Recent Feedback
Our Lori parrot is suddenly making rasping sounds. Coughing/sneezing maybe?
Optional Information: Type of Animal: lori parrot Gender: Male Age: seven months Name of Bird: billie Already Tried: Nothing other than put him in his cage. The bird is normally super healthy. We left him for two days with a house sitter. He seems fine but exhibited sighns of a lot of feather preening around his neck. Also opening his wings and worrying at them. Later he started to make a strange sound - maybe a coughing? Not sure as we have boy heard it before.
Hello,
My name is XX. XX and I will do my best to help you with your questions about Billie. I'm so sorry she isn't doing well and has you worried. If you come back online while I am here, please join the conversation using your REPLY tab. It would be helpful for me to be able to ask you some questions.
I would also like to add right away that an additional step you can take to help HIM (sorry!) right away is to put him in a warm and steamy bathroom.
I'm curious to know how long you've been back home with him, and how long he has been making this strange sound.
Just type your answers/questions/comments into the REPLY field and click REPLY.
It's impossible to know if his being in the care of a house sitter for the last two days has anything to do with the problem he is having now. It could be a coincidence. Sometimes, though, any type of stressful episode can cause a bird to become clinically ill with something they've been carrying for a long time without showing any signs.
It's also important to recognize that birds are extremely sensitive to any inhaled irritants or toxins. Be sure there are no unusual odors or airborne chemicals in the house: cooking fumes, cleaning fumes, smoke, etc.
If that's the case, be sure to move Billie to fresh air right away.
I am still looking for answers from you, but not seeing any...
While I wait for your comments, I will tell you the following. Birds are extremely tough and very good at hiding all signs of illness. That means they won't show any symptoms at all until the illness or injury is so advanced that they are physically unable to hide it. That means you should take all symptoms seriously, no matter how subtle they seem. It's always worth a trip to the vet. If you wait for the symptoms to be more serious, it's often too late.
There are many possible things that could be causing Billie to exhibit this strange behavior.
It could be a respiratory infection. He might have inhaled something irritating, like a tiny bit of a seed hull or a fiber. He may have regurgitated and gotten some of that fluid in his air passages. The opening of his wings and worrying at them can be a sign of pain, discomfort, or respiratory difficulty.
The warm and steamy bathroom can help until you can get him to the vet.
I still do not see any replies from you... I will try switching to the Q&A format in case there is a problem with the chat function....
Our chat has ended, but you can still continue to ask me questions here until you are satisfied with your answer. Come back to this page to view our conversation and any other new information. What happens now? If you haven’t already done so, please rate your answer above. Or, you can reply to me using the box below.
I am here now, in this Q&A format. My computer says you are still online. Please try to use your REPLY tab to respond.
Experience: 17 years of general small animal practice with an emphasis on avians, hand-raising experience
In summary, without the chance to ask you additional questions, there is not much other information I can give you. I would highly recommend seeking veterinary attention for Billie as soon as possible, and keeping him in a warm and steamy bathroom until you can do so. The possible reasons for why Billie is doing this vary widely, some severe, some requiring aggressive treatment, and some not-so-severe. Billie will have the best chance of a quick recovery the sooner he receives veterinary care.I want to be as helpful as possible. You can always post more to this conversation later, even after you've entered a rating.Thank you for visiting our website.
I was using a kindle and the keyboard would not come up. I am back. I live in Jamaica so the bird is in a warm environminent.
Relist: Other.I am concerned and wish to understand my best course of action.
Hello!Thank you for your question, I'm Dr. Dan and I'll try to help you.To echo what Dr. Jo said This sounds like you have a respiratory infection developing in your bird which is common but problematic. It is very important that as soon as you can have Billie see his vet this is clearly the best course of action. If we wait too long for this we risk the problem becoming a permanent infection through scarring or a fungal infection. You can try a couple of things in the meantime. 1) Make sure his living temperature is 80F. 2) Put him in a bathroom 2x daily with a hot shower running so he can breath in the steam but make sure his feathers do not get soaked. #3 You can help boost his immune system with the product Healx Booster found here: http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/Booster/products/50/I hope this helps, best wishes. Dr. Dan
The room is always 80F as we live in Kingston Jamaica. I think we can do little other than hope he is ok until the morning, when I will run him to the vet. My other concern is that he is not whistling like normal, but making the " keening" sounds do like chicks in the nest. He is a very tame finger tamed bird and acts like we are his parents. He was perfectlly ok earlier in the evening, but went quiet when we took him over to my wife's mother and he played in the enclosed veranda. He came over and sat very quietly on me and seemed to almost suddenly become unwell.
Unfortunately I think you are correct, besides maintaining his temperature and giving him a "steam treatment" your options at home are very limited. Is he doing any regurgitating, squatting or panting after he does the "keening" sound?Dr. Dan
No he is now sitting quietly in his cage. As Lories are just fruit eaters, it is not seed husks, and I don't see him having breathing difficulties. He just breaks out into his sudden noise (which we have not heard before) and seems to be rather subdued. As we are very close to the bird (being very tame) we pick up on his general mood etc very quickly. All we have seen is the sudden outbreak of him opening up his wings and pushing his beak around in them, then preening himself around the neck,which is far more frequent than normal.
I guess the reason we are talking about breathing difficulties is that you earlier described coughing and sneezing. Because the anatomy of birds is so different respiratory problems can sound like wheezes, crackles, rubs, chirps, whistles, no sound and anywhere in between. So a strange sound, lethargy, and coughing and sneezing lead us to believe a respiratory problem is most likely. Any sudden change in activity, sounds and mood in a bird is VERY important and often means a sign of illness, it is unfortunately vague meaning anything so if there are other symptoms (coughing sneezing or other sounds) then respiratory issues are most likely but not the only cause. It sounds like you are doing a good job observing. Make sure you write down anything that is abnormal about your feathery friend as that can all be significant to the vet in the morning. Dr. Dan
Thanks and goodnight. We love our bird as you realize. We will get him to the vet first thing in the morning whether or not he is the same. Great help!!!
Good luck to you both.