canary making strange sounds and feather loss

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canary making strange sounds and feather loss

by amanda
(victoria, canada)

hi my canary is about 1 years old. he is not singing anymore but making strange clicking/breathing/scraping sounds. he is also losing feathers around his neck and has been fluffing up more than he used to. he doesnt go onto the bottom of the cage, he stays on his perch. there is another canary (think it is a female) in the cage as well who is also around 1 year old but this canary seems normal. they have a very balanced diet with seeds,millet and dried fruits and varied veg and mixed fresh fruit, veg, greens, they also get some vitamins in the water. i think he has mites but wouldnt the other bird have them too? could he have 2 types of mites based on feather loss and strange breathing?

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canary making strange sounds and feather loss

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Sep 08, 2010

canary making strange sounds and feather loss
by: Linda

Both your birds have to be taken to an Avian Vet in your driving area. Tracie gave you a link for help in finding one if needed.

Anytime you hear a bird having breathing difficulties like heavy breathing, clicking or holding the mouth open, this is an upper respiratory infection probably caused by a bacterial infection. These infections are highly contageous, so both birds are infected though only one is showing symptoms right now. The one showing symptoms is very sick and will die unless diagnosed as to what kind of bacteria this is and given meds appropriate for that bacteria. The other bird is also incubating this infection as birds kept in the same cage ALWAYS have the same infections. Your bird who is showing all the symptoms will die unless you get both of them to an Avian Vet as soon as possible.

You stand a real chance of losing both of these birds because you are waiting to take them to an Avian Vet for diagnosis and treatment. Sick birds have to go to bird doctors just like sick people have to go to people doctors. Birds do not get over their illnesses without help and get worse and worse until death gets them out of their misery and pain.

The feather loss has nothing to do with mites but is a precurser to death, so act quickly to save one or both of your birds and in future, please take sick birds to an Avian Vet so they can be diagnosed and treated. If you cannot do this for your birds, then choose another kind of pet to have though all pets will have to be seen by some kind of vet at one time or another.

Linda

Sep 08, 2010

Birds with feather loss need an avain vet
by: Tracie

You need to take your birds to see an avian vet in person. Dr B can not help, because he can not examine your birds.

If you need help finding an avian vet, you can look on our Find an Avian Vet page. Some vets are listed thanks to our readers, but you can also search on the link at the top of the page.

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