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There may come a day when any pet owner has to make a decision to follow through with a medical treatment of a dear loved pet, despite side effects being heart-wrenching.
This, by no means, should discourage anyone from giving proper medical treatment to their bird/any pet. However, I wish I had known in advance of possible complications related to treatments.
My budgie Mini looked overweight and not full of energy. Her droppings were fine, her feathers looked fine, everything about her looked okay. She didn't vomit her nares and eyes looked good. We took her to the vet for a routine check. The vet found that my bird was, in fact, not overweight but her liver was swollen. Being only 2 years old, that was surprising. We knew we had to get her off the seed diet (it had been difficult so far, she lost weight every time we tried to give less seed and more pellets). Her white blood cells were up (blood test), her crop was full of bacteria (crop wash), her air sacks not visible (xrays), her liver enzymes elevated (blood test). So we gave her a barium test to make sure it wasn't bornavirus (proventricular issues) and it wasn't so.
Unsure of the exact cause of illness (and if there were more than one), we began a course of antibiotics. 10 days on Amoxicillin (I think, not too sure). And then more X rays. Seeing no improvement, we extended it to 30 days.. + 2 weeks of Enrofloxacin. 1000$ later, still not sure what's wrong with her.
Mini didn't mind the first antibiotic so much, she pretty much willingly ate it. But the second one? Oh dear. She looks nauseated after (though doesn't vomit), stressed and unwell. She lost all her appetite. She struggles to get away from it and giving her the meds became very difficult. I have to miss work hours to give her the morning dose. Ever since she started taking it, her physical appearance deteriorated.
It's heartbreaking to see your bird wither away like a chemotherapy patient with every dosage. She lost a lot of weight, pulled out feathers under her beak, lost feathers around her eyes, her feathers near her face are stained/oily and un-groomed because of what falls in there as we try to force her to take meds. Thankfully no vomitting or diarrhea or discharged from nares/eyes. I called the vet again to find she was gone for a week --- another vet took the call but told me to stick with the treatment.
I wish I had been emotionally ready to see my bird go from looking overweight to being a skeleton =( I still have 4 days of Enrofloxacin to go, 7 days of the first antibiotic. I hope to be able to see the vet next week and hope there was improvement. If all this was for nothing, I don't know what I'll do. She looks so awful now. I try to remind myself that IF we hadn't taken her in, maybe she'd have suddenly died without us even knowing why. But right now it's heartbreaking to keep giving meds that seem to harm her little body.
I hope to give more news next week, if she survives this regimen. All I can do is make her eat eggs mixed with millet to keep her weight up, but it's still going down and she's down to 49 grams (she started off in the 60s, and is half-English).
This, by no means, should discourage anyone from giving proper medical treatment to their bird/any pet. However, I wish I had known in advance of possible complications related to treatments.
My budgie Mini looked overweight and not full of energy. Her droppings were fine, her feathers looked fine, everything about her looked okay. She didn't vomit her nares and eyes looked good. We took her to the vet for a routine check. The vet found that my bird was, in fact, not overweight but her liver was swollen. Being only 2 years old, that was surprising. We knew we had to get her off the seed diet (it had been difficult so far, she lost weight every time we tried to give less seed and more pellets). Her white blood cells were up (blood test), her crop was full of bacteria (crop wash), her air sacks not visible (xrays), her liver enzymes elevated (blood test). So we gave her a barium test to make sure it wasn't bornavirus (proventricular issues) and it wasn't so.
Unsure of the exact cause of illness (and if there were more than one), we began a course of antibiotics. 10 days on Amoxicillin (I think, not too sure). And then more X rays. Seeing no improvement, we extended it to 30 days.. + 2 weeks of Enrofloxacin. 1000$ later, still not sure what's wrong with her.
Mini didn't mind the first antibiotic so much, she pretty much willingly ate it. But the second one? Oh dear. She looks nauseated after (though doesn't vomit), stressed and unwell. She lost all her appetite. She struggles to get away from it and giving her the meds became very difficult. I have to miss work hours to give her the morning dose. Ever since she started taking it, her physical appearance deteriorated.
It's heartbreaking to see your bird wither away like a chemotherapy patient with every dosage. She lost a lot of weight, pulled out feathers under her beak, lost feathers around her eyes, her feathers near her face are stained/oily and un-groomed because of what falls in there as we try to force her to take meds. Thankfully no vomitting or diarrhea or discharged from nares/eyes. I called the vet again to find she was gone for a week --- another vet took the call but told me to stick with the treatment.
I wish I had been emotionally ready to see my bird go from looking overweight to being a skeleton =( I still have 4 days of Enrofloxacin to go, 7 days of the first antibiotic. I hope to be able to see the vet next week and hope there was improvement. If all this was for nothing, I don't know what I'll do. She looks so awful now. I try to remind myself that IF we hadn't taken her in, maybe she'd have suddenly died without us even knowing why. But right now it's heartbreaking to keep giving meds that seem to harm her little body.
I hope to give more news next week, if she survives this regimen. All I can do is make her eat eggs mixed with millet to keep her weight up, but it's still going down and she's down to 49 grams (she started off in the 60s, and is half-English).
.
