not sure if I should be worried or not

[cecilou]

Hi Everyone. I have a 10 year old maroon bellied conure named Mini. I've been lurking here for a while, but haven't posted much and am not sure where this post belongs.

Over the past few months Mini's behavior has been changing a little. While always super friendly with me, Mini has been more and more clingy - wanting to be on the back of my neck snuggling all the time. (I don't mind this at all

Along with the snuggling, Mini has been making new sounds. They're very cute - little cooing sounds, and lower sighing kinds of things - in addition to the usual clucking, and kissy sounds. These sounds have been increasing more and more - to the point that I almost always hear Mini making some kind of little sound, on me or in the cage.

And along with all of this, he's been plucking. This started a few years ago, and has come and gone. Right now there is a bare patch on his chest and another behind one of his wings, and his legs are pretty bare.

I just got back from two weeks away. The plucking is always worse when I'm gone. My husband was home with him, but even so, it seems like he gets bored when I'm gone and plucks. Now that I'm back, he has been sleeping ALL day - with his head behind his wing, sometimes on one leg - sometimes both, and looking pretty puffed up. I wouldn't say he looks like a pine cone, but the feathers aren't laying smooth and sleek either. It is a warm day - and I am exhausted from my trip - maybe he's just sympathetic?

On the one hand he just seems relaxed, but then again, I'm not used to seeing him sleep so much. He is eating well - lots of carrots and apples today along with pellets and some seeds. He took a bath this morning, and also had a little time in the shower with my husband. His poops seem normal.

I have called our avian vet to try to get an appointment tomorrow - we were planning on having blood work done this summer anyway, so I figure we can just do it now. Do I need to be more concerned than that? There isn't a great emergency avian vet where I am so if it can wait until I can get in to see our regular guy I'd prefer that.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cecily

 

[atvchick95]

The sounds, almost sounds like he's chosen you as his mate and is attempting to mate with you

Some plucking is normal(with some birds) when they're in the mood to Mate/brood

I've never noticed my males Pluck anything but my females will pull a few feathers from their bellies to incubate the eggs (I've seen this is birds who aren't laying eggs but are in the mood as well)

 

[Sophie's Mama]

I would look up hormonal issues in birds and there is a Sticky that is great for this here!

 

[suncoast]

Everything sounds like hormonal behavior except the sleeping more than normal. That is the first sign of an illness IMO. Also I would have the vet check him for giardia.

http://forums.avianavenue.com/pluckers-parlor/24057-giardia-web-sites.html

If he seems "off" to you then that is reason enough to get him to the vet.

Ginger

 

[Brigidt36]

Apart from the sleeping and puffing up, the other stuff sounds like hormonal/mating behavior. Glad you are taking him to the vet. Please keep us posted.

 

[cecilou]

I am headed to the vet shortly and will update when I get home. I'm more concerned today - poops seem to be all white, no green (or red, or purple, or whatever the favorite pellet du jour is) - and there was no big morning poop. Mini was active when we first got up but is back to sleeping now.

I hope everything is ok. Wish us luck.

 

[Birdiemarie]

I hope all is well with Mini. Change of poop color can mean many things, some serious, some not. A vet visit is the best thing right now. Your gut feeling is always wise to listen to.

 

[GG.]

I am headed to the vet shortly and will update when I get home. I'm more concerned today - poops seem to be all white, no green (or red, or purple, or whatever the favorite pellet du jour is) - and there was no big morning poop. Mini was active when we first got up but is back to sleeping now.

I hope everything is ok. Wish us luck.

glad you were able to get him in, sending prayers and healing energy that all is well with Mini

please let us know how the visit went as soon as you can

 

[cecilou]

update - just back from the vet - and it is a very good thing we went!

Our fantastic vet started his exam, saying he was hoping to prove me wrong, and that everything would turn out to be fine. And about two seconds into the exam he popped a pea sized blob of hardened pus out of Mini's throat! I was shocked - the vet was excited! He said - well this could certainly explain some things! Mini's little 'snarfly' sounds (vet's term) were immediately much softer and intermittent.

The vet drew blood, and explained about infections, and secondary infections - and how it would take a couple of days to know what caused this one. In the meantime Mini is on Trimethroprim Sulfa 2x per day for a week. I'm supposed to call if I don't notice a vast improvement by tomorrow night. We also discussed what to do for the 4th of July weekend - as we had planned to go camping for a couple of nights and had asked a friend to look in on the board. Turns out the Bird Hospital can board Mini - with vet observation - for a very reasonable fee so we're going to do that.

Mini already seems MUCH happier. He's sitting in his cage munching pellets as I type, and in the car ride home he actually was preening in his little travel cage. I'm so glad I followed my instinct and took him in!

We're not out of the woods, but the vet said this was completely treatable and I shouldn't worry.

Thanks for all your support - and I'll update as the week progresses.

Cecily

 

[Skyler]

Oh, I'm so glad you took him in--I just will hope that the meds take care of the infection.

 

[KimKimWilliamson]

Happy to hear the vet visit shed some light on his recent behavior - Did he mention if the plucking was related to the infection?

Keep us posted on his progress!

 

[Tomsde]

Last fall my 10 1/2 year old cockatiel, Ginger, had some similar behaviors when she was sick. I noticed a bare spot under her wings, but then the feathers grew back. I never saw her pull any feathers out, but since they started growing back right away I thought maybe she had molted them out or something. She seemed to eat and drink fine, but suddenly became very emotionally needy. She made strange peeping sounds. A little while after that it looked like she was trying to lay an egg, but no egg came out. After a few days I took her to the avian vet and it turned out that she had a cancerous tumor in her abdomen or an absess and it was too late to do anything for her and I had to have her put to sleep. It was heart breaking.

Since then I've read that plucking and needing more affection are both signs of illness. Birds do a good job of hiding their illness until they are very, very ill. Since I've gotten Connie and Ollie I've been weighing them regularly and if they show an weird behaviors I will take them in for a check up right away.

I hope that your bird makes a full recovery. It's good that you posted this here so that other people will check out such symptoms as early as possible.

 

[Thugluvgrl187]

So glad you took Mini to the vet. Hope that recovery happens quickly

 

[cecilou]

Mini - mini-update

So we're still waiting on results from the blood tests but Mini does appear to be a little better today. I was worried yesterday as nothing really seemed to be changing, but last night Mini's energy picked up a bit, he ate a TON, and let out a few loud "SQUIDGIT!!!" calls. This morning he is crunching pellets and eating carrots - and looks a little brighter.

I hope this continues!

Cecily

 

[Tomsde]

Hang in there!

 

[cecilou]

more news - not all good...

This morning the vet rechecked Mini before we left him for boarding at the bird hospital – and when she got a good look down his throat she found a lot of swelling and sensitivity and a lot more mucus. She feels like it is possible that the there is just an infection in there but that more likely it is a secondary infection. She feels the best way to figure this out is to biopsy the tissue. She said a third remote possibility is a herpes infection, but that would be extremely unlikely in her species.

We decided to go ahead with a biopsy.

The vet just called back – and she’s happy with the way the biopsy went. Apparently Mini is recovering from the anesthetic well so that’s good. The vet found a layer of the pus/mucus crud on the glottis – and all around it. (I think that’s what she said – the area infected is between the glottis and esophagus.) She sampled that and took a bunch of hi-res microscope photos of it, and then very carefully scraped it away. The tissue underneath that was extremely abnormal and bumpy. It was obviously very painful to Mini – even under anesthesia Mini’s heart rate apparently spiked when the tissue was touched. She took a sample of the tissue, and more photos. She’s also doing a culture of that – she said that could be interesting.

Her thoughts on what is wrong haven’t really changed – just need the results of the biopsy, which will apparently take a week. Obviously with all that gunk out of there mini should be able to eat better – and he’ll be on pain meds too.

She feels it isn’t worth doing the test for herpes – as the biopsy results will indicate whether that is a likely scenario, and she didn’t think it was worth spending the $$$ at this time.

She said if it is simply an infection it is a crazy raging infection.

So that’s that. I guess I’m relieved. And I feel Mini is in very good hands.

I am also feeling very bad, because I think Mini has been trying to tell me this for months - I've known he was acting strangely but it took the constant sleeping for me to believe it. I'm wishing I had listened to myself sooner, and to my best little buddy bird.

We'll be picking Mini up (hopefully) next Tuesday. I"ll update then, hopefully with a little bird snuggling on my shoulder.

Cecily

 

[Skyler]

I'm happy there has been improvement and you seem to have found a good vet.

I will be hoping and praying for a complete recovery.

 

[Saemma]

Wow!! Thank goodness Mini has some relief from all that pain!

 

[GG.]

glad you took Mini in - your vet sounds very compassionate and capable

sending prayers and healing energy for a complete recovery

 

[Tomsde]

Best wishes for Mini's speedy recovery.