My bird is having symptons of shakiness and no balance and she seemed fine yeststerday. What is the problem?

Question

I just bought her yesterday and she was healthy. she is also a tamed cockatiel. Now she just hangs around at the bottom of the cage and i am worried about her. I don't think it is normal, and i want to know what is happening to her.

Answer 1

Call the pet shop tomorrow and find out how old the bird is.
If it is still a baby and was still being hand fed, then all of a sudden they sold it and now it has gone that long without a feeding it will display the same symptoms as a person with low sugar, "shakiness and loss of balance"
I could be way off and perhaps it is just stressed about the move, but I would definitely make sure the bird is properly weaned,
if not it will need to continue the hand feeding until it is, sometimes this takes until they show no interest in the formula food.

Answer 2

Shakiness and not being the way it was in the Pet store would could be from the stress of change of environment - these small birds are more sensitive to stress such as this. It also does not now have its other birdie buddies around for security, cuddling and warmth and this is true with tame and handfed ones. But no balance doesn t sound like part of that unless it is because it is not feeding properly. You have to monitor That more carefully in the 1st weeks. You can tell if it is eating if their are enough droppings on the bottom of the cage and the health by if the droppings look normal.

I ve had 4 handfed budgies and one 4 month old from the reg. cage and they all went thru the readjusting to their new enviroment - and one even would shake a bit and his wings would quiver a bit. That was my 4th one and I really gave him his space and left him completely alone for almost two days - In with normal activity but didn t try to handle him. Just would when relaxing sit next to the cage and talk softly to him when he seemed to be paying attention to me. Then the third day I would open the cage door and he eventually would just sit on the opening of it - it showed me that he was comfortable enough to do that. And even then if I offered my finger when he was sitting there - his wings would start quivering and then thats when I knew it was him still being a bit scared. I just withdrew my finger and kept trying over the next week and he would eventually go for it. And I would put him on my shoulder and he would snuggle and hang out there.

So check if it has normal droppings and was eating and drinking - I assume your place of purchase has a least a couple week security guarentee and they will honor this.

I would Call first and ask to speak to the person in charge of the birds and Ask about the birds balance - because transporting the bird would cause more dammage if the trip isn t needed. And although the Pet Store doesn t have experts -they should know enough that being off balance isn t part of the settling in. They will not pay the Bill of the Vet - even if the problem stems from having a bird that is not in good health or fully used to eating on its own. They woud only accept responsibility by taking the bird back-hopefully. If you cannot afford these Vet Bills and you should not have to pay them this early - when something my be wrong from the begining- go to the source. And next time check on the Net on Responsible Breeders in Your area instead of supporting a place that might not be. And you may find out of they are when you check back with them and see what they say.

In the meantime - keep your Birdie - Warm and cozy and get moving on this. If you have to take him in. Protect it from the your weather environment - whether hot or cold or breezy. And as little movement as possible.

I hope this works out for you and your Bird friend.

Answer 3

I would find out if the bird is weaned PROPERLY. If not you need to continue with hand feeds for a little while.
The bird may be just nervous then cover the cage even four sides with heating, but this is not probably the reason. A nervous bird would have gone to hide on the bottom of the cage when you brought it home. Another thing may be some sort of poison present in your home, like air freshner, insect killer, some type of cleaning agent. Ear infection also causes loss of balance.

Is the bird eating and drinking? A bird eats almost continually it is not like a dog or cat that eats once a day. In the wild a bird mostly forages for food and preens, so these activities we see most often in our pets. It is only because food is readily available that they have time to play with toys.

If you have pellets, crush these soak in warm water, and offer to the bird on a spoon. The food must be about your body temp or a little warmer. (test on the inside of your arm like human baby food) You can also try offer human cereal porridge mixed with water not milk. If this is the case of an unweaned baby you need to buy formula and handfeed.

Answer 4

This sounds like heavy metal poisoning or a vitamin/mineral imbalance to me. Viruses or bacterial infections generally make listless, inactive brids but nor spasms. Egg-binding could accoutn for the spasms, but she should have a swollen, red vent, maybe with a bit of egg visable. ALso, her abdomen would probably be distended and swollen as well. If you bought her yesterday, she's probably a bit young to be laying eggs.

I'd take her to the vet, get a complete blood count and a graham stain done. Also have your vet test for heavy metals and calcium/vitamin A difficiencies.

Also, call the pet store. I'm assuming hs ewas sold under guarantee, and they may pay for her treatment and/or replacement.

Healthy, socialized birds should not go into spasms because of stress. Hand fed/hand tamed birds are just as adaptable as any larger parrot (and manya re more so). This is not a good sign.

Answer 5

If she's shaking, put a light on her for heat and cover three sides of the cage. If she's lost her balance, it's more than egg binding.
Bird owners should keep Ornacyn Plus on hand at all times. It's a broad spectrum antibiotic needed in instances like this.
She may be used to having it warmer, especially if she's had other birds to cuddle with.
When they're chilled or for some other reason their immune system is down, they go down and die very quickly.
If you have a Super Walmart around, they're usually open 24 hours. Get some Ornacyn Plus, mix it double strength tonight...1 pill in 1/2 cup water.

Is she eating? What is she eating?
If there's anything else, please tell us.

Answer 6

I hate to tell you, I have had 2 birds die on me. the first one just one day falls and lays on the bottom of its cage and just flinches every once in a while then died. The other was weak and tried to stay on her perch but kept falling. I toke her out and she was feeling light and would not eat. I would suggest taking it out and maybe moving it around maybe if its not cold let it have some fresh air. maybe eat or drink? If nothing else works then i guess go to the vet

Answer 7

She has probably had a nervouse break down. It happens alot to birds especially when moving around. Its best to just leave it be and not get near it so that it can adjust to it's surroundings and get a feel for things. Then it should start moving around and going on its pirch. If it starts sneezing alot and is losing ALOT of feathers, it will probably loose a few since it is so nervouse, then take it to a vet and they will probably give it antibiotics and some fluids and give you some antibiotics to take home and feed to her 2 times a day, it will probably come out to about $150- $200

Answer 8

Bring her to a vet asap. Once they are this bad, it might be too late. Is she straining at all? Has she pooped? Does she have very large poops, if she pooped? She could be sick, or also egg bound. The only way to remedy this is by a vet.
If you can't get to one and she looks egg bound, try rubbing vegetable oil on her cloaca and sometimes that will help. If egg bound, most females die pretty quickly unless the egg is removed. I tend to think it may be this one because of how sudden you said it happened.

Answer 9

Birds hide their illness in the wild. Therefore they also hide it in out homes. You need to take this sick bird to an AVIAN vet ASAP. If not she will die. Besides, when you get a new bird, you should always take them to a vet to get checked. Also, if you bought her from a pet store, their birds are from bird mills, and are usualy sick. (note, I said usually, not always)

Answer 10

she have to get used to the new place it takes a little time i have four of them they are very smart birds