FINCHforum

Quick before I order some S76....

My older female gouldian wheezes a bit and occasionally breathes with her beak open. Her son, when I hold him up to my ear, is is also wheezing. The only other thing either of them does is the female has seemed a little more wobbly than usual; she has always been an occasional stargazer, but seems to be doing it a bit more often lately.

kittani79 wrote:Quick before I order some S76....

My older female gouldian wheezes a bit and occasionally breathes with her beak open. Her son, when I hold him up to my ear, is is also wheezing. The only other thing either of them does is the female has seemed a little more wobbly than usual; she has always been an occasional stargazer, but seems to be doing it a bit more often lately.

Could be ... but it could also be a respiratory infection.

Should I also find some antibiotics, do you think?

As far as I know, none of my birds has had ASM, but everything I read says you will hear a distinct clicking sound when you hold them up to your ear. Wheezing does sound more like respiratory infection than ASM, but it is hard to say. It's good to have a few meds on hand all the time, since so many of them have to be ordered online, and not available at the typical pet shop.

This is an example of a severe ASM infection showing classic symptoms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJWsARhbbOE

Oh... no, mine isn't clicking like that. I had never imagined it would be that loud!

This is just a wheeze... can't even hear until you catch them and listen.

kittani79 wrote:Oh... no, mine isn't clicking like that. I had never imagined it would be that loud!

This is just a wheeze... can't even hear until you catch them and listen.

What size cage are they in?
Seems possible maybe they are just out of shape? ;P

It's 36"x18"x18". But the male was the first bird I caught; certainly not enough chasing to cause this.

Do the wheeze otherwise - if they are just in the cage; not after having been caught?

I can't hear the wheezing unless I'm holding them. So...maybe?

kittani79 wrote:I can't hear the wheezing unless I'm holding them. So...maybe?

Are you seeing any other indications that the birds would be ill?
Fluffed feathers, sleeping during the day (excessively), droopy wings, lethargic, diarrhea or strange poops, etc?

If not - I would just keep an eye on them for now, it's probably nothing serious.

No, the only other thing that seems to be happening is Milly is stargazing a little more. She's always done it some, and is admittedly ancient, by finch standards, so until I heard the wheezing I was just chalking it up to old age finally getting the best of her.