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Hi all!!!

Postby Bunchaboo » Tue Jun 14, 2022 6:33 pm

Newbie here! We have 3 CAG’s Elvis, Bunchy and Daisy. We recently had a scare with Elvis. 20 year old male. Woke up on a Sunday morning to Elvis wheezing pretty loudly. Of coarse we panicked and trying to find an emergency avian vet on a Sunday is a challenge. Our reg vet was out of town for the weekend (just our luck lol). Found an emergency vet over an hour away. Turns out he has a respiratory infection. He was not eating on his own so they opted to gavage feed him. Long story short, he stayed the night. We went back first thing next morning and we could see he was totally stressed and we know that’s not a good thing. Wound up taking him home after antibiotic shot. When we got him home he was so so happy. Started eating drinking and clowning around. He is a major talker and here’s my question. He hasn’t uttered a word since. It’s been a week. Could the gavage feeding have damaged his talking ability? Should we be concerned or did just the stress of the event stopped him temporarily? Has anyone experienced this.
Bunchaboo
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Congo african grey
Flight: No

Re: Hi all!!!

Postby Pajarita » Wed Jun 15, 2022 8:50 am

Hi, Elvis, Daisy, Bunchy and human, welcome to the forum. Parrots change their vocalizations when they are sick -as a matter of fact, no vocalizing is a sign of illness in them- so, once he feels better he will start again - UNLESS, like you fear, they damaged his syrinx (the equivalent of a human's voice box). Personally, I never allow injections or gavage feeding in my birds unless it's a matter of life and death (which wasn't the case with Elvis). They can do IV antibiotics but not injections (the IV goes into a vein while the injections go into muscle to which they cause a lot of damage) and they can do syringe feeding but never gavage which is painful and terribly traumatic to a bird. I suspect the vet that treated him was not an actual avian vet...

I would recommend you examine your birds twice a day -that's what I do and it has served me very well. I don't actually touch them (like to feel their keel bone) unless I notice something off in their behavior, see (like discharge, diarrhea, labored breathing, weakness, etc) or hear something (if you can hear the bird breathing, there is something wrong). Sick birds behave differently than healthy ones... sometimes it's not eating enough, sometimes it's drinking too much, sometimes it's sleeping when they should be active, sometimes it's weak flight or lack of balance, etc. And ALWAYS keep some wide spectrum antibiotic handy (you can get doxycycline on bird sites) for situations like this one.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Hi all!!!

Postby welshgym » Wed Jul 05, 2023 9:34 pm

The only species that are not typically hand-fed are those kept in aviaries. This is primarily due to the fact that they are small and, penalty kick online as a result, difficult to handfeed; it is not worth it to the breeders because it requires a lot of work and they can't really charge much more; and it is pretty pointless to do it as they never really form close bonds with humans and, once they reach sexual maturity, they are never truly happy without companions of their own species.
welshgym
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Parrot
Flight: Yes


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