# please help me diagnose the illness



## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Hi, I live outside of US and avian vet isnt available to me at ALL so you are my only hope.
I have several cockatiels but 3 of them have lost considerable amount of weight, are sitting fluffed up at the bottom of the cage. the urates are rather green in color and poop does seem more lousy than normal. Giving them antibiotics doesnt seem to help. the sickiest of three also has problems with coordination and can hardly perch on a finger or hold the head up, another developed a habbit of laying down rather then sitting, they all have poor appetites and wont touch vegetables at all just some seeds. (pellet diet isnt avail here either) (when they were healthy, they enjoyed celery,carrots,boiled eggs etc, but not anymore)their ages are 6-4-2 y.o. Other birds do seem healthy but I am terrified that they may get sick too. (the sick birds are in a separate cage, but they use to be in a same flight with the others before I noticed their changes)I would really appreciate any help on this..


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

It sounds serious and I hope somebody will be able to tell you what to do. I think the problem as you describe it would really require medical attention. Maybe you can try a normal vet if you can't find an avian vet? Better than nothing.

Some diseases are air-borne, so as a precaution the cage with the healthy tiels should be in another room. Have you disinfected the cage with the healthy birds, just in case there has been some sort of contact?

I hope somebody will be able to tell you what to do with the sick tiels ASAP. The green in the urates could indicate liver disease from what I know.


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## Shockadine (Sep 2, 2014)

I'm not a vet and I'm no health expert, but I have cured my own sick birds in the past. I have seen cockatiels lose their appetite and lose a lot of weight before. I usually start by separating them, and putting them on a heating pad. Sometimes they will still eat if I feed them by hand (like handing them individual seeds), if not I will feed them with formula in a syringe. I once had a tiel that continued to get worse. His poop started to stink like reptile poop. I figured if it was caused by bacterial or fungal infection, than garlic would help. I started adding, fresh, crushed garlic to the formula. His poop stopped stinking and he started eating on his own again in just a few days. That was quite a while ago. He's a perfectly normal little guy today. I wish you the best of luck.


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Thank you Littletail and Shockadine for your time and advises .I have separated them of course and desinfected the cage.. So far I have seen few regular (dog &cat) vets. One of them has recommended Sulfa-based antibiotics.. I am sort of afraid to give it to birds. But dont know what else to attempt. I did try giving them garlic powder in water, but because it stink so bad they wont drink water like that at all. I know how to hand feed but only one of these 3 birds is tame enough to try that, for the wild ones it will just add stress.Well gonna keep trying.. I guess will give a try to sulfa drugs. Since I suspect it may be infection. I have read all these articles on Giardia and doesnt look like it (they are not itching). Anyway,thanks again!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

The garlic should be added to the food not the water. Never add anything to the water, as any change in it can cause the birds not to drink. Giardia does not necessarily cause itching. In humans and dogs, it causes diarrhea. That's about the only symptom you will notice. Have the vets ran any tests such as blood or fecal? Even a dog vet will have the technology to do this or can send samples out to a lab.


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Thank you Roxy Culver! No,no tests were administred. Since here is really a "'dinosaur age"' when it comes to pet care, especially "'exotic pets"' such as cockatiles. I've being spending hours and hours online to do the research myselth . Recently 2 more birds started to show symptoms. This pair had a nest box lined with wood shavings and I noticed dark green staining on bedding .It looks like they really couldn control it, since healthy birds never contaminate the nest box. I placed all the affected birds on sulfametoxazol/trimetoprime. If that wont work, going to try antifungal next.. I''ve searched and searched the web for symptoms but its very confusing and without the lab its like playing a gambling game of ''lucky guess"' I hope and pray that I can figure it out and save my birds and thank you for your time and help


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Birds are super hard to diagnose, even for avian vets. Your best bet is to ask about having a fecal ran on samples you bring in from the bedding or what not, and see if they can find anything.


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Hello to you all who had helped me. One of my birds had passed away and on the same time I found good and reliable vet. He did the necroscopy and told me that it was an obvious protozoan infection. The drug that was prescribed is Toltrazuril. The Vet said it works better then Metronizadole.. So I am just hoping for the cure.. Loosing my birds is so heartbreaking.. Once again Thank you to everyone who had answered my posts..


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## arnabsri (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi ,
So Sorry for your loss! please update us regarding ur other birds after the meds.. sending lots of good wishes on your way and lots og hugs to ur birdies . Hope they recover soon .


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## Vince (Feb 18, 2014)

Oh no...that is all just so awful to read 
I really hope the new antibiotics work well, and very fast.
At least then the bird you have lost has helped diagnose a treatment for the rest...and possibly saved all their lives.
So hope you have a positive result with the rest of your flock...
It is very stressful & heartbreaking for sure...I have been trying to get to the bottom of a health issue with my boy since May. Like you we dont have easy access to an avian vet.
Feeling helpless & frustrated after spending all the time you will have researching is very hard. 
But dont blame yourself... you are doing the best you can under the circumstances...


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

I hope this new drug cures your flock and you can save them... So sorry you lost one


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

You will need to treat your whole flock and disinfect their living area. Did the vet talk to you about how to do that?


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Hello everyone, I am here with the update. Its been a week since my birds started the treatment. First 5 days they were on toltrazulil 25%, after 5 days I didnt notice any difference, so I went back to Vet, and he advised to combine that treatment with sulfametoxazol/trimetoprime . I have already tried that before and it wasnt effective, but this time I got the antibiotic especially for birds,and the dosage-from the vet. So I started that yesterday and today in the morning I heard one of my sickest cockatiels whistle, it was such a music to my ears! However that particular tiel still is very sick. I have them in 2 cages-one containing very sick birds- the other showing symptoms but generally ok.. In that healthier cage the looks of poop improved somewhat,it is not normal,but at least it is less bright green. I 've being giving treatment to everyone,even those,who look ok. 
Well, thank you for reading all this and your support.. and when I get to the bottom of it, I will post and update


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## Vince (Feb 18, 2014)

Thats great news!
At least things are moving in a good direction 
Really hope they all pull through a-okay!


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Hello everyone who was helping me, I am here with an update.. My birds being on the combined treatment (toltrazuril and sulfa for birds) and after 10 days I do notice some improvement.Its a bit dissapointing because the progress is very slow. When I treat my children with antibiotics I usually see some significant positive change in about 3 or 4 days. But with birds and this Coccida infection its not like that. The sickiest of them is still on the cage floor but he looks less fluffy and even whistling in attempt to charm an equally sick hen. This amuses me since being practically one step from death he is still trying to be a Playboy. In general, they are better, but there are still obvious signs of infection like bright green/slimy poop. I am waiting on when to fumigate the cages,but so far we are on a long and rocky road to cure..
Here I found a page, which describes the desease precisely, hope it will help someone since I remember the agony of researching and trying to figure out what my birds have.. http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=24582 and another word on this-ato fumigate the cage we have 2 options-soak in ammonia for 30 min.. or use the hospital cleaner dermo qrit. Regular clorox wont help much against the protozoa


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## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

Glad to hear you are now seeing signs of improvement, and hoping for a full recovery.  I have never had paired tiels but have seen that they won't even do the most basic things when very ill - yours with the whistling to the hen and mine with biting the hand that feeds them (me!)
The link is helpful - many foods are internationally sourced so even if a pathogen is not normally found in a locale it can be introduced and is worth noting.


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## ninfatiel (Jul 22, 2016)

Thank you for your comment Tielbob! As unbelievable as it sounds,those bugs still exist.. Mostly Tiels can get them from wild birds,if they are housed outdoors and infected pigeon walks on the roof an poops. Mine got it from new birds I bought,and with this particular infection (Coccida) it takes way longer then a month on healthy young bird- to notice that something is wrong,that's how all my flock got infected, even after the quarantine period. 
From now on if I would purchase more birds in the future, I would automatically treat them while waiting to introduce them..


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