Something is wrong with one of my gouldians

[Lisa]

Something is wrong with my male gouldian. He has been sitting on the floor of the cage most of the morning. He usually climbs in the food dish to eat so at first I wasn't as alarmed that he was down there, but then I realized he had been down there a while. When I would stick my hand in the cage, he would not fly from it. In fact, he would let me touch him and then after a few seconds, run to the other side of the cage.

He is eating all morning, haven't seen him take a drink but he may have. He is intermittently twitching on the bottom of the cage. I just removed him from his partner and put him in a hospital cage with a heating pad wrapped around half of the cage, towels lined on the bottom, some of his favorite seed, and a very small dish of water. When I reached in to get him, he just sat there and let me grab him. He doesn't really appear puffed up at all, which seems weird under the circumstances.

[DanteD716]

Hm.. I don't know, I hope he is okay.

[Jossi]

Im not sure but the twitching part could indicate twirling. I have a male gould that started twirling about a month ago and he is staying on the bottom of the cage at all time, eating and drinking as normal, but twiching his head and unable to fly and land on a pearch, just drops to the bottom
He has stoped trying to fly and now he just stays at the bottom, so I have made it as comfortable as possible for him on the ground.

[purplejasminevn]

This was what happended to mine - I deleted the video-
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19048

I hope your will be ok- I would move him to hospital cage with heat lamp

[Lisa]

Oh gosh, I hope that's not what it is. I was doing some searches to see what twitching could possibly mean and saw two instances where toxins were mentioned. All of the other birds are their perky selves and seem fine, including the gouldian's partner. I opened up the sliding door and let the room air out for a few mins, just in case. The only two things that happened today that were any different than normal is 1. I offered all the birds apple this morning (no seeds, no outer skin) but it really looks like they've all snubbed it - they've never had apple before. And 2. The Terminix guy was here checking the outside bait traps. There is one that is close to the door but they are enclosed in plastic and buried underground.

Anyway, I took Neptune upstairs and put him in our master bath and ran the shower hot so the room filled with some warm steam just to make it a little warmer for him. He's still in the hospital cage, with heating pad around it and has parked himself in the warm corner. He's continuing to eat, seems a little less lethargic, and SLIGHTLY more chipper. I don't want to speak too soon. He hasn't twitched once since I brought him up there and his eyes seem open more. Two other things I noticed when I first removed him from his regular cage, his body felt cold to the touch, and his eyes looked half shut like he was super sleepy.

I hope he's okay. I'm going to log off for a while and sit with him up there so I can keep a close eye on him.

[CandoAviary]

Sorry for your little bird. Many times starvation will cause these symptoms. Not that he atsrved from no food but the inability to process the food. Gounf light is what it is referred to.. they sit at the food bowl and look to be eating.. though they eat very little and what they do eat they can not utilize... the twitching could be nerve responsed to organ failure. When you picked him up was he light weight, sharp keel bone in the chest? cool to the touch (lack of blood circulation will make them cold) Many causes for going light but usually is from disease

http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/featur ... glight.php

[Lisa]

Wow, there is a lot of scary stuff out there

I really hope he is not afflicted with twirling or going light. One of the reasons I held out on getting gouldians so long was they seemed to be more susceptible to twirling (at least every bird I ever read about getting that was a gouldian). This would be my nightmare come true. The going light scenario is scary also as he spends a good amount of time eating. I will say this much - he is a VERY fussy eater. He doesn't care much for the regular seed (a store bought finch mix) but he seems to really love this canned (and expensive!) seed I have called Songbird Treat. When I picked him up, he didn't feel any different than any regular finch other than the cold body temp.

I kept him upstairs with me for the last several hours, away from all the singing & calling of the other birds. About an hour ago, he was perching on the side of his food dish and finally off the floor/out of the dish. I brought him back downstairs and thought maybe he'd get curious with all the other bird chatter and start to get around a little more. He did - he immediately started trying to fly to a perch but couldn't get up there. I gave him a little stepping stool and now he's gotten himself on the perch and is sleeping. He did drink plenty of water (I watched him) before going back up. I still think he is not feeling well but seems to be doing a little better. He's still got the heating pad around half of the cage. He is preferring to sit on that side with the heat.

One other thing, his beak is a little pointy - not to the point where I believe it's interfering with eating but he doesn't seem to use the cuttlebone I've provided. I am fearing that one of these days I'm going to have to address it myself if he doesn't first. I certainly don't want to stress him out trying to do something about it right now while he's ill but what can you do for a bird to prevent it snowballing into a bigger problem later?

[Cath1068]

If you referring to beak trimming it is really very simple and takes all of 2 seconds so there really isnt too much stress. I have to trim my canary Lillys beak as she refuses to use the cuttlebone. It takes me 2 secs and its all done. Other then that I am not sure what else to tell you. I do hope he gets better.....

[DanteD716]

Lisa, please be careful when doing he hot steam thing, I have heard of the birds chilling because the moisture get them wet, and then when the warm steam goes away they get cold. I hope he is okay

[cindy]

Lisa, if you hold him is his breast full or is the breast bone sticking out?

Do you had a heat lamp? It might be more direct heat for him.

[ac12]

If you use a heat lamp, keep it on 24 hours a day.
Turning off at night will let the bird get cold.
They will get used to the light and sleep even w the light on.

[Lisa]

Well, he's been hit or miss most of the night. He did sleep on the perch without a problem for about an hour & a half but now he's back on the floor again. He is mostly sleeping but wakes every now and then and will go to get some food or a bit of water. Occasionally, he will perch on the food dish edge or the water container for a little while. I think he will make it through the night but I'm not sure he will be much different in the morning at this rate.

I don't have an actual heat lamp. I'm kicking myself now for not getting one - my birds have never really gotten sick for more than an hour or so at a time and the heating pad has always been sufficient. I will head to the pet store first thing in the morning and pick one up. I've added a desk lamp that puts off some heat too alongside his cage. He's sleeping directly under it. If you put your hand under it, you can feel the warmth it's generating onto him.

He's still not puffy, seems to be breathing ok, I picked him up and examined his breast - it does not seem unusual to me. His back does feel a little boney but only when I'm actively feeling it. When you just hold him normally, he feels like any other bird. His biggest issue at this point seems to be being off balance. He will do well when he's sitting or perched but if he stretches or tries to preen himself, he loses his balance quickly. He's not been doing anything strange with his head to indicate twirling or stargazing but that's not to say it couldn't be that. The starvation thing is really making me nervous because he does spend a lot of time in the food dish - especially the last few days. I just thought he was being extra picky about which seeds he wanted - when he's in there, he is actually eating (or appears to be), he's not just sleeping in there or anything like that. As I said, he really doesn't seem to care for the regular seed mix but I've given him the songbird treat and he keeps eating that eagerly. He is completely ignoring millet though, which is unusual too. He hasn't sung in 2 days - we had company over yesterday so I attributed it to strangers being in the room and today, of course, he was not doing well at all.

I will keep you guys posted. Hopefully he will be a little bit better in the morning.

[purplejasminevn]

[Cath1068]

You will save money if you go to a hardware store like home depot or lowes and get a dome light. You have to make sure it has a ceramic socket to help absorb the heat. They are likely about 3-4 dollars cheaper then the pet stores. I use a 40 or 60watt clear bulb during the day and a red at night when mine feel sick or chilled.

Cathy

[lovemyfinch]

How is he this morning hun? I sure hope he made it through the night.