Thank you all for taking the time to help me. My bird got a shot of Vitamin A, some anti-inflammatory drugs to take, and the Vet let me borrow an incubator to nebulize her in, she is inhaling Amikasin to make sure the Klebsiella is gone. He also did new cultures of her sinuses and throat. Her throat was so inflammed it bled when he did this. I hope she is on the road to recovery as she has lost 100 grams of her weight. We are feeding her a special food from the Vet for sick birds and also some baby food veggies that are high in vitamin A.
I have tried her 4 times in the last few years on Harrison's pellets and she almost starved herself rather than eat them, so we have decided that we will still give her 2 feedings a days after she is well and add crushed up pellets to the baby food veggies. That way we can be sure she is getting everything she needs.
We also got her a full spectrum light. She already is eating a little better and sounding a tad better. I apprectiate your help and you were all right on the money with your information. I will let you know her progress. I cannot thank you guys enough for taking your time to help us. Patti
Sep 29, 2009
Klebsiella issue by: The Vet
This is a complicated situation. It is related to the bacterial infection, but what makes it worse is nutritional deficiencies; especially vitamin A. If your bird is not on pellets, then the nutritional deficiencies will make infections worse. Some of the noises that you are hearing are inflammation and it is partly due to the deficiencies.
In addition, it may be that the antibiotics that were used were not strong enough, or were not the correct choice for this bacteria. Were cultures done to determine what the bacteria is and which antibiotic to use?
Klebsiella does cause mucus production, but when the bacteria are gone, so is the mucus. So it may be that the bacteria are not completely gone. Which is not surprising because sinus infections in birds are very difficult to clear up.
Injectable antibiotics alone will not cure this usually. Your bird needs nasal flushes, nebulization, and a drug that will help get rid of that mucus.
Dr B
Sep 28, 2009
Parrot sneezing by: Linda
Your bird has been really sick, and the comeback is always slow. I had a round with pneumonia in a "throw away" Amazon I ended up "buying" and having treated. She was sick and pet store owner had dumped her in a back warehouse to die when I started to work there. She had to have shots twice a day, and we had to syringe feed her baby parrot handfeeding formula as she completely went off feed. Her recuperation was slow like yours is, and after a couple of months of treatments, she developed a yeast fungal infection that then had to be treated. Possibly your bird is experiencing a fungal infection brought on by the antibiobics. Our bird finally recovered and began eating again though she was weak for months.
I'd suggest you speak with your vet about the possibility of a fungal infection which would have symptoms like you are talking about. Nikki's throat became sore, and she also stopped talking or singing, and vet did a smear from her throat and clocoa and diagnosed the fungal infection which was then treated with anti-fungals.
Talk to vet about this possibility because the fungal infection from all the antibiotics will not go away without treatment. The fungas keeps growing and can cause as much trouble as the original bacterial infection. Do exactly as vet says as the anti-fungals are hard on the body too.
Keep us posted on how your bird is doing as we are interested to see if she does have a fungal infection. Many people don't understand that prolonged antibiotic treatments have the same effect on animals and birds as they do humans, namely fungal infections, usually of the yeast variety.
