Hi all. It was suggested from a member of Backyard Chickens that I post this question here as there are many knowledgeable people who could help.
My cockatiel (JubeJube) has suddenly become quite lethargic. He was fine yesterday (maybe a bit quieter that usual) climbing his cage, flying, eating, drinking, playing singing,etc... I have never owned a cockatiel before, buy I do have a budgie and a goose. I have had JubeJube for just over a week so I've not had much time to get to know his personality, idiosyncrasies, etc... He usually flies and climbs around the cage talking to all the other birds, but niw he is very quite, sitting on the towel at the bottom of his cage, and closing is eyes quite a lot. His breathing seems relatively normal. He's yawning frequently and every few breaths, he'll breathe with his mouth open. He has been sneezing on and off since I got him. He would sneeze three or four times in a row (I read that they can do that after cleaning themselves because they have a lot of dander). Now he'll sneeze maybe six, seven, even eight times in a row. I think that the sneezing is also a combination of hissing because he'll do it when he gets a fright too (like, if I move too quickly, etc...)
He doesn't have any discharge from his nose or eyes.
His poop looks normal, dark green with white. He's on a store bought cockatiel food at the moment (I want to try to feed him more fruits and veg with a more diverseseed mix).
I think his eating may have decreased slightly, but nothing too notable. His drinking has also not been too different.
He is still cleaning himself and today he's climbed onto him favourite pitch a few times. He's currently dosing on it. He seems to much better as the day has progressed, but he's still not great. I'm worried about tonight. He seems to do worse at night. I stayed up with him the whole of last night because I honestly thought it was his last hours.
He mostly just seems tired and sometimes he's short of breath (sometimes it looks almost like gasping, but only in one breath) and he's not singing or chirping.
I've also had to move the room he was in, so it's possible that the stress is getting to him? I'm not sure. My goose had avian flu in late January of this year and he survived buy I really know what a sick bird looks like, and JubeJube looks sick.
He's very skittish and I live quite far out of town, so I don't think that taking him to the vet is the best idea because even getting him into a smaller cage would be traumatic. I rescued him from his previous owners and I think they must have mistreated him. He's scared of people (he dosn't mind me too much, but still flaps around and shakes when I replace his food and water in the morning and evening), cars, hands, etc...
I have antibiotics and prebiotic for parrots and budgies and have been giving him the recommended dose, but I only started last night when he was already not looking well. I've also put in the sun for some time today and he has a light sheet over three sides of the cage. He goes through phases of looking a little healthier and then really not looking well. I have also taken all my other birds away from him and given them and a small preventative dose of antibiotics followed by a recommended dose of probiotic with vitamins. None of them are showing the same symptoms as JubeJube.
Is there anything else I can do?
Pix for visual reference.
My cockatiel (JubeJube) has suddenly become quite lethargic. He was fine yesterday (maybe a bit quieter that usual) climbing his cage, flying, eating, drinking, playing singing,etc... I have never owned a cockatiel before, buy I do have a budgie and a goose. I have had JubeJube for just over a week so I've not had much time to get to know his personality, idiosyncrasies, etc... He usually flies and climbs around the cage talking to all the other birds, but niw he is very quite, sitting on the towel at the bottom of his cage, and closing is eyes quite a lot. His breathing seems relatively normal. He's yawning frequently and every few breaths, he'll breathe with his mouth open. He has been sneezing on and off since I got him. He would sneeze three or four times in a row (I read that they can do that after cleaning themselves because they have a lot of dander). Now he'll sneeze maybe six, seven, even eight times in a row. I think that the sneezing is also a combination of hissing because he'll do it when he gets a fright too (like, if I move too quickly, etc...)
He doesn't have any discharge from his nose or eyes.
His poop looks normal, dark green with white. He's on a store bought cockatiel food at the moment (I want to try to feed him more fruits and veg with a more diverseseed mix).
I think his eating may have decreased slightly, but nothing too notable. His drinking has also not been too different.
He is still cleaning himself and today he's climbed onto him favourite pitch a few times. He's currently dosing on it. He seems to much better as the day has progressed, but he's still not great. I'm worried about tonight. He seems to do worse at night. I stayed up with him the whole of last night because I honestly thought it was his last hours.
He mostly just seems tired and sometimes he's short of breath (sometimes it looks almost like gasping, but only in one breath) and he's not singing or chirping.
I've also had to move the room he was in, so it's possible that the stress is getting to him? I'm not sure. My goose had avian flu in late January of this year and he survived buy I really know what a sick bird looks like, and JubeJube looks sick.
He's very skittish and I live quite far out of town, so I don't think that taking him to the vet is the best idea because even getting him into a smaller cage would be traumatic. I rescued him from his previous owners and I think they must have mistreated him. He's scared of people (he dosn't mind me too much, but still flaps around and shakes when I replace his food and water in the morning and evening), cars, hands, etc...
I have antibiotics and prebiotic for parrots and budgies and have been giving him the recommended dose, but I only started last night when he was already not looking well. I've also put in the sun for some time today and he has a light sheet over three sides of the cage. He goes through phases of looking a little healthier and then really not looking well. I have also taken all my other birds away from him and given them and a small preventative dose of antibiotics followed by a recommended dose of probiotic with vitamins. None of them are showing the same symptoms as JubeJube.
Is there anything else I can do?
Pix for visual reference.