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Urgent Macaw respiratory illness or hormonal?

MacawXena

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I'm a Swede living in Bali and animal welfare here is.... under standards to say the least. I came across a Macaw and decided to buy her as she was just sitting on a tiny chain 24/7. Got her 5 days ago, the owner says she is 3 years old.

So, the owner has fed her with baby food via a syringe for all this time... I would be surprised if she doesn't have problems already caused by this incredibly fatty food. Anyway, I'm worried his syringe feeding has somehow hurt her trachea. I've noticed that she breathes a lot with an open mouth and that she is fluffy majority of the time. She makes "hiccup" sounds (I know they can't actually have hiccups) and twitches her wings sometimes. I've read that this can also be signs of being hormonal, and I do notice that her fluffiness/head bobbing etc goes away when I go away. But it has been going on for 3 days now. I've already made an appointment with basically the only avian vet on the island, but that is two days from now. And I'm also quite familiar with the vets on Bali as I'm involved with dog rescue, and they don't really have the same equipment/knowledge as you'd find in other countries.

Symptoms:
- open mouth breathing
- hiccup sounds accompanied by wing twitches
- fluffed up
- forward tilted (almost laying down on the perch sometimes)

Any advice on what this could be, what I can do and how I can best "guide" the veterinary?
 

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Hankmacaw

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Hi and thank you for saving this macaw. First a macaw is not sexually mature at 3 years old (most often 5 to 7 years old), so you can dismiss that possibility.

The greatest probability is that the bird has an upper respiratory infection. If you can put your ear close to her head (without getting bit) you may be able to hear her wheezing. Ask the Dr. to do a swab and stain on both her throat and her cloaca to determine if there is bacteria OR fungus present. I hope the vet has the facilities for a Complete blood count because that will give a lot of information. Especially the white cell count which will tell if there is an infection present in the bird.

Good luck and let us know how it goes with the vet.
 

macawpower58

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If she's only been fed by syringe for 3 years, does she even know how to eat normally?
My one concern is she may not know how to eat, and be begging for the only food she's ever eaten.
I agree 3 years of nothing but baby formula could easily have health repercussions.
Have you seen her eat?
 

MacawXena

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If she's only been fed by syringe for 3 years, does she even know how to eat normally?
My one concern is she may not know how to eat, and be begging for the only food she's ever eaten.
I agree 3 years of nothing but baby formula could easily have health repercussions.
Have you seen her eat?
She has a hard time eating yes. After couple of days now she's starting to get it but it's hard, the only thing she likes to eat with enthusiasm is corn, which she shouldn't have too much of either. The first two days I made smoothies instead of chops and put in the syringe, and she eats it like a baby (bobbing her head drastically). Now I realized she likes quinoia so I but a little bit of it in the chop and she eats it.

Do you think I should continue feeding her "smoothies" via syringe? It's basically like she's never been weaned so going cold turkey might not be ideal?

Here she is fluffed up, making hiccup sounds and playing/eating her chop this morning.
 

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macawpower58

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If handfeeding is all she's known, then yes I'd not stop it. It'd be like force weaning a baby.
You are going to have to wean an adult macaw.
Give her a feeding by syringe, not a much as she used to take, then offer her lots of small chopped up pieces of fruits and veggies.
Eat them with her. Make some warm mashed sweet potato and offer it by hand.
My guess if you take that syringe away cold turkey, she'll soon feel like she's starving and go into baby mode in desperation.
You have a job cut out for you!
 

macawpower58

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Others will be on soon with more help.
I fear a lot of the signs 'fluffed feathers, wing twitching, head bobbing" are her begging for food.
Those are all signs babies make when fed.
Not hormonal, and most likely not a health issue.
I'm guessing she is going to be emotionally needy for some time and you will have to answer to that.
I also do believe a vet is necessary to check her out. Her diet for 3 years may have done some damage.
You may really have to learn all about weaning a baby.
I feel so bad for this macaw.
Imaging being kept a baby for 3 years! :(
 

MacawXena

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Hi and thank you for saving this macaw. First a macaw is not sexually mature at 3 years old (most often 5 to 7 years old), so you can dismiss that possibility.

The greatest probability is that the bird has an upper respiratory infection. If you can put your ear close to her head (without getting bit) you may be able to hear her wheezing. Ask the Dr. to do a swab and stain on both her throat and her cloaca to determine if there is bacteria OR fungus present. I hope the vet has the facilities for a Complete blood count because that will give a lot of information. Especially the white cell count which will tell if there is an infection present in the bird.

Good luck and let us know how it goes with the vet.
Thank you so much for all the good advise. I really hope the vet will be able to do a proper examination with blood work and swabs. Will keep you posted!
 

Mizzely

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I would definitely not cut out the syringe feedings cold turkey. The faster he's on real food the better of course, but 3 years of handfeeding it might take some time to wean. Follow his cues as much as possible but always have "real" food on hand to offer first when he asks for the syringe.

I'm glad you have a vet appointment already, that'll definitely help you get this baby well again. He has a lot of worrying symptoms so the quicker those can be addressed, the better.

You might try some moistened pellets as an option for him to self feed.

Even though this is an adult, I'm tagging some baby people who might have ideas about weaning :) @Zara @finchly @Mockinbirdiva @Macawnutz
 

finchly

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Man. That bird needs serious counseling.

I would treat it just like a baby: start offering solid foods, maybe warm mashed sweet potatoes, peas — what ever You can get her interested in. Plan on wasting quite a bit of food during this adventure.

I’d probably set LOTS of food bowls around, one with nuts, one with veggies etc. and let her play. Make happy sounds and maybe pretend to eat the foods. She will catch on.

Thank you for rescuing her.
 

Hankmacaw

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When you feed her by syringe, until weaned, just use one of the baby bird foods such as Kaytee. Or even better, if you have a coffee grinder and blender you can mix up finely ground pellltets in water blend them and feed her that. About the consistency of thick applesauce and at 105 - 110 f. Doing this will give her the big bird nutrients that she needs.
 

Macawnutz

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Oh goodness. :laugh:

Does it look like this?


While yes a vet appointment is in order you just need to wean your baby. :D Not a big deal if that's the only issue.
I fed my BG by syringe until he was over 2 years old. He is emotionally fine.

First, feed warm smushed food before feeding with the syringe. Corn is fine for her to learn to chew and swallow so if she likes is great. Cooked sweet potato, cooked smushed carrots. Gradually hand her chunks of items to get her used to eating pieces. Soak pellets in warm water until they are smushy and give her a bowl of them warm. Once she has picked over her first meal then you can offer formula by syringe after. You can even try to put her formula in a bowl. Squirt the formula kinda in her mouth instead of aiming for her to pump it down. You want her learning to use her tongue and swallow.

Usually the biggest problem with handfeeding too long is the lack of swallowing. They don't learn to taste or manipulate the food. She will learn and I wouldn't stress about it. Let her learn and have some fun while doing it. I would continue to feed that begging but switch it up so you are offering food food first while she is hungry and then topping her off with syringed formula. She should get it pretty quickly.
 

MacawXena

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Oh goodness. :laugh:

Does it look like this?


While yes a vet appointment is in order you just need to wean your baby. :D Not a big deal if that's the only issue.
I fed my BG by syringe until he was over 2 years old. He is emotionally fine.

First, feed warm smushed food before feeding with the syringe. Corn is fine for her to learn to chew and swallow so if she likes is great. Cooked sweet potato, cooked smushed carrots. Gradually hand her chunks of items to get her used to eating pieces. Soak pellets in warm water until they are smushy and give her a bowl of them warm. Once she has picked over her first meal then you can offer formula by syringe after. You can even try to put her formula in a bowl. Squirt the formula kinda in her mouth instead of aiming for her to pump it down. You want her learning to use her tongue and swallow.

Usually the biggest problem with handfeeding too long is the lack of swallowing. They don't learn to taste or manipulate the food. She will learn and I wouldn't stress about it. Let her learn and have some fun while doing it. I would continue to feed that begging but switch it up so you are offering food food first while she is hungry and then topping her off with syringed formula. She should get it pretty quickly.
Oh wow yes it looks just like the first clip! (Accompanied by a little squeek as she twitches the wing). So it's most likely begging I guess, what a relief! At the moment I'm sitting with her eating warm smashed sweet potato and squash. She's doing good. Does the begging stop when they feel full or how does it work?

Such good advise from everyone, thank you all! Makes me feel relieved so I hope the behaviour is begging and that I basically need to wean her like you would a baby. And a vet check is of course still due but at least now I don't feel like it's the end of the world waiting 2 days
 

Shezbug

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Awww, the wing flips and slow head bob are so darn adorable- I miss them. The better Burt got with his confidence and his eating the less I saw of the slow head bob and little wing flips.
 

Macawnutz

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Oh wow yes it looks just like the first clip! (Accompanied by a little squeek as she twitches the wing). So it's most likely begging I guess, what a relief! At the moment I'm sitting with her eating warm smashed sweet potato and squash. She's doing good. Does the begging stop when they feel full or how does it work?
The begging should stop/slow when they feel full but sometimes it takes a few minutes for them to realize they are full when they are fed by syringe. A lot of the baby begging is also for comfort. If you know she is full and she is doing it just kinda go be mom and start preening her head feathers and do hands on stuff. This is a good bonding time for her to learn you are not a scary person when you do things like touching her fingernails or lifting her wings.
 

macawpower58

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Any updates? I'd love to hear how this baby's doing.
 
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