My baby boy Tiel is recovering from a plethora of issues that he brought with him, didn't 'catch' in my apartment. I learned my lesson about buying from a store, but I have the sweetest little pal living with me now. He is 4 months old, still under a Vet's care. On antibiotic and motility drug and anti-inflammatory.
Short story - after about two weeks at home, 'Magic' developed a horrible SMELL. I had a tiel a long time ago, and never had this issue. I'm only posting this so that other new owners might be aware.
When I rushed him to the Veterinarian (I found the bird on the floor of the cage one morning) - he had dropped from 78g to 50g. I didn't even know that/if I should have been weighing him! He always looked like he was eating, but was not absorbing any nutrients. His crop was severely compacted/clogged, and he had yeast that was causing the odor. The Vet had never smelled a bird this bad! Now I seem so foolish, but I just didn't know. When I searched forums, I didn't find any mention of such a bad odor from cockatiels. What I did not know was that he was rapidly losing weight, was dehydrated, had high white blood cell counts, yeast, bacteria, crop distended and gassy, liver and kidneys starting to fail. Yes, birds hide illness well. After nearly three [long] weeks, these amazing doctors and staff saved Magic.
The store wouldn't return any of my calls, except for one, when they called to tell me it was after their closing time and I could not call them back. I only called 4 times in three weeks, I didn't harass them. I wanted to first tell them what happened, but also to find out if they or the breeder had any other birds like this. No response.
Now I have a Tiel who is finally acting like he should. I know we still have to be cautious, he isn't off medications yet, but I have to be optimistic. I did post a review on Yelp about the store as well. They have 4 good reviews and two negative ones, including mine. Maybe this doesn't happen often, but it does occur, that they somehow get a 'sick' bird. Their 'warranty' protects them - but I didn't/don't care about returning a bird to get another, that's ludicrous. I care that the folks who own this store don't seem to give a hoot about a sick animal. Pun intended.
Short story - after about two weeks at home, 'Magic' developed a horrible SMELL. I had a tiel a long time ago, and never had this issue. I'm only posting this so that other new owners might be aware.
When I rushed him to the Veterinarian (I found the bird on the floor of the cage one morning) - he had dropped from 78g to 50g. I didn't even know that/if I should have been weighing him! He always looked like he was eating, but was not absorbing any nutrients. His crop was severely compacted/clogged, and he had yeast that was causing the odor. The Vet had never smelled a bird this bad! Now I seem so foolish, but I just didn't know. When I searched forums, I didn't find any mention of such a bad odor from cockatiels. What I did not know was that he was rapidly losing weight, was dehydrated, had high white blood cell counts, yeast, bacteria, crop distended and gassy, liver and kidneys starting to fail. Yes, birds hide illness well. After nearly three [long] weeks, these amazing doctors and staff saved Magic.
The store wouldn't return any of my calls, except for one, when they called to tell me it was after their closing time and I could not call them back. I only called 4 times in three weeks, I didn't harass them. I wanted to first tell them what happened, but also to find out if they or the breeder had any other birds like this. No response.
Now I have a Tiel who is finally acting like he should. I know we still have to be cautious, he isn't off medications yet, but I have to be optimistic. I did post a review on Yelp about the store as well. They have 4 good reviews and two negative ones, including mine. Maybe this doesn't happen often, but it does occur, that they somehow get a 'sick' bird. Their 'warranty' protects them - but I didn't/don't care about returning a bird to get another, that's ludicrous. I care that the folks who own this store don't seem to give a hoot about a sick animal. Pun intended.
