# breathing heavy with mouth open



## thalaron (Jan 5, 2014)

My tiel is breathing heavy with her mouth open... but is eating and alert.. No vets are open except for emergency vets who only know cats and dogs.


What should I do tonight?


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## LeahB (May 25, 2016)

I absolutely hate vet emergencies on the weekends! 

First, are you positive that there is nobody with *some* experience available? It's possible that spending the night in a cage with oxygen could save her life. I had to take a bird in once on a Saturday to my vet and there were no avian vets available, but the the vet there was able to do enough to keep him alive until an avian vet was available. No question that I had more input on the treatment than I would have had with an avian vet and no question that the whole experience cost a lot more than if he had first gotten sick on a weekday. Typically, your regular vet's phone line will suggest where to go when they are closed (and maybe the emergency vet you referred to is the only/best thing around). 

One thing you can do is take your bird into the bathroom in a smaller cage and run the shower to create a steam room and see if that helps the respiration. I think people sometimes also create a tent with a towel and use a steaming bowl of water under the towel. Sometimes with additives, but my recollection of what they use is sketchy...a google search might find it.


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## brokebackvol (Oct 17, 2018)

*RE: Breathing heavy*

What was the outcome? I had that experience and it was a millet seed stuck in windpipe, poor thing had to be humanely put down.


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