# Newbie went to the vets and it's not good!



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Newbie hasn't completely been back to her normal self even after the last vet appointment and her keel bone felt really sharp so she went for another long drive to the avian vet today. He stuck a needle into her abdomen area to see if any fluid would come out because it felt swollen and a bit did, he looked at it under the microscope and that's where the problem is.

She's got a very bad infection around her abdomen (Peritonitis) there are a few things that could have caused it and her options were strong antibiotics and anti inflammatory medication and a blood test, possibly an x-ray or what we all dread hearing  Thankfully he was on the same line of thought as me with always giving them a chance first. I asked what he thought was best and he said the medications and blood test but he wasn't feeling to comfortable with doing the test because it would be taking 15% of her blood and in her condition could make things worse so I asked how it would affect her, i was told she could be weak for a few days or could die so I opted for medications and see if she improves a bit before moving onto the big blood test but did agree to a small blood test to see how her blood is coping with the infection. 

So she's getting the meds twice a day and going back to the vet next Tuesday and the goal is to aim for her putting on half/a gram by then, at the moment she's only 63grams.
When I asked he said he's seen birds recover from the same thing but their infections weren't as bad as Newbies. She's still eating on her own, not heaps though, perching and preening a bit so I'm trying to be positive.


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Joey and I are sending hugs, scritches, prayers and feel better thoughts her way. Poor, sweet little lady!


----------



## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

I hope Newbie pulls through. Sending you good thoughts


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Praying for both you and Newbie. I was going to say AviGain would help, but it is not meant to be taken with antibiotics because there is probiotics in it. I would try and give her some seeds with some extra fat like almonds or pumpkin seeds; millet, peanut butter, eggs. I think whole grain breads would irritate right now so I didn't suggest it. :S

Do you have any herb salad or can you get any blood purifying herbs? Because that can be a blood stream infection. http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Herbal-Remedies-for-Peritonitis

Scroll down to see the herbs effects: http://www.twinbeaksaviary.com/herbsalad.html

http://www.avitec.com/category-s/49.htm

Some cheap blood purifiers are lemons. Like the peel or juice to help fight infections and as an antibacterial agent: http://hbmag.com/the-lemon/
http://www.mytoos.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000898


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks guys and thank you so much Kiwi, I was just about to ask about some foods that might help her put on weight. I've been putting a couple sticks of millet in her cage each day and she pecks at it a bit but she's a fussy eater, haven't tried her with any of those you suggested though so I'll look for them when I go to the store


----------



## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Oh no  sorry to hear this. Sending well-wishes to you and Newbie from me and my flock. Hugs!


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Kiwi said:


> Praying for both you and Newbie. I was going to say AviGain would help, but it is not meant to be taken with antibiotics because there is probiotics in it. I would try and give her some seeds with some extra fat like almonds or pumpkin seeds; millet, peanut butter, eggs. I think whole grain breads would irritate right now so I didn't suggest it. :S
> 
> Do you have any herb salad or can you get any blood purifying herbs? Because that can be a blood stream infection. http://www.altmd.com/Articles/Herbal-Remedies-for-Peritonitis
> 
> ...


Do you think the lemons would be ok if I put some of the juice in her water so she doesn't know it's there? sorry, just read in the article that they do that, going to try it today


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

If she is super picky then probably go with more of the fatty seeds, they just can't resist those. Maybe add some more sunflower seeds too. Also pellets, birdie bread, and Harrison's mash (basically ground up high potency pellets) would help with weight. Sorry I forgot about those. My vet said that the high potency pellets from Harrison's are what they use to help birds that don't eat a lot gain weight and absorb nutrients. So I gave a lot of that to Kiwi when she wasn't eating much.

The lemon juice is safe to give to 'tiels and lemon is also an ingredient in Avitech's blood purifier. It's an alternate to adding apple cider vinegar to water sometimes because it isn't as harsh. You could just add a squeeze of lemon or a few drops depending on how big the water dish they have is. You would need to change the water after a few hours though. Maybe just give it to her once or twice a day depending on how much she drank and then she can balance the acidity out with regular water the rest of the day. 

If you have an organic herb store near you they would also have some of those herbs for you to use.


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thank you Kiwi for all the information, I really appreciate it 

So far I've been getting up earlier before work to do her meds, so she gets them at 5:30am and then again in the afternoon. I've been changing her cage paper everyday and making sure she always has some millet, sunflower seed and also tried the almonds, egg, kale, corn and some garlic powder, she nibbles at it a bit but not heaps. Need to find a health food store for the other bits since they don't have it at the supermarket in town, have also been covering her earlier.

The day I got her home after the vets I weighed her on my little kitchen scales to compare it to the vets ones, so at the vet she weighed 63g and on mine 62g which was on Tuesday.
I weigh her everyday right after she gets her meds and this is what it's been so far
Wednesday: 62 grams
Thursday: 63 grams
Friday (today) 65 grams

I'm not sure I want to believe the scales though, is it possible for them to put on a few grams in only a few days?

Here's a pic of the poor girl


----------



## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Aww, poor Newbie. She doesn't look well


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Sending hugs and scritches to her. I certainly hope the scales can be believed.


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

When Kiwi was feeling ill she lost so much weight that when she actually started eating again she gained about 4 grams when I weighed her the next day. I thought for sure she was going to lay an egg or something and that's where the random weight came from, but it was just she ate a lot of millet because she was feeling better. Her crop was huge! :blink:

But she doesn't look like she has gotten anymore fluid right? I don't know how much weight that would put on. :S

Newbie might not be eating a lot either because of the medicine or because of the inflammation from this. Did they give you any anti-inflammatory with that medication or does the medicine do anything like that? If it doesn't then celery, dark leafy greens like kale, the fatty nuts you've been feeding her, the garlic powder, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger. If you can get her to eat her veggies that would probably be the best one because I don't think she would like the taste of some of the others besides the nuts she is already eating.


----------



## Bird Crazy (Sep 13, 2014)

Hopefully she is gaining weight, the poor girl. I hope the meds work, she looks like a real sweetie.


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

blueybluesky said:


> I'm not sure I want to believe the scales though, is it possible for them to put on a few grams in only a few days?


Yes, and they can also lose a few grams in only a few days when they don't eat enough - keep her cage well stocked with whatever has been in there the last few days. I hope she is enjoying feasting on something in there and that her weight continues going up.


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks guys. 
She's on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, she seems to be a lot more sleepy today than she has the last few days and I'm not sure she swallowed all of her meds I just gave her, maybe I did it to fast. Her biting is getting a tiny bit harder though, I'll take that as a good thing since she's not tame. 
Her weight yesterday was 66 grams and today's is 68 grams.

Only got tomorrow to go and then it's the vets again, really hoping for some better news this time.


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

The anti-inflammatory will help a lot. I hope she is feeling much better soon. 

I'm glad she is gaining a lot of weight! Hoping for good news from the vets!!


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

I weighed her on our scales before the vets and she was 66 grams so she's lost 2 and at the vets she's 67 grams, at least I know that my scales are working.
It was a different vet this time but she seemed to know what was going on and was happy to see her eating a bit of food and biting harder 
She's still got fluid though and I asked how long it usually takes to go down, the vet didn't really have an answer for that other than that usually when they have fluid/that much fluid that they are in the end stages and they don't really see many come back in. She reminded me again that Newbie still might not recover and told me to continue what I'm doing and if I have any left over medication maybe do another one or two weeks of her on it, but looking at her today she's hopeful.

Poor little girl is all tuckered out from the bumpy drive and sleeping at the moment on her perch but she was definately glad to be home, she practically jumped from the carrier to the cage bars nearly falling off it when I was getting it closer then jumped straight in when I opened the cage door.


----------



## ollieandme (Mar 25, 2013)

best wishes for little Newbie - she still looks gorgeous albeit a bit sick 
i know how you feel at this festive time of year with nasty sick birdies and vet appointments! hang in there xx


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I was just about to post about Vitamin D or D3 supplements in foods. If you can increase her exposure to sunlight it is worth a try. Vitamin D helps fight infections and lowers lots of other risks. I now think it is a very important vitamin since Cockatiel's tick a lot of the boxes on the list that Vitamin D prevents.
If you combine everything else like the foods with the medicine and add in some sunlight it might help more.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...22Z1-USCanada&et_cid=DM62906&et_rid=773594373


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

How is Newbie? I hope she is doing better. Have you found any blood purifying herbs around your area? I'd recommend the Avitech system detox otherwise. you can add it to her water or give it to her directly. I hour she gets better soon!


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks Kiwi, I've started putting her outside for a few hours on my days off so she can get some sun.
She seems to be doing around the same. Still eating and perching so at least she's not going backwards. She weighs 78 grams today, putting on at least a gram each day but she still feels and looks really underweight and she still has a fair bit of fluid, maybe even a bit more, so I'm not sure if that would be the extra grams she is putting on or not.

I'm thinking of taking her to the vet again next week, since she will have been on the anti inflammatory and antibiotics for three weeks then, hopefully it should be enough time to show if there is any improvements if they do a blood test this time.


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

I hope Newbie is improving and that a visit to the vet will help if you can bring her there.


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Joey and I are still sending cuddles and scritches Newbie's way.


----------



## billsgurl (Dec 28, 2014)

*prayers flying heaven bound*

prayers going up


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks for all the well wishes/support everyone.

She's been worrying me the last couple of days. She's been sitting on the floor of the cage with her head tucked in her feathers taking long naps on top of her usual sleeping time. She's still perching occasionally though and still only eating a little bit.
The most she weighed was 78grams between three to five days ago (lost my sheet I've been writing it all on) on the 31st she was 74g and yesterday weighed 73g so she's losing some, I'm a little scared to weigh her today in case she's lost more.

Her routine is meds at 5:30am before I go to work so she gets to go back to sleep till around 2 when I get back, then I do paper change, food and water at 5:30pm followed by meds again and then they go to bed around 11-12pm when I go to sleep. Do you think that there might be a slight chance that her being so tired is that she's not getting 12 uninterrupted straight hours of sleep? should I start covering her up after her afternoon dose so she gets to sleep straight through to the morning dose?


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

Probably worth doing that - medications have side effects & can tire them out (and being ill adds fatigue as well). The added warmth from being covered, the reduced light, and the stillness it encourages should be helpful.


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

Has she been eating well? If she liked almonds or any of the other seeds you could try some peanut butter or nut butters on a tiny piece of bread. The ones without a lot of added ingredients (pretty close to being just mashed up peanuts, almonds) along with low amounts of saturated fat, sugar, salt are the best.

As long as she is still eating it is a good sign, if she stops you would have to crop feed her or have the vet do that. She would be very sick then. Like tielbob said- I think the medicine is making her feel bad along with the illness. 

Do you have any heat perches or heating pads to use to help keep her warmer? Just using a heating pad on the low setting for a little while might help warm her cage if it is covered. Or an electric blanket underneath the cage or low? I hope she is feeling better!


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

How is Newbie doing?


----------



## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

Aaawww, poor Newbie - I just read this post.
Sending lots of scratches and love from me and fids xxx

Maybe trying to give her more sleep at night wouldn't hurt. If she goes to be at 12 when you do and then up for meds at 5.30am then sleep whilst you work (which by then is no longer dark. I would be covering her up much early so she gets good night sleep. In saying that this just my opinion only


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

She's doing ok, doesn't seem to be sleeping as much now since I've been covering her earlier, but her appetite is about the same. She started putting some weight back on again so today she's 75 grams.

I was going to take her to the vets this week but would only be able to afford what she had done the last time, so I'm going to take her next week instead when I can get the bigger blood test done, it will probably be less stressful on her than having to go for 2 long trips there.


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

She's booked in at the vets for tomorrow at 4


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

I hope the vet visit goes well.


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thanks for all the help and support everyone.

Sad news, I came home from work to find that Newbie died while I was out 
I really thought that she might have been getting better. Now Car Alarm keeps calling out for her I think, because he never calls like he's doing


----------



## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

I said it on your other post but I'll say it again, I'm so sorry you lost Newbie


----------



## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

I also replied on your other post.. So sorry you lost Newbie.. I was really hoping she would get better ... How is the rest of the flock dealing with the psiticosis?


----------



## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Oh no! I'm so sorry.


----------



## stevechurch2222 (Sep 25, 2011)

So sorry for your loss of Newbie.


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Hugs for you, hugs and scritches for Car Alarm. Give yourself time to heal, and keep Newbie's memory in your heart.


----------



## estypest (Jul 31, 2014)

Sorry for your loss, fly free Newbie.


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

So sad. I was really hoping she would get better. Sorry for your loss of Newbie


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I'm so sorry for your loss... Newbie and you both tried the best you could to fight this. 

Fly free Newbie over the Rainbow Bridge...


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

Blueybluesky you tried so hard to help her - you're a great tiel parent.


----------



## blueybluesky (Jul 9, 2013)

Thank you everyone



ParrotletsRock said:


> I also replied on your other post.. So sorry you lost Newbie.. I was really hoping she would get better ... How is the rest of the flock dealing with the psiticosis?


So far the rest of the flock have been doing great, we haven't lost any or had any get sick with it since early last year.


----------



## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

**Hugs** Poor Newbie. You did all you could. I'm sure Newbie would say thank you


----------

