A freak accident....what the heck? Finch with sliced back...

[Nerien]

If it looks like feather mites, you can get spray to treat those with, and it's usually very effective. All three birds will need to be treated, even if the other two are not showing signs of it, yet. You should be able to get the spray at a local pet store.

[StarSpun]

If it looks like feather mites, you can get spray to treat those with, and it's usually very effective. All three birds will need to be treated, even if the other two are not showing signs of it, yet. You should be able to get the spray at a local pet store.

Ok great! Do you know if S76 will do the job or if I need to get a different spray? And I wonder if they can be used at the same time....?
Thanks Nerien!

[StarSpun]

Ok, I think it's official! They ALL have mites. All excessively grooming. Going to spray them down with S76 and then see what happens for tomorrow. Ugh!

Poor things!!!!

[StarSpun]

Update! Just got home and all three birds are active and happy. All their food is GONE! I gave them miracle food with kelp powder and ground up cuttle bone mixed in it. I also gave them a separate dish of ground up egg shells and some scrambled eggs. Their water was treated with S76. HUGE improvement. I don't want to knock it, but yeah....I feel MUCH better now:-)

Going to continue with some other treatments, worm away, probiotics, etc....since they are relatively new:-)

Thanks everyone again for your help. Will give updates as things progress:-)

[StarSpun]

Another update! All is normal again....! Must have been mites. How crazy! Everyone is acting normal, no more excessive grooming. Going to keep up with the S76 and do preventative. I will have to clean their cage lots too, bought some spray for that. So happy they are back to normal....will get some feather fast in there for Lacy....her poor neck!

Thanks again everyone!!!!
Love this forum!!!!

[Snow finch]

Keep up the good work

[StarSpun]

SO DEVASTATED!

Lacey died in my hands last night....Jasmin is distressed....ugh:-(


So basically things looked better although Lacey was still sleeping more than she used to, and appeared puffed up when she did this throughout the day. So obviously it was mites AND something else. I figured I'd treat everyone when we returned home to Canada, we were driving right through from Florida to Toronto....kept the heat up, everyone was eating, drinking, etc. She still puffed up. I figured everyone was a bit tired and she was under a bit more stress than usual....

When we were almost at the border, I noticed she was sleeping in her bowl. I picked her up and her bum was CAKED with poop. I cleaned it off with a wet paper towel, which was amazing because normally I cannot pick her up. She lay in my hand as I blew warm air on her from my mouth, she seemed to enjoy it. I put her back in and she slept for a bit then had a bite to eat. I found it odd that I could not see her vent after I cleaned the poop. There was no opening like there usually is, I could totally not tell where it was on the bare skin, which seemed inflamed! I started wondering if it was egg binding after all, but....this has been going on for so long. Isn't egg binding a quick matter?

We get back home and I take the cage in. She is in a corner and I leave her be sitting on the ground. I hooked up a heat lamp and lift her up to the perch so she can sit by it. She is barely reacting anymore and one of her legs is curled up and she won't grip. She falls to the floor!!!! I half caught her and then lay her down. She stays on her side with her wings out and her tail up. By then I am thinking, it HAS to be egg binding. I rush her to the washroom and did the steam think with the facet and me holding her and breathing extra hot air on her. She did the wing and tail thing for a minute and then passed away in my hands.

I collapsed into a sobbing mess, thinking I maybe gave her a heart attack or something, blaming myself as usual. Jasmin, her finch buddy was freaking out the entire time, calling to her. She hasn't left her side while sick....always grooming her and nuzzling and cuddling her. I put her body in for Jasmin to realize she was gone. What I saw next will stay with me forever! She started grooming her and nuzzling her to get up....then called and called and called! I got really hysterical at this point and could not stop crying....I finally took her out and managed to do a little autopsy....no egg that I could tell. I have no idea what the problem was!!!!

I am going to continue the treatments for the other two before I get Jasmin a friend....Pumpkin (canary) doesn't really care about anything....Jasmin is the one who feels alone. I really need her to have a friend soon, I can't stand her being alone like this:-(

Does anyone have any idea what happened? Did I kill her by interfering too much?

I am so depressed about this....I loved Lacey. She was awesome and beautiful. Not sure where I can find a colour like hers up in Canada either....

[MiaCarter]

Oh no! I'm so sorry you lost your Lacey.

I've had birds and other creatures die in my hands and it's so awful. It's something that stays with you forever.

My guess would be that she had something else going on in addition to the mites and the stress of the long ride was just too much.
Birds stress so easily and I know that can be devastating when there's an underlying ailment.

In my experience, egg binding is a quick matter. It comes on quickly and it resolves fairly quickly, either with passing the egg or passing away. I've only dealt with 2 cases, though, so.

From what you describe, it sounds like she was already very much in trouble by the time you found her. If she's not hand friendly, then handling her probably wasn't ideal, but I don't think cleaning her up and bringing her in a warm room would kill her. It sounds like she was already fading fast by that point.

I hope you find answers. I know how hard it is to lose a baby without knowing why. It just happened to me a few weeks ago and it's awful.

[StarSpun]

Oh no! I'm so sorry you lost your Lacey.

I've had birds and other creatures die in my hands and it's so awful. It's something that stays with you forever.

My guess would be that she had something else going on in addition to the mites and the stress of the long ride was just too much.
Birds stress so easily and I know that can be devastating when there's an underlying ailment.

In my experience, egg binding is a quick matter. It comes on quickly and it resolves fairly quickly, either with passing the egg or passing away. I've only dealt with 2 cases, though, so.

From what you describe, it sounds like she was already very much in trouble by the time you found her. If she's not hand friendly, then handling her probably wasn't ideal, but I don't think cleaning her up and bringing her in a warm room would kill her. It sounds like she was already fading fast by that point.

I hope you find answers. I know how hard it is to lose a baby without knowing why. It just happened to me a few weeks ago and it's awful.

Heya! Thanks so much for the kind words! We bought Lacey and Pumpkin after our cockatiel of 8 years died....so this has been pretty tough:-( He also died in my hands, it for SURE stays with you forever:-(

I appreciate you writing. I wish we had never traveled until she was better....but we had to be back in Canada legally. I thought she'd make the trip for sure. She was fine until the last 2 hours out of 26....can you believe that:-(

Sorry that you lost a feathered friend as well. It never gets easier....