Eye Problem

[Dean_NZ 0]

Hi guys,

 

Was having a look through my birds and noted that the same hen that had a cyst of some sort a while back seems to be having another bad run of health. Last couple of days I have seen her sleeping a lot more than usual, and when i looked at her left eye, something didnt look quite right. It didnt look 'wrong', it just wasnt quite like the other eye. Yesterday it appeared even more different so i had a look and took some photos.

 

This is her left eye (normal):

 

 

This is her problem right eye:

 

 

I haven't really read or heard about any specific eye problems that budgies get. I dont think it is an injury, but on inspection it does look like she is moulting around that eye, or at least something feather related is happening. Her eye is quite watery, looks a bit inflammed and i noted 2-3 feathers or feather shafts that were resting on or near her eyeball/eyelid. I carefully trimmed the worst of them, hoping that if it is directional feather growing toward her eye that it should alleviate any irritation.

 

Any thoughts or similar experiences? Any advice?

[**Liv** 0]

Budgies have major specific eye problems.... my first fear would be psittacosis... isolate her, lock down your aviary with strict quarantine and get her to the vet.

[Dean_NZ 0]

Sorry, forgot to mention that i had already quarantined her as a precaution

[mysixbabies 0]

Yuck, I hope you resulve this problem quickly and with no fuss.

[GenericBlue 0]

looks to me what i have been told is one eye cold

my birds got a bout of it last year

it starts in one eye just as an inflamed area then it swells and the feathers go missing as in your picture

what i did was i checked my birds every half hour (but im most always home )

and you can see the rim of the eye becomming red remove the bird immediately and bath eye in warm (boiled and let to cool)

salt water with a cotton ball 3 times a day or at least morning and night for three days

it sholud go by second day but keep quarined teened in a seperate cage for 3 weeks as sometimes the other eye will get it a few weeks latter it seems to spread very quickly within hours even

make sure to wash all perches in aviry as the birds rub their eye on them and spred it very quickly this was

i ended up with birds in cages every where fow 2 months

its not parossisiosus however thats spelt

i had my bird seen by vet you just remove them as they get it but be sure not to put back till 3 weeks after eye inflamment goes down

some birds will carry the missing feathers for ever others will grow them back

make sure you get the salt water into the birds eye then rinse with plain water (bolied and cooled )just to ease stinging a bit bird will look worse first bathing but 100 per cent next day pm me if you want to call me i can explain it much better

good luck

Edited July 7, 2009 by GenericBlue

[nubbly5 0]

As Liv siad eye problems can be a sign of psittacosis.

 

SOMETIMES it can just be a feather in the eye which grows into the eye and trimming and antibiotic treatment (sometimes just trimming alone) can resolve the issue but usually does not depress the bird enough that you would notice a reduction in movement/activity.

 

SOME birds seem to be born (hatched) with a genetic eye problem (I have not read of found out what it might be but I SUSPECT it could be inturned eye lashes but they are so small and fine it's hard to tell) - these birds I cull as they do tend to breed in families and I've had little success treating such birds even with significant vet intervention.

 

With a bird that didn't show any issues before AND is less active than before I would be suspicious of psittacosis if you have not done a psittacosis treatment recently. Might pay to find out or do something about this as IF it is psittacosis, it can cause significant and fast deaths.

Edited July 8, 2009 by nubbly5

[GenericBlue 0]

personally i would not treat the flock for parassiss what ever its called unless the birds show real change all of them not just the one in their movment behaviour

however we all do things diffrent

 

i would take it to a vet and i would seperate it from others but i would not be to quick to jump on the parrasissi thingy big name i can not say or spell band waggon as in most cases its something else

if it was showing other symptoms eg the browning above cere and wet nostrals runny poo ect then i would be worryed and treat flock even if it was only one with sighns

but not other wize and not unless vet adviced

but hay thats me

[lochlan 0]

personally i would not treat the flock for parassiss what ever its called unless the birds show real change all of them not just the one in their movment behaviour

however we all do things diffrent

 

i would take it to a vet and i would seperate it from others but i would not be to quick to jump on the parrasissi thingy big name i can not say or spell band waggon as in most cases its something else

if it was showing other symptoms eg the browning above cere and wet nostrals runny poo ect then i would be worryed and treat flock even if it was only one with sighns

but not other wize and not unless vet adviced

but hay thats me

 

The problem with waiting for positive signs like said above is that it will be too late and the bird will die , even if you save it , its immune system will be destroyed and the bird will relapse when stress levels rise again . You must react when a bird just dosnt look right , even if you just put it in a warm place and monitor.

[Dean_NZ 0]

Quick update,

 

Quarantined the bird immediately (before i even posted here to ask questions) and trimmed the eye feathers that appeared to have grown into/over the eye. Monitered droppings - all fine. She is energetic and not fluffed up, eating well. The next day her eye appeared much better and i am about to go check her again. Looking more and more like the feathers growing into the eye during a moult were causing inflammation.

 

Will update after i check her

[GenericBlue 0]

thats good news i still belive medicating birds for just a thought can b more troubble than good just me

[daniela 0]

look, im sorry iam off topic.. but what is quaranting, how long is it and what do you do with the bird? i know you guys are rolling your eyes...

[GenericBlue 0]

look, im sorry iam off topic.. but what is quaranting, how long is it and what do you do with the bird? i know you guys are rolling your eyes...

 

no eye rolling here mate we all start not knowing anything

their is a whole topic on it in here i dont know how to bring them up so i cant do what the others do for me or others whaen we ask questions but it may be under show birds i think

[Elly 0]

look, im sorry iam off topic.. but what is quaranting, how long is it and what do you do with the bird? i know you guys are rolling your eyes...

 

Quarantine is when you bring a new bird (s) into your flock that you keep them in a separate room AND cage for at minumum of 30 days to ensure that your new bird is free from any immediate illness. Birds do not always show signs of illness in the beginning but when under stress such as a new enviroment it will come out so you can keep an eye out for this during these 30 days. Avian Vets do suggest 90 days maximum no less then 30 days. You will find many articles when you do a search on the forum along with an article called Quarantine Program in the Health Section under the FAQ's (link located on top) that is used by breeders. Strict quarantine is essential to protect your existing flock of birds or even that person who has 1 bird and is looking to get a 2nd bird.

[Dean_NZ 0]

Update...

 

Here eye cleared up for a while, but then just when she seemed to be coming back to herself, her eye started watering again and she got very low. I checked her and found her keel was quite pronounced. She was still in quarantine at that point as a pre-caution and so i decided to take her to the vet.

Fortunately they now have an avian specialist so i was pleased to be able to spend some time discussing various budgie health topics while he looked her over.

 

She has a mucky ring at the moment, but as near as we could tell she is an '04 hen, so it is not totally unexpected that she should have low resilience to illness. She has been admitted overnight as the vet wants to perform a number or diagnostic tests. He also offered to perform a necroscopy at no extra charge should she not make it through the night (heaven forbid)

 

He actually said he wont charge more than standard consultation fee's regardless of the tests and will only charge more if we end up using doxy or some other medication. All in all i was well pleased hope to learn what is causing her illness and what to look for / actions to take in future.

 

Keep you updated.

[renee 0]

Update...

 

Here eye cleared up for a while, but then just when she seemed to be coming back to herself, her eye started watering again and she got very low. I checked her and found her keel was quite pronounced. She was still in quarantine at that point as a pre-caution and so i decided to take her to the vet.

Fortunately they now have an avian specialist so i was pleased to be able to spend some time discussing various budgie health topics while he looked her over.

 

She has a mucky ring at the moment, but as near as we could tell she is an '04 hen, so it is not totally unexpected that she should have low resilience to illness. She has been admitted overnight as the vet wants to perform a number or diagnostic tests. He also offered to perform a necroscopy at no extra charge should she not make it through the night (heaven forbid)

 

He actually said he wont charge more than standard consultation fee's regardless of the tests and will only charge more if we end up using doxy or some other medication. All in all i was well pleased hope to learn what is causing her illness and what to look for / actions to take in future.

 

Keep you updated.

 

Sounds like psitacocis, you will need to do the doxy treatment.

[GenericBlue 0]

you are lucky you have found a good vet

it was a good move to take her with her lose of condition it doesnt sound good but the vet will give you a proper diagnoses

and she can be treated proply

do not forget to ask if the flock needs treating or what not

as if it is something more departmental than just eye thing the others would have been exposed to this before she was quarinteened

just as they look all good does not mean they are not carrying something

so dont hesitate to ask him anything

good luck mate

[Dean_NZ 0]

you are lucky you have found a good vet

it was a good move to take her with her lose of condition it doesnt sound good but the vet will give you a proper diagnoses

and she can be treated proply

do not forget to ask if the flock needs treating or what not

as if it is something more departmental than just eye thing the others would have been exposed to this before she was quarinteened

just as they look all good does not mean they are not carrying something

so dont hesitate to ask him anything

good luck mate

 

Thanks GB. That is just what we talked about when discussing the tests - finding a diagnosis and treating her primarily, but also trying to identify what the risk to any of the other birds is and whether precautionary treatment is warranted (as much as i hate to throw anti-biotics around, when in doubt it is better to be safe). He's also offered to teach me how to crop feed which i havent yet tried, so i can then drench (worm) each bird specifically and administer anti-biotics to birds or rearing food to chicks if required.

 

Havent yet heard back from him today, so we'll see how we go later on tonight.

[Dean_NZ 0]

Faecal tests showed no unusual gut bacteria or problems, faeces presented normally. Crop flush showed no infections, yeast or otherwise. Skin tape of her eye showed some localised bacteria, but he thought perhaps that could be a result of her rubbing her eye on things to scratch it. Right from the start he suspected sinusitis, and when he did a nasal flush he was unable to get it to flow normally. At this stage it merely indicates she has some inflammation or a growth or some sort of (as yet) unidentified congestion in her nasal pasage.

 

He is unsure whether the eye problem is caused by a nasal problem, or whether they are both just present seperately. A lot of it comes down to her age and perhaps the feather cyst she had a while back caused her immune system to suffer which led to her getting an eye infection which a younger bird would have easily over come.

[ghazzigh 0]

your vet sounds very fair helpful and caring and at least its not one of those contagious dieseases i cant even pronounce or heard of i hope your bird goes well did he give some ointment for the eye?

[GenericBlue 0]

Faecal tests showed no unusual gut bacteria or problems, faeces presented normally. Crop flush showed no infections, yeast or otherwise. Skin tape of her eye showed some localised bacteria, but he thought perhaps that could be a result of her rubbing her eye on things to scratch it. Right from the start he suspected sinusitis, and when he did a nasal flush he was unable to get it to flow normally. At this stage it merely indicates she has some inflammation or a growth or some sort of (as yet) unidentified congestion in her nasal pasage.

 

He is unsure whether the eye problem is caused by a nasal problem, or whether they are both just present seperately. A lot of it comes down to her age and perhaps the feather cyst she had a while back caused her immune system to suffer which led to her getting an eye infection which a younger bird would have easily over come.

 

as i said at start sounded like what i got told was one eye cold basicly the eyes become exactly like her one

and very quickly

the birds are not sick as such but their imune is down they can die if not treated imidiate and its very catchy but basiclly a viris like cold

but if you do manage to catch it quick clean and seperate bird and ect the flock will be fine

i would not put her back for 3 months really im not jokeing i had that once in my flock and when i thought it safe to put birds back i was wrong i didnt lose any but a hen and her partner i was lucky it went through them all though one at a time took me long time and a house full of caged seprate birds lucky i only had fifteen back then lol 3 month i kept them seperate cleaned aviary changed perches the lot

 

my vet gave me just distiled water to clean their eyes with dayly they all were better in a few days their eyes but i kept them all seperate after the first efort where i put the bird back when eye was better and a week after the other eye was like it and other birds also

well if you can try get a name for it please i have never come across it again and it was not parra what ever the long name i can not say is well not quiet three months but close enough to

Edited July 29, 2009 by GenericBlue

[**KAZ** 0]

and it was not parra what ever the long name i can not say is

 

 

psittacosis buddy....sounds like sitta cose is

[GenericBlue 0]

and it was not parra what ever the long name i can not say is

 

 

buddy....sounds like sitta cose is

 

oh thats so cool thanks kaz,... sitacosic ,mmmmm ,dislexic for psittacosis