- Sep 9, 2013
- 11
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Things have been going well with my 4 little rescued buttons until recently. About a week or so ago, I noticed one of them opening her mouth as she breathed, but I didn't think much of it. I noticed it again, more pronounced, on Friday, and was suspicious of something being wrong. She's now doing it most of the time. Every once in awhile, she opens it extra wide, like she's yawning, and sometimes when she does this she makes a sound like she's sneezing. I don't think it's caused by any kind of pathogen- though the birds were in rough shape when I got them, it's been a year and they've been perfect healthy eating game crumbles with finch seeds, egg, oyster shell, occasional vegetables and meal worms as supplements. After doing some research, I'm worried it's a crop issue.
I felt her crop first thing this morning, and I think I may have felt a hard lump. I couldn't smell any odor coming from her mouth, so hopefully it's not sour crop. She's still eating and drinking normally, as far as I can tell. Yesterday, after eating two big chunks of scrambled egg, she did a lot of stretching and "yawning."
I want to bring her to the vet tomorrow, but I'm worried they'll tell me they won't be able to help with a button (I called when I had an button with a dislocated leg and they advised me not to bring her in, as even though they are a first-class university vet hospital, they didn't think the stress would be worth it for such a tiny bird since they weren't sure they could actually fix the injury). Maybe, since this is a different type of issue, they will be able to help, but meanwhile I'm very worried about my little bird. Does anyone have any advice? I've read about the home remedies for chickens with impacted crops but I'm terrified to use them on such a tiny bird. I'm also worried that maybe this isn't actually an impacted crop, since I've never had any experience with it before.
I felt her crop first thing this morning, and I think I may have felt a hard lump. I couldn't smell any odor coming from her mouth, so hopefully it's not sour crop. She's still eating and drinking normally, as far as I can tell. Yesterday, after eating two big chunks of scrambled egg, she did a lot of stretching and "yawning."
I want to bring her to the vet tomorrow, but I'm worried they'll tell me they won't be able to help with a button (I called when I had an button with a dislocated leg and they advised me not to bring her in, as even though they are a first-class university vet hospital, they didn't think the stress would be worth it for such a tiny bird since they weren't sure they could actually fix the injury). Maybe, since this is a different type of issue, they will be able to help, but meanwhile I'm very worried about my little bird. Does anyone have any advice? I've read about the home remedies for chickens with impacted crops but I'm terrified to use them on such a tiny bird. I'm also worried that maybe this isn't actually an impacted crop, since I've never had any experience with it before.