# Emergency (I think) PLEASE help if you can



## Spike (Oct 5, 2009)

Spike, my 11 year old cockatiel, has shown no signs of being sick, that I noticed until today...although I am worried! I cannot afford to get him to a vet for another week and I need some advice now.. 

So he seemed all good (unless I just didnt notice something) until just today when I was petting him and holding him I realized his chest bone is sticking out, quite far.. when my fingers felt it I actually cringed, and knew immediately there is something wrong.

I have held him, pet him, rubbed him and such and never even noticed this bone sticking out before, other than I can remember a few days ago thinking he looked like he was sticking it out, but it seemed when I felt him that it felt normal, mind you he was not cooperating with me, but I thought he was fine until I actually got a feel of it today. I am really scared because there isnt much I can do financially until next week. If this is such an emergency that he may not make with out a vet. I can see if there is a way for me to come up with it, maybe try to sell something..??

Please give me whatever opinions or suggestions you can!! I feel awful and need to do something for him


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## Spike (Oct 5, 2009)

So I do have a heat lamp on him now as of today..(I have used it many times beofre, like after tiel showers)...and after a nice warm up he seems a bit more active now, foraging at the bottom of his cage...

my other tiels same FINE and they all share a very large parrot cage, although my next plan of action is to bring up the old cage from the basement and get Spike all cozy by himself for a while, maybe put him in my room which is the warmest room in the house.. I cannot let him suffer, I need to do right by him and I am really scared.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer!


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## Spike (Oct 5, 2009)

also let me know if you need any more info...

I also gave them all a dose of "Ornacycline - aids in the treatment of of respiratory and intestinal bacterial infections of pet birds" in 8 ounces of water... they are all still in the same cage, but I am hoping to get Spike moved into his own for now.....


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## jc119007 (Dec 28, 2009)

How much does he weigh now? How much did he weigh before? How are his droppings?


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## Spike (Oct 5, 2009)

droppings are fine. I cant tell you how much he weighed before or now..?? although when rubbing his head I can feel his skull bones! He seems a bit more chipper than he did a couple hours ago...hopefully thats a good sign


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

*I also gave them all a dose of "Ornacycline - aids in the treatment of of respiratory and intestinal bacterial infections of pet birds" in 8 ounces of water..*
*-------------------------------------------------*

In doing this it may have destroyed his intestinal fora, and when that happens it can impair nutrient absorption, and also contribute to a seco9nadry yeast or bacterial problems.

Do you have any probiotics you can give him...or even plain acidolpholus from the drug store. it is in capsulse (powder inside) 1 capsule can be mixed with a quart of water and used as the drinking water for one week. And some powder from the capsule can be sprinkled on any foods he will eat.

When tiels start to drop weight it can happen within 1-2 days. 2-3 days ago he may have felt fine, but when infection took hold, even though he is acting fine the body uses the protein from the muscles to fight off infections, etc, and the weigh loss can be as much as a gram or two an hour.

Hopefully the probiotics will help to halt what is going on until you get to a vet.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Encourage him to eat high-calorie high-nutrition foods. Let him feast on the fatty seeds that we usually limit, like sunflower, safflower and oat groats. If he eats pellets, get the high-potency variety if you can. Cooked egg offers great nutrition but don't go overboard on it.

There's a type of probiotic made for birds called BeneBac that may be available at a local pet store and isn't hugely expensive: http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=3752 The same company that makes the Ornacycline also makes a probiotic called Ornabac but honestly I don't have a lot of confidence in their products. The Benebac has a wider variety of beneficial bacteria, and I'd prefer this brand if it's available. There are other brands too but they're probably less likely to be found on the pet store shelf.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Here's another suggestion.

Pedialyte is an electrolyte solution made for sick human infants, and it can be a very effective way to boost the energy of a bird that isn't well. You don't have to buy the expensive brand-name stuff because there are recipes for homemade Pedialyte on the internet. This one is recommended by the World Health Organization:
http://clearingmyemptynest.blogspot.com/2009/02/oral-rehydration-solution-homemade.html

Some people recommend that you dilute Pedialyte 50/50 with water for birds but I'm not convinced that this is necessary.

You can put this in his water dish but if he isn't drinking you may have to get creative. I got Vlad to take it by soaking seeds in Pedialyte and then feeding him the seeds on my fingertip. Half an hour later he was much more energetic. (He'd had a significant blood loss from a blood feather.) For a bird that's really weak you might want to put some in his beak with an eyedropper.

I have information on rehydration and electrolytes bookmarked at http://www.birdboard.com/forum/bird-health-safety/862426-rehydration-electrolytes.html But at the moment the site is upgrading and will be offline for a few hours so you may not be able to see it for a while. I haven't seen it lately myself so I'm not sure what it says!


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## Spike (Oct 5, 2009)

Thanks everybody! He does already seem a fair bit better! strange but I am not complaining!! Although I will try some of those methods mentioned anyways, for extra help. I am gonna go grab some pedialyte tonight for sure, and try that first as well as some boiled egg. I always offer variety of cockatiel safe foods, fresh, and dry etc.. so I dont think his diet was to blame, although tielfan mentions a blood feather.. I found blood today smeared on the water bowl. It didnt look fresh, although it couldnt have been there too long, a day or two...and I figured it was from my two younger tiels, not that they fight, other than some squabbling now and again..but that was my conclusion to blood in my cage...? so possibly Spike had a blood feather, and lost a significant amount of weight and became lethargic, is that possible?

and also as far as this medicine goes... I just realized the BRAND is Ornacycline, and the medication is Tertacycline! Does that make any difference?? I didnt want to do any harm obviously. I bought it a while ago when I seen it in a store, just thought it would be handy to keep on hand in case of a case like this, I guess.... but I also figured if it was sold like that on a shelf that it had to be safe. Was I mistaken???

And one last thing, something that occurred to me today, a few days back, maybe five or so days. I took Spike outside for the first time on a harness/leash. he has been outside two times before, but only because LAST year he escaped 2 times for a couple days each time. Although he never got sick then, is it possible he has caught something when I took him outside?? Is it safe for birds outside?? When its warm enough I mean. Mind you, he didnt really do anything but roll around on the ground like he had turrets trying remove this fandagled harness that he HATED. Is it possible he rolled in dog poop germs, or some other baceria and got sick?? I mean hes doing better eating as we speak. Eating a seed mix formulated for stressed or molting birds. but he also has in the cage seed, water (with tetracycline) millet, whole grain rice, corn, noodles, grapes, whole grain bread, and cheese. 

anyone know if yougurt is safe for tiels, for probiotic?? Is 'live culture' the same thing? 

Thanks for the help so far! so you guys dont think he is in an emergency if I take some extra precautionary measures for him... he should be fine...??


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> so possibly Spike had a blood feather, and lost a significant amount of weight and became lethargic


Blood loss could make him very weak but it wouldn't make him lose muscle and/or fat unless he stopped eating. 



> I bought it a while ago when I seen it in a store, just thought it would be handy to keep on hand in case of a case like this, I guess.... but I also figured if it was sold like that on a shelf that it had to be safe.


I don't know anything for sure. But the general reputation that I've heard for store-shelf antibiotics is that they're basically useless, and if your bird needs antibiotics you're better off with something prescribed by a vet for your bird's specific problem. Sorry.



> Is it possible he rolled in dog poop germs, or some other baceria and got sick??


It's always possible to run into unfamiliar germs outside, although wild bird poop germs might actually be a bigger problem than dog germs. The UV in sunlight has powerful germ-killing ability, so if this patch of grass gets a lot of sunlight that would help sterilize it. The sunlight probably doesn't reach all the way down to the very bottom of the grass blades though.



> anyone know if yougurt is safe for tiels, for probiotic??


Yes, yogurt with live cultures is fine for tiels. Birds are lactose-intolerant and in general they can't digest dairy products. But yogurt is an exception because the lactose has already been broken down by the bacteria, and certain low-lactose cheeses are OK.


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