odd breathing

coopers · Post by **coopers** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:55 am

So my male society that I bought a while ago is now breathing with his mouth open and closing constantly. It's like he's hot or trying to get oxygen but my room has AC (not too cold or too hot) and other than the odd breathing he's acting like a healthy bird. Bathing, preening, mating, eating etc. When he takes a breath is when he opens his beak. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Blake

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:19 am

Is this the only bird you have?

Sometimes a bird will do as you describe when it's stressed. Societies are extremely.... well, social. LOL They require other birds to be happy.

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:19 pm

-do you hear clicking when he's breathing? (air sac mites)
-is he sort of flapping his wings or otherwise acting aggresively while doing it? (show of dominance)

those are my two thoughts...

coopers · Post by **coopers** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:21 pm

tursiopschic wrote:-do you hear clicking when he's breathing? (air sac mites)

I hear clicking like it's his beak when it closes.

Blake

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:22 pm

Open-mouth breathing ('gasping for air') in a non-stressed, not-overheated bird is an indication of respiratory distress or disease (usually from the lower respiratory tract [air sacs, lungs]).

coopers · Post by **coopers** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:23 am

Well I figured out my guy has air sac mites. So tomorrow we're starting treatment. He'll get drops once a week for 2-3 weeks including his mate who I'm sure is infected but not showing signs yet.

Once again, thank you for the help!

Blake
WA

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:23 pm

What do you treat a bird who has air sac mites with?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:14 pm

EmilyHurd wrote:What do you treat a bird who has air sac mites with?

SCATT

Finchaholic · Post by **Finchaholic** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:15 pm

I had a Goudian with a serious case of Airsac Mites. I used "Scatt" that I purchased from justbirdstuff.com. I called them on the phone and they even sent it overnight for an extra fee. It was worth it. In a few days she was breathing much better. Hope this helps.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:12 am

Ok... purchased the SCATT, now just waiting for it to be mailed. How do I use it on her when I get it and for how long?

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:16 am

One more question, can I treat everyone with SCATT for preventative measures? Nobody else is breathing like my female gould... I treated all of them and there cages with this:

Is that good enough for the other finches? Or should I just treat everyone with Scatt?

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:13 am

I'm not familiar with scalex, but SCATT is safe and easy to apply to all the birds preventively. Just a single drop applied to the back of the neck. The biggest pain is in capturing each bird to treat it.

If the SCATT doesn't help, you'll need to consider other causes of labored breathing.

Finchaholic · Post by **Finchaholic** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:39 am

When applying the Scatt make sure that you apply it mostly to the skin, not the feathers. They recommend you put just a single drop on the bald patch between the wings. I would treat the whole flock so they dont keep passing it around.
Good luck and please keep us informed on her recovery.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:03 pm

Are air sac mites very contagious???

Post by **Hilary** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:46 pm

Yup. Though some birds (like gouldians) are more susceptable than others.