Urgent sick cockatiel, doesn't recover

[Kirusa]

Hi everyone! I'm new here. I made this account out of desperation because my 11 year cockatiel is sick. His droppings are perfectly fine, he beak grinds and eats normally, he even sang for a bit yesterday but he's spending most of the days with his eyes closed.
We had to give him "marbofloxacin" for two weeks and it looked like he got better for some days, but lately he's feeling bad again.

The vet told me to give him another antibiotic (tabernil doxiciclina, I believe it's spain exclusive) but I'm scared it will make him weak or make his situation worse, as it's been only around a week since we ended with the other medication.

Has anyone here had any similar experiences with their bird or know what could possibly be the problem here? I would be so grateful if anyone replied. I’m so worried and upset.

 

[enigma731]

What tests has your vet done? What does the vet think is wrong with your bird?

 

[Kirusa]

What tests has your vet done? What does the vet think is wrong with your bird?

We only did a dropping test. Avian birds in spain aren't as experienced, and mine has no clue what could the problem be anymore

 

[enigma731]

@Zara can you help?

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue Bea

Sorry I´m not well versed in medicines.
When I gave my lovebird antibiotics, it was amoxicilina (in liquid - smelled sweet, tasted bitter)

We only did a dropping test. Avian birds in spain aren't as experienced

Which municipal? Maybe we can help find a different vet? There are avian vets that will more tests than just poops. Crop swabs, blood, xrays etc

 

[Kirusa]

Welcome to the Avenue Bea

Sorry I´m not well versed in medicines.
When I gave my lovebird antibiotics, it was amoxicilina (in liquid - smelled sweet, tasted bitter)


Which municipal? Maybe we can help find a different vet? There are avian vets that will more tests than just poops. Crop swabs, blood, xrays etc

I live in Guipuzkoa, a spanish province. There are 3 avian birds in my city: an unexperienced one, which basically gave up after the marbofloxacin didn't work, as she didn't know what else could my bird's problem be; my current one, the most "experienced" one, the one that told us to try giving him doxiciclina but also doesn't know what the illness could be; and a third one I never visited, since he usually redirects clients to my current vet.

Both vets I visited told me that blood tests are risky, as there's a high chance that the bird dies. We did several dropping tests and all of them came fine. We only did the x-ray test once, two years ago with my current vet, but he hasn't asked to do it again this time, probably because my bird suffers a lot when we take him to the vet.

I know I won't get a proper diagnosis on here but is it possible if I reach out to a vet that maybe has had a cockatiel with a similar problem?

 

[Zara]

Have you tried searching for a vet in Bilbao?

Here´s a little list of some clinics, (and even a 24hr emergency clinic);

Los Mejores Veterinarios de animales exóticos en BILBAO

¿Estás buscando un veterinario de exóticos en Bilbao? ¡Descubre cuáles son los hospitales y clínicas con MEJOR VALORACIÓN y los SERVICIOS que ofrecen!

www.expertoanimal.com

 

[Zara]

Has anyone here had any similar experiences with their bird or know what could possibly be the problem here?

@finchly @SandraK @Monica ?

 

[Kirusa]

Have you tried searching for a vet in Bilbao?

Here´s a little list of some clinics, (and even a 24hr emergency clinic);

Los Mejores Veterinarios de animales exóticos en BILBAO

¿Estás buscando un veterinario de exóticos en Bilbao? ¡Descubre cuáles son los hospitales y clínicas con MEJOR VALORACIÓN y los SERVICIOS que ofrecen!

www.expertoanimal.com

The thing is, these vets always tell me that they can't help me (nor listen to me) unless we take the bird to them, and Bilbao is 2h away from me so it would be impossible to drive him there. I know it's pretty obvious that no one can know anything without previous tests, but most vets refuse to even listen and it's kind of frustrating. Anyways, I think my bird's better today, I hope he recovers this time, if not I will take him to a third vet. Still worried tho, and thanks for replying by the way! <3

 

[Monica]

@Kirusa I know how you feel... or at least, I can relate.

My main vet, not avian certified, but keeps up with the latest avian medicine, has done several fecal samples on two, thus far, long term foster cockatiels. Male and female pearl cockatiels. The male was supposedly found outside and never claimed, so the family that found him purchased a second cockatiel - and the two never got along. They're kind of opposites in personality. The male had become "sick" for some time while under my care and no amount of medicine seemed to make him feel better. That particular vet would only do fecal samples, never got as far as bloodwork or anything else. She *can* perform them, no problem, just didn't. One day she told me that he may always be sick.

I ended up finding another vet office 2 hours away to take both to. (3 or 4 avian vets - only 1 certified - we've only seen 2 of the non-certified ones) So far, they've only done fecal on him, as well as giving him fluids and vitamins. They didn't feel comfortable getting bloodwork because of his obvious lack of health.


One day though, he was just "better". I don't know what changed - since he wasn't on any medications. He has muscle atrophy I'm sure, since he had been feeling unwell for so long that he wasn't getting an opportunity to fly, and it's been difficult trying to get him to exercise now but it's nice to see he's at least feeling better. I still want to get bloodwork done on him, but due to the current health crisis, I've been reluctant to take the drive back down there.


There are other vets in my area who do see birds, but none I feel comfortable visiting since they can't do as much in-house diagnosis and rely more on sending stuff out to labs. As an example, my local avian vet does fecals in-house. All others send fecals out to a lab. The vet office 2 hours away also does in-house fecals - it might take a few days to get results back, depending on whether or not the avian vets can do the fecal themselves or wait for the certified avian vet to take a look at them. I guess you could say it's a bit of a luxury, since not all vets can do fecals in-house...