Very sick finch

[Grace]

A sick male bird with bad diarrhea (watery, mucus-like) always bobbing his tail or shanking himself, lethargy, barely eat or move, always cold, dropping wings, losing feathers around both eyes.

He has already showed the sign of lethargy every now and then since i got him two months ago. There's no avian vet anywhere so i took him to the vet, the vet first prescribed chlortetracycline and then a week ago he got much worst so the vet changed into amoxicillin but his condition is not any better, rather worst.

A little background
The store where i got him put him with 7 other finches in a tiny terribly dirty plastic cage.
When i got him i put him and his hen in 120x180 cm cage along with another pair.
His diets consist of seeds, apple, zucchini, hard boiled egg, cuttlebone, fresh water.
The weather has been rather crazy these past two months, about 22-23 c in the night to morning and 34-36 c during the day.
Right now, I put him in the hospital cage and keep him warm.

What should i do now, should I continue to give him amoxicillin?
I'm so hopeless, i don't know how else i could help him. It's so sad to see him sick.
And his babies're hatched this morning, so the hen is taking care of babies all by herself .

[ApricotMuffins]

Grace

Since you already have him in a hospital cage with heat, can you place a white paper towel or white paper underneath him on the bottom of his quarantine area, take photographs of his droppings, and post them here in the forum? It may help the members narrow down what exactly is bothering your poor finch.

I often notice that if I give a bird an antibiotic like amoxicillin, they get worse before they get better as the medicine kills off all of their gut bacteria, even the beneficial strains. Since you are already giving him antibiotics, keep an eye out for a possible fungal or protozoa infection flaring up, since the good gut bacteria helps keep some of the bad things lurking in check.

If you can, you may want to consider ordering a probiotic to give him after his treatment with amoxicillin is finished, assuming what your bird has is a bacteria infection, and not something else.

The one thing I'm noticing that is probably not directly related but might be contributing to your finch's condition is that from your list of foods that you've mentioned, I'm not seeing anything that is rich with vitamin A -- zucchini has a little, and apples have even less.

Anecdotal story time!

Once, I was purchasing a fawn cock from a family who unintentionally bred their pair of zebra finches and were trying to rehome the offspring. While I was there, I noticed there was a hen who looked like she was just going to give up the ghost right there. When I asked the person who was negotiating the sale about her, he just gave me her as a "freebie" since he suspected she was going to die anyway, and didn't want to figure out how to nurse her back to health.

The hen had had diarrhea, loss of appetite, wheezing, bad feather and beak condition, lethargy, clicking sounds when she breathed after flying too much, etc, but it turns out rather than infection, she was suffering from a vitamin a deficiency because she was fed a seed only diet in her former home, and she wasn't eating any of the dark green vegetables I offered to her since she was very suspicious of new foods. Eventually, I had to supplement through her water since I didn't have any powdered vitamins on hand, but after two weeks she had a noticeable improvement and has long since made a full recovery to a gorgeous full bodied hen.

I'm not saying that Vitamin A will cure an infection, but a vitamin A deficiency can compromise a bird's immune system, so it is something to consider while your get your boy back on his feet.

[MiaCarter]

ApricotMuffins covered the main points.

A photo of the droppings would definitely be helpful.

I would offer high-nutrition foods like egg. (And most love egg, so they're more apt to eat it.)

And I would get some unflavored pedialyte. Mix it 50-50 with water. That will help provide essential electrolytes and combat dehydration that can occur due to diarrhea and not eating/drinking enough.

I would also put a multi vitamin in his water.

Do you have a heat lamp for him?
Heat lamps are essential for sick birds.
You don't need anything fancy. A gooseneck desk lamp and 60 watt bulb is all you need.
They have cheap clip-on desk lamps at Walmart for $4.97. Put in a 40 or 60 watt bulb and put it right up against the cage, focused right on a favorite perch (or on the floor if that's where he's sitting.)
That will keep him warm, so he can use his limited body resources to fight the infection.

[Grace]

I took him to new vet and she told me to stop giving him amoxy and put George back on tetracycline for three days time and concentrate on giving him probiotics, vitamin and warmth like you already have suggested.
Also to stop giving him zucchini during this time; something about bird is cold blood animal and zucchini is cold food and something to do with the cold, i was a little blur.

Thank you for telling me about the watts for heat lamp. The one i'm using right now is a lot lower so i'm off to get the new one.

I attached some pictures. I'd be most grateful for any advice right now.

Thank you so much for your advice, you have no idea how grateful I am.
I'm so stressed out I got reflux

[Sheather]

Euuuuurgh... a bird is NOT cold-blooded... that makes no sense.

But zucchini, being so watery, isn't good if he has diarrhea, so that's right... but that reasoning is ridicules. Birds are warm-blooded animals.

[Grace]

Thank you for enlightening me on warm blooded issue.

I put multi v in his water and dried probiotics in his seed bowl (he's able to eat seeds today) should i put greeneries in there as well or should i wait until his stomach is better?

I have a question about padialyte. Is it human padialyte?

[Sally]

Personally, I'd go easy on the veggies till he is feeling better, many veggies can cause loose stools for a time. I don't get the cold reference at all. Yes, it is human pedialyte, what you find in stores for babies.

[Grace]

Yes she is Chinese. I must confess though I didn't really gather the whole conversation and it was a long one. I have sensory problem so sometimes out of the whole and can only grasp probably one or two sentences. Come to think of it, it must be my mixed up head.

I took a picture of single dropping but i'm not sure how to upload a vdo here so i upload it on youtube.
here's the link http://youtu.be/5F0e-fLnzaQ

And I couldn't get unflavored pedialyte so I use orange flavored instead, will be it okay?

[Grace]

He doesn't like me poking inside his cage. If I do that, he'll hop around frantically. I think I make him a bit stressed because I keep checking on him.

But most of the time other than diarrhea, he's always shanking (like when dog is cold) and his tail is bobbing. His breathing is quite fast.
He losses his appetite and just sits there by the heat lamb not moving for hours unless I approach him or when other birds come near his cage (i keep most of finches in the house).

I'll try again see if I can get a vdo of him. He looks like he's up and about but he isn't.

Dropping looks better because of probiotics i think, previously it looked like mucus, very jellyish.

[Grace]

I've three more videos but they are not clear. I try to show you the shaky wings.
http://youtu.be/u2uw7jU1zv8
http://youtu.be/pEUfN_PkLM0
http://youtu.be/zUsxDOphuc0

I should mention that I has never dewormed any of them.
Until recently, I usually put the cages outside in the morning so they could get the sun but there were lots of sparrows and wild birds hanging around their cages as well.

[Derk]

Grace - I am sorry that I can only send my best wishes. He is such a pretty little bird. I can confirm if you look closely especially at the second video, you can see the wing trembling. He definitely seems to be acting like he is cold and shivering to warm up. Good luck!

[Grace]

Thank you Mary. It breaks my heart to watch him sick like this. I really hope he'll recover. I saw him preening himself today. I hope it was a good sign, better than just sitting in a corner of the cage at least.

[finchmix22]

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the dropping looks sort of like the type when a finch has coccidiosis. Is it sticky or otherwise looking that way? I treat with Ronex 12 % if I suspect a fungal infection. Also, Baytril is a good one for coccidiosis treatment.

[finchmix22]

I forgot to add. When a finch is sick, the first thing to do if provide a heat source that they can be under and get away from. For example, I put a red heat lamp (available at most pet stores in the reptile section) clipped on the top of the cage/flight, over a branch. That way , They can sit under the heat bulb, on the branch or go to a different branch that is not under the heat bulb.
Second, I watch the droppings, as in your pic/video. Then, I decide on the most likely cause for choice of treatment. Sometimes, this is a guessing game,even when breeders are experienced. Lorraine at ladygouldian is great at helping to problem solve sick finches. Call her 1-800 number. Good Luck!

[finchmix22]

Again, I forgot, you should not give PRobiotics until after the antibiotic treatment is complete. Then, I'd give Probiotics for a week, in the water. I wouldn't add vitamins to the water, but offer a quality seed, maybe add a pellet, such as Le Feber pellets for finches. Offering a varety of fruits and vegetables, in addition to seed and cuttle bone or eggfood, offers the vitamins finches need. I stay away from watery type veggies if I observe loose or watery stools. My finches typically eat Romaine or Kale, sometimes, spinach, red, yellow and green peppers diced, carrots shredded and broccoli shredded or chopped. That seems to provice whatt they need and they eat it all up!! .