Lethargic Homer with green poop

Over the past weekend someone brought a found homer to the animal hospital where I work. I first saw it on Saturday. It looked great, was very active, eating well, poop looked good. The only thing I saw wrong was a limp. I didn't see any obvious sign of injury so I'm not sure if it's recent or old. It almost looks like the leg was splayed but the bird walks well on it. It could fly fine and seemed rather hand tame. From the band it's an '08 bird.

The next day I went onto work the bird was listless, hunched over with tail down, totally stopped eating. It is drinking and urates look good. Stool is nothing but grass green liquid. The bird walks around the cage picking at seed but eating nothing. It's preening but lethargic. The fecal test showed capillaria. I wormed it with Moxidectin Plus. I did not see any coccidia. The poop doesn't smell bad. The mouth is clear, pink, no odor. I did a throat swab and saw numerous canker organisms. I started it on Flagyl.

I have been tube feeding the bird since Sunday night. It tolerates it well so far. Crop empties ok. The stool today is small, sort of formed, with a lot of grass green liquid.

Any other suggestions? Poor thing has that sad look in the eyes when they feel lousy.

It might be a good idea to hand feed some warmed defrosted peas at least one of the meals and may help him transition back to seed. They are high in protein. I would feed 40 or more if he will tolerate them.
it would also be a good idea to give nystatin, 0.3 cc, 2 times a day so as to avoid a yeast infection.
The grass green liquid seems to be one of the symptoms of canker infection that I have noticed and will improve.

Jen,

Sounds like you have covered all the bases. The only thing I would add would be an additional course of a broad spectrum antibotic Baytril or Cipro to address any other underlying conditions.

Please keep us posted.

Sending positive healing thoughts to you and your little rescue.

Louise

I agree with you Louise. I thought the bird was on baytril but looking back, I see that he is not. The nystation suggestion came form me thinking he was on baytril.

Tonight she ate a few little seeds and seemed to have more energy. The poop still has excess liquid but is a more normal color. Very small amount of fecal material with lots of liquid. Do I need to worry about constipation if the bird had a large worm load and was then wormed? I'll try to get some pictures soon.

I have nothing to add to the advice you've been given, but I just wanted to send positive healing thoughts for your patient.

How is your little patient doing, Jen.

Yes. Is he doing any better today?

That ugly bright green poop is gone. It's a more normal color and the bird is eating better. She still has an abnormal posture. Here's a video. I tried to get her to walk around but she didn't feel like it.

Very strange, the sudden onset of the symptoms, and the hunched-up stance.

Any chance she might be egg-bound, or getting ready to lay but lacking in calcium?

Another possibility could be abdominal pain caused by an infection, but if that's the case she should improve soon with the medication.

It's great that you were able to identify the canker organisms before clear symptoms were present, as it's been such an awful year for quick-onset canker.

The hunched up stance is one of the symptoms of canker as is egg binding.

Do you know this bird is a she for sure? It's hard for me to tell from the picture. Often I can tell by the face.
It looks like the cere is gray color although that could be the lighting. If so, that's another canker symptom.
Poor thing. I'm glad there is an improvement.

Such a pretty little one, Jen.
Bless you both.

Please keep us posted.

No idea as to gender, I call her a she because when I pick her up the head and neck look "henish" to me. But I've been wrong many times before.

I was worried that the poop coming out seemed less than what was going in but today there was more poop and it looked normal. The video I took an hour after cleaning the cage. You can see all the seed thrown around. She will be much more active at times so she's really not as lethargic as she looks in the video. But the posture is consistent. I'm giving vitamins and calcium in the water.

Jen...did you put her on baytril?

I don't have any Baytril handy but today the birds poop looks great and she is less puffed up. Very active too.

Good.
Let me know if you want me to send you some baytril.

Pretty little thing. The Baytril would probably be a good idea.

Jenaka wrote:

I don't have any Baytril handy but today the birds poop looks great and she is less puffed up. Very active too.

That's great, Jen.

I'm glad she's doing a bit better.