FINCHforum

I have a red headed Gouldian, Percy, 3 years old currently going through a full moult. He was fine for the first month, then developed large droppings which became loose with lots of liquid. He then started hunkering down on his perch with what looks like respiratory distress and a pronounced heart beat alternating with looking completely normal whilst eating and moving around the cage.

I took him to an avian vet and she listened to his chest and said that he had a respiratory infection and prescribed Baytril in the beak twice a day. This seemed to help initially for the first day as he started to stretch his new wings and fly around the cage. The following day he went back to hunkering on the perch alternating with eating and looking normal.

He’s been treated for air sac mite one day a week with s76. He has eggfood daily with Birdcare Company Easy Bird Rest Moult and Show in it, Planet Aviary Maintenance Seeds with Turbobooster, Micronutrients, alfalfa powder and garlic powder on them, ioford and dufoplus two days a week in his water, access to Feast, oyster shells, charcoal, mineral powder, cuttlefish, and pea shoots and other greens every day.

His friend, Sirius, seems fine although the vet listened to his chest and said he had a slight respiratory infection too. But he’s not hunkering on his perch at all and is active around the cage.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what’s wrong with Percy?

I wondered if it was a Protozoa infection and if I should treat him with Ronivet?

Elgolmoon

I'm not sure I can help with diagnosis/treatment, but try putting a ceramic heat lamp on top of the side of his cage that doesn't have the water dish, but make sure he can get away from the heat if he likes. Warmth reduces the amount of energy they have to use to stay warm, letting the body focus more on fighting the pathogen.

Get rid of the garlic. It is mildly toxic to some birds.

I tried a heat lamp but he was completely freaked out by it. Also tried putting him in a hospital cage for warmth but he fought to get out of it for two hours but The room temperature is at 27 at the mo (I like it warm too).

Elgolmoon

All right, that sounds warm enough.

Thanks for your help.

I read on the forum that you shouldn’t mix charcoal and medicines so have taken that out of the cage today as he’s often partial to charcoal. I’ve also added Ronivet to the water. He seems to be slightly more active since doing both of those and is hunkering down on the perch for shorter periods. Fingers crossed.