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Lethargic Cockatiel

964 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Jo Hess 
#1 ·
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?
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#2 ·
Just trying to dissect your post. The yawning thing is what they do when they're moving food from their crop to their stomach. That is normal.
Don't know how the weather is there, I'm from Aussie so opposite seasons, but I've always found over my 22 years of owning tiels, on cloudy, rainy or quick change in temperature, they tend to sleep a lot and become lethargic on those days.
Sneezing as you say is normal to snoot out their birdie dander as they do preen a lot and are the dustiest birds in the world, so I would guess they have a lot to sneeze out. I've been 'snooted on' so many times over the years and often in a wet way. However, in saying that, it seems that your bird might be sneezing too much.
He certainly looks healthy enough by your photos, but birds are amazing at hiding illness as they have to in the wild until it shows which is commonly too late to fix.
I would suggest taking him to a vet if you're concerned. Birds can be easily transported as long as you keep their travel cage/box covered through transport, especially if not tame.
Don't expect a tiel to eat fruit like other birds do as they normally don't like fruit, nor have it in the wild here. Veg - corn, peas they love, love a tiny portion of cooked potato and certain greens, yes. They love it. Also like a tiny bit of bland pasta/noodles from time to time. Only a few grains of cooked brown rice, not white, but my babes rarely see rice as I rarely cook with it.
Cockatiels, out of all birds, don't like change at all, both in their cage or their location and surroundings, nor do they like too many toys (a busy cage).They tend to shut down for awhile. Their space they get to know and trust to stay the same.
As he is a recent rescue he has already gone through major, traumatic change to him. Don't shift him around in your home. Let him have time to get used to his new, scary to him, space, Tiels can shut down and die of fright with too much change too fast.
He needs weeks of adjusting to a new cage, home and surroundings. Give him time to know your home in one room you introduced him to. They are both hardy and fragile at the same time. If wasn't tame when you bought him, it is unlikely that he will ever be tame, much like many other birds. Accept him for what he is, not what you might expect him to become.
You are obviously doing the best you can for your first (?) cockatiel. I would suggest avoiding supermarket feed as wasted weight in grains they won't eat, but buy a better and cheaper mix in the long run from a reputable pet food supplier.
 
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