[banndsand]

Thanks jpt11. These are certainly steps I will consider. For now I am continuing the antifungal treatment until we get back lab results to see if there is anything else. With how she is improving I believe that at least part of this situation was yeast. Here is a chart I've been keeping of her weight in the mornings and evenings, since around the time I began the treatments. She is steadily moving toward her old weight and she has returned to old levels of activity (as I type this she is constantly trying to fly onto my head haha).

 

[banndsand]

Little update: We finally got back the results of the crop swab (the delay is a long story ) and they found some gram-negative bacteria. El is just about at the end of the antifungal treatment now so I'll probably start her on the antibiotic on Sunday or Monday.

My only worry is that calcium is said to lessen the absorption of this particular antibacterial, and obviously she always has calcium available in her grit. I don't really want to take it away from her because... she's feeling so good she laid an egg for me today! She's gotta be in need of calcium due to that, so I'm a bit unsure.
But at the same time, she isn't one to gorge herself on grit, and the bacteria can't be causing her too much grief with her being already at normal weight, super energetic and pumping out eggs... So maybe it's not a big deal if she has a bit of calcium and the antibiotic isn't quite as effective as usual?

I'm should be getting some other medications and supplies in the mail before long but I'm unsure exactly when they'll arrive. I guess I could wait and give her some of those instead but I'd really like to get all this behind us.

 

[Marina B]

Glad to hear she is doing well. I would wait till she lays the second egg and then remove all the grit and start treatment. But then one wonders if you should put her on antibiotics at all? That will just destroy all her good gut bacteria. What meds did the vet subscribed?

 

[banndsand]

The thing is I can never be sure she even will lay a second egg. She's a bit inconsistent like that. 🤔 But if she does lay a second soon I will definitely seize the opportunity.

The antibiotic I have on hand it tetracycline hydrochloride. The test results said that the bacteria was affected by just about every antibiotic they threw at it so this should work.

I'm trying to get my hands on some probiotics along with new meds. I imagine I should be able to get some by the time the antibiotic treatment is over but if not it seems there are many alternatives listed on this site which I'm sure I could try. If you have any personal recommendations I'm all ears, or else I'll be searching around here for one that seems popular and feasible.

 

[Marina B]

Medpet has some good products. Entero plus is a good probiotic. Just don't know if this is available to you.

 

[banndsand]

Unfortunately the only shop I could find which would ship to where I am was one which carried very few Medpet products (thankfully Medistatin was among them). I was really hoping to order from Jedds but they seem to have stopped shipping internationally for the moment. Kind of a bummer since I wanted to get a Vetafarm crop needle, but I guess I'll just have to put together another tube in the future if need be.
My order (which includes another brand of probiotic+vitamin combo) should arrive in a little over a week or so, but I'm not in a big hurry. I'll start her on the antibiotic once the ETA for the probiotic lines up with the end of the recommended treatment time. El is still doing well and seemingly enjoying sitting on the one egg.

 

[banndsand]

Probably the final update on this thread:
El is doing well after all this and I finally moved her back to her usual enclosure. Still monitoring her weight and giving both of them probiotics and such regularly from now on. Here's a photo of her trying to call me over to her new nest. Based on her weight I think she'll be laying another egg soon.

She and Curie seem to have missed eachother as well. They slept side by side last night.

Thanks everyone for all the help! I don't know what I'd do without this forum.

 

[Marina B]

So glad to hear she is doing well!