Help Needed, Sick Bird?

[lovelyirn]

I’ve come to this page as a last resort to gather a bit more knowledge and hopefully better understand what’s going on and how quickly i’ll need to get him to the vet if i need to at all.

I’ve had my male Indian Ringneck for about 5 years now and the past 5 years have been fantastic. He’s an amazing bird, super friendly and loves sitting beside me while i study. He’s never once been sick or shown any signs of not feeling well but recently he’s been acting weird. Yesterday morning i woke up and found him sleeping on the bottom of his cage with all his feathers fluffed up. I was a bit worried as i was aware that parrots sleeping on the bottom of their cage isn’t exactly signs of good health, and he had never done so previously. The minute he saw me he climbed back up the cage slowly and sat somewhat depressively in the corner on a perch and was extremely quiet all day, which is not like him at all. I made sure to keep an eye on him all day, he ate fine and was constantly drinking so he’d definitely not lost his appetite. By the end of the day (around 5-6pm) he was preening himself and seemed to have come out of this “spell” of fatigue that he was showing. I thought he was going to get better, but i’ve woken up again this morning and he was huddled up in the corner of the cage floor and after noticing me there he attempted to climb the cage back to his favourite perch, which he couldn’t do because he didn’t seem to have the strength to even pull his second foot off the ground.

It’s been about 2 hours since then and he’s still eating and drinking fine, though all he seems to want to do is sleep and struggles to hold himself up on any sort of perch. I’m worried because of how weak he is and if going to the vet will be the only option?

 

[Lady Jane]

This warrants a vet exam because birds will hide illness as long as they can before what ever the problem takes over and they can no longer appear well. Birds can be ill and still eat and preen. What is the temperature of the room this bird is in when he wakes up? Are you sure bird is a male? What is his diet? Do you have other birds? Sorry for the questions but its nice to have more information here so we can help you.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Going to the vet is one option. The other option is to allow your bird to die. He sounds quite ill and nobody can diagnose him over the internet.

His symptoms are consistent with hundreds of illnesses and diseases and only a vet will be able to run the tests appropriate to determine his problem.

Get him to an avian vet (if possible) immediately.

 

[lovelyirn]

This warrants a vet exam because birds will hide illness as long as they can before what ever the problem takes over and they can no longer appear well. Birds can be ill and still eat and preen. What is the temperature of the room this bird is in when he wakes up? Are you sure bird is a male? What is his diet? Do you have other birds? Sorry for the questions but its nice to have more information here so we can help you.

It’s summer at the moment so in the morning around 8am it’s roughly 19°c in this room and can get up to around 27°c at the hottest part of the day. Overnight the temperature doesn’t seem to drop any lower than 15°c.

I am very sure my Indian Ringneck is a male as he started showing signs of a ring coming through at 1 1/2 to 2 years of age and last i checked does still have one haha.

As for his diet, it consists of about 30% seeds, nuts and grains and the other 70% being of numerous different fruits and vegetables as well as a nutriblend pellet mix. He gets a large variety of fruits and vegetables and has a very strong love for bell peppers and grapes.

We do in fact have another bird. She’s a female indian ringneck who’s a little over 1 year younger than he is. She’s not in any way hand tamed and seems very scared of any interaction with humans, which is understandable as she came from a breeder who didn’t exactly have her in the best conditions. They had separate cages in the beginning and seemed to enjoy each others company so we put them together after 2 and a bit months. They got along fine for the most part and my male didn’t have any problems with her. At night they’d sleep side by side in one corner of the cage and always woke up in the same position so all seemed fine in that regard. Though recently we have separated them as she started becoming very aggressive over food and would swipe at him every so often for a reason unknown as they’re fed the same time everyday, and have never had empty bowls before. I’ve had her for a few years now and she is still not very fond of anyone despite the slow process to get her comfortable with our hands and just overall presence.

The more questions the better, anything you need to know i’ll be willing to share if it helps .

 

[Lady Jane]

I hope you take your bird to an avian vet and keep us posted.

 

[tka]

What you've described - weakness, sleepiness, lack of strength and inability to climb - shows that there's a problem. However, it could be one of hundreds of problems. Could be a respiratory infection, could be a fungal infection, could be a stroke, could be one or more of any number of things. We can't see your bird or perform tests to determine what the problem is. You really need to take your bird to an avian vet so you can get a diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

 

[rocky'smom]

Best advice is see a avian veterinarian

 

[lovelyirn]

I hope you take your bird to an avian vet and keep us posted.

Unfortunately we only have 3 vets in our town and only one of the three have a proper avian vet. His signs of sickness began late Friday and had continued through the weekend. I was planning to take him to see the vet tuesday as none of them were open during the weekend and Monday is a public holiday.

I went to see a friend yesterday afternoon that worked at a bird rehabilitation center for a few years, but after seeing him she was unsure of what the root of the issue could’ve been and thus also told me to take him to a vet which i was unable to do until Tuesday despite how desperate I was. We suspected he could’ve had worms (though we treat our birds for them often) as he had also lost a dramatic amount of weight over the couple of days despite how often he was eating. We tried our best to make sure he was doing well until we were able to take him to a vet, but sadly passed away early this morning.

 

[Shezbug]

I’m terribly sorry to hear of your birds death.

If you have other birds or pets please make it a priority to make an emergency list. It always pays to have a list of vets that do emergency and after hours calls...... my avian vet is closed for the long weekend but in the event of an emergency there are some others I can call on to help- they are further away and one is not an AV but any vet in an emergency is better than no vet.

 

[lovelyirn]

Thank you and i will. I will be moving into the bigger city in a couple months and there are tons of afterhour vets and avian vets in the area who’re willing to do longer hours if it means saving a life. I do know a few, but unfortunately the trip there is a hefty 7 hours and i was very unprepared for it this weekend .

Thank you a lot for the advice and will get to trying to find more in this area until then.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am sorry for your loss.

 

[Hankmacaw]

I'm terribly sorry that you lost your baby. May he fly high and free and healthy forever.

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

I am so very sorry for your loss