Sick parrotlet...suggestions?

[bairnns]

Our parrotlet Mizumi was very quiet yesterday, and when I checked on her in the afternoon she didn't look good. She is puffed up, which I know is a stress sign. She is eating, but with less enthusiasm, and she's not being social (we were just beginning to make progress on this too) or very verbal. Her chirp is much quieter than usual, and she doesn't call for attention or squawk when the dogs bark etc.

We lost our first parrotlet four years ago after I stupidly fed her a blackberry from a neighbor's yard without checking about pesticides etc. I don't know if that caused her death or not, but it was the only thing I could think of we'd done wrong. So we've been very careful with this one's diet. Her seed did change a few days ago, the new one is Volkman's Parrotlet from a trusted store. I'm not sure of the brand of the old one, but I am confident it was good quality. She also gets Volkman's soak seed and Roudybush pellets, as well as fresh vegetables and fruit in the morning. I am aware of the list of toxic ones, and she hasn't had any. Nor has she been loose in the home.

The only thing that I'm not sure of is her water. It gets dirty quickly, and though my daughter (15) changes it every second day, I don't think she keeps it as clean as she should. I'm going to watch it even closer now, of course.

I washed out the tube and replaced her water with Marvel Aid oral remedy, and she drank some right away. I'd go straight to the vet if it weren't Sunday. The nearby emergency vet clinic doesn't know birds; the closest one I could find that did was over 2 hours away. There are plenty of qualified vets nearby that do, they just aren't open Sunday.

She is still puffed this morning, but a bit more active and chatty. I have seen her eating this morning too. But she's definitely not fully herself. Is there anything else I can do until I can get her to a qualified vet?

Oh good, I just heard her squawking pretty normally when my husband came in the door from walking the dog...

Lori

[chapala]

Sorry to hear your P'let is not well. Definitely change the water at a minimum once a day, and place the water up higher in the cage (if it's low) where there is less chance of poop getting into it.

I would keep her warm and out of drafts until you can get her into the vet. You could partially cover the cage, maybe on three sides, and make sure she's in a warm room. I'm not familiar with Marvel Aid, and hesitate to recommend giving anything but plain water and the food that she's used to.

[myolive]

I agree about the water. I end up changing Olive's water two to three times a day because she bathes, poops and throws her food in it. My best suggestion is to put her in a small cage and put a heating pad under it. Warmth, as mentioned, is so important when your bird is ill. I hope you can get her to an avian vet tomorrow morning. Once these little guys show signs of illness, there usually isn't much time to intervene before it becomes too late. Best wishes.

[jodeg]

I sure hope she gets to feeling better soon!

I change Kermit and Kiwi's water at least once a day and clean the bowls daily. Even if they don't poop in it or put food in it, it still should be changed daily.

Is she in a draft from a nearby window? In the fall, I moved my birds to a small bedroom. My husband made a wood frame and attached fairly heavy clear plastic to it. He mounted it in the window in the bird room to keep out any drafts and still let the sunshine through. Now it's always nice and cozy in there, with no drafts. Birds can't take drafts.

Please keep us posted on how Mizumi is doing.

[bairnns]

on three sides as suggested. The product I put in the water was sold to me when we first got her, as a prevention against illness from transition stress. I trust the source; it wasn't Petco believe me.

As for temperature and drafts, I guess I should have mentioned that we live in Southern Ca and as I write this, I'm dripping hot. We've had 80+ degrees all week.;) Apologies to those of you I know are reading this while snowed in. I grew up in that kind of weather!

She does seem to be a bit better. I don't like her look- still keeping those feathers puffed- but I can hear her making normal noise a bit more often, she comes to the side of the cage to greet me when I check on her, and she's still eating. Twice I've seen her sitting with her feathers smooth, but it hasn't lasted. If they're still ruffled up tomorrow I'll definitely take her to the vet and see if they need to run any tests.

Her water dish is up high. It was getting extremely dirty a few weeks ago, but we realized that was because the pellet dish was too close to it, and moved that away. The water has stayed cleaner since then, but not completely clean and I'm still going to expect my daughter to change it daily and wash the tube and plastic cover from now on. I don't think she poops in it; it is one of those with a tiny channel that sticks out and has just enough space for her to insert her beak and drink, and I've never seen poop on it.

A bird raising friend recently complimented us on the number and variety of toys in her cage, and its location- near the hubbub of daily life but not in the middle of it. She's in the family room, which is at the opposite end of the kitchen. I gave up scented candles when we got her, and we don't use non-stick cookware, so I really think we've got that type of problem covered, unless there's an odd one I haven't read about yet. Even our household cleaning products are now mostly simple non toxic ones (lots of vinegar) so those odors shouldn't be a problem either.

Lori

[chapala]

Good that you're not in a freezing cold climate as so many are right now! I keep water and food dishes in different parts of the cage to avoid soup making activities. How old is your P'let and how long have you had her?

I looked up Marvel Aid and it's an antibiotic for bacterial infections (some). Sometimes birds won't drink medicated water if it tastes different, and you don't know whether or not she has a bacterial infection or if so, whether this is the appropriate antibiotic. She does need water, so if you see she's not drinking, you might want to put plain water in the cage.

Why do birds so often get sick on the weekend? Hope she continues looking better and you can get her to a vet tomorrow.

[Sally]

I hope all will be well, let us know!

[bairnns]

She held out okay until I could get her to the vet last Monday; she didn't get any sicker at least.

They didn't find much; said she was a little thin. She normally eats VERY well but one of the main signs I saw that she wasn't feeling well was that she ate less. Happily, she never actually stopped eating- each day I saw her at each of her dishes at some point, just not with her usual enthusiasm. Otherwise he said that if he hadn't been told that there were changes in her behavior, he'd have said on examination that this was a pretty healthy parrotlet. Whew; we got it before it got bad.

So he put her on Baytril for two weeks. It took till the weekend to make a noticeable difference, but she seems well now- she's eating and chirping with her usual enthusiasm, coming to the side of the cage if we approach her and calling out to us if we don't, and demanding her fresh veggies and her soak seed at the appropriate times.

So we continue the Baytril till Sunday and then hopefully all will be well. I bought a second water tube; my daughter is changing it daily and, if there's a rush and no time to wash the tube we just swap it out for the other one and clean the dirty one later in the day.

Lori

[musicjan]

Should you mix her old seed and new seed 1/2 and 1/2 in case she's not eating the new seed well?

[chapala]

Good! So glad to hear she's doing better!