FINCHforum

I went to feed my owls tonight and I found one of my babies on the ground. I picked him up and he looks like he threw up. He's covered in orange goop and is gasping. I tried to clear his airways as much as I could and he's still sputtering stuff out. Is there anything I can do besides heat??

Dayna
Could you get a picture? There is likely not much you can do aside from keeping the airway at the base of his tongue (glottis) clear... Can you tell if the orange stuff (eggfood?) is coming from his throat or glottis? If it's from his throat the prognosis seems better, but if it is coming from the glottis, then he is likely asphyxiating; in this case he will most likely die. I unfortunately don't have many suggestions...

Dayna

Sadly, if your baby has aspirated food into his lungs, there is really nothing you can do....

I'm so sorry.

Were the parents feeding him?

Icearstorm You can definitely hear that it's in his lungs. I was actually surprised to see that he was still alive and somewhat breathing so I decided that if he was going to fight then I would do my very best to help him survive even though I know how slim those chances are. I made a nice soft bed for him under a heat lamp and have been wiping away stuff as it comes up. He's perked up quite a bit a couple times but I don't know if that's a sign he's getting better or one of those last bouts of energy before death kind of thing. I'm hoping that he can pull through but I'm not holding those hopes to high.

@lovezebs He is actually 3 years old which is what's so surprising to me that this is happening. I've never seen an adult bird aspirate before...

Dayna

Sorry for the misunderstanding.
In your initial post, you mentioned a 'baby', so I assumed it was an infant.

If you are hearing clicking or crackling in his lungs, I would suspect air sac mites. I am posting a link about this problem which you might find helpful.

Best wishes...

http://ladygouldianfinch.com/features_airsacmites.php

lovezebs I apologize. I can see why you would think I was referring to a baby. I should have clarified that he wasn't an actual baby.

I'm familiar with air sac mites and he's been free of them. He passed away last night I knew that the chances of his survival were very slim to none at the point I found him but you always hold out that last hope that they will pull through.

Thank you both for trying to help

Dayna

I'm so sorry Dayna.

Sometimes as much as we want to help, there is really nothing we can do

Dayna So sorry to hear about your little one

My condolences. Any idea what may have caused him to aspirate himself?

I'am so sorry for your loss.

Dayna
Sorry for your loss .
Do you think it could have been trichomoniasis? Unlikely, but it's all I can come up with:
Trichomoniasis in finches

Dayna

So sorry for the loss of your little owl. Sometimes no matter what we try nature just takes its course.

MisterGribs The only thing I can think is maybe he over stuffed himself? I actually just got him and another the beginning of January from a guy who is a hobby breeder but I'm not sure if he breeds owls or not. He told me he had a nasty infection that had gone around and wiped out quite a bit of his flock but he said that he was sure he had things under control by the time I came around. I've kept the two owls that I bought in a completely separate area from my other finches just to monitor them and they have not once shown any sign of illness. The male (one that passed) would sing his little head off all day and was very active. I didn't notice anything abnormal in their droppings either. Being that the vomit was orange it makes me wonder if he over stuffed himself on the zupreem pellets I gave them. I started off with just giving them seed and fresh foods but wanted to keep their diet as close to what they were used to as possible so I added in the pellets and they loved them. Ate them more than anything else. Could it be possible that that would be the case?

@Icearstorm I'm really not sure what happened. It doesn't sound like trichomoniasis because I clean the cage regularly and their droppings have all been normal, he's never been frothy around the beak and as I said above neither of them have once shown any signs of illness so this one really has me stumped.

@Everyone thank you all for the kind words and still trying to help me figure out what went wrong.

Dayna
Hmm... that's certainly bizarre. Perhaps some sort of impaction in the stomach or upper intestine could have led to the bird feeling like it was starving and thus stuffing itself until no more food could fit in its crop? I think it would stop eating once its crop filled, but maybe not. If impaction was higher up, perhaps he was unable to empty the crop easily, resulting in a blockage in the esophagus followed by regurgitation in efforts to relieve pressure on the trachea and help breathing. The fact that the orange stuff seemed to be sucked into the respiratory tract after it was regurgitated does not seem to support this... In any case, that is rather strange. Are you going to get a necropsy of the bird? This may be able to help.

Icearstorm I think that is a great idea! The closest avian vet to me is 4 hours away but I will give them a call on Monday and see about getting that done to find out what happened with the little guy and put this mystery to rest.