The Q-Tip Holds The Answers

::Sigh:: One of my favorite pictures of Patchie and me. She just looks so sweet. (Because she is).. and so happy..getting her lil head kisses. Its her "thing". She hates scritches. I can only sneak them on occasion, but beaky kisses and head kisses.. she loves that.

I'm just a little bit sad tonight. I took Patchie in to the vet for what I thought was a minor little owie and it turned into a major "Oh Crap!" But first, we have to turn back the pages of time to about February. It seems about then when everything started. I noticed Apache had poop clinging to her vent and wasn't "herself" one morning. Later in the afternoon, she was straining to go the bathroom and wasn't eating or drinking. I was able to get a vet appt. the next day so I kept her warm and got her interested in some water by dripping it onto her beak with my finger. Once she got some water into her..she ate a little on her own and was a little perkier the next day, but I wasn't fooled and into the vet we went. The vet we went to see wasn't our normal vet (she was out of town). Dr. Wickenheiser saw her and at the check-up, her oral and upper respitory exam was fine but her fecal came back with undigested food. It was the Doctor's opinion that perhaps the boys were crowding her at the food dish and it was beginning to stress her out but just in case she was starting an infection but wasn't showing it yet, she gave her a ten day course of Doxycycline. Apache was quarentined during this time and improved drastically. I don't know if was the time off from the boys or the medication, however about five days into the meds, she began to get depressed. By day seven she had lost 6 grams so I had to do something. I moved her into the same room with the boys but still a seperate cage. This perked her up and she did fine afterwards.

Now, when the doctor prescribed the Doxy, I had asked about perhaps a second antifungal in case of a secondary infection but she said it wouldn't be necessary. Oooohkay. The same doctor saw Neo when he banged up his wings and had an upper respitory infection in April. She prescribed the same medication (its a fairly common med)... and again.. no antifungal. Again, I asked after secondary yeast infections and she said it was unlikely.

So, in April, four precious babies were born to Apache and Silver. All four died. Two of them were submitted to the University of MN for necropsies. Though the tests came back inconclusive and they couldn't determine a cause of death, they DID find yeast in the intestines. I'm no doctor, and I DO know that yeast IS a normally occurring organism in the body, but it becomes a problem when there is an over production of it in the body. The necropsy did not say there was an over abundance of yeast in the intestines, only that there was yeast present. What I don't know.. is should it have been IN the inestines.. or not? WHERE in the body is yeast supposed to be, and where is it NOT supposed to be? The final findings did not state yeast as a cause of death. But still...

So.. back to the reason for today's visit with Dr. Proseski... On Wednesday morning, I had seen Apache "pick her nose" to make herself sneeze. Later on, as I was feeding them breakfast I noticed that one of Apache's nares looked enlarged and a little swollen and there was most definitely dried blood inside. Her claws are quite long, (as are everyone's). Kirsten (my bird holder) isn't here to help me trim claws so they've gotten pretty darn long. I thought "CRAP! Apache got her claw stuck in her nare and it bled! When Cam came out, I asked for his opinion and he saw exactly what I was talking about. There was some swelling and definitely dried blood. Knowing she could have cut the delicate tissue inside her nare with her dirty claw nail, I thought I'd better make an appt for her so the vet could have a look and make sure an infection didn't set in. Plus... while she was at it, she may as well trim up Patchie's daggers.

I didn't worry too much when the receptionist said she had a Friday appt. It wasn't like life or death. It was a claw trim and a nare check. So.. off we went. The doctor walked in while Patchie was sitting on my finger and I was talking to her. The first thing she noticed was that Patchie shakes her head when I speak. She's been doing that for a while though, off and on, but the Doctor commented on it. She said.. Hmmm..we need to have a look. She opened up her beak and said. "Yupsie..she's red on her tongue and down the back of her choana." Though her nare looks MUCH better than it did on Wednesday, the doctor shined a light down inside and said.. yah.. there is dried blood down there. You weren't imagining things. She handed Apache back to me and asked the typical "has she been eating" (to which I had to laugh.. fatty weighs 100 grams on her scale), fluffing up (no), moody (yeah.. but not so much the last week), sleeping alot, (no).. etc, etc, etc. We got to talking about how good birds are at hiding their illnesses, and she paid me a very high compliment. She said "You have a sixth sense when it comes to birds it seems. They're very adept at cloaking illness, but you sense it. People like you are great with birds." She also said she can tell I feed my birds well and that they eat the right foods (she said she could smell vegetables on Patchie's breath.. hahah.. Cilantro) and she said she knows I keep my birds housing clean by their overall condition every time I bring them in. She said Patchie's feathers are just beautiful. (Glow.. glow.. glow). LOL

We discussed a few possible diagnosises for Apache. The fact that Neo has had an on-going upper respitory thing that Patchie might have caught is one possibility, but if that IS the case, are the others infected too? They've been exposed. Why aren't they showing signs of illness. Although, Patchie really wasn't either (save for shaking her head) and the nare thing. The other guess is a yeast infection she might have developed as a secondary infection from being on antibiotics. My weight is leaning in that direction. I know that yeast CAN be passed down to chicks in the nest and its deadly. I also know that Patchie was on antibiotics about a month prior to going to nest... so the timing is there. The fact that Silver saw Dr. Proseski during the nesting time and didn't have any signs of upper respitory problems is another indicator that maybe whatever didn't come from Neo as they were both in a cage with him before and Silver would have surely been ill too.

At anyrate, the Doctor decided to culture Apache's throat. That meant.. my poor Patcheeta had to hold still while they shoved a Big Ole Long Q-Tip down her throat and Mom had to stand upright when they handed her the bill of $117 bucks! So, that $117 dollar Q-Tip BETTER sprout some awnsers as to why my poor Patchie is sick, and maybe I'll even get a 5-fer and find out why the babies died too. In the meantime, the doctor felt more comfortable waiting until we get the culture back before we start her on antibiotcics. That's fine with me since I know her clinic goes through Prescription Specialties (and they make BOOKOO expensive medicine taylor made for a bird's pallet.. like.. millet extract with doxycycline in it, etc). So.. I'd rather get the RIGHT stuff the first time, rather than pay 20 bucks a bottle only to have to discard it after 2 days and buy MORE expensive taylor made stuff). Since its a long weekend, the results won't be back until at least Tuesday. That's a long time for Patchie to sit and bake with an infection. Doctor Becky said to weigh her every day, and if she stops eating and/or drinking over the weekend, I'm to call her at home and she gave me her home number. Wow! That was really nice. ::Sits on hands::: I can think of a thousand questions I want to ask her.. hahah! But.. I don't think she would appreciate me using her number to my advantage. LOL!!! Another part of me was rather alarmed. Hmmm.. is Apache sicker than she's letting on that she would give me her home phone number for the weekend? :;:gulp::: Well.. I asked her if I should quarentine her (hahah.. not like she hasn't been living with the flock) and she said.. naw.. why bother. Everyone's been around her and it would just stress her out and possibly make her symptoms flare up. (Which is exactly what I thought).

So, now I just sit tight and wait for the results and do a little internet surfing on yeast infections. I wonder if this is something I'll have to treat the whole flock for as a precaution? Probably. Lovely... six birds getting oral meds before I go to work in the morning. YIP!