A week or so ago I posted that my sweet little white bantam cochin was ill and I didn't know why. She was pooping green poop, not walking or eating. I took her to the vet who wasn't sure what was wrong either but put her on baytril as a first step. I was constantly trying to get her to eat baby parrot formula with a pippette (sp?) but it was rough trying to get it down her. 4 days later I returned to the vet to have her tube fed. She had lost 40 gms. since her previous visit 4 days earlier!! The feeding must have kick started her as she has been improving ever since. When I tried to make her take her formula that night I discovered that she would eat it out of a bowl. (Whew! What a relief from forcing a syringe down her throat!) She also was given high potency parrot pellets which she ate and she began nibbling at other things too. Over time, her appetite has gotten better and better, she is now walking around the house again (woo hooo!) and her poops aren't so green anymore. She's even raiding the dog's dish of food like she did before she got sick! I THINK she is going to make it!!!! Just had to share my joy with you all!!!!
Birdlover, I'm thrilled for both of you! It sounds like you've worked hard to help her recover! I did have a thought: maybe she should not touch the dogfood for a while? There have been a lot of foods causing illness in pets over the past year, for various reasons, and while one bag might be fine, the next may not be. The reason I connected it so quickly, is because of my canary. I've had him for 8 years, and he eats special seed with lots of vegetables and little fruit etc. Well, I needed seed, but for some reason the local company couldn't get it. Eventually I had to do something while we waited for it to arrive, so I went to a petshop and looked at their food. They didn't have plain canary seed with nothing else in it (I provide vitamins etc. myself.), so I got stuck with a seed "blend". This was last March, just when all the other animal foods were starting to recall. Well, he ate it, and got ill and almost died....rather like your Princess. Even though I didn't know about the animal foods yet, I did know that my boy had always been super healthy, and now he wasn't. Cause and effect....the food was new. So I threw it away, and he eventually recovered. Thankfully, 14 months later, he's still happy and healthy, and now has a friend, who I think he may be related to! In any case, with all the animal food problems, even if a dog or cat doesn't become affected, it might affect a bird who eats it. I could be totally off track, but I thought it worth mentioning, just in case.
Yeah! I'm glad Princess is Ok! My Rosemary is almost back to normal too and, like you, I still don't know for sure what caused it. Be sure & post a pic......
Thanks so much, Tutter and Mariruka! I'm so glad to hear that Rosemary is better, too. I was wondering! Also, glad the little canary recovered. Poor little thing! I know about the pet food scare and I appreciate your suggestion. The reason I don't think that was the cause is she has been eating it since I got her last Nov. 1. and I would think she'd have gotten sick before this if it was the dog food. It's canned not bagged - don't know if that makes a difference. I'm so desperate to get food into her that I was glad to see her eating it. Guess I better be more careful though. It's a riot to see her when the dog is eating out of the bowl. Soon as she sees me put the bowl down, (before getting sick - not since) she makes a bee line for it and the dog backs away. What a riot to see this little ball of feathers intimidate my big dog. Got so I had to hold her until he got his fill!!
Quote:I have read many warnings about giving cat/dog food to birds...not only is there too much salt and, dependent on how much and how often it is eaten, possibly unacceptable (high) levels of some vitamins (it is after all formulated for a different species) the nutrients are also not in the correct ratios ... in addition there are other problems such as pointed out by Dr. Wissman here below (a reknowned avian specialist): http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/challenges.html "... Lafeber Company makes a critical care formula for gavage-feeding ill birds. If that is not available, you can always use a baby parrot hand-feeding formula. Do not crush up dog food to feed to ill birds. It is well-known that dog foods have allowable levels of bacteria that are not dangerous to dogs, but can be pathogenic, especially to debilitated birds. ..."