Friday vet visits

The last two Fridays, the vet has visited.

Dalai has not been himself, so on Friday 26th October, I called the vet in.

After the obligatory chase around the Silver Villa, the vet examined Dalai. He was very keen to bite her & also attempted to bite her stethoscope. Nevertheless, she managed to ascertain that his heart rate was fine & his temperature was also fine. He weighed a healthy 45g.

A few days previously, I had noticed some strange dark marks on his toenails, which I pointed out to her. She noticed a red mark on the bottom of his beak, the part underneath that the top hooked part covers. She seemed to think the two things might be related. She asked if he had been in a fight but I said Perry or Lennie would not dare to upset him. The marks on his toenails looked like bruising to her. At best, the bruising would disappear within a couple of weeks & all will be well. (Afterwards, I recalled that about a week previously, he had gone into the wall & landed on the floor, possibly due to a feather working its way loose).

Since that visit, he started moulting his little feathers & has been extra grumpy & also sleepy.

On the Wednesday morning (31st), I noticed some deposits of vomit. Dalai was particularly under the weather & sleepy this day. I kept him locked in by himself for most of the day & at intervals offered him millet, seed & baby corn, of which he appeared to enjoy the corn most. His poops were rather sludgy & not to his normal standard.

There was little change over the next two days. There was one moment on the Thursday evening when he was heaving & vomited but only one or two seeds came out. The next day, Friday 2nd November, I called the vet out again. She came in the afternoon, but that morning, I found that Dalai really fancied broccoli, so I held it up to him several times & he ate quite a lot. He also came out a couple of times & unusually, went into Perry & Lennie’s cage, where he ate some of their seed. He was back in his own home by the time the vet arrived.

Dalai was active enough to fly out the cage whilst the vet was trying to catch him. Unfortunately (for him) he landed back on the side of the cage near me, so I managed to catch him. His temperature was higher than the previous Friday but still in the normal range. He had lost some weight, probably about 2 grams. His poops were awful & he appeared to have a slight tail bob. The vet prescribed antibiotics (Enrobactin) in the water for the next 10 days. She also wondered if he has chlamydia. The trauma from when he got his bruising may have triggered it. Poop needs to be collected over the next 7-10 days for a test, if I choose to go ahead with it.

In the meantime, I continue to monitor Dalai.