Emergency - Need Advice - Graphic Photos

[moonrise]

I found one of my zebra finch hens in terrible shape. She's only a few months old. She shares a cage with another hen, and they seemed to get along okay. Just a few very minor initial squabbles over whose perch is whose, but they quickly resolved it. Just typical zebra behavior. I'm not sure if she was injured due to a more serious squabble while we were asleep, or if she's sick.

The problem is her eyes and/or possibly her ears. I can't make heads or tails of what I'm seeing in the photos or in "real life". Both sides of her head, literally overnight. There are no other signs of injury, and the other hen seems perfectly fine. If there was a fight, the other hen escaped without even a losing feather. I've noticed that the injured/sick hen keeps scratching at the side that looks the worst. Could the "gooey-ness" be some kind of infection rather than an injury? If so, it sure happened FAST. (??)

I'm going to post some photos, but be warned: they're gross.

I've been giving her NV Powder and have her under some extra heat in a quarantine cage. She's really "soaking up" the heat. I wonder if Neosporin would help? She is eating and drinking (which surprises me, actually), and although a little clumsy, she's not flying into the cage walls as if she's totally blind. She does tend to face me with the side that looks the worst, as if she can see a bit out of that eye (or hear out of that ear?).

If she wasn't eating or drinking, I'd get DH to go ahead and put her down , but she seems determined to live. When I went to move her to the quarantine cage, she was VERY feisty. I had a hard time catching her. She's not even puffed up or anything, and again, she's eating and drinking.

Can any of you make heads or tails of the photos? If so, what would you do? (And if putting her down is the most humane thing, um ... how would be the best/easiest/fastest way? )

Here are the pics. Again, they're graphic, so stop here if you tend to be queasy. I think you can click them to enlarge them. (I'm not sure what the white stuff is on her beak. It wasn't there before.)

As always, thank you.

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[finchmix22]

How sad! She looks horrible. If this happened overnight, I am guessing she got pecked in the eye. The only other thing I can think of is if she scratched at herself so much she caused the irritation etc. Either way, I'd give her antibiotics to avoid an infection and put Neosporin or Teramyacin (eye anitbiotic ointment) on the infected areas. I think that would be the best first response. If she is eating and drinking, keep treating her for a week with the heat and ointment plus antibiotic straight to her beak, if you have some. Otherwise, put it in the water. Keep us posted. I hope she pulls through.

[lovemyfinch]

Poor little girl
It almost looks as if she got caught in something in fact looking at the scratches on her beak (I am assuming this is what is is) it looks as if she may have gotten her head caught, maybe the cage bars. If she is still eating and drinking, it is a good sign that she has some fight in her. I would put some neosporin on the scrapes, if nothing else to make sure that if there is an infection it would help clear her up. Best wishes with the little one, most of our little finches are stronger than we want to give them credit for, and hopefully this little one keeps up the will to live

The reason why I don`t think it would be the other hen, is because usually you would find the injury only on one side. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and please keep us up to date on how she is doing

[cindy]

I agree with Janine, it does not appear to be an aggression type of injury, especially considering the injury on both sides and the scratches to the beak. This is a physical injury, I would treat the water with Amoxitex and use the Neopsporin or an eye ointment (drug store) lightly on the areas, do not get it in her beak....give her heat. If she is eating and drinking I would not put her down but try to heal the physical damage first.

[L in Ontario]

I agree with Janine in that she probably got her head stuck somewhere in the cage and wiggled very hard to get loose. I don't think she was pecked - not in both eyes like that. I think the "gooey-ness" is soft tissue rather than infection. I don't think infection would set in that quickly. I also agree with the antibiotics via eye cream and in the water. Also keeping her in a small cage with the heatlamp is a great start with food and water on the floor and low perches if any. Best wishes for her.

[moonrise]

Thanks, y'all! DH has gone to get some Neosporin as we speak. I don't have any Amoxitex onhand (yikes ... pricey! ) but I can order some if need be.

It looks like she's taken a bath, because the gooey areas look drier and cleaner now. There's also a poop in her water cup, and we all know they can't take a bath without pooping in their bath water!

The white stuff (?) that was on her beak is mostly gone now. If it was a scratch, would the white have washed away? I've never seen that before. If it's not a scratch, I can't imagine what the white stuff was. It almost looked like a paint splatter. Strange.

I'll get some Neosporin on her as soon as DH gets back. That oughtta be fun! Hopefully it'll help her stop scratching at it.

A couple of new pics. Not pretty, but much less gross!

[moonrise]

Her left eye is okay! The Neosporin softened up the feathers around it, and she was able to open her eye fully. It's intact, and she can definitely see out of it. Whew. That's the side that doesn't look too bad, relatively speaking.

She's still scratching at the right side of her head. I still can't see that eye, but maybe the Neosporin will soften that side as well.

I dabbed a bit of Neosporin on her beak, too. The last bit of white is gone now.

I'm feeling MUCH more optimistic than I was earlier!

Thanks again for all the help!

[L in Ontario]

The white stuff (?) that was on her beak is mostly gone now. If it was a scratch, would the white have washed away? I've never seen that before. If it's not a scratch, I can't imagine what the white stuff was. It almost looked like a paint splatter. Strange.

Perhaps the white on her beak was actually some of the white 'paint/coating' from the cage. Check the cage over very carefully - every bar - to see if she got wedged in somewhere and in wiggling to free her head, she may have removed some of the coating/paint. Hopefully not, but best to check and rule that out.

[finchmix22]

I'm glad to hear she seems to be responding. The last pic of her looks like her beak is cracked??? Could she has tried to get to something she saw through the cage? ie; plastic leaves etc. If she got caught in the cage somewhere, you need to thoroughly check the cage for any oddities or place they can get stuck. Top, sides and bottom, plus anything hanging inside the cage too. They are easily stuck in spaces I would not imagine. I had one finch get its leg caught between the breeder door on the side/top of the cage because she was hanging onto the side and her foot happened to go between the par where door closes and the cage door opening. Hard to explain, but she was alright. We put some Neosporin on her leg and you cannot even tell she was injured. I would order the Amoxitex with rush shipping. You don't want her to get an infection and if she got bacteria in the wound and/or blood stream, she will need an antibiotic. Good Luck and keep us posted. BTW How is the other eye?

[G8love4finches]

Good luck with her!...Hoping she has a speedy recovery!!

[nelloyello11]

Oh my goodness! The poor little girl! Sending wishes for a speedy recovery for her!

[moonrise]

Updates:

Amoxitex is ordered. It probably won't be here until next week, considering the weekend, but maybe the Neosporin will hold her over until then.

I've gone over the cage, and don't find anything she could have hurt herself on. The cage is a standard 24x16 breeding cage ... black in color ... and there are no signs of a struggle or mis-spaced/bent bars or anything. The perches are the wood dowels that originally came with the cage ... same for the food cups ... and I had a plastic canary nest for her and a D-cup that the other hen liked to sleep in. There were also two cuttlebones. There were no signs of her getting trapped in or beside any of the "accessories", so I'm not sure what to think. As far as the white on her beak (the white is completely gone now), the nests are both white and the quarantine cage has white bars, but none of those seem to be missing any of their color. Sure wish I knew what happened so I could prevent it from happening again. I need to learn to speak "BIRD" so she can tell me what happened!

I checked over her beak to see if it was cracked, but that line that showed up in the photo isn't there in person. Maybe it was part of the weird white stuff that has now disappeared, or maybe it was a camera glitch or trick-of-light when I took the photo? Or a scratch that's improved now? I took some new pictures (below), and the line seems to be gone.

I think I'm going to change her name from Bambi to Enigma!

And as far as the bird herself, she's even more feisty now. If her face didn't look so awful, I'd never know there was anything wrong. She's chirping, playing on her swing, pigging out on spray millet, and acting perfectly normal. She's so active now that I had to take almost 30 photos just to get a couple of halfway decent ones. I still can't see her right eye, but I just dabbed a bit more Neosporin on her. It's hard to tell if it's swollen shut or if the feathers are matted, or what. It looks better than it did earlier. Her left eye is still improving and is still open.

[moonrise]

A few more pics (just for a smile) ...

[L in Ontario]

I can only suggest that you continue your current method of taking care of her. The antibiotics on the affected area and a heatlamp seem to be doing her a world of good. Do keep giving us updates. She sure is a cutie!

[moonrise]

Thanks! Here's a photo of Bambi, pre-"booboo". She was a single hatchling. The other zebra is one that her mom, Shelly, fostered at the same time. Shelly's such a good mother, with both her own babies and with fosters. But she's not getting any younger, unfortunately, and I'm hoping that Bambi will recover and (if I'm really lucky!) that she'll turn out to be like her mom.

I'll check on her again in a little while.