His droppings should look like little logs ideally, runny droppings aren’t that much of a concern with how he’s eating though, getting so much water with his food. Many of mine also spit food into the bottom of their bucket so I wouldn’t worry about that.
Carmel colored runny droppings can be a sign of a little blood and intestinal lining, possibly from coccidia still, but that would be surprising after the antibiotics, giardia and other bacteria could also be to blame.
The sounds he’s making in the videos are sort of “happy goose purrs” that they like to make that sound when preening, sometimes bathing, building nests “which males will also do,” and sometimes grazing.
Pneumonia is a possibility but not always the cause of labored breathing. Oftentimes digestive issues and infections can cause what appears to be a respiratory infection, sometimes a digestive infection and respiratory infection can occur simultaneously.
E.coli can infect the lower air sacks for instance as a secondary infection.
Other times a lower intestine infection often from clostridium but also sometimes from giardia, coccidia, and sometimes even Candida can create a lot of gas which pushes on the rear airsacks causing shortness of breath and even gaping in worse cases.
One way you can tell if this might be the case is if you perform a physical exam on him. Back him into a corner, you can cover his head with a towel or blanket to make it easier, and feel around his lower abdomen. You’ll feel two bumps towards the back which are his hips, a little lower halfway between the hips and his legs is right about where his colon is, it should feel soft and gooey. You might feel a little movement in the colon if you hold him long enough which is normal.
If you feel what feels like a large hard ball that would be abnormal and points to an inflamed colon/ lower intestine, if it feels like it’s bubbling or gurgling quite a bit that indicates that his lower intestine is filled up with gas.
Treatment for this depends on the cause, but if testing isn’t an option my guess would be something along the lines of clostridium, treating with Tylosin and Metronidazole will clear it up but sometimes the infection comes back, probiotics are a necessity to try to keep it from coming back.
It’s also possible it could also be giardia, giardia can be treated with metro and SMZ TMP but it’s very easy to be reinfected, especially for animals that muck about in the soil.
Another possibility is aspergillosis. Asper unfortunatly is very difficult to treat and has a poor prognosis in birds. If caught early it can be treated more easily, but it’s a horribly sneaky disease and not always easy to diagnose. It can mimic the symptoms of nearly every other illness before more characteristic symptoms appear “altered voice.”
One of the reasons why it’s so difficult to treat is because current antifungals are incredibly toxic. Thpically amphotericin B is used initially as a vapor for the bird to breath in to try to clear the fungus out of the lungs and airsacks, itraconazole is used orally to rid the tissues of the fungus.
Terbinafine is said to be a safer antifungal that intraconazole that’s also known to be affective, but it still carries risks.
A drug called Olorofim is the first of its kind antifungal that carries little to no side effects and it’s on the verge of becoming available, expected sometime this year. However my guess is like every other new drug the cost will be insane.
It’s never been tested on birds but that isn’t unusual, most medications given to birds, even prescribed by vets are used off label anyway because no testing has been done.
Carmel colored runny droppings can be a sign of a little blood and intestinal lining, possibly from coccidia still, but that would be surprising after the antibiotics, giardia and other bacteria could also be to blame.
The sounds he’s making in the videos are sort of “happy goose purrs” that they like to make that sound when preening, sometimes bathing, building nests “which males will also do,” and sometimes grazing.
Pneumonia is a possibility but not always the cause of labored breathing. Oftentimes digestive issues and infections can cause what appears to be a respiratory infection, sometimes a digestive infection and respiratory infection can occur simultaneously.
E.coli can infect the lower air sacks for instance as a secondary infection.
Other times a lower intestine infection often from clostridium but also sometimes from giardia, coccidia, and sometimes even Candida can create a lot of gas which pushes on the rear airsacks causing shortness of breath and even gaping in worse cases.
One way you can tell if this might be the case is if you perform a physical exam on him. Back him into a corner, you can cover his head with a towel or blanket to make it easier, and feel around his lower abdomen. You’ll feel two bumps towards the back which are his hips, a little lower halfway between the hips and his legs is right about where his colon is, it should feel soft and gooey. You might feel a little movement in the colon if you hold him long enough which is normal.
If you feel what feels like a large hard ball that would be abnormal and points to an inflamed colon/ lower intestine, if it feels like it’s bubbling or gurgling quite a bit that indicates that his lower intestine is filled up with gas.
Treatment for this depends on the cause, but if testing isn’t an option my guess would be something along the lines of clostridium, treating with Tylosin and Metronidazole will clear it up but sometimes the infection comes back, probiotics are a necessity to try to keep it from coming back.
It’s also possible it could also be giardia, giardia can be treated with metro and SMZ TMP but it’s very easy to be reinfected, especially for animals that muck about in the soil.
Another possibility is aspergillosis. Asper unfortunatly is very difficult to treat and has a poor prognosis in birds. If caught early it can be treated more easily, but it’s a horribly sneaky disease and not always easy to diagnose. It can mimic the symptoms of nearly every other illness before more characteristic symptoms appear “altered voice.”
One of the reasons why it’s so difficult to treat is because current antifungals are incredibly toxic. Thpically amphotericin B is used initially as a vapor for the bird to breath in to try to clear the fungus out of the lungs and airsacks, itraconazole is used orally to rid the tissues of the fungus.
Terbinafine is said to be a safer antifungal that intraconazole that’s also known to be affective, but it still carries risks.
A drug called Olorofim is the first of its kind antifungal that carries little to no side effects and it’s on the verge of becoming available, expected sometime this year. However my guess is like every other new drug the cost will be insane.
It’s never been tested on birds but that isn’t unusual, most medications given to birds, even prescribed by vets are used off label anyway because no testing has been done.
