| Contacting Your Veterinarian |
WHEN SHOULD I CONTACT MY VETERINARIAN?
Contact your veterinarian immediately if your bird has:
- Difficulty breathing
- Wheezing or clicking sounds when breathing
- A near drowning
- Any breathing abnormality after an exposure to overheated teflon, aerosol spray, or other irritant to the respiratory system
- A broken bone, or a cut that exposes a bone
- Bleeding that cannot be stopped (e.g., from blood feather, nail, or beak)
- An eye injury or the eye appears enlarged or protruding
- An attack by an animal
- Being hit by a moving object
- Puncture wounds
- Any trauma to the head
- Flying into a window or other object
- A severe laceration, or an incision that has opened and the skin is gaping
- Mishandling (e.g., squeezed by a child)
- Biting on an electrical cord and receiving a shock or burn
- Burns or inhaled smoke
- Heat stroke (panting, holding wings out away from the body)
- Hypothermia
- Straining continually, but unable to produce feces or urates
- Choking
- Swallowing a foreign body (e.g., toy, cage decoration)
- Crop burn from feeding items that were too warm
- Any condition that makes it difficult to eat or manipulate food (injury to the beak, or in the case of parrots, a foot)
- A prolapse or eversion at the vent or bleeding from the vent
- Egg binding - straining and having difficulty producing an egg
- An overdose of medication or suspected poisoning
- Extreme weakness, lethargy or depression, unconsciousness, collapse, or coma
- Seizures (flapping wings while lying in the bottom of the cage)
- A head tilt, nystagmus (eyes move rapidly from side to side), staggering, walking in circles, difficulty sitting on a perch, or other problems moving
- Severe or continuous pain
- Sudden inability to bear weight on a leg or use a wing
- Swollen or injured foot due to a leg band problem
Call your veterinarian within eight hours if your bird has:
- Sneezing
- Discharge from nose or eyes
- An increased or decreased appetite or thirst
- Sudden weight loss or gain
- Discharge or crusts around the mouth, or change in color of the inside of the mouth
- Vomiting, regurgitation, or swelling of the crop area
- Changes in the number, color, or consistency of the droppings
- An unusual smell to the droppings
- Sitting fluffed up, huddled, or at the bottom of the cage
- A sudden change in behavior, e.g., changes in vocalizations
- Cloudy eyes, squinting, or appears to be unable to see
- Swollen joints or feet
- Lameness or favoring a leg
- Crusting or discoloration of the feet
- A drooped or elevated wing
- Abnormal lumps, bumps, or red areas
- Scabs or abrasions
- Ticks or mites
- Abnormal color to skin or darkening of toes
- Wet, stained, or matted feathers
- Continual picking at feathers or body
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