Gosling with Respiratory Infection Getting Worse - NyQuil?

[Omniskies]

She has been sick for about a week now and hasn't improved, but hasn't gotten any worse. Tonight she's rapidly become worse.

She is gasping for air and making a popping noise. From what I can tell, she will breathe in through her bill and out through her mouth, which is where the popping noise is coming from.

On occasion she will get excited and make it worse, then I have to mellow her out and get her back to sleep. Because of the breathing she has difficulties eating and drinking. I am hand feeding her with a syringe (sans the needle).

I have eucalyptus oil I have been keeping on her throat and forehead to break up the mucus, which seems to be working better than anything else.

I also have Tetracyclin that has been in her water for the past week.

Lastly, I have Polyvisol, Vitamin E, VetRX and Vitamin B-12 (the last in pill and injection form).

Today she has had 1/8th tsp of Tetracycline mixed with water and fed to her to make sure she got the full dose (she has trouble drinking, too, because of the gasping), and a little squirt out of the B-12 pill to help boost her immune system.

The gasping is more forceful and I know she's not getting enough rest because of it. None of the treatments so far have worked. Does anyone know the affects of NyQuil? The active ingredients are: acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, and doxylamine succinate.

I know it isn't made for birds, and I know that technically this little girl doesn't have a "cold." There isn't an avian vet around here and everything is closed on Sunday. If NyQuil is reasonable to attempt when all else fails then I'd like to do so.

If not, why? Are there specific things in NyQuil that are actively bad? This has become a last-ditch attempt, so without an alternative or a flat out "that will kill her because" I'm really tempted to try it out. I'd hate to lose this little girl.

 

[redhen]

I'm following this..

 

[chickygirl2]

Do you have any Tylan by chance?That is for respiratory infections.
I know acetaminophen is a no no for dogs- liver toxicity.I don't know about birds. Is her sinus area swollen? I would be afraid to put much down her throat for fear she would inhale, since she is breathing compromised.

 

[redhen]

Can geese have Tylan??

 

[chickygirl2]

Re tylan:
Yes they can.


Do you have a vaporizer you could set up with some vicks vapor rub[basically vet rx] on her chest?

 

[redhen]

thanks, good to know! Can they have Oxytetracycline- HCI??

 

[Omniskies]

No Tylan and no bulging sinuses. Were it not for the gasping she'd look like a perfectly normal little gosling.

I'm not giving her little dabs in her mouth when I feed her. I'm putting the entire syringe down her throat and squirting the food/medicine/water into her crop. I'm using an extremely narrow syringe to keep her from choking and to keep her throat from being damaged. It requires giving her multiple doses when feeding her - roughly 5-7 syringes full for a feeding.

Ah, right, and she's around three weeks old. Definitely the runt of the bunch, which is probably stunted growth due to not eating enough when she started getting this. There was never a size difference until she became sick.

 

[Omniskies]

Chickygirl, I already have eucalyptus oil rubbed on her throat and forehead. I don't -think- we have any Vics (we always use the oil instead, but we _should_ have a small container of rarely-used Vics around here somewhere if I can hunt it down...).

Do you recommend Vics over the eucalyptus oil? Does it have some other active ingredient that makes it better?

 

[Kelpie]

Has her feed or litter been damp or moldy? It could be aspergillosis in which case she needs antifingals and antibiotics won't help. I have never had a duck recover from it though.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
what are the anti-fungal meds for this??