My tiel is sick.

[dhorje]

One of my tiels in the aviary was very sick on last Sat morning. She was sitting at the bottom of the aviary when we went to check the tiels in the morning. She couldn't even stand up and was very very weak. When I picked her up she could not even move.

 

I quickly called my vet. She was off on Sat and Sun. I had some Doxycycline anti biotics (for human) which I got it from my Dr friend on the advice by a FB vet to treat one of my tiel's eye infection. I told my vet about the symptoms of the sick tiel and she taught me how to mix the dosage of doxycycline and administer to the tiel. If possible she asked me to get metronidazole antibiotic for this illness.

 

In the mean time I was advised by my vet to syringe feed the bird glucose as the tiel was too weak to eat on her own. I thought my tiel would be gone. Surprisingly, she could stand up the next day. I was thinking that glucose has no other nutrients other than sugar. How could she recover by drinking glucose alone? So I mix glucose with whey protein, spirulina, barley grass and probiotic and syringe fed her 3X a day. On Tuesday, I went to get some metronidazole from my Dr friend. My tiel's health has improved a lot. She can now climb the cage but still weak to fly. She is now eating on her own.

[Greywings]

Do keep her warm about 90 degrees Fahrenheit that will help her use less energy just keeping up her body temperature. Good work so far will keep my fingers crossed, could she be egg bound?

[birdhouse]

In the mean time I was advised by my vet to syringe feed the bird glucose as the tiel was too weak to eat on her own. ... I was thinking that glucose has no other nutrients other than sugar. How could she recover by drinking glucose alone?

 

The glucose is a quick way to get nutrition into the blood stream w/o making a weak body try to do all the work to digest & process more complicated food. At the most basic level most foods are broken down to sugar in the body because it's a simple molecule that releases a lot of energy quickly when "burned". A form of blood sugar, blood glucose is how the blood feeds our cells.

 

Here's a more technical description, if you want

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sugar

 

It may have been that the teil wasn't eating & had weakened to that point before she showed symptoms. Gotta love the way birds do that ! The glucose gave her a jump start towards getting water & nutrient levels back up so you could piece together an emergency regiment to save her.

 

Sounds like you & your team did a great job here. I'm really glad to hear she's so much better!! Hope she's well, again, soon !

Edited September 23, 2011 by birdhouse

[dhorje]

She is more energetic now. By feeding spirulina, she looks kind of dirty and untidy. Will give her a shower after she gets well.

I can't take her in the house because I don't want the rest to get infected. BTW I live in a tropical country. The weather here is hot and humid.

 

I remember a nutritionist told me he saved the life of a patient who was bedridden in a hospital. The patient was on glucose drip and the doctor said he could not be saved.

Using tons of nutrition supplements, the patient recovered and was discharged. I applied this on my tiel and it worked.

[pikachu]

How is your tiel doing?