I just talked to the Vet

[Buteo]

First I'd like to say thank you to all for your concern. As I posted in my last thread, my family has been more than a little worried.

I just got off the phone with the Vet that's been treating Halo. He asked me how Halo is doing, I told him that in the 2 hours I was with the bird last evening that it had not sneezed even once and the nares weren't bubbling any more, but one nostril was still a bit wet. Halo was still staying fluffedup & sleeping quite often. I also mentioned that he had lost quite a few feathers around the vent when they switched him to the Baytril(SP?).

"Baytril is a fairly powerful general antibiotic." he replied, "It probably gave him a bout of the runs for the first day or so and soiled the feathers. The fact that he's plucked them is another indicator that the problem could be due to dietary allergy. Don't worry, the feathers will grow back soon enough."

"I'm pretty well convinced at this point," He continued," that Halo is suffering from an allergy to the food he's being weaned onto. I'm finding more & more birds with these non-viral based nasal discharges are due to food allergies - particularly to peanuts &/or highly processed corn. At least in this case, the food allergy hasn't triggered severe plucking or advanced aggression which seems to be a common side-effect for birds with food based allergies. I suggest you try to wean the bird over to a Rice based formula. There's a couple on the market now, Roudybush Rice Diet or KayTee Rice diet."

This is actually great news for us & it fits perfect into our lifestyle because I'm allergic to corn too- the more it's been processed, the worse my reaction.

I asked him for his opinion of Halo & he said that overall he thought Halo was quite a nice bird. He did add that he was very, very pleased that there were surprisingly few stress marks in the feathers & that the bird wasn't underweight for it's age- despite the rough time he's been having health wise.

He did mention that he wasn't contracted to do the standard bloodtests, so he couldn't comment on the bird's health concerning them. I thanked him & told him that even though I already have an Avian vet, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for a vet in that area. He said he understands and that he would be happy to talk to my AV about the bird or it's treatments. He did advise me, as he does anyone who comes to him, that all Avians should have the 4 bloodwork tests done.

WHEW!
That's a load off our minds!
I'm going to tell the store what he said and see if they can start ordering in some of the Rice formula from either Kaytee or Roudybush.

The faster they can start to get the food changed over, the faster Halo can recover & the closer he is to coming home!

[Lisa B]

That is good news!

[dislater]

Excellent news! If the store won't provide the rice based foods, perhaps you should do that and ask them to subtract it from your purchase price.

I know I've been a bit negative in my posts on this, but I have just seen so many folks purchase a less than healthy bird and loose that baby within a year or so, do too it's early struggles to live.

My little Twiggy was such a healthy baby but began barbering her feathers at 2.5 years and we have spent a small fortune and tried everything and she still barbers. We have just accepted her behavior, but need to be on guard all the time to watch for sores on her skin and guard against her getting chilled......It's a constant worry, and we are with her 24 hours a day. di

[Tiki]

I am so relieved that it's something fixable! I gotta say, I just fell in love with that sweet little face! Sounds like you got two excellent avian vets inputting here, you know what to do to keep the little guy healthy.

9 out of 10 people would have just given up, got another bird and Halo would never have gotten the care he needed. Thank you for beng the angel to this little Halo!

[Eliza]

What an odd coincidence -- you and Halo both have food allergies? That's some kind of something at work, don't you think?

Wishing Halo the best...

-e-

[Quito's Qage]

Originally Posted by ejw829

What an odd coincidence -- you and Halo both have food allergies? That's some kind of something at work, don't you think?

Wishing Halo the best...

-e-

Just what I was thinking! What are the odds of Halo finding someone like you, who can fully appreciate his special needs? He needed you and you showed up, and you fell for each other. Wow!

Perhaps someday, when Halo is home and healthy, you could sit down and write out his whole story and shop it to one of the bird magazines? Not only is it a great story from the human interest angle, but it'd be a public service to help spread awareness of food allergies in birds! Who knows how many health/behavioral problems are misdiagnosed or go untreated because of this?

[GreetingCardReligion]

Oh that is such good news! I have to agree that Halo is so fortunate to have chosen someone who is really commited even before he comes home! Lucky little bird, I am so glad everything should be ok! I hope the rice based diet doesn't pose any problems with the store but I'd imagine it would be ok :)

Congrats again!