# Cockatiel's Tongue Tip



## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Hellow Forum !

My beautiful Cockatiel, named Precious had been suffering from respiratory infection and feather falling problems. The vet advised to give him an antibiotic dose for 7 days and a multivitamin dose for 14 days. 8 days have passed and he is quite fine. But one thing I've seen today is his tip of the tongue is white. Since I've never had a cockatiel before him, I don't know what is the normal color of a tiel's tongue. The tongue tip is white but the rest of the tongue color is reddish. He is been given vitamin drops twice a day. Is his tongue color ok or is there any problem? Please help me. We love our precious very much. He is a 5/6 months old handsome cinnamon male baby. 

Please help me getting rid of bitter anxiety. 

Thanks in advance.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

is it possible he has developed a yeast infection from being on antibiotics?

i just dealt with a nasty yeast infection with one of my lovebirds....

i would go back to the vet and ask about it. if it is yeast they should put him on an antifungal such as nystatin....

let us know


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Would your vet offer a phone consult? Since he was just in recently, maybe you could explain what's going on and see if they feel it's worth another visit. It does sound concerning.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Hi all !
I contacted my vet just 1 minute ago....he said it's not a problem and he'll be okay in 2 days since the antibiotic dosage has been stopped 
& he advised to give him the vitamin drops once a day for 1 month. He has been a good vet so far.....I'm just confused that he hasn't said it was wrong !


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Do you know what the antibiotic was? I suppose it's possible it could have caused a temporary change, but I would also think about yeast. I'm sure someone with more experience can give you more definite advice.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

@Enigma, the name of the medicine was Azithromycine 250. Please tell me what would I do if there is a yeast infection ?? I can't take the picture of his tongue since he hasn't been tamed yet. 

Waiting for your valuable advices


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

If it was yeast, and if it were my bird, I would go back to the vet and ask for an anti fungal. I know some people here have had success treating with apple cider vinegar in the water, and other over the counter remedies. You might try doing a forum search for that. Honestly, though, if you can afford another vet visit, that is probably your best bet. 

How is his behavior? How do his droppings look? If normal, it is probably okay to wait a bit and see if the tongue color improves. But of course there are never any guarantees because birds are so excellent at hiding illness. 

Do you weigh him? This can also be helpful. With a yeast infection, I believe you would expect to see weight loss.

Edit: Sorry, I missed that the odd droppings thread is also yours. I would definitely schedule another vet visit. That plus the tongue color makes me strongly suspect yeast.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Dear Enigma,

Thanks a lot for your advice. Here at Dhaka, it's difficult to find cider vinegar....will white vinegar do?? If it won't please let me know other options. It is also very difficult finding a good vet here, the vet I talked about seemed good so far. Therefore, if he sucks, I wanna rely on this forum and want to give him medication on consensus. Please tell me the choices about the yeast treatment if you like. 

One more thing....his dropping color seems normal this morning (the antibiotic course ended yesterday morning).

Regards.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i used apple cider vinegar for munch when she was ill with a yeast infection

but i handfed her the treatment. i made up the formula of pellets soaked in cranberry juice with the apple cider vinegar and plain yogurt mixed in until it was as thick as apple sauce

i handfed her slowly with a syringe. if you bird is drinking it is safer to put the apple cider vinegar in his water. a few drops will do

plain yogurt is good too as its probiotics. it will help the good bacteria. he needs that.

yeast infections are often caused by antibiotics because antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. this leaves the bird open to other infections.

so a few drops of apple cider vinegar and some yogurt
you will likely have to handfeed him the yogurt with a syringe

do not shoot it into his beak he can drown

you slowly let the liquid come out of the syringe. test it out without the bird first so you know you are not doing it too fast.

once you can get the few drops out slowly you place the tip of the syringe in HIS left side of the beak and point it towards the left side. its better if you add the vinegar to the yogurt to make sure hes getting it


i do not know other treatments
yogurt alone is not treatment yogurt is just support
white vinegar wont do. its not good


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

If his droppings have returned to normal, that is a very good sign. How is his weight? Can you check his keel bone? If he is also eating and drinking, that's good too. I have not had any experience using azithromycin in a bird; it could be that your vet is right and his system will return to normal. 

Honestly, I have never had a bird with a yeast infection, so it's probably best if Dally or somebody else who has more experience can give you that advice. When we briefly suspected yeast in my tiel, my vet discussed the possibility of using fluconaloze. But I have read conflicting things about that med, so again it would probably be best to wait for a more experienced opinion. 

You're doing a great job trying to get him well. I'll be sending you both good thoughts.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Yogurt is made of milk, right? I've read so many articles that cockatiels cannot digest milk stuffs. I don't know whether they are right or wrong.....let me know guys, u've been a great help for me 

If I have to feed him yogurt, which type is better - sweet or sour (I guess sour) ?? The sweet shops here in my town sell sour yogurt, will those do or will I have to make some at home (With milk and lime juice)? Please advice.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

just plain yogurt... needs to have the active bacterial cultures in it
do not add milk or lime juice

and yogurt is fine as it does not have enough lactose in it

he needs the apple cider vinegar too
yogurt alone doesnt help yeast


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Then I'll have to look for ACV after my office hours. Pray for my little one everybody. :'(


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

will do and good luck


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Hellow all !

My wife found his tongue color okay yesterday and I checked after getting back home 
What a relief !! I also have ensured a departmental store selling Apple Cider Vinegar, if needed, they can give me anytime (the vinegar brand is Heinze, I think its a good one).

Now he's quite fine and he is eating and drinking normally. I've cleaned up his cage bottom in the morning and I clean it everyday, I clean up his water and food pot everyday and change his food/drink regularly. I give him pure boiled drinking water which we used to drink and have never given tap water. 

Thank you all for your precious tips, those helped me a lot.

Thank you once again.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

youre welcome


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Heinz is not a good ACV because it is heat treated to kill the 'mother' which is the good stuff in the ACV. You need an ACV that claims to have the mother otherwise you're just feeding your bird acid.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> it's difficult to find cider vinegar....will white vinegar do??


There's a lot of hype about ACV being special, but the people who've actually tried to look into the claims reach the conclusion that there's not much difference between it and any other vinegar, and the claims are vastly overblown. For example:
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/04/houston-we-have-problem-apple-cider.html
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/the-health-benefits-of-vinegar2.htm 
http://www.webmd.com/diet/apple-cider-vinegar
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/applecidervinegardiet/a/applecidervineg.htm


White vinegar should be fine, but don't go overboard with it. Too much of any kind of vinegar is bad.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.


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