FINCHforum

Unfortunately, I lost one of my zebra babies tonight. This morning, I noticed that she was pretty puffed up and breathing heavily. I went out to look for medicine and by the time I got back, she was clicking when she was breathing. I was able to get her in to see the vet tonight, who confirmed that it was not ASM, and treated with injections of metacam and vibramycin/doxycycline for bacterial infection. The combination of the infection and the stres of treatment proved too much for her little body to handle and, unfortunately, she died on the way home.
I'm pretty devastated and worried about the others. The remaining two babies are not showing signs of illness yet, and neither are mom and dad (in a separate cage). I am going to clean and disinfect the cage as well as I can to hopefully kill any bacteria living there and maybe save the other two little ones.
Is there anything else I can do to help prevent illness in the rest? I do have some Ornacyn-plus that I picked up today. Is it worthwhile to give this in the water or could it do more harm than good if the rest are healthy?
I know I can have the vet do a necropsy, but I think that they are expensive, and from what I have read, often inconclusive. Is it worth it?

So sorry for your loss

I would go with your first instinct. Disinfect the cage to the best of your ability. If the others are showing no sign of illness, ex puffiness, diarrhea,... I wouldn't treat them for no reason. I have been doing a lot of reading lately on the different illnesses, and have read quite often that sometimes only one of the flock will become ill from a bacteria, often the others have become immune and remain healthy.

Keep us to date with how the others are doing.

I'm so sorry you lost her Nelissa. I hate that when I have taken a finch to a vet in the past and paid $$ and then the bird dies very shortly afterwards.

I'm sorry for your loss - it's always heartbreaking. I agree with Janine above about your other birds.

Thank you Janine and Liz.
I am in the process of removing all perches, dishes, etc from the cage to disinfect
My next question is this. Is it worth the stress to move the remaining two babies into a temp cage to completely disinfect the wire, etc. I'm afraid that if I do, it will be too much stress on them (we just moved them into their own cage, separate from the parents on sunday). But if I don't, I am afraid that it won't be cleaned thouroughly enough...
What are your thoughts?

Sorry to hear you lost your little Zebra Nelissa. When you get a chance give us an update on how things are going today.

So sorry you lost the little one. It is especially hurtful when you have gone so far as to take it to the vet, and then lost it anyway.

You said that you had just moved the little ones into their own cage. Weaning is one of the very stressful times for a bird, and stress can always trigger other problems. I lost a little Owl weanling one time--sometimes you have one that just isn't quite ready to be out on its own. I would keep a heat lamp at one end of the cage, give them lots of special treats, like eggfood and spray millet, and just keep an eye on them. It is hard on them to grow up and leave home, but usually they do just fine.

hi
disinfecting the cage is the right way to go in this instance,when i did this i aquired one of those hand held steamers it only cost a few pounds from e-bay.then all you do is fill it with water and out comes red hot steam which will kill anything infectious,lets hope the rest are ok

ken

Thanks everyone for your support.
As of this morning, both babies seem to be okay. Unfortunately I have to work all day, but my amazing boyfriend took the day off of work to stay home and keep an eye on them.
I put a heat lamp up for them, and gave them extr greens and a fresh millet spray. I also gave them some moulting/stress seed mix that has extra vitamins etc. I wish I had thought of that when we moved them, but they seemed to adjusting quite well and loving their new home that I thought we were in the clear... At least now I knkw for next time.
Ken, the steamer that you mentioned, I am assuming I need to take them out of the cage to do this, right?

I'm so sorry to hear of your baby Zebra. I'm glad to hear the other two are doing fine. I'm new to raising finches so I really don't have any advice, Just wanted to tell you I was sorry for the loss of your little one. How sweet of your boyfriend to take the day off to watch over the other two! You've got a keeper there.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't think you could have done preventively. 2 separate incidences like that happened with my chicken chicks. Since it was a closed group, I had come to the conclusion that it was an aspiration or heart failure. I think when we have pets, we will all lose some, and many times, we are guessing why. Sorry

So sorry for your loss. The death of an animal happens to even the best of the best. Prayers and condolences sent your way during this time of loss.

Sorry to hear that even taking the extra steps to take the little one to the vet, still wasn't enough....Just yesterday I had a similar event where one of my star hens was breathing with her mouth open and labouring....I immediately caught her, put Iverlux on her and changed her water to include Iverlux....I added a heat lamp a few hours later....Its seemed like minutes later I turned and looked at her and she was dead on the bottom of the cage....I was horrified...Had I not noticed she was sick?...Did I not see the signs?....Will my other birds get sick as well?....I have so many questions and I am still worried about my other birds....I have got them all on Iverlux to make sure they are treated for ASM but have been told it could have been a respiratory infection...They all seem healthy with no sighs of illness......It is so sad when you do your best for these little guys and still it might not be enough...

hi
sorry for not saying,yes the birds have to be removed the steam is very very hot

ken

Thank you everyone.
As of right now, both of the other babies appear healthy, about 48 hours after the first one died. Hopefully that means they will not get sick too. Still being vigilant and pampering them a bit
As this was my first clutch, I have definitely gotten some learning experience out of this unfortunate situation, so at least some good di come of it.
Trish, very sorry to hear about the loss of your star hen. I hope the rest of yours remain healthy as well.

So sorry for your loss! (()) Hugs.