chapped vent- 2.5 wk hand feeding abandoned zebra

[amber_d]

My little houdi has been having more liquid poops than normal, quite frequently I find the little fellas bottom to be covered with white poop the past few days. Through research I found it may be yeast which may explain his stunted growth? Tomorrow I will be adding baby apple sauce (mixed with banana and pear as that's all I could find tonight) and a sprinkle 9 prebiotic lactobacillis and bifidobacillus. Hopefully this will help... he was tossed multiple times so I started hand feeding myself he was about a week old at the time with first time parents and there are still 3 they are successfully caring for. I am currently blending up some hard boiled egg with pedialyte, a bit of his former food (lafebers nutri start which I found was expired and couldn't find anymore anywhere, waiting for a new one to come in Monday) to prevent crop slow down and mixing in the main part which is kaytee exact until lafebers comes in. I am looking for advice on what to do for his vent which seems chapped and as to why his poop is runny and crusting (possibly yeast?) To keep it from becoming crusted I use a q-tip with a small amount of cod liver oil around his bum because it looks so sore dry and chapped. I'm hoping this isn't making it worse but I'm not sure what else is safe to put on it. I'm thrilled the little guy is still around ... first time having to hand feed. He yells louder than his siblings still in care of the parents and feeds well - really attaches to the syringe sometimes which is a great sign I have been told.

[Sally]

Diarrhea in handfed babies is often the sign of a yeast infection. Unfortunately, the best medication for yeast infections is nystatin (Medistatin), which is quite expensive. Plain organic baby apple sauce often works, substituting the apple sauce for some of the liquid in the formula.

It is usually suggested that once you have started with one brand of handfeeding formula that you stay with that and avoid switching brands, though I have done it successfully in the past. Is there a reason you are still using Pedialyte? I usually only use that for the first day or two, then I switch to bottled water.

As far as the chapped bum, all I've ever done is clean it at each feeding with warm water, never tried anything else.

[erine]

Oh, the poor little dear. You'll get lots of great advice here. What wonderful dedication you've shown so far.

[Arama]

My only suggestion on the bum is to treat it as a diaper rash. Clean it with warm water regularly. I understand your thoughts with the oil but I would stop with that and just keep only using water on a swab of some sort and maybe dab it dry when done.

[amber_d]

I'm using pedialyte still because I figured it would give him the best chance, he was slightly dehydrated when I found him I think, not sure how long he'd been on the bottom, his crop was completely empty, the crops of his sibblings in the nest were full. I figured with the diarrhea it would be good to continue with pedialyte to help combat fluid loss. Is there a reason to switch off of it? and I was thinking maybe I could try coconut oil to moisturize? or even burt's bees as it is natural... his bum gets pretty hard crusted and takes a LOT of rubbing to get it off, so i end up holding his bum under warm running water to loosen it, then gently take off the white crust.

[Sally]

I've never continued using Pedialyte, so can't advise you on that. I've also never had a baby with diarrhea that crusted that hard on their little bum, I've always been able to wipe it off with a wet tissue/warm water.

[lovezebs]

amber_d

Hi.
I would gust clean his little toosh with warm water, and dry it gently and completely with a tissue. Personally, I wouldn't usecod liver oil, as I find it gets sticky and stinky. Do you have some light olive oil?

Re: Diet, if I remember right, handfeeding formula has everything in it that they need, so I don't think you need to supplement with too many things, other than apple sauce for possible yeast problems.

Good luck.

[cindy]

white popcorn type dropping that stick to the bottom can be protozoa... they parents likely stopped feeding the baby because they sensed the baby was ill. You can mix up ronex 12% or ronivet 12% and make your formula with this, you can also add a bit of ACV (apple cider vinegar, organic) a few drops to the mix. If this is protozoa you will want to keep an eye on the other young, especially once they fledge...if the parents stop feeding to wean and the young look sickly you may need to treat them also along with the parents.

If you use applesuace it need to be un-sweeten organic... if this is yeast you do not want to use more sugar, sugar can encourage yeast growth.

https://ladygouldian.com/content/intern ... er-finches

[amber_d]

They are first time parents so I'm wondering if 4 was too much for them to handle because he was about a week old when he was tossed. I've never had a problem with protozoa before with my birds (that I'm aware of... only had one small baby die and one fledgling), started with 4 and they kept having babies.... I currently have 12 plus the 3 new babies and my little fella (16 total at the moment). this batch was an oopsie with eggs that I missed, I normally replace their eggs with plastic ones. I'm not sure if the poop is popcorn like.... lately it has been more brownish, his poops are more formed since I have been mixing his formula with baby apple sauce and a sprinkle of probiotic. He's doing good it seems, still cries incessantly for food even when he's full if he sees me. He's filled out more feather-wise and has gotten a bit bigger.

[Derk]

amber_d
Hopefully Sally and Cindy will chime in again. If he is doing better, which it sounds like he is, I am not sure if you should change anything at this point. Regardless, good luck and keep us posted.

[cindy]

It sounds like he is making progress... if the droppings are well formed and not running that is good. The droppings will be light tan-ish color from formula. Since the probiotic seems to be working then possibly he may have had some sort of bacteria issue and the probiotic is handling it.

I did some reading on probiotic, often children with sever diarrhea can not be given the anti-diarrhea drugs adults use, some hospitals and doctors are trying treatments involving probiotics, in some cases they do see great improvement. The body is given good bacteria to fight off the bad in the GI tract.

Continue to monitor his droppings and weight, if he is well rounded in the belly and full in the upper chest area, is gaining weight and growing that is good. If he looses weight and you can see the breastbone/keel and the belly looks very thin please let us know.

[amber_d]

his dropping are not tan, they are kind of dark. when I bathe him for the poop stuck on him I can see the ridge on his chest. I wish I could post pictures but for some reason I can't
He is 3 weeks old but looks more like 1 &1/2 weeks
Here is a link to my pinterest board "Houdi" where I uploaded photos just for this purpose, showing his poops etc, because I'm sure its easier to see than for you to understand my explanations!!
https://www.pinterest.com/ambitious90/houdi/

[amber_d]

I've run into a new problem- Either he got sick from me trying to soak his poop off, or at some point between 7-8 he aspirated. He's making a small clicking noise when he's breathing. He also occasionally seems to gag/choke. His head goes forward almost as if coughing. I'm really concerned.... from what I have been reading once they aspirate there is nothing that can be done? what are the chances of him surviving at this stage? (3 wks old, looks more like a 1&1/2- 1&3/4 wk old in size and feather cover)

His bum was really sore looking today... looked kinda raw. I ended up putting some polysporin on a q-tip and putting it just on that area only. I had to soak him again today to remove the hard crusted poop, I try to take it off every feeding...but still sometimes when I go to feed every 2 hours it is already dried up. this was directly after feeding him, then I put him in my shirt where I had a cloth rolled up for him to sit on in a sports-type bra for him to dry up and stay warm.

[Sally]

Clicking sounds can be a sign of aspiration. Sometimes, babies will die almost immediately from aspirating, but they can also have a partial aspiration, which may take days/weeks before they fail. I often feel that babies that are abandoned by parents may be for a reason, the parents know that something is wrong, and they will not waste their time/effort on babies that will not make it. We come along and try to save everything, and sometimes it just was not meant to be. I hope your baby does well, but he has an uphill battle.

[amber_d]

He's still kicking. he's filled out feather wise, and is a bit bigger. He's perching strong, flying now and starting to eat by himself. He doesn't understand the concept of hulling, and avoids seeds all together- currently he is eating zupreem but mostly eats Lafeber's finch diet granules in addition to his handfeeding formula (Lafeber's nutri-start 5x a day 0.6ml) I had him on the pink strawberry flavoured antibiotics but he won't take it anymore, I've tried everything to trick him into taking it but hes figured out all my tricks. So on advice of my avian vet we switched to a pill we crush up, dissolve in water diluted as per the vet, and use that in his instant powder hand feed formula.
BUT he's been so itchy... today he scratched of a bunch of his cheek feathers and he keeps chewing on his toes. Not sure what I can do to sooth his skin irritation.... any suggestions? I've had my other birds 2.5yrs so I don't think its any kind of lice, because the rest are all fine