Male zebra finch started having seizures

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StodOne
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Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:23 am

Well the first time it happaned 2 days ago and i heard shaking of paper , as i went to see i saw him flapping his wings on the ground and rolling around , i thought he was dying..
The seizure lasted some 15 seconds .
I thought he was just frightened of something.
Tommorow he had couple of seizures during the day and today he also started having them more frequently.
I went to the vet he prescribed Enrocin 10% after what I explained what was going on.
I didnt bring the bird to him as he told me that there was no need because they dont have the equipment to do it.
Under Enrocin 10% it says Enrofloksacin 100 mg as an active substance , Aiding substanced Benzin alcohol and propelyne glycol .
I have put 6 drops in his drinking water and he got one more episode after drinkinging some 2 minutes after drinking it , after that he didnt have an episode for maybe 1 more hour it seems either that helped or that i moved him away from other birds so he can rest.

He is fluffed up and looks tired but i think this is because he probably hasnt slept enough last night he might have had more episodes while i was asleep.

I had given him a hard boiled egg , and seeds in a shallow dish .

Any advice would be apreciated and if you know if this Enrocin 10% can help.

PS. I forgot to say that the last seizure he had was couple of minutes after eating , i dont know if that is related , and when he does have a seize he pushes his head upwards as if someone was pushing his head up and falls over on his back , he did show this behavior couple of days prior to having seizures where he holds his head upwards as if his center of balance was off.
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:50 am

Yes the seizures definitely seem less frequent
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:24 pm

I have noticed that this seizure happens only while he is trying to eat , ive made nest like hole with the bedding , left him in there for some time and he didnt have a seizure at all , it was only when he tried to eat that he got this seizure.
The way he acts when he gets this seizure , his back bends outwards basically like a banana and he keeps rolling backwards as he does this , it might not be a seizure it might be some sort of vertigo? maybe he is out of balance so that when he lowers his head to eat it gets knocked out ?
Please help i honestly dont know what to do :(
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by wildbird » Tue Aug 20, 2019 11:22 pm

I don't know what is wrong with him, but it is good that they are less frequent. Does this happen when he goes to drink water too? Try placing a sprig of millet so that he has to keep his head up to get it, and see if the same thing happens. Wish I could be of more help. Good luck with him.

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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:45 am

wildbird Thanks a lot for suggestion , i kind of started helping him out when he wants to eat , i just hold my hand around him and he doesent start doing it , it is weird i feel like when he is in my hand that he cant start having an episode .
Also i noticed that when his head reaches a certain point of lifting up , thats when he gets the episode as if he tipped over and started just flipping , that is why they are so short i feel , as soon as i grab him and make him stop rolling he sort of finds his center of balance i am not sure what it is?
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by wildbird » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:09 pm

I don't know either. Possibly head injury or nerve damage. He might have gotten scared of something & hit the wire or something in the cage. Hopefully, with time, he will improve.

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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:11 pm

wildbird Thanks a lot mate for your help , he was improving slowly he stopped having any of the episodes for 2 days streight then had 1 episode the 3rd day after he started doing better , and now for like im not sure how many days now , no signs of any episodes , he is doing a lot better , I have placed a perch in his little hospital cage and he eats and drink himself now no need to help him anymore.
The only thing i am wondering is whether i should continue to give him that enrocin antibiotic , i've read on the instructions that if he doesent get better after 5 days to contact the vet , he certainly did get better .
he isnt on constant medication i give him for half a day the medicine just to make sure if there is anything left that was there that it clears out , a few days i didnt even give him any medicine , no signs of the illness comming back , only getting better day by day.
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by wildbird » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:04 pm

Usually with antibiotics, they are only given at most for 14 days. Here it's always on the prescription how long to give. It seems that should be long enough now. If in doubt, you could call the vet as to when to stop. I'm glad he is doing well, and hope that he continues to improve. He is lucky to be in your care.

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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 3:19 pm

wildbird
Sorry for being so persistent .. but my male zebra started regurgitating food just a bit earlier .
He shakes his head quickly and regurgitates some intact seeds and some a little bit discoloured and a little bit of some slimy liquid , what should I do , should I give him some water anything pls?
Last edited by StodOne on Sat Sep 14, 2019 3:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 3:20 pm

StodOne he also at random points shakes his head as if something what bugging him out , he did eat more then usual before regurgitating and drank also..
He ate nothing other then seeds and hard boiled egg today.
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:03 pm

Also while sleeping he occasionally kind of kicks his body up , maybe he is just getting comfortable or something hut I don't know .

God I hate this so much , I managed to get him back up and then all of a sudden something else happens...
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:51 pm

He started clicking as he was breathing and then he kind of shook his head and clicking stopped , I'm afraid that something got stuck in his throat or something like that.
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:28 pm

He is tottaly limp now almost as if he was in a coma , he only responds when he gets on the side by nudging himself back on his stomach .
His head keeps falling down , he breathes heavily and keeps making a clicking noise
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by StodOne » Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:29 pm

He is opening his beak to breathe
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Re: Male zebra finch started having seizures

Post by Dave » Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:29 am

StodOne, you really are keeping a good eye on your bird!

My opinion, which is only that:

The odd behavior while eating sounds like a virus that has messed up his sense of balance. Antibiotics won't help. Nothing will really help, if it is a virus.

I don't know what to say about the regurgitating.

The clicking might be air sac mites.

How old is this bird?

What I'm going to say here isn't a popular opinion on this site, probably. But when I have a bird as sick as yours, I cull him.

About the only medicine that I've used that actually cured a problem are treatments for worms or insects or air sac mites. And even those require recurring treatments.

Birds are notoriously difficult to cure successfully, which is why there are so few vets that work with birds.
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