HELP needed for Mitred Conure, screaming then pulling out feathers

[queeniegirl]

HI All,
My Mitred conure, Bubba, is 16 years old He has started pulling out his back feathers and screaming( this started 2 years ago when I GOT LYME DISEASE).(but has gotten really bad since Oct last year... I have taken him to three avian vets. Each time it gets worse after treatment.
The third is great , no nonsense vet. the second vet tested his stool and said he had giardia.. ps.. she also did every test know to birds.. nothing showed up. the third vet said conures rarely get giardia, and retested.. NO giardia..
So now here is the problem.. he is on an antifungal, antibiotic for bacterial infection on his skin.. and open sores on his back.
Day 10... He has had his diet changed to harrisons adult coarse, and the laberers blue label avi cakes.
He is stronger, more active.. but still screams like something is attacking him, then grabs his feathers and pulls them out. I watch him .. it starts with the screaming then the pulling.. so it is not
I think something else is going on.. but what?????
Anyone ever have this problem????
I am at my wits end!
Also she thinks it is hormonal..
Adrienne

[Valo's Moirana]

seems like you tried hard to make sure that it's not physical.... did the vet do a complete blood panel? any deficiencies? is your vet a certified avian vet?
also, what about toys? does he have enough to play with? did anything change in his environment around the time when this behavior started?

if it's not physical, the key is to find out why the behavior happens... which can be tricky.

[queeniegirl]

HI Thanks for the reply.. It started about the time I got lyme, two years ago.. just slight irritation, then I moved twice.. then in oct I noticed he had picked at his back.. now.. on the third vet.. it's a different story.. she is avian cerified and ONLY does birds. the others were bird specialist but did other creatures. He acts like it is giardia in my opinion.. but this vet rules that out... Every test known to birds was perfomed, then performed again by the new vet.. I am into this for almost 2k... I am at my wits end.. it gets worse with each new vet.. I have tried homo pathic things, nothing is stopping this.. she thinks it is hormonal and this yeast bacteria thing.. she said his stool was full of yeast.. like candida in us.. now I am on 10 days of treatment and I thought it was improving.. but today he is just screaming then picking. .. If it were behavior he would'nt scream then pick.. I can tell something is "on Him".. he will be sitting on me and scream.. then bite me,then pull out the feather that caused the irritation
( he thinks I poked him or something.. very weird).. but it is just breaking my heart.

[queeniegirl]

oh.. the new vet had me remove most of the toys.. they are not bird friendly in her opinion.. she is very particular about this.. I think she is good.. better then the other two for sure.

[birdlady49]

If this were a cockatiel, I would definitely assume giardia. As you know, giardia is not shed in every dropping. That's why it's sometimes difficult to diagnose.

Did your avian vet test for lyme disease?

A quote from another website: Antibiotics are the primary treatment for Lyme disease.[1] Penicillin was first demonstrated by researchers to be useful against Borrellia in the 1950s; today the antibiotics of choice are doxycycline, amoxicillin and ceftriaxone.[1] Macrolide antibiotics are also used.

Here's another website link about lyme disease and parrots: Birds, Ticks, and Lyme Disease: White-tailed Deer, White-footed Mice, and Deer Ticks Support Lyme Disease Spread – So Do Birds.

[queeniegirl]

Thank you for this link.. everyone tells me birds don't get lyme,buy carry the ticks that have lyme across country.. this article says they are carriers.. I could have given him lyme, as I have it chronically.. stupid doctors.. that's another story... so they do get lyme disease.. weird.. I will have to bring it up again.. I don't even know if she has a test for it for the birds.. ???
I see her tomorrow as I can not wait.. this is out of control..
Thanks again.
A

[birdlady49]

Doctors and vets don't know everything. Obviously. Years ago I was treating a ringneck dove for tuberculosis. I was concerned that she could give it to me. So I contacted the county health department and they swore up one side and down the other that I could not contract TB from my dove.

While I never did get TB, I have learned that TB CAN be passed to humans! Dumb health department......

[skewitall]

A year ago my ten year old conure started to have diarrhea, then started rustling his feathers at night. I was concerned about the diarrhea but I didn't know what to think of the rustling of feathers when he was down for the night. Then all of a sudden it escalated to pulling out feathers too, he acted as though he itched terribly. This was on a weekend, and by the time I got him to an avian vet on Monday he was featherless except for his wings. I did everything I could to try to make him comfortable, it was horrible.

From reading it seemed to me a case of giardia. I also have a cockatiel he could have gotten it from, our dog was a puppy then too, but I doubt it happened that way. Anyway the vet immediatly assumed it was a behavioral problem, feather plucking. A 10 year old with no history of plucking all of a sudden plucks out almost all of his feathers in a weekend, and is in obvious pain. Yeah, that makes sense! Anyway, I had to insist he be treated for giardia. They did a test for it, it was negative, but that meant nothing. I had my cockatiel treated for it also.

After the treatment his feathers grew back and he was fine until now. I noticed some diarrhea the other day and very late last night I thought I heard some squaking and that feather noise from his cage. This morning he was missing feathers I'm bringing him to a new avian vet in the morning. I got him in as soon as I could. This is exactly how it started last time. I would hear some squaking and rustling of feathers like he is rubbing his wings on his body, and then he would pluck like something is attacking his skin. He is not at the point of doing it constantly, and hopefully he gets through the night well.

I've read more about giardia, and it can be a chronic illness. Hard to detect and a high rate of reccurrence. Hopefully this vet has some experience with it. I would LOVE to find out it something else entirely, but I won't buy that it is a behavioral problem.

Sorry to ramble. In your case, it just seems like a red flag that they actually detected the giardia at one time. You should see if they have any new stuff out there about it that you may have not read before. Best of luck.

[birdlady49]

Great post, skewitall. Especially when you didn't take the word of your vet as gospel. No one knows your bird like you do. I would never trust a vet who immediately assumes the problem is behavioral and, as an afterthought, decides to examine the poop and draw some blood.

Something my avian vet told me years ago applies perfectly to your situation:

Out of a class of 100 graduating vets, someone has to be number 100.