Urgent My ringneck has a blocked nare

[ChantelleS]

Hi everyone. So my ringneck started with a problem in one of his nares, it was blocked and so I took him to the vet and he had to go under for them to remove some of the hardened stuff. Apologies, I don't know all the lingo exactly. But they initially tried flushing it and then his eye started swelling when I got home. So I took him back and he went under and they said they managed to remove one piece. They gave antibiotics to put in the nare, but it did not help at all as he still could not breathe through that side. Now it's a chronic issue and steaming does not help. I do think with the flushing they maybe pushed some of the stuff deeper inside. What else can I do, I don't want to take him again and I sit with the same problem afterwards and just pay 2k every time for no results. Is there maybe a type of bird safe oil that will loosen it or what can dissolve the build-up. Some advice would really be appreciated. He is 19 years old and I also don't want him to go under again because of the risks. He is otherwise a very healthy boy.

 

[Lady Jane]

Have you steamed up bathroom so it is foggy and take him in with you?

 

[MiniMacaw]

The real question is what is causing the build up to occur? A culture and sensitivity will tell you what bacteria or fungus or any number of things is causing an accumulation of whatever it is in his nare. Without knowing the answer to that you’re just putting a bandaid on the problem unfortunately. There are many varieties of both bacteria and fungus that can affect the nares and there are a handful of antibiotics/antifungals that work for each one better than another.

Your vet has treated the symptom, but not the root cause, which is why it keeps recurring. The build up is happening for a reason and I would seek a second opinion from an avian certified vet (especially if this vet wasn’t). What antibiotic did they prescribe and why that one without knowing what they’re treating specifically? If they did do testing and know exactly what’s present in there, it’s possible he needs further rounds of meds. Some conditions are stubborn and can take months or longer of treatment to heal completely from. I know from experience, the longer an issue with the nare/beak goes on, the harder it gets to effectively treat.

 

[ChantelleS]

Have you steamed up bathroom so it is foggy and take him in with you?

Yes I have done that multiple times and even this morning, I also put a hot steamer in his cage to humidify the air.

 

[ChantelleS]

The real question is what is causing the build up to occur? A culture and sensitivity will tell you what bacteria or fungus or any number of things is causing an accumulation of whatever it is in his nare. Without knowing the answer to that you’re just putting a bandaid on the problem unfortunately. There are many varieties of both bacteria and fungus that can affect the nares and there are a handful of antibiotics/antifungals that work for each one better than another.

Your vet has treated the symptom, but not the root cause, which is why it keeps recurring. The build up is happening for a reason and I would seek a second opinion from an avian certified vet (especially if this vet wasn’t). What antibiotic did they prescribe and why that one without knowing what they’re treating specifically? If they did do testing and know exactly what’s present in there, it’s possible he needs further rounds of meds. Some conditions are stubborn and can take months or longer of treatment to heal completely from. I know from experience, the longer an issue with the nare/beak goes on, the harder it gets to effectively treat.

The vet practice I went to is an exotic animal vet, but it does seem like it's newly graduated vets that work there as they are all very young. You are correct, it also did feel like they are just putting a bandaid on and didn't advise on testing anything and went straight to blaming me and said it's because he doesn't get enough vitamins, which is untrue because he has a variety rich diet and I give him the multivitamin powder in his water. I probably need to seek a more experienced vet in this regard then. They gave me Metacam as an anti inflammatory and Exocin eye drops for his nose. His nare that they worked on also seems more deep now.

 

[rocky'smom]

Its called a Rhino-lith.
I have questions for you,
1. Does your baby get soft foods to eat?
2. Does he or she root thru their soft foods with their entire beak?
3. Do you feed their soft foods in dish that they can root and their entire face is in the dish?
The reasons I'm asking these questions are because I lost my cockatiel Sweet Pea due to the vet trying to pick out the Rhino-lith from her nare. Sweet Pea was a rooter (digging in her soft foods breakfast in the morning). She basically impacted soft foods into her nare, eating her breakfast.
First off find a certified avian vet and get them to do a proper evaluation. If you are feeding soft foods use a shallow dish or a plate that the bird can pick thru without stuffing their head into the whole dish. If they choose to remove the Rhino-lith make sure they do it properly with some light sedation. They didn't do that with my bird and she passed away.
I hope that you can find some answers soon.