Possible Sick Cockatiel

[anengineerswife]

I know you all are not vets, but I am not sure how old this cockatiel is and she is paired with a mate the last 2 clutches of eggs she has laid have been infertile. She is now on the bottom of the cage just sitting/laying there with her wings partially spread out. Her mate is preening her and she seems to not mind. I have taken her out and checked her all over in her mouth and thought maybe she wasn't able to pass an egg. She didn't want to walk she fell forward like one of those toy birds that dip in the water? Basically what I am asking is if she is sick I have to find a vet as we don't have any within 100miles of us, or if you think the time is here and we need to just let her go. I will do what I need to do but want some input first as I also have a my children that need picked up from school and other children I am caring for right now. I am living in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo if anyone knows the area and can give me suggestions on where I can go. Thank you

[DjlaiRR]

I would take the bird to the vet. The bird is probably suffering right now. My wife's aunts bird got sick and was at the bottom of the cage for about 3 days and on the 4th day it died.

[anengineerswife]

Thank you, I just got back from getting my kids from school. I am going to call the vet. Have to go and check on her. I have contact with the previous owner so I am going to contact them also.

[tielfan]

Egg binding is an emergency and the vet is by far the best person to treat it. But there are some things you can do at home that might help when vet access is a problem. Give the bird a couple of drops of liquid calcium directly in the beak. Calciboost is one of the brands made especially for birds, and health food stores have brands made for human use if an avian brand isn't easily available. The ingredients in calciboost are
Calcium Borogluconate 33g/L
Vitamin D3 25000 i.u./L
Magnesium ( Mg ++ ) as Magnesium Sulfate 2 g/L
so get something similar if you can.

Heat and humidity are very important, and holding her above gently steaming water or placing her in a shallow bowl of warm water for a little while can help - if it's too hot for your bare hands it's too hot for her. Keep her on the bottom of a small cage or carrier. Either put a heating pad under one end, or drape a towel over one end and shine a light bulb on it at close range to produce heat. Be sure to leave one end of the container unheated so she can move if it gets too hot for her. Be sure to call the vet!!

[anengineerswife]

Thank you very much, I am going to copy this and put it into word to save for later on. I am not sure what she was doing but she wasn't herself. When I went up a few hrs later from the post she was fine and up and preening herself and on her perch. I was confused but she has been talking, eating and drinking since I saw her last. I greatly appreciate the help, the closest vet I did find was 2 hours away. We have never had any problems with our birds before, we don't clip them since the last time they were clipped which they have both grown back in, it has been months. They do see a vet at least 1 a year to make sure they are at the weight and they are healthy.