Help, my grey is sick

[Missy]

Murphy, my male 16 year old has been with me all his life. He is hand fed. 2 years ago he became "sick" and I took him to an avian vet. After many tests and hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent testing him, he was diagnosed with a bacteria infection and treated with antibiotics. The vet thought that the bacterial infection was just a coincidence and that it was more a behavior problem.

He finally got better and I attributed it to a bad batch of food. Now, my nightmare is back,

 

His symptons are the same as they were 2 years ago.

[danmcq]

That is terrible news!

 

The best advice I can give, is to get your much loved Grey to an Avian Certified vet ASAP.

 

We would love to help, but as you know, it would be impossible for us (Non Vets) to properly diagnose anything.

 

BTW - Welcome to the forum. Please keep this thread updated. We care greatly about all our members Greys.

[crossfit]

I would take him back to the vet. It is impossible to diagnose over the internet and we don't have vets here in our group. Bacteria can come back. That is similar to us having the flu more than once.

[Missy]

Murphy, my male 16 year old has been with me all his life. He is hand fed. 2 years ago he became "sick" and I took him to an avian vet. After many tests and hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent testing him, he was diagnosed with a bacteria infection and treated with antibiotics. The vet thought that the bacterial infection was just a coincidence and that it was more a behavior problem.

He finally got better and I attributed it to a bad batch of food. Now, my nightmare is back,

 

His symptons are the same as they were 2 years ago.

1. He hides under the newspaper on the bottom of his cage and shreds some of the paper.

2. He is extremely aggressive, lunging at me and trying to attack.

3. His stools are much larger and extremely messy. I have to clean the cage everyday.

 

Looking back at the vet records from 2 years ago, it is the same time of year that this occurred. I just wonder if anyone knows if this may be a hormonal problem and if this has happened to anyone else in the forum.

 

2 years ago, I seriously considered having him euthanized. I felt that he was in pain and that the vets just could not pin point his condition. Luckily, after throwing out the old food and replacing it with a different bag he snapped out of it. (yes I have already tried that again).

 

He is usually a very loving bird. His weight is 570 grams. He is eating and drinking normally. Any help out there would be greatly appreciated. I am sick over what to do. I don't want to loose him, but I cannot live like this much longer.

 

Thanks!

[Luvparrots]

If you have the same vet and he is familiar with your grey's history, the vet should be able to help quickly. Please take your grey back to your avian vet.

[Spock]

You can't give up, this baby depends on you for his life!!! TRY a different vet, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGGIE, JAYD

[Spock]

You can't give up, this baby de

pends on you for his life!!! TRY a different vet ,if your not happy with the first...

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGGIE, JAYD

[pearllyn]

So sorry to hear that Murphy is poorly. Please let us know how you get on at the vets. Do you have and Avian specialist near you? Getting him seen sooner reather than later is very important. Can you tell us what his symptoms are?

[pearllyn]

Hi Missy, sorry, I just read your other post and asked for the symptoms before reading this one. How long did those symptoms last when he got poorly the first time? I don't know if it could be hormonal - it seems a bit strange to me that hormones would start to cause this at 14 yo, but I really don't know. What do you feed him? There are some very knowlegable members here, but without seeing Murphy, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to say what's wrong with him. I hope you get to the bottom of it and get your happy, loving boy back again.

[Dave007]

That's definitely hormonal and what you should realize that there's different amounts of aggression and strange behavior with birds. Some get moody, very aggressive, more snappish, go after others. Other birds won't do that or may do it but not as strongly. Some may eat a lot, others will stay away from food. Many things you say are actually good--his weight--he's obviously big boned and 570 is great.

 

*1. He hides under the newspaper on the bottom of his cage and shreds some of the paper.*

 

Definitely hormonal especially with many other species who do that even worse. Some birds actually reach through gratings, lift the paper and destroy iy which messes up the bottom. If you don't have a grating, expect him to continue doing that with paper. Because of him doing that, even though you don't, if there was a nestbox in or attached to the cage, he would already have started building a nest.

 

** 2. He is extremely aggressive, lunging at me and trying to attack.**

 

I already replied to that above.

 

***3. His stools are much larger and extremely messy. I have to clean the cage everyday.**

 

Changes in diet can cause that to happen but it's nothing to worry about unless the stool completely resembles diahhrea ALL DAY. Soft stool that comes out mushy and eventually hardens as the day passes is not diahhrea. Why the amount of stool is large is anyone's guess. The important thing is that it's a normal dropping. If he had diarhhea you would know it. He wouldn't eat, would sleep alot, stay extremely inactive, wouldn't really be aggressive. In other words, there would be a physical and mental change that you can see.

 

The longevity of a hormonal period can be short, long or anything inbetween. Basically, your bird has to be left alone with minimum physical contact unless he wants some. Many of the things you describe usually point to a female but it happens with males too.

 

**2 years ago, I seriously considered having him euthanized.**

 

If yu're thinking abiout doing that because of his change of behavior and habits just remember that you have a wild animal who will show many different attitudes when in a hormanal period, plus you should keep it in the back of your mind that he will go back to normal although it may take 2 mts as opposed to 1 mt. That's not uncommon either. Again, females have a tendency to do that but so do the males. It's a time of a year when things aren't as great as you'd like but understand that he's also frustrated because nature is telling him to do certain things and that's when a bird tolerates people even less. Hope this helps concerning your feelings.