Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfreind and I had Three cockatiels, two females and one male. Last night the birds were acting normal. When I returned the male to his cage he was fine, but when I returned about 30 min to 45 min later he was squatted down and not moving and barely breathing. I'm not sure if it was something that he are but I would like to figure this out so that the other two birds do not become sick as well. He looked as though he was struggling to breathe. Has anyone else ever seen this or have any advice as to what might have caused this? Please help!!!

Nick

Oh Nick I am so very sorry. How shocking that must have been. You must feel awful.

There are two things I am thinking here.

Well three.

1.) Wrap him up and put him in the fridge. This is so you can preserve him to bring him to a vet to do a necropsy. This is one way you may be able to find out what happened.

2.) Had he been out of the cage unsupervised? Did he eat anything unusual or fly into a window or anything that you know of?

3.) Were you cooking at all with Non stick coated pans? Pans that have a non stick coating can be very dangerous to a bird when it is overheated. Their lungs bleed and they die from this. If you were cooking with this was he in the vicinity at any time? Do you have a lamp or toaster or any appliance with this non stick coating? Any of these can overheat and cause your bird to die from the fumes.

Please know I am not blaming you in any way. I am trying to help. I know how devestated I would be. Watch your others very carefully.

I wasn't cooking and he was eating some millet that he has eaten for the last few months. Nothing out of the ordinary. He wasn't able to fly very well since his wings were trimmed close, he was still being trained to be nice and not bite and fly from people. I'm not sure what happened here. His droppings have been runny since we got him. We tried everything to get him feeling better at least from looking at his droppings. He never actually looked very healthy but after the 6 week quaritine he seemed fine besides the droppings. We talked with a vet and they said that he was probably just stressed and that this would go away once he become used to us. Alas, it never got better. I jsut want to make sure that this doesn't happen to either of the other two. Any ideas are welcome, I know that we did everything for him that we could so I am not offended by ideas of what could of caused this.

I am surprised your vet wrote that off like that. Was it an avian vet?

Loose droppings are a sign of illness and bird hide their illnesses because in the wild they would be eaten when they show weakness like not being able to keep up with the flock. Droppings are usually the first indication of illness and should be taken very seriously. They are small so it doesn't take much to dehydrate them. He could have any number of illnesses that your others are now exposed to.

I highly recommend taking the body of your tiel to an avian vet and getting it necropsied. If you don't have the body anymore than take your living tiels in. They could easily get what your sick one got. Easily.

They need veteranarian care. I would not wait.

Also his illness may have been why he was biting you. I had a sick tiel once like that and he bit a lot. When he got better he was the friendliest bird you ever met.

Please see the link below to learn about droppings. Its en essential part of bird care.
Click here to read about droppings and health

I saw this on another website. It mentions the symptom of labored breathing. If your birds have this you could get it too.

Another bacterial disease seen in birds-cockatiels, cockatoos and budgies in particular-is avian chlamydiosis, also known as psittacosis or parrot fever. Especially serious because it can be passed to humans, chlamydiosis is spread through contaminated food, water and respiration. Pneumonia-like symptoms, loose stools and labored breathing are seen in affected birds. A vet can properly diagnose this illness through blood tests and radiographs; treatment includes antibiotics. This disease kills many birds but can be cured if caught early.

I just want to second the advice you`ve already gotten. It`s impossible for us to diagnose what killed your bird. We`re not vets, and most of these things can`t be solved without running tests.
Please, for the safety of your other birds, take the bird you lost in to be necropsied. One of my friends had a seemingly healthy bird die suddenly and upon necropsy it was confirmed to be psittacosis. Her quick action saved the lives of her other five birds (one of whom began showing symptoms shortly after).

It is vital that you use an AVIAN vet. Avian medicine and cat/dog medicine is vastly different. Search www.aav.org for a vet in your area. You can also ask local bird clubs/rescues/stores and search google for a local vet.

Goodluck! I hope it wasn`t contageous.