• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
  • This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
    THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE

Urgent Cockatiel rapid breathing??

Rallinex

Moving in
Joined
2/25/21
Messages
5
Real Name
Paige
I will preface this by saying that I HAVE already taken him to the vet. They prescribed me enrofloxacin/Fluconazole, but it didn’t seem to be the answer.

So about 3 weeks ago, my cockatiel (5-6 yrs old) started breathing rapidly. He is not doing this constantly, but it often happens at night. It's not after any strenuous activity nor any sort of night fright. The heavy breathing is audible. He is completely normal outside of this - active, eating, drinking, his normal weird self except for these random breathing episodes. He is more antsy than usual during the episode though, pretty anxious.

I brought him to the vet, and they found him to be healthy. Naturally, he wasn't doing any of the heavy breathing during this visit. They took a fecal sample and found an overgrowth of Gram negative bacteria and yeast (birds should have mostly Gram Positive bacteria). Still, none of this info led to the vet coming to a conclusion about what was really wrong with him.

I was sent home with enrofloxacin/Fluconazole and instructed to give 2x a day for 2 weeks and restrict flying. I didn't make it the full 2 weeks, probably about 1 week and 4 days. My bird was just getting way too worked up over the medication, and he started seeing through all my tricks. Way too much stress.

About 48 hours later, he started breathing heavily again at night.

At this point, I'm not totally sure what the move is. Nothing has changed with him since the last time I brought him to the vet, so I assume they will charge me another $300 for a guessing game. Hoping there may be some second opinions here. Let me know what you think. Maybe it’s some sort of panic attack? From what, I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is we had some neighbors move in downstairs who smoke weed. I doubt the smell of it is causing this (no smoke), but that is literally the only thing that has changed around here.
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/28/18
Messages
25,823
Location
Vic, Australia
Real Name
Shez
Do the neighbours smoke all day or only at night? Just curious.

If they are smoking or vaping in the same air he is subjected to it will be affecting him in one way or another- I can’t say that it’s the reason for his fast night breathing but it is a health issue just the same.
If you can smell their weed smoke then you are also being affected by it.
There’s a good reason that it’s against the law (here where I live- not sure about other countries) to smoke or vape anything within 10 meters of a public doorway or area- this distance may have recently been changed and is slightly different for each state. Here you’re not allowed to smoke in any public undercover areas, parks etc as the second hand smoke and associated chemical fumes is a health issue.
@Hankmacaw might have more of an insight into what’s happening to your bird.
 

Hankmacaw

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/18/09
Messages
1,000,001
Location
Arizona
Real Name
Mary Lynn Skinner
Since the medications seemed to do some good, but not cure him, I would take him back to the vet and ask for a culture and sensitivity test. This test will tell you exactly which bacteria and fungal microbes he has and which antibiotics and fungicides are effective on them. When the Dr. prescribes a medication, it is imperative that you give the full course of them. Not doing so will contribute to the development of resistant microbes.

I'm sorry, but this will be expensive but not as expensive as a long drawn out search for the right meds nor losing your bird.

This is an excellent article that tells you about the different lab tests and what they are designed to discover - I recommend you read it and become familiar with the tests.

Avian Lab Tests - Dr. Sakas
 

Rallinex

Moving in
Joined
2/25/21
Messages
5
Real Name
Paige
Thank you both for the comments. @Shezbug, I believe they smoke during the day but it's definitely more noticeable at night/evening. They both work during the day, so that would make sense to me. If it's actually the smell/smoke that's causing it, I'm not really sure what to do about it. I definitely am not interested in reporting them to the landlord, and I am uncomfortable broaching the topic with them directly.

@Hankmacaw - I appreciate the suggestion. I will ask about a culture and sensitivity test. The only reason I am so hesitant to go all-in & do all this testing is that the breathing my cockatiel is experiencing is not consistent. If it was a respiratory issue, wouldn't he be having difficulty breathing 24/7? As of now, it is only happening at night. He randomly gets very active and wants to come out... then I see he is breathing rapidly. Last night, it was happening for over 45 minutes while I was able to observe him. I went to bed, so I'm not sure how long past that he kept it up. This morning, he is fine. I'm curious if it's more of a behavioral thing - anxiety, panic attacks? Not sure.

I am a little frustrated with my vet because after sending him a video of the breathing, he just said to bring him in again for a re-check. He was not able to give me any additional info like tests he would suggest. I told him I was concerned that since my bird wasn't any different from the first time I brought him in, that there would be no updates. Especially since the breathing doesn't happen during the day, and he would not be able to observe it. So with the initial info he had from our first checkup + the new video, I was hoping he could give me more ideas on what he thought. He didn't give me any information unless I brought him in. (Stark contrast to my dog's vet, who is very open on the phone and offers up his thoughts regardless of if I'm coming in or not)

And you are correct about the medication, I am usually good about it. But in this particular situation, the vet said that he needed to be cage bound during the 2 weeks because any strenuous activity had the potential to release a blood clot (or something of the sort) and lead to instant death. Needless to say, that freaked me out... so when it became almost impossible for me to administer his meds due to him panicking, I got worried I would do more harm than good. I tried giving it to him on a cracker, but as soon as he tasted the meds he would cower in the corner. If I am given more meds, I will try to do better this time.

Edit: I forgot to mention that someone messaged me and suggested that it could be due to mold / spores activating at night. It is a wood / metal cage, so perhaps that could be the issue?
 
Last edited:

Hankmacaw

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/18/09
Messages
1,000,001
Location
Arizona
Real Name
Mary Lynn Skinner
To answer your question about whether the difficulty breathing would be 24/7 - NO. All three of my GW macaws have had severe chronic respiratory illnesses and none of them had difficulty breathing all of the time. Their struggling to breath was intermittent and sometimes days or weeks between their having issues.

I just have to emphasize that any difficulty breathing or respiratory noises can be serious and even life threatening.
 

Rallinex

Moving in
Joined
2/25/21
Messages
5
Real Name
Paige
@Hankmacaw my vet got back to me, and he said a culture wouldn’t be helpful and instead suggested X-rays. That doesn’t make sense to me. What would X-rays be able to find...? Unfortunately, it was the front desk attendant calling me back and couldn’t answer that.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,800
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
Although a vet check is the safest thing to do, I am wondering if the smoke is effecting him. Can you ventilate his room? Or do you cover him at night? If so, do you use scented laundry detergent or dryer sheets? Those could effect him. Just trying to think of things since it's just at night.....
 

Rallinex

Moving in
Joined
2/25/21
Messages
5
Real Name
Paige
@sunnysmom thank you for the response! As of now, he is in our main entryway without his own room. My apartment is kind of small, and the only super "closed off" room is the bathroom. Even my bedroom has walls that don't reach the ceiling. His new cage also does not fit in my room anymore. :( I do cover him at night, it's a large dark blue bedsheet. I haven't washed his cover sheet in a while, so I'm not sure it would be the scented laundry or dryer sheets. (I do use scented detergent). Yeah, it's certainly a strange situation! I am going to put an air filter next to his cage to see if that helps.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,800
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
@sunnysmom thank you for the response! As of now, he is in our main entryway without his own room. My apartment is kind of small, and the only super "closed off" room is the bathroom. Even my bedroom has walls that don't reach the ceiling. His new cage also does not fit in my room anymore. :( I do cover him at night, it's a large dark blue bedsheet. I haven't washed his cover sheet in a while, so I'm not sure it would be the scented laundry or dryer sheets. (I do use scented detergent). Yeah, it's certainly a strange situation! I am going to put an air filter next to his cage to see if that helps.
I always wash my birds' covers in unscented detergent to be safe. I hope you get it figured out and that he'll be okay.
 

Hankmacaw

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/18/09
Messages
1,000,001
Location
Arizona
Real Name
Mary Lynn Skinner
Mold spores in and of themselves would not cause him to wheeze, they are far too small. But Mold/fungus spores if they are under the right condition could cause him to contract a fungus infection. I'll explain - if the spores (which are merely mold/fungus seeds) land in a place that i nice and warm and wet they will hatch and grow into colonies and that will make them sick. One of these fungal infections is Aspergillosis, which both of my original birds had and one died from, it is BAD and you don't want to deal with it. Both of my birds were ultimately diagnosed with Asper through xrays. This is probably why your vet wants to do an xray, to determine if there is evidence of fungal compromise in his lungs, airsacs or other parts of his body.

Please stop using any of the scented laundry products and review your household cleaners, etc. for any that might cause excess fumes and irritation to your birds. Definitely put the air purifier next to his cage and run it 24/7. The majority of we bird owners live scent and fumes free.

I'm not convinced that it is the smoke from downstairs, unless it is a very strong odor. Smoke is not a good thing at all, but from that distance is should be pretty minimal.
 
Top