Sorry first post is a super sad problem

[parrotloverz]

Hi all, first post. I am soooo happy to find a good bird forum!! I will try to add some positive to my first post, but all in all, it is quite sad....At least for us, and our precious babies.

I found this forum while searching for Parrot aspergiliosis. We have 4 fids...From youngest to oldest: Thor, our newest baby is about 6 months old. He is a Blue Crowned Conure; Ozzy, which renamed himself "SCOOP" (why we REALLY do not know) is almost 4 years old; Sophie, our African queen princess (a Senegal) will be 5 at the end of the year; and Crash, my personal heart throb Quaker that is 6 years old.

We have become such a parrot oriented home. They are truly our children. We have been so fortunate not to ever need a Vet for emergency care until recently......

My wifes love...Ozzy, our 4 year Blue Crown Conure, the weekend before last (friday to be exact) was clicking and open mouth breathing badly in the evening.

I thought it might be from him being outside for the first time this year (I take them out all the time, but not in the winter) and having allergy problems since my porch was YELLOW with pollen. We live near Tallahassee, FL, so pollen is a normal thing in the south.

On Saturday of last week, I went and bought some over the counter antibiotic for birds just in case.

He seemed to be ok during the day and seemed to be in pretty good shape on Sunday. this all became a facade in the evening when he started his clicking and open mouth breathing on Sunday night again........

On Monday I told my wife to find an Avian vet. She found a GREAT ONE in Doctor Kitty Remington and we took Ozzy/Scoop to her that afternoon.

She is soooo wonderful. Ozzy took to her and she was soo calming to him and was such a bird fanatic. She was soooooooooo kind to him and took the time with us since it was an emergency visit and actually backed up her schedule for most of the day to take care of him and treat/diagnose him.

She checked his droppings and did not find anything. Then she put him out and took blood. When swabbing him, she found a HUGE mucus plug in his trachea ( the size of the first digit of a womans pinkie) and put it on a slide then she tested him for:
Cytology exam.
CBC + Chem Profile
Aspr DNA culture
Culture/sensitivity-Fungal

While he was under, she gave him a shot of baytril and removed the mucus plug. She also gave him something for pain that made his eyes look so funny and caused him to act very sporadic until it wore off.

That day Ozzy was immediately better, talking and acting himself. He was prescribed baytril @ .18mg twice a day orally and sporonox .16mg once a day.
Two days later, that night to be exact, Ozzy was back to clicking and open mouthed breathing. I called her back and she offered to nebulize him if he got worse.

Funny thing....He always seemed worse the entire time when the sun would go down or he would sleep, but would ALMOST return to his normal self after becoming active.

Well, today, my wife received a phone call from Dr. Remington that Ozzy's test results came back and he has been diagnosed 100% with an aspergiliosis infection. She said that the lab comments stated that the mucus slide had actually grown aspergilios on the slide while in transit/before testing and that she had never heard of or seen such an immediate diagnosis for Asper.

She told my wife to bring him in on Friday and she would asperate him with something (I do not know, and want to know) to kill it and as long as it was not a resistant strain of the fungus, should make him better.

Well, now that you know what is going on with him and us, what would you suggest to do for him to help him along? He loves seeds but eats the "dog food" of his diet. All of my other babies eat pellets, but he was started weaning on a quality seed mix and prefers that. I wonder if some kind of vitamin supplement would help him. I have been using a warm mist humidifier, but when his droppings developed mold "hairs" over night/day while I was at work, I stopped it's use (it was kinda swamp like in the room I had him/the humidifier in.)

What do you think his outcome will be? Has anyone else had to deal with this??

Thank you for actually reading this long post. I apologize but am so concerned with my baby.

-Michael from Tallahassee

[jenseits]

I don't have any advice or insight, but I wanted to tell you I'm sorry you and your baby are going through this. Hang in there, and keep us updated.

[parrotloverz]

Thank you sooo much for your support.

Sorry for all the duplicate posts. I think something was wrong with the website or something. I will definitely keep everyone posted on his outcome.

[sugarbeth]

Sorry about your baby. But it sounds like he's in good hands.

[Lisa B]

sorry about not getting on this quicker....I too was encountering problems trying to post.

What she was probably doing was the intratracheal "amphotericin B" application of fungal meds. My suggestion is to talk to her about nebulization. Its really the best way for the bird to absorb the meds. The structure of the avian respiratory system supplies a perfect incubator for growing a fungus such as aspergillosis-- the airsacs. The airsacs have almost no blood supply, so once aspergillosis gets started in the airsacs, it can continue to grow. Nebulizing treatments are able to get down into the airsacs with normal breathing.

a CBC will show a high count and monocytosis, and protein electrophoresis shows abnormal globulin patterns. Specific tests include antigen or antibody levels. Some fungal granulomas can be confirmed by x-ray or endoscopy.

Did they do an x-ray? to see if it is localized or throughout his airways?
With the comment of the Granuloma in the trachea, it sounds as if it is localized.

Aspergillosis antifungal treatments include: Amphotericin, Flucytosine, Fluconazole(Diflucan) & Itraconazole. Immunostimulants. Surgery may be required with certain localized Aspergillomas. Lamisil(terbinafine) and Voriconazole - are showing promise in treating aspergillosis in Greys.(greys dont handle some meds as well as other species)Ketoconazole was an older antifungal they used to use, but due to its undesirable side-effects , it has been superseded by newer antifungals, such as fluconazole and itraconazole.

Most birds will show signs of labored breathing as they are trying to rest. When they feel no one is watching. That happens to be at night. During the day, instincts kick in the best they can so they dont stick out in the crowd and become the weak link, or target.


As you have probably already guessed, I do have unwanted expertise in this area. I can give you the contact info for the leading inner- tracheal avian specialist if your vet wants to speak to them as well.

I am sending you positive thoughts and strength to your little one...

ps.
Dont use the humidifier in his room. Asper likes to grow in moist places.

[SunMommy]

I'm so sorry you all are going through this. I hope your birdy baby is back to 100% soon. Sounds like you have a good vet. Do keep us updated.

[Amie]

Take Lisa's advice. She had an awful experience with asper a few years ago.

I am SO sorry for your baby. We're keeping him in our prayers. Extra cuddles and scritches from New Orleans!

[parrotloverz]

It is really appreciated!

Lisa, to answer your questions.

She said something about a nebulizer and said it might be a good idea to buy one and I can put him in a rubbermaid tote with a hole cut in it for the nebulizer. She didn't say what kind and there are a MILLION of them on the internet. Can you recommend a reasonable one that would work for my application or steer me towards the right web site? I will talk to her about it. Is this something that I can do at home with her advice, or just a one time thing at the office? She said she did have a nebulizer.

Xrays...No, she didn't want to stress him anymore that day and felt it could wait for the tests to come back. I guess she will probably X-ray him when we come in for the inter tracheal thing. I recognized the name amphotericin b when you posted. This is a treatment she talked about when we took him in.

He is currently on Sporonox (Itraconazole) for 10 days, but she said on the phone that he would have to be on it now for a couple of months.

The humidifier is gone. :-)

Do you recommend a normal (human temp/humidity) or warmer or cooler for him while he is recovering??

I would LOVE the contact information for the avian specialist.

Thank you so much for your time and support!

[parrotloverz]

Since everyone is pulling for him, thought I would post a pic of him :-)

[KimM]

Aww..bless his little heart! hang in there.. we'll be thinking about you and your little ones