# Cockatiel Sick Need Urgent Help..!



## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

I registered 2 days ago and thought the account would be activated instantly as my new cocktiel brought from the pet-shop was sick and I needed help, but the activation delayed, anyways.

Now I brought 4 Cockatiels on 26th Feb 2017 out of which 1 pair was lutino and 1 pair was grey soon after 2 days 1 cocktiel was becoming fat and after 48 hours he died and after necropsy it was enteritis.
After that 3 cockatiels were left, out of which 1 female lutino and 1 male grey made pair and started mating, and 1 female grey cocktiel got lonely, as I put them all in 1 cage.

Now 4 Days ago I brought 1 more lutino cockatiel to complete their pair.
I live in a area where it is very difficult to find a good avian vet. 99% vets in my area used to see dogs & cats.
I gave him seeds, boiled sweet corn, spinach.
So 2 days ago the newly brought lutino got sick, became dull and was fluffed up. So I asked the pet-shop owner and he suggested giving tetracycline so I went to shop and purchased oxytetracycline hydrochloride 500mg capsules and mixed it in 1 litre water and gave 2-3 drops to the cockatiel orally. 
In 2-3 hours I visited a local vet and he prescribed:
1. Multivitamin (Vi-Syneral) Syrup
2. Cephexin Syrup
3. Leeds Drops (Dill Oil, Fennel Oil with Simethicone)
4.Econorm Biomed (Saccharomyces boulardii Probiotic).
5. Befnesol Drop

I gave him above medicines 1 dose only in the night day before yesterday.

Yesterday he was OK in the morning but as the day passed his health deteriorated and I gave him multivitamin again with the tetracycline dose again as he was not consuming any food. In the evening yesterday he vomited yellow fluid. So in the evening i gave him nothing only probiotic econorm.
Now in the night cockatiel was shivering so I put a 60w incandescent bulb near his cage as I transferred him to a separate cage as other cockatiels were picking him up and some were biting his leg.

Now the today I decided to let visit a hospital and before going to hospital I gave him Probiotic Ecorom & homeopathy medicine named CHINA for his shivering.

After an hour we went to hospital where doctor saw him and he was also out of idea about what to give him, and asked me if you wanted to give him some injections, I told him the conditions and he also saw cockatiel first time and i told him that his feces yesterday was yellow green and today in morning was yellow only and also he is developing black/brown clots above his CERE, dont know if it is due to nasal discharge or something else.(Can Be Seen in the Image)

So Doctor used thermometer and measured his body temperature under the wings and it was 103.5 Deg. Farh, and suggested that it is lower than normal which is 105-107 Deg Farh, and gave him Injections of Amikacin & Dexamethasone and told me to use same pro-biotic (ECONORM) and also recommended multivitamin PROVIBOOST. (Also she told me to discontinue tetracycline).

Now the problem is he is not eating anything from yesterday afternoon and I am worried how to feed him and he is becoming very weak.
Please suggest anything from which he survives and I don't want to loose him.


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

*Latest Update..!*

Now his feces are jelly green..!. Don't know what can be done


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

Just now we have syringe feed him Apple Juice 2ml. Out of which he took only 4-5 drops. Eventually shook his head and rejected the remains.
I am giving them only UV+RO water, and in the shop from where I Purchased them they gave them tap water which was very much bacteria infected.
The name of the Pet-shop from which I have purchased these birds are National Fish Aquarium, Jabalpur.

Lets see what more can be done.. 
If there any medicine which can be prescribed by the forums experienced owners. Please let-me know I am running out of options.


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

Right Now saw 2 feces..
Its Blue and Green. (Image Attached)


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

Tried to syringe feed him with apple juice but he is not taking it in, keeping it in the mouth and rejecting it. I tried to put him out for some time he was shivering, then I put it near the other cockatiel cage he tried to go inside slowly and tried to drink water from their cage but did not try to eat anything. I think he is dehydrated so I put him another cage and mixed his water with honey and PROVIBOOST, and placed his cage near incandescent bulb for heating. I think he will not survive, and I am so worried.


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

I'm very sorry, he needs an experienced avian vet who can prescribe the correct prescription antibiotic, as most if not everything you have given him is pretty much worthless. He has a bacterial or fungal infection and the only treatment that will help is having an avian vet do a proper culture and sensitivity to diagnose the bacteria or fungus and prescribing the correct prescription antibiotic or antifungal for whatever is diagnosed. We can't help much except to say to keep him away from all other birds as they will surely get sick as well, and stop buying birds from that same shop. 2 sick and dead birds in a week or two from the same shop should tell them they have a serious outbreak.

Where in the world do you live?

"Dance like nobody's watching..."


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

He just died, and I am out of words.. My Cockatiel was a fighter till last he tried to survive.

Tomorrow I will do necropsy and find-out the cause.
Today when we took him to the veterinary hospital the doctors there told me today the condition of my Cocktiel is good and that we can only find the cause after death how pathetic.. Lets see what can they do now.

Please let me post the name & place of the Hospital to let the world know how incompatible this veterinary hospital is and they don't even have a proper Avian Vet
Name of the Hospital: *Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University*
Current Dean: Dr. R.P.S.Baghel
Dean, College of Veterinary Sc.& Animal Husbandry, JabalpurNDVSU


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

I'm very sorry you lost a second bird, it must be horrible to be going through this. I have no words that are going to help you much, except that you are in my thoughts.

Realize that avian medicine is very specialized and not at all like treating dogs and cats or livestock. So general and "exotics" veterinarians unfortunately do a lot of guessing when trying to treat birds instead of doing what is quite easy and simply common sense: doing a culture from the bird's nostrils, throat, crop flushes, and then a fecal smear, and running those cultures and doing a simple agar plate growth to diagnose what the bacteria or fungus is, and then a sensitivity test using antibiotic discs on the agar plates to determine the proper antibiotic or antifungal that will kill the bacteria. When you posted all of the stuff the vet prescribed to you, I'll be blatantly honest, my first thought was "Where's the medication to treat whatever infection this bird has?", followed by "What a bunch of pointless, needless junk that will not at all help this bird who is obviously very sick with an advanced infection". That's exactly what I was thinking, I'd rather be honest with you than sugar-coat what I say to you. There was not one thing in all of that stuff they sold you to treat the actual infection your bird had...And I have no idea what the veterinarian meant by "He couldn't diagnose what was making your bird sick until after he dies", that might be the most horrible thing I've ever heard a doctor of any kind say...Why couldn't he do cultures while the bird was alive to diagnose where the infection was and what microbe was causing it? Fecal smears? Blood work? I'm at a loss except to say do not go back to that vet with another bird, or any animal for that matter. And just as a tip to you, the tetracycline you buy in pet shops to put into a bird's water does little good at all. First of all, tetracycline does not treat the usual strains of bacteria that cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in birds, which are typically the infections birds get sick with a die die from. The antibiotics that will kill the common bacteria that cause these infections in birds cannot be purchased in a store, they must be prescribed by a doctor. And another common cause of infections in parrots is yeast, which is a fungus. No antibiotics will treat a fungal infection, in fact they will usually make a fungal infection worse. They require an antifungal medication. Tetracycline treats very little in parrots, water foul, and poultry, in fact tetracycline is mostly used in treating very specific livestock infections. Other than that it has lost most of it's efficiency. Secondly, birds drink very little water daily, so putting a dose of necessary medication in their water dish will typically not get into the bird, especially if they are already actively sick and not drinking anything at all. Had you gone to a certified or qualified avian vet, they would have done fecal smears from a fresh stool sample and taken cultures from his throat, nostrils, and crop. They probably would have started him on a very broad-spectrum antibiotic (would have given him an injection in the office and then provided take-home doses to be given either by injections you would give him at home or oral doses you would have to force feed) while waiting for the results of the tests. Once the bacteria or fungus that was causing the infections was diagnosed, they would have adjusted the medication appropriately to treat the specific infection he had. Also, I'm sure they didn't tell you to give him his antibiotic during the early daytime and the probiotics by themselves much later at night. If you give probiotics too close in time to antibiotics, the antibiotics won't work at all. All of the rest of the junk they sold you was completely worthless. I'm very sorry they did that to you.

Another issue to address is the place you bought these birds from. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you had 2 birds die within weeks of each other from what appears to have been a very aggressive respiratory or sinus infection (due to nostril drainage and clotting) and you bought them both from the same bird shop? Please, please don't buy any more birds from that shop, and I would provide the owner of the shop proof that you had 2 birds die so close together. If this incompetent veterinarian can at least perform a necropsy (very sad that he will do the cultures on your bird after he has died that he should have done when he was alive and sick) you can tell the shop owner what infection (s) caused the death of the 2 birds and hopefully he will do a complete disinfecting of his shop. I'd also keep a close eye on your remaining birds and if any show even the slightest symptoms of being sick please immediately put them in a completely separate room.

I'd be asking that veterinarian why he didn't do cultures, smears, etc. to diagnose what infections killed both of your birds, and instead chose to simply sell you a bunch of worthless supplements and feeding junk. I have to say, the remark your vet made about "not being able to diagnose what is making your bird sick until after he is dead" is really upsetting to me. 



"Dance like nobody's watching..."


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

You are right, I will never ever do this to any of my remaining birds..!

Actually giving the initial dose of tetracycline was my fault, I believed the shop-owner suggestion and Internet Search (which provided me incomplete information about tetracycline) and gave the medicine orally to my cockatiel with a help of a dropper. After giving the dose I found that the medicine to be administered should be doxcycline.
My previous cockatiel died in just 2 days without giving him any medicine just multivitamin. That's the reason I was worried that this cockatiel should not have the same fate as the previous one, but still he died.

Now I am worried about my remaining birds (3 Cockatiels, 4 Love Birds & 14 Budgies) as these birds are really hideous about their disease.

I am new to these birds and never had any experience with exotic birds, I purchased these birds as my wife insisted, but now it worries me that there is no avian vet in my city who do proper culture and diagnose the disease.

Now I have 3 Cockatiels out of which a Male Grey and Female started mating 5 days ago and a female cockatiel is going inside the breeding pot, and I also brought a cuttlebone when i purchased the cockatiel which died today.
Now if this female got infected there will be a hugh epidemic.
Lets wait till morning today, I have already placed the cockatiel's body in ice after he died. Also the vets here are not experienced in necropsy of an exotic bird. 
At my city they do necropsy of only poultry broilers, there are only 2 centre which do birds necropsy at my place both does not deal with exotic birds, the necropsy of first cockatiel which died at my place was done by a private vet which privately performed the necropsy first time on my exotic bird, It was rarely an inspection done in front of me by opening the bird starting from vent to the lungs, it was not a necropsy though and he diagnosed it enteritis. 
I will ask for culture as you suggested starting from bird's nostrils, throat, crop flushes, lets hope they perform culture on broilers chicken.


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

*Suggestion Required for Giving Vaccine*

I have one more question, as the previous vet insisted & suggested me to give F1 (Ranikhet / New Castle Disease) Vaccine to every Bird.
He also told me that this is kind of a Disease in which vaccine is administered after the Disease has affected the Host rather than giving the vaccine before the bacteria enters the host.
Should I go ahead and give that live virus to these birds, as he told me that I can administer this Vaccine even by mixing it in spray/mist and the live virus can be administered through spray by mixing virus in the dilutant, which can enter the host body even through eyes nose and mouth.

Please suggest, is it right to administer this vaccine or not?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Newcastle Disease is a very dangerous poultry disease. It can affect parrots, but the US has been pretty effective at keeping this disease out of the country, so parrot owners here don't know much about it and have no experience in dealing with it. The internet tells me that Jabalpur is in Madhya Pradesh, and apparent there have been recurrent outbreaks in India: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0028414

I would suggest reading the article on this veterinary website at http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/newcastle.html There are several different varieties of Newcastle disease, and in the US commercial chicken farms vaccinate their birds against some types but not others. But these chicken vaccines are not used on parrots for this reason:


> Psittacine birds are not vaccinated against lentogenic and mesogenic NDV, as some vaccines contain modified live virus and could possibly cause the disease. This is because the vaccine was not developed for psittacine birds. In general, modified live vaccines and killed virus vaccines should not cause disease in the species that they were developed to protect.


If I were you, I think I would avoid this vaccine. It sounds like this vaccine is dangerous to parrots, and the vet who recommended it is not very knowledgeable. But I would also want to do more research on the subject to find out whether Newcastle Disease is even a major problem in your area. It might not be. 

Are you keeping your birds indoors or outdoors? The risk of being exposed to infected wild birds will obviously be higher outdoors.


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

I am going right now for the necropsy of my cockatiel, is there anything else, I should ask for the necropsy? Something else that is not discussed here?

Also I am posting the feces images of the remaining cockatiel, please suggest are they OK or do I need attention?
(Please ignore other foreign particles in the plate as they are boiled corn)


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

I honestly can't make a recommendation on the vaccine, as it may be something that is necessary in your country, maybe not. Here in the U.S. there aren't any necessary vaccinations for pet birds, so I'm not familiar. If that is a common disease of pet birds in your country then it's possible, but if I were you I would ask other pet bird owners that live in your area if they give the vaccine to their birds. It may be necessary and it may be just a ploy to get money.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."


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## charles.felix (Mar 13, 2017)

The Post-Mortem was performed and it was found that the cause of death were:
1. Antibiotic Toxicity.
2. Change of Feed (Diet Changes).
3. Mismatch of Pairs.

It was surprising that he was a SHE,

The root cause were:
1. Ulcers in Gizzard. (I physically looked her Gizzard there were lot of redness in the gizzard inner skin)
2. Kidney Inflamed.

Finding:
1. Undigested food in stomach.
2. Intestine almost empty.
3. Lungs Normal.
4. Liver Slightly Darken.

The doctor recommended not to perform culture after death because body started to decompose and the bacteria formation will increase rapidly so the main bacteria causing the problem will be almost very difficult to find.

I think, I killed my cockatiel by giving her a dose of tetracycline, which actually caused her death 

I went to the shop-owner and he told me that he frequently uses very small doses of tetracycline to all the birds, even the main dealer in the main city uses tetracycline before handing the birds to the re-sellers and uses tetracycline in very small dose and he also suggests them to use it.

I will never experiment any antibiotic on these exotic birds in future.
I was very disappointed after coming to home, but soon I am happy also.. 

...Continued in the New Thread.. Death is not an end but Life is a new beginning.

Before ending this post I want to thank EllenD, tielfan & other poster for helping me and educating me the proper process for keeping these exotic birds healthy.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I would recommend not using tetracycline on a regular basis as these dealers seem to be doing. Antibiotics can be very useful when a bird actually has a bacterial infection. But when they're routinely used "just in case" it messes up the gut flora of the birds for no reason, and helps contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


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## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

I am just seeing this and wanted to add my sympathy for the loss of your birds.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I'm so sorry for the loss of your birds  may they fly free.


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