# Echo’s Tail Bobbing and Coughing



## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)

Hey everyone,
I took my budgie Echo to the vet today as she has been showing respiratory symptoms for a couple weeks now. She first started showing tail bobbing shortly after beginning medication for AGY. It seemed to get worse when I got close to her, and disappear when I moved further away. Other than the tail bobbing her behaviour was normal so I assumed it may have been stress related so I left her. She has been tail bobbing on and off and having coughing fits that last about 10 seconds and only once every day or two. Her sneezes have a little spray as well but are not super frequent. So today I decided to bring her into the vet. She listened to her breathing and she said that she had a crackle in her dorsal lung. Her first suspicion was psitticosis. She did a blood test and said that her red cell volume and white cell counts are normal (which means there is low chance of an infection- including psitticosis). Her poop was also normal.
She said that her protein was low, however, sitting at 14. When she was diagnosed with AGY her protein was sitting at 11 but she assumed this was to do with her being underweight. Now she has put on a whole 10g and she is still low on protein. This leads her to believe she may have some complications with her liver- which may cause it to be enlarged and putting pressure on her lung. She has advised me to give her steam twice a day for 15 mins and increase the leafy greens in her diet and would like to see her again in 1 weeks time. Has anyone had any similar experiences or can offer any suggestions for me? She is otherwise acting very healthy, has lots of energy and eating and drinking perfectly.
Thank you in advance for all of your advice! Below is her with her very much adored Christmas tree toy. 🎄


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*When you use a warm mist humidifier for Echo, you can add a couple of drops of 100% pure eucalyptus oil to the water. This will help to open the airways.

With regard to liver issues, i would ask your vet if she recommends adding dandelion and milk thistle supplements. 

Another option is to try an aloe vera detox regimen.*
*Aloe Vera detox*

*I recommend you remove the wooden dowel perches in the cage and replace them with natural wooden perches of varying diameters to help prevent pressure sores.*
*Pressure Sores*
*Bumblefoot*
*The information in this link will give examples of better options for perches:*
*Essentials for a Great Cage*


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## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)

Thank you FaeryBee,
I will add the eucalyptus oil because I have some of that! 
I am bringing her back to the vet in 1 week and the vet did mention that if her protein is still low after increasing the greens in her diet, she will prescribe her a milk thistle supplement to add to her water. So I will see what she says then! 
the Aloe Detox sounds great so I will go buy some and just add to the birds’ water. Seems like there can be no harm done!
Also- I just got a new bird for an early Christmas gift and after finishing his quarantine I have introduced him to the cage yesterday. She has shown no symptoms at all and they seem to be crazy in love. Feeding and preening each other non stop. A few dominance moves from the female to be expected when he tried to eat her food but just gave them 2 food bowl options and that stopped straight away. 
I have been purchasing new perches slowly but surely and my aim is to replace them all but it’s a slow process for such a big cage!
Thank you so much for your advice!


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## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)




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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Having the two budgies together when Echo is showing symptoms of a respiratory issue is not advisable. She could easily pass the infection to the new budgie. 
What is his name? He is adorable and the two of them look very precious together..

Now that you have a mixed gender pair, you are going to need to do everything necessary to prevent breeding.*

*A Heartfelt Plea to All Members*
*Tips For Discouraging Breeding*
*Before You Ever Consider Breeding Your Budgies*
*Guidance for Breeding Advice Threads*

*Rearranging their cage frequently will help tremendously.
Please be sure you never put a nest box or anything that could be used as a nesting site in their cage.
When they come into condition, you need to limit the light they get to 8 hours a day and limit the amount of protein in their diet.*


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## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)

I asked the vet about introducing them and she said it will be fine as she is showing no signs of infection, especially as the symptoms are not consistent. She says that the issue is not likely to be contagious. I definitely read up on preventing breeding the second I saw that Milo was a boy. Thank you for the links!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I'm so glad you had already talked to the vet about introducing them and for reading up about preventing breeding. 
Thank you for bearing with my tendency to always try to educate everyone. *


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