Hyperkeratosis?

[Kismet 0]

Hi everyone,

 

I will take my girl to the Vet next week, I need to wait for pay day. In the meantime I was wondering if anyone could comment on her photos and advise me if I need to rush to the Vet or not. I can probably borrow money if I really need to do so. Also, can anyone suggest a good and affordable Bird Vet in Western Sydney?

 

Storm is a 2yr old Budgie who has been sick on and off ever since I purchased her as a hand-reared baby from a well-known pet shop in NSW. She's had 3 respiratory infections that have required medication. She has also been treated for megabacteria and a few months ago spent a week at the Vets very sick and was treated for a parasite in her crop. She was tested for psittacosis and doesn't have that. have tried 4 different bird Vets and each one has suggested a different diet and since she was still getting sick I keep changing it.

 

Right now she is on basic dry seed mix and I was getting pretty slack with adding vegetables. I have recently started to make sure that she has a variety of veg each day which she loves and have started to add Vetafarm Soluvit D3 to her water. She is inside all the time so I have also recently started taking her cage outside and sitting with her in the sun while I drink a cup of tea each day.

 

She is breathing well now, is chirpy and active but has a weirdly overgrown cere and what looks like a crack in her beak. She uses her beak on a variety of toys and chews on my fingernails and it is very strong, there's no movement in it because of the crack. I did a google search and her cere looks like hyperkeratosis. She has normal poop and is active but I am worried about her beak and cere. I really just want a well bird and she is so sweet that she really deserves the very best.

 

Any advice at all about what I should do or not do would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I have added the photos correctly so here's hoping...

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to any replies.

 

Regards,

Karen & Storm the Budgie

[Phoebes 0]

It looks like hyperkeratosis to me. My bird had a slight case of it. My vet did not recommend any changes to the diet. We have been giving her booster since we had her. We put the booster on the seed. My vet does not like anything in the water, she says it makes bacteria grow. My case was very light probably because we have basically been treating her since she got here before the signs even showed up. She came to us very tiny for her age. Maybe the vet could give yours vitamins directly.

 

We give grated carrots and biological broccoli, also the birds took some time to get used to boiled egg. I put one in every once in a while and left it there for two hours and finally after quite some time the birds took a liking to it.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Phoebes

[Phoebes 0]

Sorry I forgot the vet asked me to try to add more fruit. I have been putting apple slices through the bars of the cage.

[robyn 0]

Hi Kismet,

I can't help with cere problem as I haven't seen this before, the cracked beak should be okay if she is still cracking seed, it will keep growing so eventually the crack may grow out, as long as it doesn't weaken as it gets to the tip area.The two problems may be linked, if she injured her cere and cracked the beak at the same time. The sunshine is a great pick-me-up for them and needed for vit D. so putting her out each day for a while is great. Apple slices yes, SEEDS NO. (apple that is).

[Kismet 0]

Thanks so much for the replies. I've been careful about washing the water bottle and refreshing the vitamins each day. I suspect that the Vet will give me some specific drops when I go next week. I added apple for her tonight without seed so I'll see if she likes that and will continue some outside time each day. Thanks again, I'll update on e she's seen the Vet .

[**KAZ** 0]

http://www3.sympatico.ca/davehansen/obstruct.html