Hopefully only Good News Updates!!!

[Trees Gray]

Hi Christin,

I'm sorry to hear Rally is not feeling well. Make sure Rally is on heat and that he is eating and drinking. I'm not sure about the seed, are any of your other birds effected by it? I would hold off giving it to Rally for now. I hope you will hear something from the vet soon.

I would leave the egg in Coco and Hoppy's nest, let them continue to sit until they both lose interest, then you can remove it.

I'm sure others will be along with answers too, thank you for your attentiveness to your birds needs.

[Pidgey]

Originally Posted by CHRISTIN RN

Also, one more thing, please...
Rally had not been looking well since last night and again this afternoon...fluffed up and eyes half closed...not moving around the cage as usual. I thought he might be in pain, so early this morning I gave him some water mixed with aspirin (325mg tab crushed and diluted in 250ml. water) as suggested in the Pain Management book chart for birds. I filled a 1ml syringe and gave it to him in his beak and then filled one of the 3 water feeders with some more of the solution. He perked up to his usual self for a few hours and then back to not looking well later this afternoon....I repeated the same dosage (1ml.)

Letting them have that solution in a waterer so that they can drink all they want (so I surmise from what you've said) could be very disastrous. The basic dosage that you'd listed is in the ballpark although there should be some consideration for the bird's weight basis. For instance, if the dosage rate should be 2 mg/kg, PO, SID (2 milligrams of medicine per kilogram of bird, Orally, Once Daily), then a quarter-kilogram bird (250 Grams is roughly 1/2 pound) would only get 1/2 of the solution that you directly administered. It can be very dangerous stuff and not to be given on a whim.

Pidgey

[CHRISTIN RN]

Greetings and Thanks, Treesa/Pidgey!

Great, Treesa, I'll just let Coco & Hoppy continue sharing their 1 lone egg...tonight ends day 18...I'm surprised they've not kicked it out yet?
Pretty cool in the Co-Hop, so I don't think it will spoil too quickly...thermostat kept at 42, however depends on how cold it is along with the wind. Thankfully they are between my house and the neighbors garage, so if the winds are blowing in either direction, we're ok.
Just if it changes and hits the other 2 sides we have trouble keeping it above 32.
I did remove the dishes with the new seed mix and quickly went and bought a bag of the Kaytee mix for doves. Figures I just made a full bucket with the new seed and other seeds. All the birds ate the new seed and only Rally became ill....may be unrelated, however, I removed it from his and Ally's cage anyway to be safe. I never even heard of 'niger' seed....I wonder why the man told me it was 'thistle'. I'll have to research.
Also, Rally's stool is fine along with the others. I dropped off a sample of all the birds being that I was making the trip.

Pidgey, I ran and removed the water dish as soon as I read your post....didn't seem like any was missing but hard to tell with the little sips they take. The dish holds about 1.5 ounces. The solution I mixed comes out to 1.3mg per ml.
He weighs 135gms.
The NSAID chart for birds states
"5mg/Kg 6-8 hourly OR 325mg/250ml drinking water"

I thought I was low-balling it for safety...please if you have time, let me know how much exactly should I give him in case that he acts up during the night. He seems fine so far....I think he may have vomited cause there was something gritty and black on the paper towel when I came home this afternoon...not at all like the surrounding poop. I just don't want him to suffer any pain.
So far eating/drinking the plain water/pooping fine and behaving as usual, but that's what he did yesterday for awhile and then all of a sudden acting like he was having pain when swallowing (I assume) he was like bobbing his head up and down then fluffing up with his eyes closed. I checked his little tiny mouth and seems dk. pinkish...but didn't get a chance to look that closely due to him wanting to get back to his cage....he was not a happy camper and either was his mate whom continued yelling at me from the cage until he came back!

Couldn't get home in time to get the dogs out and pack the doves and drive in traffic to the vet before they left for the day and tonight supposed to have another snow 'event' as they put it. 3-6 inches by morning but supposed to melt by afternoon. ??? Hopefully he'll be fine by then...I pray!

Bless you guys for your help! I'll check back later.

[Lady Tarheel]

Hi Christin, sorry Rally is a little under the weather.

I doubt that he is in pain given what his symptoms are. In all the years we have rehabbed, we have never given any pigeons or songbirds aspirin. That is not to say we won't in the future if I can't get to a vet. If any of our birds have had severe wounds or breaks the vet usually prescribes something called Metacam for pain but we have not had to use that a great deal either.

It seems to me that doves get yeast problems more than pigeons and that may be what is bothering Rally. Hopefully, you can get him to a vet tomorrow and find out for sure.

You can be sure that I'll remember your baby in my prayers.

[Dezirrae]

Hi Christin,

I didn't have a chance to check in earlier - but reading the past few posts it was a mix of OMG and semi-relief that at least Ally's stools are okay. Of course I hope he improves very quickly!

Originally Posted by CHRISTIN RN

I never even heard of 'niger' seed....I wonder why the man told me it was 'thistle'. I'll have to research.

Figured I'd try and save you some time though I'm sure you'll do further research. Unless the seed had spoiled I don't think it was the nyjer -- Juliet and Noel love the canary mix I feed them and one of the ingredients is nyjer. Here's some info. I found to explain the thistle or nyjer name: Often called "thistle", when placed in tube feeders, nyjer is valued for its high nutritional value and special appeal to finches and smaller song birds. The actual cost of this is less than you think as there are many more seeds per feeder filling than when larger seeds are used. From PRDSeed.com (http://prdseed.com/products/nyjer.ht...FQOmlgodYgG2fA)

Keep us posted on his condition and of course I'll be saying some prayers.

[CHRISTIN RN]

Hi Maggie/Dezirrae!

Got out of work early to check on Rally...he seems to be ok, not his regular self, but at least not puffed and squinty eyed.

Thanks, Maggie, for the info. about Metcam...I'll ask the vet about tomorrow as well as about Rally having a yeast problem. Wonder how he could get that?
I'll read up about it. He and Ally are in my bedroom so I'll be able to check on him throughout the night.

Thanks, Dez, for the website...sounds like the same seed I have, however, on the bag it's spelled n-i-g-e-r.... I'm going to call that birdfeed store to make sure. It's mixed with 'fine sunflower chips'. I don't think it was the new seed...got a 20lb. bag and the other birdies ate it and are fine.

We'll see what happens....Hopefully the snow will stop by morning!

I appreciate so much you guys helping Rally with your prayers....may you be blessed in return!

[CHRISTIN RN]

Greetings, Birdie Family!

Hope all is well with you guys!...I'll check out some threads later when I get back from work. Just wanted to quickly do a Rally update..
Vet was booked solid for Sat. taking only emergencies. which thankfully I didn't have! Rally is eating/drinking/pooping fine. So we'll see how he does tomorrow flying around with Ally in the Gazebo. Supposed to be really nice out...finally!
Today it was funny because Ally took one of the toy balls from the bottom of the cage and carried it in her beak up to the basket and was sitting on it so happily...I took a quick pic and then she jumped off to try and peck me through the cage! I'll post a pic later. Soooo cute.

Coco & Hoppy are still taking turns on their one egg. Tonight is end of day 20.
I wish they would move on already, though, I've enjoyed spending the early morning with Coco one on one and also in the evening with Hoppy.

Gotta run..break is over!

[Trees Gray]

Hi Christin,

I'm glad to hear Rally is eating and drinking and pooping well. I can just picture Ally carrying her toy ball, how cute!

It's actually a blessing that Coco and Hoppy continue to sit on the one egg, because its better then them laying eggs continueously, that can bring on bigger problems in the long run. They should be getting done with it soon.

Thank you for the update.

[mr squeaks]

Hi Christin!

Just popping in to say HI and wish ALL THE BEST TO RALLY and the REST!!

Squeaks is still on his egg...have no idea when he will decide enough is enough and go back into mate mode...He's his own bird and resists my "friendly" (say petting and scritching) overtures! *SIGH* Well, the cats are happy!

WISHING ALL, LOVE, HUGS, SCRITCHES AND HEALING THOUGHTS!

Looking forward to positive updates!

Shi & Squeaks

[CHRISTIN RN]

Hi, Treesa/Shi!

Well, there's another egg in Coco & Hoppy's basket! I just got home and checked on them before I came into the house and low and behold, somebody, I think Hoppy laid another egg! Wasn't there this morning!
So I expect another one to follow. I wish I knew which one to remove when the 3rd egg comes. Any way to tell the difference?

Yep, Treesa, they actually stayed on the 'real' eggs for 20 full days! I'm hoping that they will kick the old one out of the basket for me.

Oh, poor Shi! Squeaks has been neglecting you? How long has he been on his little egg! Must be hard on him to sit on it all alone. Does he ever leave the egg to eat/drink?

Rally update....this morning Rally seemed fine and then when I came home in the afternoon he was with his eyes closed and twitching his head a couple of times...also away from Ally, so she's not too happy. I left them to rest in their cage for today and hopefully they will want to come out to fly tomorrow as it will be another nice day. I'm only going to work in the morning and then stay home until I go to my night job to run Rally over to the vet. I can't figure why he was fine and now not so good.

I did try to post the cute pics of Ally with her toy ball last night, but it didn't work. I'll try again now.
Be back after I get the gang settled in for the night!

[CHRISTIN RN]

Greetings, Birdie Family!
Quick update before hitting the hay....
Well, today's weather turned out to be not so nice, however, was glad to have an earlier appt. at the vet due to a cancellation.
Dr. Diggle found some blood spots on Rally's crop and took a culture...no wonder the poor thing seemed to be suffering when he ate his seed. I'll get the results tomorrow. He received a Batril injection. He also will be getting Batril twice daily.
Thankfully, he's eating/drinking/pooping fine and hanging out with Ally again!
Thanks for the prayers!
Blessings to all and to all a Blessed night! Zzzzzzzz

[Trees Gray]

Hi Christin,

I'm sorry I missed your earlier update. I'm glad you were able to take Rally to the vet. Please do update us on the results.

You can lightly mark the eggs with a pencil, if you need to distinguish it from the other eggs, it may eventually come off though. Maybe a tiny piece of tape would be better, it's okay if they aren't fertile.

[CHRISTIN RN]

Blessed Morning, Treesa!

Thanks for the great idea! I'll use the pencil so that they don't eat the tape by accident....would be just my luck! Well, I went to mark the eggs and low and behold the third one was in the basket and they already pecked a hole in the older egg and pushed it aside! My wish came true! AMEN!
Poor girls, now they have to sit on another 2 eggs without a break....well I guess that's how it goes with Hens. They seem happy and healthy! AMEN!...again!

Rally update...
The lab results won't be in for another few days....guess I misunderstood. Anyway, I mentioned about the yeast as Maggie had posted so the doc gave my some nystatin to give along with the batril just in case. I'm also going to take another stool sample over...again, just in case.
I also got the Metacam so that he can eat without much discomfort...only giving him 1 gtt. once daily if he does that shaking of his head/fluffed/squinty eye look. He's only had one dose thusfar and seemed almost back to his normal self. In between the meds, I'm dusting the seed with the probiotic after mixing in a few drops of the flaxseed oil.

Thanks again for the prayers/advice!
Have a Blessed day!

[Trees Gray]

Hi Chrsitin,

Thank you for the update, I hope Rally is feeling much better now.

Have a wonderful day.

[CHRISTIN RN]

Thanks, Treesa!

Hey Birdie Family, I just wanted to ask you guys if I should give the Batril and Nystatin together??? Or seperate the doses? Which I did yesterday only because I didn't have the other med yet. I didn't want him to have too many meds. in his system at once, but not sure about birds.

Thankfully, he's flying around normally....but he did have to have another drop of the Metacam and then he ate his whole dish rather than just pecking a few seeds at a time and shaking his head each time. Now I won't have to worry that he didn't eat before I run back to work.

Also, do you think I should medicate Ally even though she seems fine?
I wondered if she could get infected by him....again, I apologize about not knowing that much about sick birds....yet.

Blessings to All! And Thanks so much!