Tiki is Sick

[Bea]

This morning i noticed that Tiki had been vomitting, took her to the vet (after much trouble finding an open one that works with birds and then finding a way to get there - dads overseas for work) and it was confirmed she has what Jelly had (Jelly is another of my budgies, she was sick about a month ago) and she's been treated for it. She's in a homemade hospital cage and will stay there till she's well again. I'm hoping there are no more cases because it's starting to get very expensive. In the process of looking for a vet we discovered there's a registered avian vet in Canberra (though she wasn't open today) so i think we might start going there from now on.

[Donna]

Hello Bea,

I'm sorry about Tiki but I am glad that you found out what was wrong with her. You said that she has the same thing that Jelly had. What exactly is wrong with her? Will it take long for her to get over whatever she has?

It's great to know that you found a registered Avian Vet in your area. That will be so helpful in the future.

Donna

[Bea]

Jelly was vomitting to and the vet said the cause was something called trichomoniasis, if you do a google search on that you can find out more. She was improving within a week after treatment and was recovered after 2 weeks.

[Donna]

Thanks Bea, for the information. . .That's great news that Jelly had totally recovered after only 2 weeks. Let's hope that Tiki recovers just as quickly and is feeling much better, soon.

Donna

[budgiesmum1953]

I'm so sorry to hear that Tiki is sick. Thank goodness that you have a good Avian vet. This also goes to prove the importance of acting quickly when pets aren't well and getting them to the vet ASAP. When we first had Harry he was picture of health, but after about 3-4 weeks I noticed that he kept vomitting his seed back up. We took him to our usual vet and they treated him with abtibiotic injections, stuff for his water etc. he just didn't improve. We were back and forth with him and it's a wonder he survived all the treatments. The vet even asked at one point if I was confusing Harry's vomitting with normal regurgitation :S I knew that it wasn't the same and felt that they thought I was overfussing! It came to light at this time that they had a partner in the practice who specialised in treating 'exotics' who's surgery was a couple of villages away and we whisked Harry over there. By now Harry was pretty sick and I asked them to keep him overnight, I just felt that if he came home with us he wouldn't survive. This vet took samples from Harry's crop, and found an organism of some kind, I can't remember the name now as it was six years ago, but he flushed out the crop, gave Harry the RIGHT medication, kept an eye on him overnight, and within around a week our little fighter was well again. I wanted to share this just to show how important an Avian vet is, normal vets can be pretty close to useless when treating birds/exotics, it's such a specialised field.
Hope you don't mind me sharing this in your original post Bea.
All my love to Tiki and wishing her a speedy recovery,
Jan. XXX.

[parakeetluverr]

I'm so sorry to hear about Tiki, Bea. I'm so glad to hear she got to a vet. xxxx

[Bea]

Jan, it's interesting to hear your story! If any vet gives you meds to put in the water it's time to find a new one - they just don't work well with birds! I had trouble finding a vet that i like and i was annoyed that he wasn't working today, i ended up just going to another vet at the same practice but i told her what had been wrong with Jelly so she was looking for the same thing and found it. I bet your Harry also had trichomoniasis, it's one of the most common causes of vomitting in budgies.

[Adottybird]

I do hope everything will be alright. My thoughts are with you.

Dotty

[budgiesmum1953]

Thank you Bea for your interest in Harry's previous predicament. Yes it sounds very much as if this is what was wrong with him, I do remember the vet saying they were some kind of microscopic life form :eek: and obviously not the kind of thing antiboiotics would cure. I remember that they have to be SO careful when taking a sample from the crop, something you wouldn't want an ordinary vet to do. When we fetched Harry the day after his overnight stay his poor bottom was stained from whatever treatment they gave him to 'flush' him out, but from that moment on he picked up a treat. Everyone please be aware when a budgie is vomitting it is definately different to regurgitation, it's quite violent and seed will fly all over the place. If not taken to an Avian vet your bird could quite likely die, please be vigilant.
Love again to Tiki, and heartfelt wishes for her speedy recovery,
Jan.XXX.

[Bea]

Well Tiki is still alive this morning but she's been vomitting some more. I was getting up every couple of hours through the night to reheat her heat pack, and i'll be coming home every couple of hours throughout the day to do the same. I can only hope that she'll start eating or drinking. :(

[Budgiekin]

Oh Bea, I am so sorry to hear about Tiki..Did the vet give you a prognosis? Has she lost a lot of weight? I hope she gets better! It is so stressful to have a sick budgie!

[Joey]

Maybe if you give her some soft food Bea...maybe she will eat.Or maybe you could just feed her 2 - 3 drops of liquid vitamins from an eyedroper or sringe to help her. Poor thing. Wasn't she breeding:(

[Bea]

The vet wasn't avian so just did the test and treatment - i doubt whether she could've told me whether Tiki is likely to live. I weighed her today and according to my scales she's 30g, at the vets she was 28g but i doubt she's gained weight, probably just the different scales. I tried to spoon feed her some soft food and she has it in her box but she's just not eating. She's tried to eat millet but just throws it up again. I've seen her drink today so at least she's staying hydrated. She was supposed to be breeding but wasn't interested - i know now that this was because she's sick. I'm going to have to find a way to treat my whole flock which hopefully wont involved catching them and finding a way to get them to a vet. I'll right the avian vet tomorrow sometime. I don't think she's going to last much longer, she seems really weak and her droppings are looking worse and worse.

[Bea]

Tiki died.

[spike]

Oh Bea Im so sorry ((hug)), thinking of you.

[budgiesmum1953]

Oh Bea I'm so sorry to hear that you lost Tiki. I really thought there was a good chance that she would get over this, I can't take this in, I don't know what to say, God bless Tiki.
My thoughts are with you,
Love and hugs, Jan. XXX.

[pal0m1n0]

That is so sad. :( My condolences.

[Bea]

Thanks, it's really hard cause i tried so hard to help her get well. I guess i just picked up the illness too late to be able to do anything.

[budgiesmum1953]

Bea, please don't blame yourself for 'picking up Tiki's illness too late to be able to do anything.' I know that I haven't been on the forum all that long but I do know from reading your posts that you wouldn't have missed any signs of illness in one of your birds. No-one would try harder than you would to get your bird well. I firmly believe that maybe Tiki had another underlying problem, maybe a weak heart or something? or she was exceptionally good (as you know some birds are) at hiding her illness. As they can recover from this I'm positive that there must have been something else wrong that you just couldn't have done anything about. Be strong for all your other lovely birds and Mig,
Love and hugs,
Jan. XXX.

[clifff123]

Bea so sorry to hear about Tiki, RIP, You did everything possible.

[Joey]

Aww thats so sad...was at least you can now treat the rest of them early.

[kisses]

Bea, I am sooo sorry to hear about Tiki! :( Sounds like you did all you could for her!

[redgirl]

I am really sorry Bea, I feel so sad for you at this sad time. RIP dear Tiki xxxx

[Amy]

So Sorry to hear this Bea. :(

[Budgiekin]

Oh Bea! I just got to this post and I am so sorry to hear that Tiki died. And definitely don't blame yourself. We all do the best we can for our little sweeties and you had nothing but the best of intentions for Tiki's care. My thoughts are with you Bea....:(

[Bea]

I've started treating the rest of the flock, hopefully no more will become ill.