monax Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 After dinner tonight, Toby (6 month old TAG) started to bob his head a bit, and fluid came out of his beak. He did this 3 times and we figured that he was regurgitating. Otherwise he was behaving normally, eating normally, playing, etc. The unusual behavior was that he was constantly wiping his beak on us, more than normal after eating. After hanging out for a bit with him, we put him in the cage for the night. An hour or so later, I went back to check on him and was alarmed to find that he was standing on top of one of his toys, with a stream of fluid coming of his beak onto the cage and the floor of the cafe. We took him out of the cage, he continued to wipe his beak all over us. He took a drink of water, and threw that up a few minutes later. Should I be worried here? A few more things I should mention here: 1) We had been out of town for a few days and boarded him at the avian vet. He got a clean bill of health and weighed the same as when we brought him in. He was quieter than usual being back home, and far more affectionate. We spent a lot of time with him the last couple of days. 2) He was incredibly ravenous today and seemed to eat more pellets than usual throughout the day. For dinner, he had a purée of veggies, including bell peppers, carrots, green beans, corn, and peas, all of which he has had before. 3) He started vomiting started after we gave him a piece of boiled whole wheat spaghetti. He has had pasta before with no issues. Our hypothesis is that he had an upset stomach from over eating, or perhaps that one piece of pasta. Any thoughts? Obviously we are worried and will be watching him carefully over the next day. Is there any comfort food or easily digestible food we should give him tomorrow to help him recover from whatever he has? Last I checked he is back on his normal sleeping perch with nothing coming out of his beak, so hope he is ok. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimijean Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I have no idea, but I hope he's OK. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 It sounds as though he was regurgitating on his own. The boarding at the vet was a traumatic experience to him, I suspect, and he was over joyed to be home. You will know this morning if he is ok. If he is still vomiting I would take him to the vet. There are several things that could cause vomiting from crop impaction to various infections and diseases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 They only regurgitate a few times in a row and it doesn't dribble out of their beaks like drool. He is acting strange, my advice is a vet ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 It doesn't sound good to me either Penny, I think a vet visit is in order and soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monax Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Thanks. We ended up taking Toby to the emergency vet overnight. When we saw that he was still regurgitating on his sleeping perch we decided it was the safest thing to do. Also, noticed that his droppings were unusually dry, and I was concerned about dehydration. The vet kept him overnight, and they were concerned when they saw that his crop was distended. They gave him medication to keep him from regurgitating. The update this morning is that his crop is less distended and he's eating well and has kept food down for the last 3 hours. We'll be hopefully bringing him home in a few hours and starting him on antibiotics....and then bringing him to our regular vet in the next couple of days for another checkup. In retrospect, I should have been more tuned to the fact that Toby wasn't acting like himself when he got home, but I attributed that to him getting used to us again after being boarded. I have to thank the folks on this forum for all the great information. I've been reading this forum each day, and learning about behaviors, abnormal droppings, etc. lead me to take Toby to the vet earlier rather than later. Hoping at this point that he'll be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 (edited) It's to good hear you have it under control and he is back to normal at this time. Did the vet say why his crop was distended? Edited April 23, 2012 by danmcq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 So glad to hear you went ahead and took him in, birds hide illness so well until they can no longer hide it that by the time you notice something strange it could be too late, that coupled with your being away then coming home he was so excited to see you a slight change was attributed to the homecoming. Sometimes its best to go with your gut instinct but it looks like he will be just fine, thanks for letting us know what you found out and keep us informed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monax Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Thanks everyone. So far they are mystified about what caused the crop to get distended. Could be that he caught some infection while being boarded, or maybe he ate a piece of food that was too big for him that got stuck somehow...or maybe he impacted the crop somehow while playing. The vet recommended antibiotics in case there is an underlying infection that is causing this. We chose not to do xrays at this point since it would have caused even more stress, and there's a risk of asphyxiation if he's still regurgitating. Any tips on how to administer antibiotics? If I understand correctly it's a liquid and will need to be administered using a plastic syringe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 A syringe is the easiest way to. Your Avian vet can go over and maybe even give a dose while your there to show you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 monax, you made the right decision! From my experience, a regurg is only done when they are not stressed, and want to offer you a present. Always solid. You made an excellent choice to see the vet. Its never a loose present, they work hard on creating it. Sophie spent 20 minutes today, offering me the perfect regurg. Sean got grossed out! I am glad Ryan will be coming home from college in two weeks. He understands. Sean doesn't get it, and gets grossed out. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Any tips on how to administer antibiotics? If I understand correctly it's a liquid and will need to be administered using a plastic syringe. Ellie wanted to chew on the plastic syringe rather than take the antibiotic. As alarming as it was for me (I was so nervous about hurting the 4 month old, 10 ounce baby...), I had to hold her head still to get her to open up and take the syringe. It seems so hard to be gentle enough given our disparity in size! Once she opened up and I gave her the dose, she would often bite down on the tip of the syringe, which made recovering it a challenge... Toby is young enough that he should be (reasonably) cooperative so you can just use the syringe instead of trickery and deception... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I dread the day I may have to administer meds to Josey as I doubt she will take it willingly unless it tastes good, maybe I could disguise it in her oatmeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Doug... so sorry! It is hard, for any parent to give a syringe full of medication. As I work with both adults and pediatric patients, I am lucky to never being concerned to give them meds. I will be glad to help you. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Doug... so sorry! It is hard, for any parent to give a syringe full of medication. As I work with both adults and pediatric patients, I am lucky to never being concerned to give them meds. I will be glad to help you. Nancy I don't need any help - my issue was last fall. "Monax" might need advice with giving the antibiotic to Toby. (I was only trying to provide some sympathetic support for what Monex will have to go through - since it was scary for me...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Yes, I have had to give medicine by syringe a few times to Talon. No question, it is difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monax Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Thanks for the support. A quick update....took Toby to get checked out by his regular vet yesterday, and he confirms that Toby is on the mend. We're continuing with the antibiotics just in case, but the probable cause here was that Toby had a piece of food get stuck, which cause the regurgitation (entirely plausible, as he seems to be a bottomless pit where food is concerned). Lesson learned for us to chop the food more finely. Giving the medicine, so far, has been fairly straightforward...he doesn't seem to mind it too much. We can tell that he's not quite his normal self. He's not vocalizing much, or playing much, and the vet attributes it to the whole regurgitation incident as being very stressful for him. We have noticed since he came home that he is simply ravenous all the time...in fact he has gained another 10 grams over 2 days to 320 grams (when we brought him home a month ago he was at 295 grams). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWIX Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 So glad to hear he is ok, i know it's frustrating but i hope it will all end up safely very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvgrey Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Monax - we just had to give our parrot some medicine and it was nothing but a fight - had to towel him on the kitchen floor every night. It was stressful for him and us, but we couldn't get the med into him any other way. My husband got biten every night - we had to use a syringe too and it is not easy. We hope you do not have a hard time doing this - the bird needs the antibiotic, so you will have to conquer this difficult task for his own good. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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