Peacock showing weird symptoms very suddenly. What’s wrong?!

[Max0815]

Just a few minutes ago, I noticed my peacock(juvenile male) was showing worrying signs of something.

1) He continuously shakes it’s head, and there was saliva flying all over. Sometimes, he shook his head so violently he looked like he was going to fall.
2) He periodically tried to swallow something.
3) He stood very shakily, wouldn’t fly, and it seemed like it would fall over at any moment.
4) He barely called, and when he did, it was very hoarse.
5) His throat was engorged, compared to his usual self.
6) His beak was open slantly.
7) His feces were very watery.

He was fine this morning, but it was just now that he started to act like this. I don’t know what’s happening! Could anybody please help?!

Edit: I’ve also looked at his throat. I couldn’t see anything that was obstructing it, even with a flashlight.

 

[Max0815]

Update: I've tried feeding it, and it seemed like it was trying to eat, but he held his head far back, and then tried to peck. It seems like he ate some kind of neurotoxin maybe from a cockroach(neighbours spray their yards probably, since that killed some of my ducks).

He can barely stand now, and mostly just lays to his side, shaking his head violently every other minute.

I've force fed it 3 capsules of activated charcoal along with some water. I will do again in 2 hours. Not sure if that will help or not. I HOPE he can recover ASAP.

I'm also not sure if he has gapeworm or not, but I don't think so, because it was so sudden. However, it could be an infection? I mean there were mouring doves in his cage where he stays for the night yesterday, and it could be from that? Should I also feed him amoxicillin if the charcoal doesn't work???

 

[Max0815]

Welp. Uh, he.. is probably internally bleeding or something. It's more than likely he either excreted or vomited blood. He.. is, well, I don't think he's going to make it. I don't know what the heck happenend this morning, and what caused him to become like this. If anybody has the slightest clue, please tell me so I can prepare for anything like this in the future.

 

[Max0815]

It’s a new day and he’s still alive, and doing better actually now. He can stand for a second or two. I think that what happenned could be actually a scorpion sting, but I think i’d Have to check his entire body to know if it was that. I’m going to try to force feed him water, and possibly mushed up grasshoppers. Hopefully he recovers fast.

 

[KsKingBee]

Do you have access to a vet that will perform fecal exams? It is an excellent tool for ruling out possibilities if not actually telling what the problem is. You can test for gapeworms by inserting a Q-Tip down the airway as far as you can and press upwards and twist as you pull it out. If there are gapes you will see tiny red threads on the swab.

I first thought it could be allergies but your later report tends me to think cocci. Both cocci and blackhead will destroy the internal organs. Cocci is more likely to show blood in the loose stools, BH will tend to be more yellow. I would not rule out a worm load if you have not been doing regular deworming. Having any of these problems will weaken the bird and open up avenues for secondary respiratory infections.

 

[Max0815]

Unfortunately I don’t think I even have a vet around here that will look at birds. I’ve seen cat and dog vets but that’s it. And yea I checked and it’s not gapeworm. Luckily He’s gotten much better now, though, periodically he still does his head shake thing, and is weak in the legs.

He would mostly just sit on his roost and not move much. I still force feed him 10 cc of water every day, and gave him some grasshoppers(they’re high calorie I think) to boost his energy.

I don’t think it is BH though, as he’s getting much much better compared to what state he was in two days ago. I’ve given him both doses of amoxicillin and amprolium for these two days, so I’m not entirely sure if it was some kind of bacterial infection or cocci. I’m also not sure if it was a toxin, because he seemed to get better after I fed him activated charcoal.

There’s just so much questions and I haven’t found any concrete answer. I’ll try to make sure he recovered fully inside his quarantine cage before I let him do his own thing. Thanks for you help and suggestions @KsKingBee.

 

[casportpony]

How's he doing?

 

[Max0815]

He’s doing much better! He recovered greatly after the second day, and he’s basically back to normal now! Thanks for asking