment well and went back to pecking the cuttlebone as he always did. And he kept at that for a week or so, until I noticed that he started to rub his eyes against the perch again. Then earlier today I noticed that the swelling was back, and when it was time to cover his to sleep I saw blood again on his lining paper, perches, and beak - same way as it was before I took him to the vet.
I'm reaching out to the vet, I just wanted to community opinion on this. Could all this be caused by a sinus infection and then should the treatment be longer? Or could this be mites or something?
I've attached photos I just took, just a warning as there is blood on his beak.
Thanks in advance!
