Gouldian Acting Different

[birdclaws]

Medicine was suppose to arrive yesterday, but I guess it got delayed due to the snow.

Chester is showing a little bit of improvement. I'm not getting my hopes up, but he is perching better than he was a few days ago. He is not so much twirling his head in a bunch of directions, but mostly just leaning his head to the left side.

I'm hoping this is just an ear infection and the medicine will help him out.

[birdclaws]

I've been giving him both medistat (on oil covered millet) and the tri-sulf in water for the last 5 days with no signs of improvement. I'm not sure at what point I give up. I don't think he should have to live with this condition. I may wait until he has at least finished his molt and I may have to put him down.

[PrettyBird]

Aw, sorry to hear I would feel the same if I was in your position. I would probably want to put the little one down as well, if there was no improvement and it was getting worse...

[Sharona]

I am so sorry. He appears to be a sweetheart. I don't think I could watch him suffer either. I'm sending prayers that the medicine begins to work!

[kheather]

I am so very sorry. It is so hard to watch these little creatures struggle with stuff. You feel so helpless and scared for them. I would make him a softfood to eat if he isn't eating much seed. Mine love my eggfood that I make for my canaries.

[nixity]

It must be the month of twirling, my prized male Astley started to twirl last week.

There goes that breeding possibility.. *sigh*

Here's a video of him in the beginning stages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpJLLVvbjMg

[CandoAviary]

Looks that way. You can try to treat for an ear infection and hope that's what it is. No cure for twirling. I have 3 that are not severe cases and they have lived happily for over a year with no worsening. They still eat and drink well but spend most of their time on the cage floor... not much for perching.
I had one totally recover but out of 4 that suffered from this only one regained normalcy. Has never relapsed and it's been over a year.
So sorry to hear about your boy, Tiffany

[nixity]

He hasn't gotten any worse yet so right now I'm just keeping an eye on him. If it's fungal inner ear the only thing I have that I could use is a fungal med meant for fish and I don't want to use it unless it's a last resort because it scares me to use an aquarium med for him.

Medistatin wouldn't work because it has to come into contact to work.

[birdclaws]

The medistatin has to physically come in contact with the ear(if it's an ear infection)? I've been coating seed in plumage oil for him to ingest...

Did you ever check out the name of the anti-fungal fish medication? I'm kinda at the point where I'm giving up, I could try the fish medicine in small amounts to see if it has any effects.

I'm sorry to see this happen to you too, again..

[birdclaws]

Here is Chester, he has been twirling for two weeks now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdpc_9m ... _ux1qcg6tZ

[CandoAviary]

Tiffany, the one that recovered from twirling was given Trimethoprim sulfa for 2 periods of 10 day dosage with an interum of 7 days off with probiotics adminstered. I have no idea if the meds worked of if the bird spontaneously corrected the problem due to an increased minerals and vitamins. The only other thing that I thought was strange was that he was being treated in a cage in the gouldian breeding room. He had developed this problem while he and his mate were on eggs. (they did not hatch as the hen abandoned the nest) After treatments and time..about a month I moved his cage into the large aviary where birds were flying free. He seemed to be most intersted in his new surroundings. The next day as I walked throught the aviary I was taken back by the siight of him sitting straight up on the perch...never to have twirled again. I tried moving the others...even to the outdoors but no miraculous healing.
I have tried the same treatment for my others but they did not correct but also have never gotten worse. I wonder if the drum may have ruptured to the point of no healing? Two of the twirlers came from another source as breeders. One silver, healed and is perfectly healthy now...though he will never be bred.
The other a blue that did die after becoming entangled in the cage bars.
Three of my breedings have produced twilrers... 3 different clutches, 3 different mutations. A BH PB Dilute, YH PB YB df, and a RH PB GB all developed it just as they were finishing there coloring, about 6 to 8 months old. The siblings went on to reach total maturity without incident. I believe I will conduct another round of treatments and I have put them on ioford and dufoplus regiment recently. Since these birds have not gotten worse and don't seem to be suffering..the males even sing, I will continue to try to cure/experiment. They have had this condition from 6 months to a 2 years.

[DanteD716]

I hope he gets better

[nixity]

Did you ever check out the name of the anti-fungal fish medication? I'm kinda at the point where I'm giving up, I could try the fish medicine in small amounts to see if it has any effects.
.

Ketaconazole 200mg - If I'm remembering correctly from the instructions I got, you crush one pill and dissolve it in a little bit of apple cider vinegar and then mix it with 1liter of water. But let me ask my brother to look at the bag and text me so I know for sure. (I brought all my meds over to his place since he's the one that's got the majority of the birds now).

[birdclaws]

Any updates on you gouldian Tiffany?

I got a forwarded e-mail from a local bird friend recommending that the medications are both light sensitive, and should be mixed and changed twice a day because of that. Has anyone ever heard of this? I'm going to try this and see if any improvement occurs. I haven't been treating him with either medication for a week now.

My next plan was to research herbal remedies that would be bird-safe. He has been acting the way he was before, singing and being curious as ever, it just seems like he need a little boost of something to kick him out of it. I'm not convinced that this is bacterial or fungal, and I'd like to hope that there is some way to cure this!

[nixity]

Well he hasn't gotten any worse, so I'm just monitoring the situation for right now. He's not doing anything unless I approach the cage so that's good I guess