Puffy Gouldian making me concerned

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:08 pm

Little Agnes has been puffed up all morning and even has had her head tucked back into her feathers like she has been trying to sleep. I moved her out of the larger flight cage but she seemed so stressed I elected to move her mate, Devin into the smaller cage with her (he was getting picked on by the pair that was left in the flight cage with him and seemed stressed as well, so he needed to be pulled anyways). I have seen her eating a little, drinking a bit, and at one point she was playing in her water bowl with Devin, almost like taking a bath but in a funny sort of way. She has been grooming herself off and on as well. Her poo is a little on the soft side. The only things that have been different over the past 24 hours is that I put some "healthy toppings" fruit treats (diced finely) into their cage but I dont know if she actually ate any. Also, the temps dropped last night so as an alternative to covering them, I left their cage open and turned the room heater on to 70* to keep them at least at that temperature. I know they have been at colder temps before without a problem.

I place a light over top her cage and she has been staying just outside of directly under it. I don't want to jump right on the antibiotic band wagon because I hate to use them if they aren't needed. She is active about 75% of the time, though puffed up the entire time she is eating/bathing/drinking/preening and the other 25% she is sitting with her head turned back like she is sleeping.

Thoughts? I am very concerned, I don't want to loose her...

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:05 pm

Bonnie,

Do you have any probitics? If my birds start acting off a little like that I do not use antibiotics. I have some Ronex. It is a great medication to help their gut flow and if they have any bacterial problems going on. I have had great success with it. You can order this from Lorraine at ladygouldian.com. I would advise anyone to keep it on hand.

I had a yellow gouldian that was doing that about six months ago and he also had a very watery stool. I gave this medication to the whole flock All has been well ever since.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:14 pm

I don't have any on hand. I will have to see if my local bird store carries it, if not that I will suck it up and pay to have it over nighted. Anything to be sure she is okay. I am mainly concerned about getting her back to normal b/c the boyfriend is going to be caring for the birds while I am gone for a week and to say the least I love him to death but he is a "through them some food" kind of guy and not really into the whole medicating thing...

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:20 pm

bonnies_gouldians wrote:I don't have any on hand. I will have to see if my local bird store carries it, if not that I will suck it up and pay to have it over nighted. Anything to be sure she is okay. I am mainly concerned about getting her back to normal b/c the boyfriend is going to be caring for the birds while I am gone for a week and to say the least I love him to death but he is a "through them some food" kind of guy and not really into the whole medicating thing...

Call Larraine at the number on the site. She is great and will talk with you. She can send it from Atlanta and it will get there faster. You have to mix this with their water and treat them for seven days. I doubt you will find it at the bird store.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:00 pm

I already hopped to the phone the second I finished typing my last post. The only bird store I knew of in the area didn't have the probiotics so I googled "bird stores" in my area and up popped one just a few miles down the road from my house. Called them up, they had what you suggested and I ran straight down there and got it. I looked on Lady Gouldian Finch.com first to see what the packaging looked like and it is the exact same stuff that they sell. The dosing seems so little though!! ("the bird store" is the name of the mom and pops place that I went to, it is small but all be darned if it didnt have everything I have read on this forum in regards to supplements and products!!!! They even had the split bands and the tool to apply them! I will see how banding my societies goes and then when I know my gouldian is up to par, I will do all of them at once

Thanks Donna!!

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:13 pm

Agnes' mate Devin is in the cage with her because she seemed stressed about being in there by herself after I took her from the flight cage. I have been watching them clostely all morning and it seems that Devin has been bugging Agnes quite a bit. He keeps trying to breed with her (apparently he is not the shy gouldian I thought he was!) and she is not into it all, I imagine because she doesnt feel all that good she isnt too fond of the idea of breeding just now.

That being said, she has calmed down a great deal sense I put him in with her and while he is randomly bothering her, it is not all the time and I am concerned if I remove him that it would be more stressful than leaving him...what would you guys do?

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:15 pm

I hope your little Gouldian makes it. I just lost my male Gouldian a few weeks ago. He became puffed up and had watery droppings.

I gave him some Ornicyn-Plus and he got better but once the treatment was done a few days later I found him on the floor of the cage and he died that day. So I don't know if I should have given him the longer treatment or if it would have helped anyway.

It looks like you have gotten some great help and advice from our Forum experts... I hope it helps!

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:21 pm

Thanks Deborah, I hope she makes it too, I am nautious thinking about loosing her. I think I am going to keep her on these pro-biotics for a week like Donna suggested. It said not to use the pro-biotics with antibiotics on the packaging so I hope this works. I am just worried that I wont be here to assess her progress after Thursday and hope that the boyfriend will pay enough attention to her for me. I will be picking up antibiotics to keep at the house just in case he needs to give them to her if the probiotics dont work while I am gone. He's (the boyfriend) not incapable, but you know how it is when its your animals, you get nervous when anyone but you is caring for them, especially when they are sick!

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:33 pm

Exact same thing happened to my yellow female gould 10 days ago and I suspected it's the sudden temperature change overnight since the only thing that changed in their routine was that I turned off the air conditioner (they got accustomed to it but it was getting cold outdoors so I thought there's no need for it).

She recovered once I moved her to a separate hospital cage for a few days, I didn't add treatments cause after 24hrs she showed improvement without any.

Let us know how things went with yours and good luck

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:36 pm

FeatherHarp wrote:I hope your little Gouldian makes it. I just lost my male Gouldian a few weeks ago. He became puffed up and had watery droppings.

I gave him some Ornicyn-Plus and he got better but once the treatment was done a few days later I found him on the floor of the cage and he died that day. So I don't know if I should have given him the longer treatment or if it would have helped anyway.

It looks like you have gotten some great help and advice from our Forum experts... I hope it helps!

So sorry to hear that Deborah

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:52 pm

Bonnie,

did you find the Ronex?

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:15 pm

I couldnt find Ronex but I did get my hands on the pro-biotics. I didnt see Ronex on ladygouldianfinch.com either...I looked under pro-biotics and all they had was the stuff that I got from the bird store by Morning Bird.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:39 pm

Hm. I just realized that the Ronex was not a pro-biotic but a protozoan treatment. I did a more thorough search of the site and found the Ronex you were talking about, however it was only being sold in a package with a lot of other meds/treatments that I don't feel that I need. I programed their phone number into my cell, I'll give her a call tomorrow between classes and see what we can work out in regards to getting the Ronex only shipped to me overnight (if she can split the package). Thanks for the advice, I should have read a little slower and I would have been able to get the product tomorrow instead of wednesday...I'm going to get a red light to keep above her over night so she doesnt get chilled. Can the pro-biotics be used with the Ronex?

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:54 pm

I always gave the Ronex first and then the probiotic.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:11 pm

d**n looks like I mixed that one up...

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Puffy Gouldian making me concerned

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