We adopted a little canary that fell on my grandpas store back in January, but ever since the things have gone downhill.
At first, during his first week, he had a few barely noticeable symptoms that there was something wrong, very small tail bobbing, sometimes he would open his beak to breathe, but since it was our first bird ever we thought it might have been normal behavior due to the hot weather. A week later we took him to his first vet appointment bc he had clear issues with breathing, the vet checked his weight, his breathing, his lungs, and said he had pneumonia, and told us to do inhalation with dexamethasone and gentamicine 3x a day for 20 days, along with another medication for bacterial infections. He immediately got better, but as soon as the inhalation ceased, he started getting worse.
We went to the vet again, and he told us to do the treatment for 10 more days, we did. Yet again, whenever he was on the meds he would do fine, but as soon as it stopped he went back to struggling to breathe and coughing. The vet checked him up again after a few more days and said his lungs sounded fine so if he coughed it would probably be due to after effects of his pneumonia, so we kept checking on him. He did "well" for around a month or so, he never once struggled with eating, was never lethargic, nor sat at the bottom of the cage, his only issue was having occasional coughing and opening his beak to breathe.
Around a two and a half ago he started fluffing up a lot more than usual, and appeared rather lethargic, and since we had already treated him before and it worked, we tried doing inhalation once a day to see if it was his lungs acting up, but it didn't work, so we got another vet appointment with another vet to see a different opinion in the case, and she told us his lungs seemed fine, and gave us a natural med to help him detox from the amount of medication he was under previously, and said to come back if things got any worse. I was trying a few things i could do at home to see if they could ease his struggle, and on the internet it said it could be iodine defficiency, so i tried adding a few peas for him to eat (since apparently they have a big iodine concentration) and he absolutely loved it, but then an hour after he started coughing up a storm.
We recorded and sent to the vet, to see what she had to say and she said that he 100% had air sac mites and we should bring him in the next day to get an ivermectin shot. We went, and she gave him the ivermectin, but ever since then he has been absolutely terrible, it completed a week since the shot yesterday, and it just feels like he has never been worse. His poop consistency is completely messed up and it gets stuck on his feathers frequently to the point where i have to clean his butt or he cannot poop and it gets stuck halfway, he has been very lethargic and stays either on only one of the perches or near the food bowl, is constantly fluffed up, CONTINUES coughing and having trouble to breathe, and now it seems his mobility is also an issue, since instead of sitting in the perch normally it's almost like he's laying on it, and whenever he tries to move to another side of the perch it's like he has to drag his left leg over....
I just genuinely don't know what to do and i'm very scared of him dying, especially because we are constantly doing all we can to help him. His cage is cleaned every day, every week he bathes in his little pool in lukewarm water, he has different texture/size perches, he has toys, he has a rather diverse diet, high quality pellets, vets, vitamins... and yet it seems like he's the sickest bird in town.
Does anyone know if it could be something like the iodine defficiency, the mites case getting worse, or even ivermectin poisoning? and if its the latter does anyone know something to help it ease? because i feel like i have exhausted all my resources on what i could do and am just watching him get worse and worse.
At first, during his first week, he had a few barely noticeable symptoms that there was something wrong, very small tail bobbing, sometimes he would open his beak to breathe, but since it was our first bird ever we thought it might have been normal behavior due to the hot weather. A week later we took him to his first vet appointment bc he had clear issues with breathing, the vet checked his weight, his breathing, his lungs, and said he had pneumonia, and told us to do inhalation with dexamethasone and gentamicine 3x a day for 20 days, along with another medication for bacterial infections. He immediately got better, but as soon as the inhalation ceased, he started getting worse.
We went to the vet again, and he told us to do the treatment for 10 more days, we did. Yet again, whenever he was on the meds he would do fine, but as soon as it stopped he went back to struggling to breathe and coughing. The vet checked him up again after a few more days and said his lungs sounded fine so if he coughed it would probably be due to after effects of his pneumonia, so we kept checking on him. He did "well" for around a month or so, he never once struggled with eating, was never lethargic, nor sat at the bottom of the cage, his only issue was having occasional coughing and opening his beak to breathe.
Around a two and a half ago he started fluffing up a lot more than usual, and appeared rather lethargic, and since we had already treated him before and it worked, we tried doing inhalation once a day to see if it was his lungs acting up, but it didn't work, so we got another vet appointment with another vet to see a different opinion in the case, and she told us his lungs seemed fine, and gave us a natural med to help him detox from the amount of medication he was under previously, and said to come back if things got any worse. I was trying a few things i could do at home to see if they could ease his struggle, and on the internet it said it could be iodine defficiency, so i tried adding a few peas for him to eat (since apparently they have a big iodine concentration) and he absolutely loved it, but then an hour after he started coughing up a storm.
We recorded and sent to the vet, to see what she had to say and she said that he 100% had air sac mites and we should bring him in the next day to get an ivermectin shot. We went, and she gave him the ivermectin, but ever since then he has been absolutely terrible, it completed a week since the shot yesterday, and it just feels like he has never been worse. His poop consistency is completely messed up and it gets stuck on his feathers frequently to the point where i have to clean his butt or he cannot poop and it gets stuck halfway, he has been very lethargic and stays either on only one of the perches or near the food bowl, is constantly fluffed up, CONTINUES coughing and having trouble to breathe, and now it seems his mobility is also an issue, since instead of sitting in the perch normally it's almost like he's laying on it, and whenever he tries to move to another side of the perch it's like he has to drag his left leg over....
I just genuinely don't know what to do and i'm very scared of him dying, especially because we are constantly doing all we can to help him. His cage is cleaned every day, every week he bathes in his little pool in lukewarm water, he has different texture/size perches, he has toys, he has a rather diverse diet, high quality pellets, vets, vitamins... and yet it seems like he's the sickest bird in town.
Does anyone know if it could be something like the iodine defficiency, the mites case getting worse, or even ivermectin poisoning? and if its the latter does anyone know something to help it ease? because i feel like i have exhausted all my resources on what i could do and am just watching him get worse and worse.
I lost a society finch who had almost the exact same symptoms and went through almost the exact same treatments (started with Ivermectin, then doxycycline), and I never found out what was wrong. It was the most sickening feeling. I hope your little one pulls through, but if not, you've done so much to care for him.
