Dead Rosella.

[fluffy_stitch]

hi,my sisters boyfreind got two rosellas just over a month ago,they didnt seem to be in good condition when he got them,overgrown nails,dull feathers,the male had a damaged beak and just a sick bird look about them if you know what i mean?today he called me and said that the male bird was dead!!!he was really shocked,he came home and it was just dead on the floor of the cage,i went to take a look at him and he was like a skeleton under his feathers and his beak was closed with the lower part over the top and had some kind of orange colouring on it but that could have been from eating carrots,ive never seen something like this before,does anyone think that this would have made him starve to death or would it have been caused by some kind of convulsion or reflex when he died?i saw the birds on saturday night and it wasnt like that then so i dont think he would have gotten as skinny as he was since then,i am taking the female to the vet in the morning for him because he is working and she doesnt look like a healthy bird either,she is lethargic and sitting very low on her perches and looks thin too but i havent touched her for fear of giving my bird whatever they might have,i scrubbed my hands and arms and washed all my clothes when i got home after touching the male birds body!!,he said that they had both been eating lots but had runny droppings,i would appreciate any advice you could give me on what kind of questions to ask the vet as i have only been to the vet once with my own bird and didnt really know much about what to ask him.thanks Chris.

[birdguy]

i have no advice but why would he buy sick birds that were obviously sick when he bought them?

[fluffy_stitch]

he bought them on impulse and i dont think he really knew what to look out for,and the pet store obviously didnt care as long as they got the money,i went in there yesterday to buy food and they had a tiny lovebird in an empty canary display cage that was partially plucked and sick looking,a load of budgies in another cage and at least one of them had scabby eyes and beak and two beautiful plumheaded parakeets,one of wich looked like it had some bad nasal discharge!

[Monica]

Scabby eyes and beak is normally a sign of scaly face mites... It's hard to say what the male died from without taking him in for a necropsy... could be fungal, bacterial, starvation, or who knows what all...

I suggest taking in the males body (if it hasn't been destroyed yet) for a necropsy and getting the female checked out with blood panel, fecal exam, etc.

[chucky]

Yes the BEST thing to worry about RIGHT NOW is the alive one and getting it the help it may need.Question the death after securing it's safety and continue to monitor him/her and yes it's VERY bad when a bird is limp like and droopin low on perch the next and last thing is going lower on the cage till he/she is on the bottom(I believe they lose the strength to perch)and they soon die FAST might i add!!

[fluffy_stitch]

hi,i took her to the vet this morning,he had a good look at her and said that she was very thin too and was breathing heavily,bobbing up and down and thinks its a bacterial infection,he gave baytril for her,4ml per half litre of drinking water and said to put a little blackcurrant juice in too because the baytril has an unpleasant taste,the males body was disposed of unfortunately so i couldnt bring him with me,my sisters boyfriend rang the pet store to complain and was more or less told that unless he had a vet to say in writing that the bird definately got sick directly from his store that he could p-off!!

[amesoto]

How is the female doing now?
I hope she survived.

[fluffy_stitch]

she's doing very well,she's put on a nice bit of weight and looks much better and is very active and singing a lot too,she also loves to drench herself in a bowl of water,i'm having a hard time with getting her a bit tamer,i can touch her very lightly sometimes but no way will she step onto my hand or even take a treat from my hand but i'll keep trying :)

[asurademon]

It's great that the female is doing better.

When I read how the Pet store responded to your complaint it made me sad. For that matter that they neglect their animals so badly in the first place is sad.

Did you get a letter from the vet saying the female's poor health, and the male's death was due to the store's neglect?


Are there any laws where you live about how animals in pet stores need to be cared for?

[fluffy_stitch]

no,he didnt bother to follow up with any of it,he went and got another bird,a male redrump,a only a couple of weeks after the male rosella died,then he gave the female to me to look after and went and got a female redrump with the idea of breeding them,but unfortunately the male redrump died about two or three weeks ago,he said that he was fine in the morning and dead in the afternoon,and said that he couldnt see anything wrong with him but when i looked at his body he had orange discharge coming from his mouth and nostrils and was very emaciated,he's not very responsible with his animals,he buys things on impulse and then gives them away or just forgets them after the novelty wears off and moves on to the next cool thing he finds,he is always buying fish that he knows wont live peacefully in the same tank and when the new one kills half the old ones he gets p'd off with it and gives it to his turtle to kill and eat,he had three turtles but has gotten rid of two so far!!! im now thinking that the petshop might have been only partly responsible for the condition of the birds since the female rosella is doing fine since i got her but i know she would be dead by now if he had kept her,sorry about the ranting and raving but it is very frustrating!!!!