Hello

My name is Michelle, I am 33 and a stay at home mum to 4 beautiful little girls aged between 4-10, 3 chihuahuas and 2 African Greys! A 10 year old Timneh Grey called Spike, who I have had since he was 6mths and a gorgeous little Baby Congo called Joey who is 19 weeks old.

I am friends with Scarlett who recommended I came on and said hello!

(I am not sure if this is the right place for the below)

Sadly Joey is very ill. At the beginning of the week I noticed that he wasnt his usual self, he wasnt really eating and when I weighed him he had lost 50g, it was evening so too late for the vets. The following morning he didnt eat a thing and had lost a further 20g. I took him straight to the avian vet in Cardiff. He was hospitalised, tube fed, given fluids and started on antibiotics. Treated for being 'rundown' until test results. Bloods were rushed through on urgent. He seemed to be responding to the antibiotics and was eating by himself. The bloods came back and I got a phonecall to say suspected Chlamydiosis. The following day when he was a little stronger for the anesthetic he was xrayed. Then I had another phonecall to say that based on the results of the xray showing an enlarged stomach, that Joey had PDD. I collected Joey from the vets yesterday. He seemed ok, though painfully thin. He has 3 lots of medication, the continued antibiotics, one for PDD and one to help ease the blockage in his gut. He seems to be taking them ok, with a syringe and little ribena. He is such a sweetie, so cuddly and adorable. It is so sad, he is only a 19week old baby. Today I have been attempting to handfeed him with the Harrisons Neonate given to me by the vets mixed with manuka honey. That seemed to be going ok. Til about 8pm this evening. He doesnt want to do anything, I cant get him to eat, he will sip water with critical care in it. He has started to be a little sick. I will take him back to the vets first thing Monday morning. I just hope we get that far. I am heartbroken, I hate to see him like this. I just wish there was something more that I could do to make my baby well again.

I bought Joey from a breeder in Beddau, near Llantrisant. I was wondering if anyone else had bought birds from, or heard of a breeder or bird trader in this area? I am just concerned for all the other birds.

Speak Soon

Michelle

Hi and welcome Michelle.....I am so very sorry to hear about Joey, as others have said you really should notify the breeder and try if possible to quarantine him hard as it may be. There are  people on here who have had experience of PDD so hopefully someone will pm you to offer advice shoudl you need it.

Meanwhile.....lots of healing wishes flying towards Joey....hope he pulls through.

hello again and thank you for all your replies.

I had a really scary night with Joey, I really thought I was going to loose him. By 4am he couldnt perch, stand or lift his head he was there leaning against the side of the travel cage with his head in the food bowl. I thought he had gone. There was sick coming from his beak and nostrils. It was awful to see. I picked him up and wrapped him in his fav blanket, making a little bed for him in a basket to keep him warm. I just sat with him all night, talking to him and stroking his little weak head.  He kept his eyes three quarters shut all night, couldnt lift his head up and just layed in the blankets not moving at all. I thought the end couldnt be much further away now. All throughout the night even though he couldnt do anything or respond, I syringed Critical care and cooled boiled water into his beak. Sometimes he moved his tongue, sometimes it just dribbled out. I was so upset. He stayed like that all night. Then 9am this morning he just decided that he wanted out of the basket, climbed out and back into his travel cage on the perch and started drinking water from the bowl himself. He is trying to rest now and trying to stand on one leg but is not very successful. He has had all his meds, and syringe fed formula/critical care. He still looks extremely sad, all fluffed up and very ill. Its heartbreaking to see a baby have to go through this.

With regards to the breeder. I feel awful. When we went to see Joey, in Beddau, he was the only one left. He looked happy, alert, playful and seemed healthy. The people seemed lovely, knew their stuff and everything was spotlessly clean. Joey is not PS C/R though and maybe that should have been a signal to me. His excuse was that he didnt have any of the right size at the time. I was told he was handreared with a syringe from 18days old and he had been eating himself for approx a week - he came home at 11 weeks. He was in a cage with two seven week old Senagels (that were C/R) next to a beautiful female Ectlectus, that was the familys pet. So all of these birds could have been infected. I was told Joey was one of a clutch of 4. Since I bought Joey, I have seen this same breeder advertise on various internet sites a whole lot of birds. One was for something along the lines of 9 CAGs, 6 male and female Eclectus, and 7 Senegals. I recently saw him advertising a pair of scarlett macaws on Preloved and everything from B&G macaws to cockatoos. This has made me highly suspicious of him. I have emailed him and explained everything that has happened to my poor baby Joey and how devastated we are, telling him of my concern for his birds. I was extremely polite. But recieved no response.

Will update you soon on how we go through today, thanks again for your replies. I really appreciate it.

Michelle, Joey and Spike xxx

Hi Michelle, can you not phone you vets and ask about Joey? Even ask if the regular avian is back tomorrow? If not phone an avian vet asap and ask about him and telll them all that you have been told! they may be able to give you more advise than we can.

I really hpe that Joey pulled through, poor baby.

Posted By Kirsty & matt on 07 Mar 2010 12:52 AM
hi and welcome ladybug ,i hope joey pulls though ,it is true you will get all the help and advise u need from the guys on here ,, Yesterday me and sam went to the petshop ,its a big pet shop that sells fish ,snakes ,frogs and birds ,well in there was 3 baby congo greys ,2 of them was been babys playing eating ,going up and down the cage (very very small cage for 3 greys) but the one baby did not move from her perch the whole time we was there .all she wanted to do was sleep ,her eyes were clear she looked alert but i said to sammy she looks so sad ,when trying to talk to her she just put her head on her back and shut her eyes , dont get me wrong she did look heatly but not playfull in anyway like the others , i dont know if she was sad cause the cage was way to small for all three of them or she is just a very laidback bird , i might go back and see how she is ,but without me bankcard cause i would end up having her ,i wish i could say to the manager the cage is to small but i know it would go in one ear and out the other ...theres me going on again xx

Actually Kirsty YOU CAN tell the manager, and if he doesn't listen, say he can be reported. If the cage is not big enough for the birds to able to stretch their wings in any direction and not hit the sides of the cages then BY LAW it is too small, and they have to listen - if not to you, then the authorities.  Go for it hun x

  How rude, I posted on your post and didnt even reply directly to you, so sorry 

I am really sorry to hear about your baby, this must be heartbreaking for you. You are doing all of the right things, keep his food liquidy and frequent, and it will keep him going. PDD is a horrible horrible disease, and if the breeder hasnt responded to you, then Im afraid he cant have a heart! Any breeder that I know that speaks to the people who have their babies would be very concerned to hear this news and would be in contact straight away. It could even be possible that he knows that one of his birds has this yet doesn't want to say.  Maybe try e-mailing again, just saying you are not doing it for any othr reason than to let him know out of concern for his birds? Suppose we do have to give the benefit of the doubt 

Keep your baby safe and warm, and if you need any advice, please feel free to ask xxx

 LadyBug says he had an enlarged stomach, which I presumed to mean proventicular.  If that is the case then it is more than likely PDD   It is one of the only ways they can find out if it is PDD in a living bird.  Unfortunately as with lots of these diseases, they cant tell us 100% until a post mortum can be carried out. That said, I know a lady who has told me her vet can send bloodwork away to the states to be tested 100% for PDD.  Im assuming this will be very expensive, and really will tell you something the vet already suspects.  

Yes it was the Proventricular.
I thought the first signs were vomiting or passing undigested food though, that`s why i asked.
As far as Joey goes he was healthy and fine then very ill within 24 hours, no signs of anything else.
I just wonder why the vet changed his mind so many times in those 48 hours

I guess the other problem with sending bloods off to the States is that if it is PDD then there isn`t much that can be done that they are not already doing anyway..
Sending our love to Joey amd poor Spike too.
xx

 The first sign is usually losing weight, shortly followed by intolerance of food.   But sickness and undigested seed in the poop may only appear in one bird, and not in another. What symptoms appear in one bird can be totally different to what appears in another, the only common factor seems to be losing weight - And sometimes this isnt noticed until it is too late  It really is a horrible disease, and really no-one knows enough about it, even vets.  They have suggested that it's more common in baby birds, but again - Testing has shown that birds can live with the infected bird and not have a problem - Yet birds that havn't had direct contact have died from it.  There doesn't seem to be any consistant information out there, apart from looking for a swollen proventicular.  

The problem is a lot of vets will treat for infection before they look into PDD, and this is more than likely why he changed his mind.  If he had continued to respond to antibiotics, then it couldn't be PDD, it just doesn't respond. So when the birds was still ill, they would have to look into other options.  Once they saw the results of the xray they would say it's indicitive of PDD, and treat as such.  Yes, if you sent the bloodwork off, there is still nothing that can be done apart from having a definate diagnosis.  It;'s really sad, and my heart goes out to you and your baby.  xx

 Hi Michelle, under the circumstances it feels a little strange welcoming you to the forum, however, I will. Welcome hun.. 

You really need to get hold of this breeder ASAP. Either by email or phone, if Joey does have PDD then he needs to contact the owners of other babies that he has sold, they could have it or be carriers of this too.. If you dont feel that you can do that yourself, or you are getting no joy from them, please pm me the information and I will try and deal with it for you..

 Dont worry about Joey not being rung, that isnt an issue tbh. I have babies that dont have rings on.. It really is only an identification thing.. 

My thoughts are with you hun and of course baby Joey....