# eye problem--needs help



## avia (Dec 17, 2011)

hi. i am new here. i have experience with tiels. i also rescue birds from pet stores when i see a bird in need. The case I would like to discuss here is a grey tiel who appeared sick at a pet store in queens, NY in june. the bird was put into a back room where a vet supposedly treated the bird. many months later, as they would not allow me to see the bird which was under lock & key in a backroom--i learned the bird was scratching its eye but still being treated with antibiotics. weeks & weeks later i was told she was getting a biopsy on the eye. 
one of the birds eyes had a pinkish membrane that appeared like the third eyelid on its lower eye--very obvious, but at that time that was the only symptom. this the bird apparently scratched at it repeatedly. about 2 months ago i finally got to see the bird & she looked terrible: the affected eye was literally sunken in, the bird appeared very underweight & her feather quality was dried out looking & she was kept in a glass tank with water on the ground in a shallow reptile bowl & only pellets for food. 
working with one of the managers i told them i would adopt the bird but the vet, whom i spoke with kept saying when the bird was finished with its present course of antibiotics.
Finally seeing the bird again today--he/she has not been out of a 5 gallon glass tank for 7 months & is unsocialized--i saw that her other eye was also now affected--this time the upper lid has that pink membrane showing. what i found even more unsettling was the fact that the manager told me some other people were interested in adopting the bird, including a man who owned reptiles & who didn't have birds (?) i guess u can see where i'm going here. the adoption fee is nominal so the bird would basically be for free.
my ability to isolate the bird is compromised by the fact that my birds live with me in a small room while the house i live in is cold at night & there r also cats in the other rooms so if i get the brid i'm not certain if i can keep him in the warmer room with my fids. 
it appears the bird had or has some kind of conjunctivitis--but for 7 months? & while on antibiotics for so long? she does not appear sick at this point--i mean displaying symptoms of being puffed up. labored breathing or any dishcharge from eyes, nose, etc as would be present in say, psittacosis. would a bird like this still be contagious to other birds? the manager who suddenly left on vacation for a month had originally told me that she herself had developed an eye infection--diagnosed by her pharmacist aunt--i believe she said she had conjunctivitis--which she believed she got from the bird.
would this be bacterial or viral? I need some experienced tiel people to weigh in here. i hope people realize that the shop is just backwards when it comes to taking care of birds & it would be nice if people were more proactive on talking to them about how they don't care for their birds. not only do i rehab wild birds but i feel i am the only person checking the health of pet store birds while everyone else goes shopping in the aisles thinking everything's great. The shop has a display case with young tiels & an _unweaned _conure in it which is always cold since the thermometer reads 65 degrees. i have had them put birds in the back because they were cold--but they don't get it fixed nor are they motivated to provide heat for these unfortunate babies..
the vet of course thinks all of this is fine as i've spoken to him about this some time ago.
i hope i can gain more knowledge about what this bird could have without having to spend hundreds of dollars at a vet when & if i manage to acquire her. if anyone is nearby they can also give me a shout out about whether they might ever want to help out with either a foster home or an adoption home for a needy tiel. thanks
your replies will be appreciated.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I feel like this would not be an air-borne virus so it _might_ be safe to have them in the same room as long as they never come in contact with each other or with anything the other has touched. And of course, as long as you sanitized yourself between handling.

However, it is very risky to bring a bird you are unsure of into your home. If it were me and i brought it home, i would do some major cleansing and change of clothing between bird handling.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Being that you don't know what this bird actually has, I absolutely would NOT have them in the same room. Not even in the same house. The whole thing sounds sketchy to me, including the vet care. This bird's situation is very sad, but if you don't have the proper ability to quarantine (which you don't, from what you have said), adopting it would not be fair to your flock.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

bjknight93 said:


> I feel like this would not be an air-borne virus so it _might_ be safe to have them in the same room as long as they never come in contact with each other or with anything the other has touched. And of course, as long as you sanitized yourself between handling.
> 
> However, it is very risky to bring a bird you are unsure of into your home. If it were me and i brought it home, i would do some major cleansing and change of clothing between bird handling.


The problem with this logic is that many avian illnesses are spread through dried fecal matter which becomes particles in the air. So even if an illness isn't strictly airborne in the sense we'd think of for human contagion, it can spread between birds that share an air supply. In this case, one wouldn't even be able to clean the new bird's cage without risking aerosolized particles that could spread disease.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Yeah, that makes sense. After some research i found this forum: 

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=2032

So, without proper quarantining available, i wouldn't jeopardize your current cockatiel's health. It could be associated with a contagious disease that is fatal if untreated because it causes severe weightloss. 

Maybe you could contact exotic rescues in your area and see if they have a quarantine area available? You could offer to pay for the vet care to get them to really consider your situation.


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

If this bird has been treated and has had this problem for all this time there is a good possibility that this is a genetic condition. 

You might do a search (use the search box at the top of the forum) for droopy eye or hound dog eye and read and look at the pix's in the postings. If this is what is going on with your bird there is nothing that can be done for the eyes, aside from keeping the shoulders clean on the bird to prevent further irritation from rubbing, and to keep dust levels down while the bird is molting (such as daily lightly misting the cage and surroundings)


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