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Post by andytof47 on Mar 20, 2011 18:31:38 GMT 10
Hi this is my first post but I'm wondering if anyone can help.
Just yesterday morning me and the kids were walking and we fond a baby roughly six month old galah in the long grass away from trees so we weren't sure where it came from.
It put up a pitiful attempt to get away from us and almost seemed glad we picked it up (sounds weird)
Anyway we checked it out and it is on the brink of death door when we got it, extremely lethargic and super infested with LICE and heaps of egg. Also look extremely mal-nourished or anorexic to the point of almost going into shock once but came good with some hand holding.
so what do you think ? we treated the lice, he ate a tiny few seeds by himself, and then some more larger soaked seeds later today . we will treat the lice again in a few days. it's hard to say if he's stronger, but he certainly did more today than yesterday. I was syringe fedding him apple honey blended seed mix but he was not very interested but I figure the carbs would help from the sugars.
Please help. he stayed in front of the heater on and off to keep a certain level of comfort and to help him be able to digest better How often does he need a feed and should I stop feeding via big uncomfortable syringe? what are the alternatives?
many questions I know
many thanks from me and my bird Rocky for any help
I really think he's a gr8 bird
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Post by carlsandclan on Mar 20, 2011 19:29:25 GMT 10
First thing would be to get him to a vet. There could be an underlying illness there.
Try feeding egg and biscuit with a spoon if he doesn't like the syringe. Galahs aren't big on sweet stuff. Try some fresh corn on the cob, bok choy, silver beet, dandelion greens and fresh eucalyptus. My galah goes crazy for all that.
Keep him warm and quiet - place a blanket over the back and sides of the cage.
There are a lot of unknowns, so that's all I would do until you get him to a vet. I'm sure someone else will have more ideas for you.
Well done on helping the poor baby!
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Post by cockatoo on Mar 20, 2011 20:06:07 GMT 10
The Advice Get the Galah to a vet is good preferably an Avian Vet, if its got external parisites to that extent it also will probably have internal parrisites ie worms, to make sure that it eats it is best to crop feed it, attempt to obtain a product called Veta Farm Polyaid, also their Wormout Gel treat the lice with again Veta Farm Avian Insect Liquidator-read the instructions on all these products-there will be a VETAFARM Website-keep the bird warm as advised, weigh it to see if it is gaining any weight, weight it before feeding-you could even mix a hand rearing formulae with the Poly Aid, I think that you mentioned that it is eating some so yes the corn on the cob, milk thistle or milky seed heads, sprouted seed something nice and nutrious and soft. U hope that helps
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Post by andytof47 on Mar 21, 2011 14:14:19 GMT 10
thanks all i will try to get him to a vet asap. i figured he might have worms too. hmm hopefully i'll be able to get back with some happy news.
one last thing
- how long between feeds? if it's asleep should i wake it?
cheers
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Post by avinet on Mar 21, 2011 14:48:01 GMT 10
one last thing - how long between feeds? if it's asleep should i wake it? cheers If it is awake and looking for food then try feeding it, however how often to feed depend son how much it is taking at a feed. If it is 6 months old as you think then it's crop isn't as large as when it was a baby, so probably 10 mls is as much as you could feed it at a go. Basically you are wanting to get as much food into it as it will take, whether that be fruit, veggies, sprouted see, dry seed egg & biscuit or hand rearing mix isn't that important as long as it eats a reasonable amount of something. If it has been asleep for a while - say 4 to 6 hours during the day, then I would be waking it to see if you can get it to take some food. Like us, a sick bird sleeps a lot, and just stops making the effort to feed, so can need a bit of encouragement. And make sure it is also drinking - many sick birds dehydrate due to not drinking so if necessary try running a few drops of water into it's beak regularly. Water that has had some electrolytes added, using Vetafarm's Spark, is a great way to give electrolytes and also some energy. An emergency electrolyte fluid is the sports drinks such as Powerade and giving a bird sick a few drops of that can help to rehydrate. cheers, Mike |
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Post by andytof47 on Mar 21, 2011 15:50:02 GMT 10
well he was sleepy before and has done alot of poo some runny with green and then some big greens with liquid, prolly cause of the runniness of my mix. He has come alive a bit now and is sussinng out the house but he only comes alive for a short while about 20 minutes - 30 minutes.
I'm hoping that means some of the food is working thru, time will tell
post back soon.
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Post by avinet on Mar 21, 2011 21:10:59 GMT 10
Generally green runny droppings indicate a bacterial gut infection that needs antibiotics.
Any luck at organizing a vet visit?
cheers,
Mike
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Post by andytof47 on Mar 22, 2011 4:59:49 GMT 10
greenish and liquidish, signs of an infection very interesting.
I really wish I could afford a vet in the next 7 days but it's unlikely. he was up walking around for about 2hrs in total yesterday which is a huge improvement. maybe the food is catching up on him .... hopefully.
He has no lice now for sure apart from eggs. and I might buy a general all round avian wormer. We can buy them from the pet superstore down here. heck we even get pet anti-biotics without prescription (thats what i was told when picking up the spray)
I will pay close attention to his fecal's and let you know if the colour changes or if he comes good. hey he is even fairly alert this morning.
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Post by avinet on Mar 22, 2011 10:57:43 GMT 10
The pet shop antibiotics for birds are based on tetracycline, and the reason they no longer need a prescription to buy is because they are largely no longer effective. Still, might be worth a try if you can't get to a vet since anything is better than nothing. The other treatment that can be tried is one of the Sulphur Remedies, They come in a variety of product names - Sulphadim and Sulpha Remedy being two. They are all basically the same - just different manufacturers and different trade names and your local pet shop will be able to supply one of them if you ask for a sulphur medication for bird diarrhea.
Where about do you live? Quite a few vets will not charge to treat native wildlife, or just charge for the medications. It might be worth asking around the local vets to see what their policy is. Some won't do any discounts, some treat only if the animal is in the care of the local wildlife rescue organization, some don't charge for their time but not the medication, and some will do all the work and provide medicines for free.
Even if a vet doesn't do wildlife they will normally know which ones in the area does so they can refer wildlife to them.
cheers,
Mike
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Post by Robyn on Mar 22, 2011 14:50:18 GMT 10
It is most likely the galah is dehydrated, you need to rehydrate it with an electralyte, even one for a child will do. Also with a heavy infestation of lice/mites the bird would be anemic. It would be a benefit to the bird to take it to a Vet.
Last week i had to take a injured SC 2 to my Vet he didn't charge me a cent & they called in a wildlife carer to pick him up. I could have cared for him but i said no because of my other birds & the risk that the cocky could be a PBFD carrier.
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Post by andytof47 on Mar 23, 2011 7:37:11 GMT 10
you know what guys, I really appreciated the help but unfortunately
He fell off his perch last night ...... very sad considering how friendly and beautiful he was.
oh well, thanks guys
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Post by avinet on Mar 23, 2011 10:57:25 GMT 10
Sorry to hear that - at least you tried to help it instead of letting it suffer in the wild.
cheers,
Mike
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Post by carlsandclan on Mar 23, 2011 12:23:10 GMT 10
Sorry to hear that. Well done giving it a good chance. At least it was happy in its final days.
Carls
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