# female cockatiel sick



## yasser157 (Jan 19, 2015)

a fact that i m new to the cockatiel world, a female that i bought last monday show some signs of sickness (last 2 days) ,she start sleeping too much on the day with her head turned on her back with a fluffy feathers, not active at all, sometimes she sleeps on her perch, other time on the floor , she eats too much ( increased appetite) , all what she does is eat sleep and eat sleep, her poop arent too runny ( a little runny but i think it s because she drink too much as a result of a pink powder i give them), her male is ok, i cant take her to a vet for sure, so before things become more serious i bought an antibiotics that contain enrofloxacin that i added to the water with the correct dosage or a little more, i just want to know your opinion and if you know what kind of desease it is ( based on the symptoms above) !!!! thanks for the help !!!


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## ericmcginn5 (Jun 19, 2014)

why no vet?


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

What is the pink powder? Is that a supplement or medication?

I don't think you should have medicated her just yet, but she does sound sick with the fluffed feathers, sleeping, eating habits. I can see this being a result of the powder she is getting too if the powder is supposed to stimulate her appetite or something.

Here is something on increased appetite taken from the link at the bottom:
"If your cockatiel is very active, is laying eggs or is feeding young chicks, your tiel of course will eat more. Also, a low temperature in the environment will make a cockatiel eat more.

If your cockatiel is eating a lot but is lethargic or you don't see a visual gain weight it could be a sign of illness. Check your cockatiel droppings to see if they are watery. Parasites can also make your tiel eat more than usual.

Did you know that a cockatiel can also suffer from diabetes?
This could also explain why your bird might eat a lot but still acts lethargic. In cockatiels with diabetes, the problem evolves from the pancreas being damaged by infection or other secondary issues."
http://www.cockatiel.com/eatingtoomuch.html

Only a vet could really tell... If a vet is really out of the question there are many online vets you can ask for a much cheaper price like $10-20 or so I think. http://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/


Does her breath smell or droppings smell?


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## yasser157 (Jan 19, 2015)

the pink powder is - natural vitamineral for pigeons- that i added to their seeds after adding some olive oil, i dont use too much of it, today morning after one night antibiotics, she seems less lethargic , she doesn t sleep , just cleaning her feathers and feets , she seems like gaining her form. she even put her head and body down when the male start dancing to her!!!


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

That is good! I hope that she continues doing better now. Maybe it was just a bug and the antibiotics got rid of it. Make sure to give her some parrot probiotics like Benebac or Avibios then after about a week of the antibiotic, you want to make sure it completely destroyed whatever was causing that illness.


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

Its good to see her active.


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## yasser157 (Jan 19, 2015)

it s day 5 antibiotics...she s doing good...about probiotics i can t find any in my country ( morocco)....any alternative ??? thanx for your advices


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I'm so sorry I did not see this post. There are online bird stores that may ship out to Morocoo if you contact them and ask. Amazon might be able to, I am not sure about shipping? Also asking the manufacturer directly if they can ship it to you might work. There are a few types I know of that are supposed to be good Benebac plus, Avibios, Vetafarm, Avi-culture, Avi-culture 2. I don't know if shipping from Europe or the U.k. would also be cheaper, they have a lot of those products.

When parrots are stressed it kills off a lot of the lactobacilli bacteria in their body. This can also happen when they are stressed from being sick and after antibiotics. And can cause problems with their digestion, droppings, and make them not want to eat a lot. It also can weaken their resistance to diseases because the lactobacilli kill bad bacteria that cause diseases. Giving them probiotics daily, every other day, or weekly is a good way to prevent that.

Lactobacillus Acidophilus is the type of probiotic you want to look for when getting a bird probiotic, this is also in some human foods and human probiotics. Though you might have to adjust the dose for human probiotics for their weight and number of bacteria since the bacteria levels are ten times higher for people than they are for parrots. Human probiotics are 20 billion CFU and parrots are in the 2-5 Billion CFU range. When you look at human foods with this in it you have to first see if the 'tiel can eat them though. Like yogurt for example has Lactobacillus Acidophilus in it as a probiotic. You would have to check to see if they have added that to the yogurt if you are giving it to your 'tiel and the yogurt can only be plain yogurt and pasteurized for safety. Since most of the Lactobacillus Acidophilus is killed off by the sugar (unless you get yogurt without added sugar) or process it isn't as effective as avian probiotics, but it will give them probiotics. Just don't give them yogurt too often because they aren't mammals and can't digest milk products like we can and it will upset their stomachs. A probiotic will help her get the good bacteria back faster. Some vets say you do not need probiotics after antibiotics, but I think a lot of owners use probiotics because it helps get them the gut bacteria levels back to normal faster because that process can take a long time to get back to normal on its own.

If it is hard to get probiotics then prebiotics work pretty well too to support the bacteria that are alive in their gut right now. It wont give them anymore bacteria like probiotics, but it will help keep the bacteria healthy until more can form. You can feed parrots raw, dry, dandelion greens and asperagus for prebiotics. Those are some I could find that aren't toxic to Cockatiels. Both shouldn't have had any pesticides used on them because it is hard to get off and will get into your parrot's body.


http://beautyofbirds.com/images/HolisticParrot.pdf
http://beautyofbirds.com/Lactobacillus.htm


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## yasser157 (Jan 19, 2015)

thanks for all the advices,, i will think about aspergus....and she s doing fine by the way....like if she were nt sick at all....


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## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

yasser157 said:


> ...about probiotics i can't find any in my country (Morocco)....any alternative ???...


I'm glad she's doing better!

Here is some info that might be helpful - it has to do with ordering online from Amazon and Ebay in your country:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110730045917AALFWgE

Out of curiosity I looked up one of the probiotics on Ebay cited by Kiwi, Benebac-Plus, to see if anyone at this time is shipping it from the U.S. to Morocco. Here's what came up for me - (remember, this is just a random example and definitely not an endorsement!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PETAG-BENE-...ultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4857609e9f#shpCntId

There might be payment/delivery/customs issues for you but you can check into it - the Spanish or French websites might yield better results for Morocco as noted in the first link above.

Hope your bird continues to do well  
Good luck


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I'm glad she is doing better too! It's great to know that the antibiotics worked and got rid of her illness. 

For prebiotics another one Cockatiels can have is cooked yams since yams have a good amount of prebiotic fiber count. The yams need to be cooked for Cockatiels though. Yams, dandelion greens, and asparagus were the ones highest in prebiotics for what Cockatiels can eat. 
They only need a little bit of this to eat every day, other day, or every week then. The dose for humans in terms of prebiotic fiber is grams. Too much veggies and fiber can give them loose stools so that's why they don't need a lot of it just as much as they will eat in one sitting probably. 

And tielbob's information is very helpful if you are thinking about ordering any probiotics online sometime in the future. 

http://www.prebiotin.com/foods-containing-prebiotics/
http://gicare.com/diets/high-fiber-diet/


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