# Hurt Baby wont eat :s



## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

My little Wheaty took off and flew right into the corner of my dresser last night. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth. We called the avian vet and she said there wasn't much we could do. He is standing up no and chirps occasionally but he won't eat. His head is turned to the right but he will straighten it back out. Stinky and Snowy won't go down to the bottom of the cage to feed him so I took him out and am trying to feed him with a syringe and formula. at first he took a few little nibbles(more like tiny) but now he won't take anymore. It just sits on his tongue and he wont swallow. He keeps shutting his eyes and hes going down in weight. What can i do for my little baby? Please help!!!!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

take him to another vet. shame on that vet for saying they cant do anything, as thats NOT true. there's something wrong, could be head trauma, or a beak injury, he needs to be brought in NOW

keep him warm and try to convince him to eat. add a little bit of honey to his formula and make sure the formula is 105 degrees. any higher any colder isnt good.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

She said there wasn't much she could do because hes only a month old. His eyes seem to water just a bit. he does move around a bit. What would make his head turn to the right? Last night it took almost an hour after the left foot to be able to grab anything. but hes holding his right wing up so i don't think hes paralyzed. My budget is really tight right now and i don't know if i can afford a vet bill..... I just don't want one so young to die though.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

He just took a heathy dump on my chest. It had the green and white in it like normal, but it also had a blob of dark brown in it as well. bit watery but it was still solid


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It sounds like he has internal injuries or possibly a brain/spinal injury. Please take him in right now. He is very likely in pain. At the very least you must have him evaluated, and if there is really nothing to be done, make the decision to end his suffering.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

It sounds very very bad (sorry for being straight), please take him to a good vet ASAP. ohh poor little bird, may God bless you.


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

I hope he will be alright!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i do think he needs to be brought in regardless. something is very very wrong


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

We took him in and he is at the vet now. We only hope everything is ok. He is starting to stand on his own without our help, I think that is good and plus his neck/head is straighter. His reactions are getting more like himself also.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

good i hope everything is ok and he will get better


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

hope everything is alright :flowers:


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Vet just called and the poor little fella has a concussion. Steroid drops for 3 weeks to help with the brain swelling. Hand feeding if mom and dad won't feed him, which will be a learning curve for him since hes not used to hand feeding. Any suggestions? Also as of right now he is blind in his right eye, but that just makes me love him more. Wings and legs are alright, just need to get his head to not curve to the right.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Will the parents feed him if you put him in the nestbox? Watch them carefully, they might not accept an injured/sick baby.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Last night they wouldn't feed him. The only time they will feed any of the babies now is if they come up to them and ask for food. All have been out of the box for a week or more so we took it out 3 days ago because Snowy and Stinky were starting to, well you know..... and we didn't her to start laying again so soon. She said that the blindness might be permanent, we will have to wait and see when the swelling goes down, but if thats the case will he be able to fly or will he have major issues with that?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

One-eyed birds can fly although he might not be able to judge the location of things as well as a two-eyed bird, and he's a fledgling so his judgment wasn't great to start out with. It might be safest to do at least a partial wing clip until he's skilled to prevent a dangerous high-speed crash.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Yeah i definatly know that his judgement isn't awesome, hence he did a header into my dresser. Can you clip them as babies? I think Smokey got clipped to early because he has almost full wing feathers but he cannot fly at all.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's usually best to let babies learn to fly well before doing any clipping. But this is a special case, with a half-blind chick who has already injured himself badly. Talk to your vet and get her opinion before you decide anything, but my inclination would be to do a light clip so he can't fly as fast.

You might be able to teach Smokey to fly by encouraging takeoffs over a soft surface like a bed. He probably won't go far at first but will do more as he gains confidence.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

getting him to eat is a challenge,


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Did the vet prescribe any sort if painkiller? If not, you might talk to your vet about getting one. Pain can interfere with appetite.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Yes, she put him on steroid drops and he had is first round about an hour and a half before we tried feeding him. he got about 4 cc's in him which is better than nothing i guess. wish it was more, i don't want him starving to death or dehydrating.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I could be wrong, but I don't think steroids actually help pain in the short term. They're good for bringing down inflammation, but that takes time. I would ask the vet if you can add Metacam or Rimadyl.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

She said that when the swelling goes down, he will feel better. I can ask when she calls in the morning. He is currently sleeping right now.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I think that would be a good idea. Mention your concerns about his eating.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

We did because he is dropping weight


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Well, we got him to eat about 4cc's of food. Its not much but a little bit like that a couple times a day and i think he will be ok. Still going to ask about pain meds though. He is getting much more feisty like his old self. He flew a few feet this morning on the bed before i caught him. His favorite thing to do is stick his tongue up the syringe when im putting it in his mouth so he won't get any food. The others aren't picking at him, but rather Icey went down to the bottom last night and allowed Wheatie to lay his head on his back. They were the closest before this happened and Icey is always chirping to him. I put him on a perch and he is staying there which is good and promptly passed out sleeping again. He sleeps after every meal.


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

feed him again about a half our ago another 3cc. He is taking the food but again sleeps right after he eats, does chirp and he flew again in a circle then landing on me.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It sounds like he's doing well! Maybe small frequent meals are actually beneficial for him right now, since there's less weight to carry around in his crop.


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

We are feeding him 3-4 times a day between 3-5 ccs but he is still losing weight, what should we do? Also he fights a lot with eating. He has gone from 77 grams Monday morning (the morning after it happened) to now 64 grams. The last weigh before it happen was last Thursday which was 87 grams.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It really sounds like he needs to go back to the vet to be crop fed. He cannot afford to lose more weight at this rate. It will have devastating consequences for his organ function.


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## DesertDweller (Oct 8, 2011)

Hi birdlover,

I have been watching this thread since you first started it and have been praying for your little baby. It's so sad. My heart goes out to you.

I wasn't going to post because so many lovely people have been giving you such good advice, and I wanted to see how your baby's progressing.

However, based on what you recently reported, I feel it necessary to share my opinion with you, which is based on seeing numerous birds come into the pet store with similar injuries to what you're describing.

When a bird holds his head tilted to the side like your baby is doing, it's a condition known as 'wry neck'. It's usually caused by the bird colliding with a hard object. I had taken some of the babies home that came in with this condition (happened during shipping) and did research the condition. Unfortunately, wry neck is a fractured neck. Very rarely does the condition improve. 

It sounds like your baby fractured his neck and it's still inflamed. The inflammation may be putting pressure on his esophagus, which would explain why he won't eat much. It plain hurts. That food sliding down his esophagus would cause the inflammation to hurt more.

Rather than let him fly around, I strongly recommend that you confine him to a 'hospital' cage so that he can rest his injuries. Provide him with layers of toweling on the floor of the cage so that he can have an easier time walking instead of trying to grip the bars on the floor of the cage (I assume your cage has that kind of floor?). Even though he might want to fly, it would put too much strain on the muscles supporting his neck.

Best scenario is maybe he doesn't have a fracture but the muscles of his neck are bruised. Still, the symptoms would be the same at first and he would still need to be confined.

Good luck


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

Update on Wheatie: According to the vet he is doing fine because he is fighting when we hold him and he wants to stand up and fly. He doesn't tilt his head as much either.

We did a feeding tube and will be trying that this morning. He also did get 6cc (10% of his body weight) of food last night before we went to bed. The food is now an improvement.

As for a fractured neck or a bruised neck, the vet said that he didn't need x-rays because he had a concussion and with the trauma to the head he was put on steriods to get the swelling down, which seems to be working.

He seems like he will pull through this, we will keep you up to date on all this.

Below is a picture of him of him about a week before this happened, I thought a share that with everyone.

Thanks everyone for your help.


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

ok my fiance just talk to the vet clinic about feeding cause the tube doesn't work with our feed, we have tried to water it down but it will get stuck in the tube as it's going in.

Also the Kaytee hand feeding formula we are using is not what he needs for what he is going through right now. The clinic said (our vet isn't working today) that he needs a recover formula, anyone know where to find it? We are looking online for it, they can order but it is like $25 which shipping with them.

I did find this:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/ind...-C881-DE11-B712-001422107090&mr:referralID=NA

We do have a PetSmart about an hour away which then we could get this tonight for him if it would work.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Lafeber is a handfeeding formula. The texture is somewhat different than Kaytee but it serves the same basic purpose. I'm not familiar with recovery formulas, but I went googling and found that Harrisons has one: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/Recovery-Formula/products/9/ 

Maybe this is what the vet was talking about? If so, the problem is that Harrisons is not sold in stores - you have to buy it through a veterinary office. I don't know whether your vet (or someone here) could recommend an easily-available supplement that could be added to your current handfeeding formula to get the desired results.

I also found this: http://www.petmanufacturers.com/product/9351_cool-bird-holistic-remedy-recovery-formula.htm It sounds like rebranded pedialyte and not worth bothering with. You can make your own pedialyte from the recipe at http://www.birdboard.com/forum/f68/rehydration-electrolytes-862426.html


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

update for today: He is doing better. Neck is pretty much straight, he will turn when others are chirping but hes trying to see them. Got a whole 7 cc's in him this morning. incressed feeding to 5 times a day now. hes a fighter.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Would it be better to mix formula with the pedialyte instead of water? give him a little something else to go on


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Giving him pedialyte once shouldn't hurt and might be beneficial, but it's not intended for frequent use. It's basically a way to quickly restore the electrolyte balance, but once the balance is restored it isn't needed any more. He's doing well already so maybe his electrolytes are OK.


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

Update:
His weight dropped again, now down to 59. He has thick saliva and he can barely hold himself up.

He also won't take food, the only sulution to that is we get a crop needle, we did order one online last night but it will take time to get here. No vets in the area have hand feeding formula or crop needles.

My thinking that he hasn't got the right nutrition from hand feeding. He is just getting worst.

We also found him on the floor with his head down and wings out this morning.

I have him right now in my hand as I type, we are going to make him as comfortable as we can with a towel and heating pad.

Any help would be appreciative, thanks in advance.


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## mnwild32 (Aug 11, 2011)

nevermind, he just pass on, we love him so much.

Thank you for all the help.


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## chloe92us (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm so sorry for your loss.  You did everything you could.


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