[Manammy]

Hello everyone. I just became a member of this forum. A lot of people here seem to be very knowledgeable and smart, so I thought I'd join as I got two budgies a few months ago.
This may be unnecessary to ask, but I'm just so worried. Today, I took one of my budgies, Akira, to the vet as he wasn't acting like his usual happy self. He had green watery droppings, was hardly moving at all and just sat fluffed up on his perch. It started the night before, but it was such a sudden and drastic change that I knew something had to be wrong. And I go to the vet and after a quick examination, he declares that Akira is extremely sick and could basically drop dead at any second. He checks his droppings and says that it might be psittacosis, but he's not certain. Akira is about 7 months old, and his buddy Sue is roughly two months younger, I think. (I am not 100% sure of their exact age as I got them from pet stores, but those are my estimates) I got my birds from two different pet stores. The vet said that Sue might have been carrying the infection without expressing it, and then spread it to Akira. Or maybe Akira may have been carrying it. Anyway, he said that he should keep Akira at the hospital for the night, so tonight he'll be there for treatment.
I know that you guys here might not be vets, but I need to ask someone other than the vet, since he couldn't give me any clear answer. When Akira got sick, he stopped eating and drinking, got diarrhea, sat fluffed and very tired on his perch almost all the time (occasionally managing to fly up to Sue on the curtains, cuddling very close to her as if for warmth and comfort), and he stopped singing, didn't even want to play with Sue. All of these are symptoms of psittacosis as I've read, but he didn't have any nasal or eye discharge. So what I'm asking is... what do you think about Akira's chances? Will he even survive the night? Is it really psittacosis? Should I also take Sue to the vet?
I'm sorry for the long wall of text, I'm sorry if it's tedious to read. I just felt like I needed to write down everything so you guys might know what is wrong. I'm grateful for any information you have. Thank you.

 

[Jonah]

Welcome to talk budgies, sorry that your bird is so ill. Didn't the vet do any testing ? Was this an avian vet ?
What kind of treatment is the vet doing overnight ?

 

[Manammy]

Thank you. The vet was an avian vet, so I hoped that he would know what he was doing. First, he squeezed on his chest to check for weightloss, and there was some weightloss, too. Then he took a stool sample, and said that he couldn't be sure of what it was, apparently the sample didn't show much...
all he said was basically ''well, there's no worms or anything, but there's some bacteria, though there's supposed to be, since it's poop'' and then he told me that Akira was very sick. He said when they get young birds with diarrhea, they often suspect psittacosis, but he could not be sure, again. He x-rayed him to see if he had somehow swallowed any metal, and he hadn't. All he said was that he should keep him overnight, I think they said they'd give him antibiotics and syringe feed him since he won't eat. It's apparently a very good clinic, so at least I know they'll be doing all they can.
Sorry again for the long text.

 

[FaeryBee]

Hi and :welcome: to Talk Budgies!

Forgive me, but the vet you saw does not sound like a true board-certified Avian Vet. An good Avian Vet can perform both fecal and blood tests and would certainly be able to tell you for sure if the bird is suffering from Psittacosis. The individual also doesn't sound like he has a very good way of interacting with his clients.

Psitticosis is treated with a course of antibiotics - usually for 45 days.

You might want to consider seeing another Avian Vet for a second opinion.

Association of Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/index.php

International Vets Register
http://www.parrotmag.com/vets

I'm very sorry Akira is ill and I'm sending lots of healing energy and prayers for a full and speedy recovery. :hug:

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[Manammy]

Yeah, you might be right. I thought he should be able to know... it's his job. I don't know, maybe the vets in Sweden don't have the same quality as in other countries... But thank you so much for telling me and for your support, it makes me very happy.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Right prepare for a long wall of text and apologies for spelling errors im on my phone.

Firstly psittacosis will not always show up in a faecal sample. You get a lot of false negatives. This is due to hiw its shed.
So you can get birds who have it but have no symptoms these are carriers. Once they become stressed it can become active and the bird may start to show symptoms. Then you get birds who are constantly shedding it but again might not show symptoms. It is shed in 10 day cycles. This could be on day 1 3 and 8 or day 3 4 and 7 etc. So unless youre taking the faecal sample at the time its being shed you will get a false negative.

To test for it it should be done by blood. Only a small drop is needed and my vet takes my samples from the toenails if i ask. Likewise i do tgis myself when i send thrm off myself.

As for eye and nasal discharge you might not get any of these symptoms. I have taken in 3 birds with this disease.
1 showed no symptoms at all but was shedding it. His brother has a perminant squint in both eyes we now know was likely caused by the psittacosis eating away at the muscles as it had it so long. No other symptoms and was shedding it.
My third was gotten from elsewhere and is a feather plucker with no symptoms and we never found out if he was shedding it.

So in short yes get your other bird tested by blood. If your vet wont do this look up avian biotech / animal genetics uk. They take in samples from all over the world you send off for the kits and then send back the blood samples with payment. Take a week or so for results.

Your vet should be treating with a tetracycline normally docycycline over here. It must be done for 6 weeks. If goven orally or in water it must be done daily. Some vers do injections weekly.
No calcium supplements should be given at all during treatment as it binds to the antibiotuc and stops it working. You must disinfect daily with a veteri ary grade disinfectant. We have f10 sc over here.paper should be sprayed down before changing all toys are perches wiped down including cage bars. Spray and hoover around the cage daily. Anything that cant be cleaned daily rope perches etc throw away.
It is zoonotic so can be passed to humans. Do not let the birds out during treatment. Wear protective clothing when cleaning them and spray that down with disinfectant before and after. A fave mask if youve got one.
Thoroughly wash your hands arms and face afterwards in antibacterial soap.

It is spread theough faecal feather dander and bodily fluids.

After the 6 week treatment give the whole room and anywhere the birds normally go a massive disinfect. I do it after 10 days aswell in case they are shedding.

3 months after treatment test both birds by blood sgain to ensure youve cleared the infection.

You neef to treat all birds together otherwise they will just reinfect each other.

All 3 of my birds survived it and i still have 2 today.
The person who housed the two brothers for three weeks lost most of their flock to the disease and they started dying 3 weeks after i took the brothers. 6 weeks after initial exposure.

It can be beat but it does depend on how severe the infection and the strength of the birds.

I lost one of the brothers 3 weeks out of quarantine due to a secondary infection that his body was too weak to fight off due to the damage from the psittacosis.

 

[FaeryBee]

Oh good -- I figured Amelia would weigh in if she saw your thread as I know she's had a lot of experience fighting this disease.

How is your little one doing today?
Have you decided whether to get a second opinion?

I'm still hoping for a full recovery for Akira.

 

[Manammy]

Thank y'all so much for the advice and kind words. Unfortunately, I am sad to say that Akira passed away earlier today. He had started bleeding from the beak and cere, and his breathing was labored. The vet said that at this point, the best thing would be to put him to sleep. I spent some time with him to say goodbye, then a nurse came in and gave him sedatives, little drops. He was so ill that it took just a few seconds before he died. It was like he fell asleep in my hands.

I'm glad that I got to see him one last time. When I came, he perked up a bit. I put my finger through the bars, and he lifted his little foot and gripped it. I almost burst into tears right then. Now little Sue is alone and afraid without him. But I'm glad that she's still alive and well. It's a blessing. I'm gonna take her to the vet too, tomorrow morning, just for a checkup. If she has something too, they will discover it before it's critical, and then they can cure her.

Thank you so much once again

Oh, and Amelia, I'm sorry your birds had to go through that. But I'm glad they made it

 

[StarlingWings]

Hi there and welcome to the forums.

I'm so sorry to hear that Akira didn't make it. But he's in a safe, pain free place now, watching over you. It must have been very difficult to let him go, but I'm glad you did.

Keep an eye one Sue to ensure whatever he had wasn't transmitted to her. She'll be grieving right along with you for a while.

Prayers to both of you and you have my deepest condolences at Akira's passing. :hug:

You can post a memorial post for Akira in the "In Memory" section of the forums, if you'd like.

 

[Manammy]

Thank you so much Yes, it was difficult. He just got so sick right out of the blue, it was so unexpected. But as you say, he has no pain anymore and that makes me happy at least. Yes, I'll watch Sue like a hawk. I can't lose her too, the little goof. Yeah, I think I'll post a memorial post. I'm so glad I took some pictures and videos of him before he passed Thank you everyone for the help, again. It means so much to me to have other budgie owners to talk to in this tough time.

 

[FaeryBee]

I'm so very sorry that little Akira didn't make it. :hug:

I'm closing your thread now.

If you post a Memorial Thread, I'll come back and put the link in this thread so people will be directed to the one in the "In Memory" section of the forum.

 

[FaeryBee]

The memorial for Akira can be found by clicking on the link below:

http://talkbudgies.com/memory/325521-rest-peace-akira.html