Re-post; Very sick bird in Turkey, no vet available...

[Sophiestkated2]

Hello,
My name is Sona Ertekin. I live in Turkey. Our african grey Girnav is terribly sick and we don't know what to do. We couldn't find a single veterinarian specialized in birds in our country. None of them has any experience or knowledge. Girnav is a constant plucker. And it got sick almost a week ago. It's trembling, looks terribly tired and sleepy most of the time. But still eating. He cannot open one of his eyes and sometimes both his eyes gets closed. Today I noticed thet his eyes are also wet. Sometimes a mucus like dried liquid is visible on his beak. We gave ornacycline(tetracycline) and vitaflight vitamine but it's still very sick, we don't know what to do. I afraid to loose him and it's awfull watching Girnav suffer. Please help otu, any information will be useful.

Sona Ertekin

[Sophiestkated2]

She believes the bird to be between 3-4 years old. He seems to have been this way for a few days. The bird has not been DNA sexed, she is supposing it as a male. Just trying to give you all that I know about it...No other details available.

Jeth

[Winged_Victory]

Originally Posted by Sophiestkated2

Hello,
My name is Sona Ertekin. I live in Turkey. Our african grey Girnav is terribly sick and we don't know what to do. We couldn't find a single veterinarian specialized in birds in our country. None of them has any experience or knowledge. Girnav is a constant plucker. And it got sick almost a week ago. It's trembling, looks terribly tired and sleepy most of the time. But still eating. He cannot open one of his eyes and sometimes both his eyes gets closed. Today I noticed thet his eyes are also wet. Sometimes a mucus like dried liquid is visible on his beak. We gave ornacycline(tetracycline) and vitaflight vitamine but it's still very sick, we don't know what to do. I afraid to loose him and it's awfull watching Girnav suffer. Please help otu, any information will be useful.

Sona Ertekin

Not sure of the weather there but the bird should be at a temp of around 85 degrees when sick. You much keep it hydrated for any type antibiotic to work! The best way for a grey us to use and eye dropper and some gatorade or Pedalyte for babies. The Gatoraded is a sport drink, cut both 50% with water and feed the bird with a dropper if it will not drink from a cup or is too sick or tired. The electrolyes in the gatorade will help perk the bird up. Keep in mind that sometimes birds are to sick to recover but keep trying. If he starts to eat give it only soft foods like sweet potato for the first few feedings.

God Bless you for trying!!

Gary

[Sophiestkated2]

Thank you Gary! I will forward your advice. I am so worried about the poor thing. Thank you, thank you!!!

Jethica

[Winged_Victory]

Originally Posted by Sophiestkated2

Thank you Gary! I will forward your advice. I am so worried about the poor thing. Thank you, thank you!!!

Jethica

I'm sad too, I had one of our grey die in my hands a few years back, It time from a brain disorder but we did all we could till the end. My wife took the birds to work in a sling around her neck as she did not want to leave it alone. Our vet gave us Vikodin to inject in the breast every few hours to ease the pain. He told us there was a one in a hundred chance for the bird to live and we did evry thing we could.

tears..............

gary

[The Outlaw]

Jeth:

I addition to what Gary has said, please have her give the bird calcium. Though the symptoms described don't necessarily indicate a calcium defiency, greys DO require more than other birds and can have all kinds of problems when they are low. She can grind up human grade calcium pellets and add it to the food or even use calcium that's made for lizzards. I'm not sure what all they have available in Turkey.

Fatigue and perching problems as well as seizures can be related to depleted calcium.

THE OUTLAW

[Joel]

Jeth - Sona...........I was going to suggest the same as Gary & Nancy........Hopefully it will still drink on its own though, as IME giving any liquids orally to a very sick bird can be very dangerous, so please proceed with caution there........Regular vets who see dogs should have Baytril and should be able to give an injection to the bird or be able to contact a bird vet somewhere if even only on the internet (if possible) for instructions, doses & for faxes with pics etc....Btw, I understand the human form of Baytril is Cipro (Ciprofloxacin) but a vet still needs to give you the correct dose and somehow you need to get it into the bird....If it is a fungal problem then you need probably fluconizole - (Diflucan for humans)..... Again any vet should be able to give these injections and it can be administered mixed in with handfeeding formula too if done orally (if she can force feed - probably not though, huh :( ...(?).......) ...Poor bird, hope he can hang on long enough for Sona to get these meds or etc.....How does she know he is eating properly (not just mouthing the seeds but cracking them open & swallowing)? Is she checking the dropped pieces? What exactly is the diet he is eating? Can she weigh him on a gram scale?...The heat is very important too like Gary said, what is the temps. like there during day and early morning hours?.....Maybe some of you here who have a tight relationship with your Avian Vets can give her the doses by making a call or two if she tells us she can get the meds....... I had the doses right here myself but dang it !!, can't find right now, will continue to look.

Can Sona join us here btw, so we can try to help directly? Maybe Beaks might have a few suggestions also?........ John (?) .......Also, how about our "experts", can they chime in too?

Originally Posted by Sophiestkated2

Hello,
My name is Sona Ertekin. I live in Turkey. Our african grey Girnav is terribly sick and we don't know what to do. We couldn't find a single veterinarian specialized in birds in our country. None of them has any experience or knowledge. Girnav is a constant plucker. And it got sick almost a week ago. It's trembling, looks terribly tired and sleepy most of the time. But still eating. He cannot open one of his eyes and sometimes both his eyes gets closed. Today I noticed thet his eyes are also wet. Sometimes a mucus like dried liquid is visible on his beak. We gave ornacycline(tetracycline) and vitaflight vitamine but it's still very sick, we don't know what to do. I afraid to loose him and it's awfull watching Girnav suffer. Please help otu, any information will be useful.

Sona Ertekin

[Tiki]

I will PM Beaks and Yehuda who have extensive experience with medications in birds. I know Turkey pretty well, I seriously doubt they have Gatorade there unless in a Westernized supermarket in a posh suburb with American imports-Dubai would have it, not Turkey as they seem to use more locally made products. Also I have an appt with my AV to take Chaska in for a new bird check up this evening, I have printed the topic and will ask him what he thinks.

[Beaks]

Originally Posted by Tiki

I will PM Beaks and Yehuda who have extensive experience with medications in birds. I know Turkey pretty well, I seriously doubt they have Gatorade there unless in a Westernized supermarket in a posh suburb with American imports-Dubai would have it, not Turkey as they seem to use more locally made products. Also I have an appt with my AV to take Chaska in for a new bird check up this evening, I have printed the topic and will ask him what he thinks.

Give either baytril at .03 mg per gram of body weight or doxycycline at .05 mg per gram of body weight for bacterial infections over a 14 day period and fluconozole or intraconozole at .02 to .05 mg per gram of body weight for fungal infections over a 30 day period.

Give both at the same time and start now(as soon as you can get it, both can be purchased at a human pharmacy)

Tetracycline is totally worthless because it is not strong enough to do any good in a sick bird and all it will do is mask the illness.

If you need more info let me know and pay no attention to my spelling, i don't LOL

Good Luck

John

[Tiki]

Thanks for coming through. John! What do you think the bird is suffering from? I am just back from taking Chaska to the AV. He said he would want to test for psitaccosis but Sona's post wasn't specific enough to tell for sure, she needs to find an AV in Europe somewhere. Germany or Austria would probably be the closest place to Turkey with an AV.