We have had a difficult time with Bezukhov. After I posted that Bezukhov had become unwell (click here to read that post), the hopeful signs of improvement stopped. On the 29th September, Bezukhov began a heavy moult. Almost overnight there were feathers everywhere. He lost mountains of small fluffy feathers, several larger feathers, including flight feathers & a tail feather. At the same time, his poops got worse again. He also stopped eating.
He was extremely lethargic & I was sufficiently worried to call in Ms Independent Vet (IV) who visited on the 30th September.
Once again, she suspected the problems were a continuation of stress from losing his friend Phineas, but now with the added complication of going into a heavy moult. She weighed him & he was only 44g, so a loss of approximately 14g in 9 days. His temperature was very high, but otherwise she could not find anything else obviously wrong. She gave him an injection of anti-inflammatory to help bring down his temperature & also antibiotics to guard against infections whilst his immune system was low. I was to orally give him the anti-inflammatory (Loxicom) twice a day for the next 3 days & antibiotics (Baytril) once a day for the next 7 days. She also advised that I steam/nebulise him with F10 as she thought his breathing was a bit laboured. She also gave me Emeraid, so I could syringe feed him to get his weight back up.
Of course giving Bezukhov medicine is a challenge. Despite being unwell he still managed to do his very best to avoid taking anything orally.
I was marginally better at giving Bezukhov the medicine than the Emeraid. Some birds will apparently eat Emeraid when offered as it is a nice smelling (& probably nice tasting) porridge-like substance. I did offer him some on my finger but he refused so I was left with having to syringe feed him. I tried my very, very best to give him the food but he pulled out all the stops & thwarted me at every twist & turn. I managed to get a few drops inside him now & then. Ms IV advised that I give him the Emeraid morning & evening but because I could hardly get any inside him, I added another battle session in the middle of the day.
Despite my best efforts, Bezukhov got worse.
Puddings & Toyboys 