My Zebra has a messy vent

[pattiej]

Hi everyone, I have a problem today. One of my female zebra finches has a problem with her vent! I noticed today she was picking at her behide and I saw a clump of dried white poop stuck to her so I caught her and pulled it off and I didn't see anything abnormal but now I noticed she is still picking at herself and the vent looks a bit swollen and it kinda looks like it's more bald around that area. I don't know what will help her cuz I have no idea what the problem is....

Here is some history on her in case it might help with any suggestions:
I got her and another female from a flea market about a month ago, she is in a cage with the other female. They seemed to be perfectly healthy , clean vents, eating, drinking, bathing, until today. They are both young the one that is sick now still had a bit of brown coloring left in her beak when I bought her , not much just the tip but now her beak is totally orange. I did find a couple of eggs this week at the bottom of their cage , I wasn't sure which one was laying them. It was only two days in a row and then no more eggs. that was a few days ago. so now I'm wondering if she has egg binding....

I went to ladygouldian.com to order some products that might help. But I was over whelmed with the number of products for bird problems..I don't know where to stat! What should I order?? not knowing whats wrong I don't even know what to order.... Plus by the time they get here who knows....

Any suggestions on what products might help? I was going to get S76 incase it was feather mites bothering her. but I just don't know.... I just feel overwhelmed, I don't want to order $200 worth of products, I just can't afford that right now. Boy, a $10 bird sure can cause some problems.

[cindy]

I'm not sure about treating her for mites, it does not sound like this is what is causing her problem. After you clean her up you can try putting a little mineral oil around her vent, if it was droppings stuck on her bottom it (urine) may have caused an irritation to her skin.

You don't think it was part of an egg on her bottom or was it droppings for sure?

[pattiej]

No I don't think it was part of an egg. I went to the store an got a tiny cage so I could put her in the bathroom with the hot shower running, that way at least she can be a a hot humid room. that's about all I can do for now..... the petstores really don't have any calaboost or anything like that. it's just so strange... she is so young and wasn't nesting or anything...

I'm going to get a couple products for mites and calcium just to have in the house for emergencies. I'm so bummed, I was so happy to find her and the other one because of their light colors. She is a real pretty fawn or cinnamon color and the other one is a cream color (no black tear drops) they both have lots of a peachy kinda color so I was real happy to find them. No black in them at all. I was hoping to find light colored mates for them after they grew up... hopefully she will be ok....

[cindy]

Try a little mineral oil around the vent area just to soothe the irritation, keep her warm with a heat lamp. Is she eating and drinking? No loose stools? Keep us posted.

[Nagdabit]

We have a hen with similar conditions that we battled for months. She never really displayed the classic sick finch symptoms, just had a really messy vent. We tried everything we could think of an after absolutely nothing gave her permanent relief we treated her and the whole room for worms. Two days later we found a really disgusting discharge in the one treat dish. it literally looked like a bowl of miniature spaghetti. It's been almost a month and she continues to make improvements. Getting ready to give her a second dose as per the instructions we received with the dewormer. Not saying for sure that's what your little girl has, but considering where you purchased her from and the lack of knowledge about her previous history, it might be worth a try. Plus it wouldn't hurt even if she doesn't actually have them.

We ordered ours from fellow forum member, Tiffany. Here is a link to her site.

http://www.gouldiansgalore.net/

The dewormer is called worm away and is listed under the Morning Bird products.

http://www.gouldiansgalore.net/morningb ... -away?i=20

Keep us up to date as to her progress.

[pattiej]

Thanks Nagdabit. I think I will get some dewormer and a few other products to treat all of my birds just incase. She seems fine today as far as flying around and eating and all (no sick symptoms) so we will see...

[Sally]

For an emergency hospital cage, you can put them in a small cage, set a gooseneck lamp with a 60w bulb pointed at one end of the cage, and lay a moistened towel over 2/3 of the cage--this will give the bird heat and humidity. Since you are in the Chicago area, check out justbirdstuff.com. Tammy is in the Chicago area, so might be able to get something to you pretty quick.