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1K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  cwebster 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I've had Noa for a couple months now (she's still three months old herself) and during this time she's had four serious infections caused by her own intestinal flora getting out of hand. She was treated with antibiotics each time, I clean her aviary every other day and her bowls every day; now she' staking echinacea with her water and I keep the temperature in her room around 27°C at all times. She can sunbathe as much as she likes too.

Does anyone have any experience with pigeons with low immunity? If she has another infection there's a risk of kidney failure due to antibiotics, so I'm very worried. The vets are out of ideas too.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Please find out if youcan get your bird tested for circovirus. Our 3 month old Chloe had canker, then staph, then yeast, then malaria, then aspergillosis. Circo wipes out the birds immune system. Testing involves a blood test. Sadly we played whack a mole for weeks with infections but our avian vets could not save her. I hope this is not what your bird has. I have heard that if the bird receives supportive care and survives it may be ok but younger birds are hit hard by circo. There may be other kinds of immune disirders i am not familiar with. Do you have access to probiotics and apple cider vinegar? Those might help.
 
#3 ·
What is the bacteria or disease she is getting? I don't know what you mean by her own intestinal flora getting out of hand.
And what antibiotic has she been taking?
 
#4 ·
Have you tried pre & pro biotics? Sounds like she could do with some good bacteria to help fight off the bad. If you can't buy Avipro Avian pre/pro biotics you could try a little LIVE yogurt, a small anoint in a syringe to help replace the good that's been destroyed
Antibiotics destroy good gut flora just as they do bad so it's always best to build them up again.
 
#7 ·
She's had two yeast infections and something unknown in between (presented as high fever, dizziness, inability to stand, and difficulty breathing) that we think might have been Psittacosis but couldn't diagnose for sure. For the two yeast infections she was on metronidazole for a week each time and for the other one it was azithromycin for eight days (three of those spent in ICU).
 
#11 · (Edited)
For one thing Metronidazole isn't going to cure a yeast infection. And azithromycin will make it worse. A yeast infection is often caused by having the bird on antibiotics. When you put a bird on antibiotics, they will kill the bad bacteria, but they also kill the good gut bacteria that keep yeast and other bad things away. You need Nystatin or similar that that is made to cure a yeast infection. Freda is right that your bird would benefit from probiotics. The yeast is crowding out the good gut bacteria. The probiotics are to put back the good gut bacteria that you are stripping her of. Stop the antibiotics. What you need to do is to use Nystatin or something designed to kill yeast, and replenish the good gut bacteria that helps to keep it away in the first place. That and apple cider vinegar in the drinking water at a rate of 1 Tablespoon per gallon of water. This will make the gut flora more acidic, which the good gut bacteria you want (probiotics) like. They like an acidic environment, but the bad bacterias that you do not want don't like an acid environment. If you keep putting her on antibiotics, you are keeping down the very thing in her gut flora that would protect her from bad bacteria. And that is the good gut bacteria (probiotics). You are killing her protective gut flora.
 
#12 ·
#14 ·
What the antibiotics do is to kill off the good gut bacteria that are what keeps the yeast down. So the more antibiotics you give the bird, the more you are killing off the good gut bacteria that protects the bird, from yeast and other bad bacteria.
 
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