Vitamin/ Calcium Deficiency- How do they recover?

[Rothe18]

I got a new baby Java Sparrow a little less than a month ago. When I got him, he was jumping all over the place, active as could be. I was told by the pet store person to give him soak seed twice a day through a syringe for another 10 days or so. The first thing I thought of was, when I got my baby cockatiel, I remember mixing vitamin powder into the soak seed, also with my young Java sparrows who could already feed themselves 4 years ago. For about 3 days I fed this baby on soak seed only.

Then I finally got to the vet, who told me he was a little scrawny but well all in all. She gave me some milk food powder to boost his nutrition intake while still feeding with the soak seed. He took to eating on his own quickly after that, and was a veritable little firecracker! He followed me all around the house and was almost never not moving. He gained weight and was doing fine.

Then, I got home late Saturday night, around midnight, and took the birds out for a bit before bed. He seemed a little lethargic but I thought maybe he was just tired because I never get home that late. The next morning, it was worse. He could barely walk, though he was obviously trying- my first huge hint was when he didn't chase after me the minute I put him down. He couldn't even climb from one cupped hand to the other, or seem to hop- just half waddle a foot at a time.

He slept in my hand for almost 2 hours and finally I decided to take him to an emergency vet, my vet it is not open Sunday/Monday and its the only place that specializes in birds in my area. (I live in Japan)

He improved dramatically after eatin a bit-maybe he was too weak to get to his food, I don't know. He was hopping and moving way more. During the day he perked up quite a bit and was even flying and following me, though perhaps at 60% of his usual flurry of activity.

The vet gave me vitamin powder to sprinkle on his food. I'm going to my vet tomorrow. He was still so weak this morning... Lethargic and sleepy... But with an appetite. He can perch, hop up to the higher perches in his cage.

I want to know... How long, with proper treatment does it usually take for birds to recover from this? ....they do recover, right? It's so hard to find information- please, I need the help of people who've experienced this before. There are no abnormal growths on his limbs, so I don't suspect rickets. I've also taken the liberty of giving him electrolytes to boost his system a bit. Pleas help... And reassure, if possible.... I'm really worried about that little firecracker personality getting snuffed....

[Stuart whiting]

I got a new baby Java Sparrow a little less than a month ago. When I got him, he was jumping all over the place, active as could be. I was told by the pet store person to give him soak seed twice a day through a syringe for another 10 days or so. The first thing I thought of was, when I got my baby cockatiel, I remember mixing vitamin powder into the soak seed, also with my young Java sparrows who could already feed themselves 4 years ago. For about 3 days I fed this baby on soak seed only.

Then I finally got to the vet, who told me he was a little scrawny but well all in all. She gave me some milk food powder to boost his nutrition intake while still feeding with the soak seed. He took to eating on his own quickly after that, and was a veritable little firecracker! He followed me all around the house and was almost never not moving. He gained weight and was doing fine.

Then, I got home late Saturday night, around midnight, and took the birds out for a bit before bed. He seemed a little lethargic but I thought maybe he was just tired because I never get home that late. The next morning, it was worse. He could barely walk, though he was obviously trying- my first huge hint was when he didn't chase after me the minute I put him down. He couldn't even climb from one cupped hand to the other, or seem to hop- just half waddle a foot at a time.

He slept in my hand for almost 2 hours and finally I decided to take him to an emergency vet, my vet it is not open Sunday/Monday and its the only place that specializes in birds in my area. (I live in Japan)

He improved dramatically after eatin a bit-maybe he was too weak to get to his food, I don't know. He was hopping and moving way more. During the day he perked up quite a bit and was even flying and following me, though perhaps at 60% of his usual flurry of activity.

The vet gave me vitamin powder to sprinkle on his food. I'm going to my vet tomorrow. He was still so weak this morning... Lethargic and sleepy... But with an appetite. He can perch, hop up to the higher perches in his cage.

I want to know... How long, with proper treatment does it usually take for birds to recover from this? ....they do recover, right? It's so hard to find information- please, I need the help of people who've experienced this before. There are no abnormal growths on his limbs, so I don't suspect rickets. I've also taken the liberty of giving him electrolytes to boost his system a bit. Pleas help... And reassure, if possible.... I'm really worried about that little firecracker personality getting snuffed....

Hi there mate,

Going by your post if the pet shop owner has stated that the bird needs to be fed for a further 10 days through a syringe it then appears that the bird has hardly fledged

This would mean that the bird is not fully weaned and still needs to be hand reared,

I noticed that you mentioned that the bird did start to eat for itself, it can take a good few days before the bird is actually eating for itself properly as at first although it looks as if there eating, much of the time there barley picking, another factor is that the bird may of started to go light " coxidosis " this is a waisting disease that young fledglings sometimes get very soon after leaving the nest, the only usual cure for this would be the use of sulphur drugs and would only really work as soon as the bird had left the nest.

I'm sorry but to me if this is the case then that is very bad practice to sell a bird at such an early age that is not even really eating for itself yet, this is almost a guaranteed reason why the bird has gone down hill rapidly,

Another point that I may also add and that is I've never heard of feeding soak seed through a syringe,

Most syringe hand feeding would be made up of a mixture like Tropican or a powdered baby milk formula etc that could easily pass through the syringe and not clogg up,

I'm very sorry to here this news of your baby bird but in all onesty it doesn't look good

The only last resort is to try and hand feed as best as you can

[Rothe18]

Oh my god!!! I was in such a funk writing this that I forgot to mention he was 5 weeks old when I bought him, and I've had him since June 29th. When I say syringe, I mean like a hand pump, not a needle.

The vet said he was almost ready to eat on his own when I took him 3 days later. I fed him seed mixed with what the vet gave me for about 10 days and then let him eat the seed he was already going for. He gained weight and was doing totally fine until around last Saturday night. Since he's not as young as you thought, is there a chance of him recovering? He really gets better but not 100% during the day.

...but he still does beg, a little. But I tried to feed him with the plunger and he won't take it in his mouth, just eat it as I push it out. With supplements and time can his soft legs recover? He can fly and he can perch and jump....

[Stuart whiting]

Oh my god!!! I was in such a funk writing this that I forgot to mention he was 5 weeks old when I bought him, and I've had him since June 29th. When I say syringe, I mean like a hand pump, not a needle.

The vet said he was almost ready to eat on his own when I took him 3 days later. I fed him seed mixed with what the vet gave me for about 10 days and then let him eat the seed he was already going for. He gained weight and was doing totally fine until around last Saturday night. Since he's not as young as you thought, is there a chance of him recovering? He really gets better but not 100% during the day.

...but he still does beg, a little. But I tried to feed him with the plunger and he won't take it in his mouth, just eat it as I push it out. With supplements and time can his soft legs recover? He can fly and he can perch and jump....

Can I please give you piece of advice,

In 36 years of bird keeping a 5 week old young finch is far to early to consider about purchasing, no one I know of in their right minds would ever consider this

Like I've already mentioned that the bird has barely just been weened,

Moving a bird out of an environment when barely eating to me is ludicrous

I onestly wander what the breeder / pet shop owner was really thinking of, certainly not the birds welfare,

Normally in England and Europe when we breed birds we always make sure that the birds are weaned properly and confidently eating for themselves before even considering moving away from the parents and if hand rearing again we need to be sure that the birds are eating,

Even at this stage we very rarely would let them go at this early stage of life as within another few more weeks the youngsters will start to go through their first moult, this in itself is a stressful time for the birds aswell,

Once the birds have moulted it is normally only then that we decide to purchase or sell birds,

However there are obviously people who do sell birds before their first moult and sell them as nest feather birds when they are about the same age as yours, if you really must buy birds this young you really need to make sure that all birds purchased are definitely eating properly.

When I mentioned about the use of syringes I obviously didn't mean with a needle,
Just a normal medical syringe will suffice minus the needle

You also mentioned that the bird does not respond to being hand fed with the syringe, this in itself gives me the impression that the bird was possibly parent reared and then for a quick buck sell at a silly age and expect the new owner to hand rear, if this is to be the case I think it's a very sad state of affairs because this should never done as a lot of birds won't respond to hand rearing once they've fledged, reason being is that there now not used to it if they've initially been fed by the parents beforehand,
to hand rear effectively it needs to be done as soon as there hatched,

I do hope you're bird pulls through and is ok but have a gut felling that it don't look good

If he is now starting to eat properly then there could hopefully be a glimmer of hope

[Sally]

Since you've had him for almost a month, he should be eating on his own by now. I agree with Stuart that he went through a lot of stress, from the pet shop at no more than 5 weeks of age, to moving to your home while still not weaned. Often hookbills are sold that way, as it is how they are hand tamed, but you don't see it done much with finches. It may be different in Japan.

Since he was doing well, and has responded a bit from his emergency vet visit. I would make sure that he is eating some and take him to the avian vet on Tuesday. With young birds, they often will eat egg food, as soft food is easier when they are young. They also will eat spray millet. I'm sure that is the same reasoning for feeding them soak seed, it is easier for them to eat. Please keep us posted on how he does.

[Stuart whiting]

Since you've had him for almost a month, he should be eating on his own by now. I agree with Stuart that he went through a lot of stress, from the pet shop at no more than 5 weeks of age, to moving to your home while still not weaned. Often hookbills are sold that way, as it is how they are hand tamed, but you don't see it done much with finches. It may be different in Japan.

Since he was doing well, and has responded a bit from his emergency vet visit. I would make sure that he is eating some and take him to the avian vet on Tuesday. With young birds, they often will eat egg food, as soft food is easier when they are young. They also will eat spray millet. I'm sure that is the same reasoning for feeding them soak seed, it is easier for them to eat. Please keep us posted on how he does.

Totally agree Sally