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Post by biteybird on Mar 28, 2016 18:06:36 GMT -5
That harness sounds really interesting (I am yet to order a replacement 'bird diaper' harness for the one my husband accidentally threw in the bin). It's funny how quakers all seem to resist the Aviator. I'm glad Maya got a clean bill of health from the vet.  |
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Post by wsteinhoff on Mar 28, 2016 22:35:11 GMT -5
Even for a female bird I personally wouldn't recommend the different calcium supplements at the risk of overdoing it. I rarely bother with them and have never had problems with any of the breeders or indoor birds. There should be enough coming from her diet without the supplements. I don't believe baytril is one of them but I know a few medicines will bind with calcium that is added to the diet rendering them ineffective. Baytril is one of the safest (and often overused because of this) antibiotics out there for birds but you may want to look into it just to be sure. I know the tetracycline family of antibiotics does this which are also used for certain respiratory problems that baytril and it's relatives don't work on. Just though thought I'd add that for future reference in case it were necessary. Not trying to scare you away from the calcium I know plenty of people use them, I just have never personally felt they were needed when it's gotten from food sources already.
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Post by beccilouise on Mar 29, 2016 2:59:46 GMT -5
Thanks wsteinhoff. That's really useful to know. I'm trying to avoid supplements now unless absolutely necessary and now trying to arrange a 'calcium salad' at least once a week. Today, her fresh food bowl just has boiled kale, boiled spinach and fresh watercress. She's picked at it a little bit. There is also some calcium in her pellets and she has a calcium block in her cage. I'm saving the calcium liquid and storing it just in case anything happens to cause need for it. She's still only a baby at the moment (8 months) so am not too worried about calcium just yet and she'll be off the baytril by the time it's needed. But I will double check its effects just to make sure for the future. Biteybird, definitely check out the leathers4feathers harness! I've had far more success with Maya and that harness than the aviator, but I suspect that was my fault as I was following the training steps for bigger birds, which I don't think was right. I'm trying something different now and it's been much more effective. At some point, when I've had a little more experience/success, I'll post my training steps up here for people to read/use if they're interested. I know I won't need to say this with anyone on here as you're all sensible and caring people, especially when it comes to your birds, but just in case any newcomers arrive and see this, I just want to add a word of warning that the leathers4feathers harness is slightly easier to escape from (although I wouldn't call it unsafe), and I will DEFINITELY be testing it indoors before I even consider taking it outside just in case Maya does work out how to unclip it, or it is possible that it can come loose. |
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Post by siobhan on Mar 29, 2016 13:04:02 GMT -5
I'm down to two girls since Maggie passed on and she was my only egg-layer. Jade (DNA'd female) has never laid an egg since she's lived with us and that's seven years now. Ringo Starling is approaching her fourth birthday and has yet to go into breeding season, which starlings are supposed to start doing when they're 1. I don't think she's going to this year, either, because the wild starlings are already in full blown breeding mode. I gave Maggie extra calcium and she took lots of baths on her own because she liked baths, but I didn't do anything special for her beyond that, and I don't for Jade and Ringo (boy name for a girl bird, LOL).
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Post by bruce on Mar 30, 2016 15:10:17 GMT -5
Hello Beccilouise and Maya/Byron again. So glad vet gave thumbs up as to your fid's health. Harness sounds interesting. Maybe Chuckie would't have a bird freak-out with a feathered one. I also need to look up pet insurance, have heard of it for cats and dogs in USA, never birds. Hope your company pays the bill. Chuckie says "screep scretch" to you and Maya.
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Post by beccilouise on Mar 30, 2016 16:25:16 GMT -5
Hahaha, thanks guys! I've had no angry phone calls from the vet yet, so am assuming everything is fine with insurance. Maya's doing so well with her harness. She lets me slip it over her head if I offer her a treat and is beginning to let me rest it on her back. She's getting really good at it, I'm really proud of her! We've barely had the harness a week, so she's doing great.
I'm in the UK, and the only decent insurer I've found for birds is exotics direct. So, the vet has said Maya's white blood cell count is normal and she tested negative for psittacosis, but we're still waiting on a few results for bacteria and other harmful cultures. She had her sinuses flushed out, is eating well and seems to be responding to the baytril. She weighs 88g at the moment, which is a couple of grams under what I'm used to, but after today, I think my bird scales have gone funny so may try her on the kitchen scales just to double check. She was 88g after I took her to the vet, and it was a five hour round trip, during which she didn't eat, had blood taken and had fluid flushed out of her nose, so I'm wondering if that caused the minor weight loss. That was on Sunday, it's now wednesday, and her weight has not fluctuated overtly since. She is a little on the small side anyway. She's eating her greens, her pellets and her eggs, so hopefully she will recover those couple of grams in a week or so. The vet didn't seem to worried that she weighed 88g, but it's one or two grams below what I'm used to her weighing. Do you thank that's ok? I've been giving her pellets, greens, egg and egg biscuits (she had one today as it's her favourite)
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Post by Jan and Shah on Mar 30, 2016 16:32:02 GMT -5
As long as she is eating okay, I wouldn't worry about the weight loss - it is not too dramatic although I would be a little concerned if she dropped any more weight. Shah weighs in at around the 95 gram mark and none of the avian vets I have seen over the years are worried about it.
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Post by beccilouise on Mar 30, 2016 16:41:38 GMT -5
I've just worked out it's about 2.2% of her body weight, and she's eating fine. I've been trying to feed her leafy greens, as they've got lots of calcium in them, but she's resisting. I might give her the usual mix of peas, courgette and sweet potato tomorrow, with some red pepper (which she loves) to encourage her to eat more. She stuffed her face with that egg biscuit today and that thing is nearly as big as she is! I'll keep an eye on it. I've emailed my vet to see what he says. I've also got some avipro in my first aid kit to help maintain or boost weight for birds that are undergoing/have undergone stress, so if she loses too much more weight, I can make use of that. However, over the last three days, she's weighed in at 87-89g pretty consistently, so perhaps I shouldn't be too worried.
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