Stuffy nose?

[Bluediamond]

Hello, I have been having a bit of a problem......

Roxy has had a stuffy sounding nose and has a sour type of smell coming from them for over a year now. I have been a few times to the vet and everything has come back normal. They have put her on Baytril already once and some antibiotic nasal drops. None of this helped.

I have given her the herb salad and have also mixed it in with her food. I have given her ACV and also "Marvel Aid" an antibiotic drinking solution Google Image Result for http://www.petdiscounters.com/mc_images/product/image/d_5235.jpg.
Still nothing has helped.

Now my African Grey has the same thing......

Has anyone experienced this? I am at a loss of what is going on?

There cages are cleaned daily along with there stands. Toys are constantly being cleaned and sanitized. They are on a good diet of fresh veggies, fruits, pastas, grains, beans, pellets, seeds, nuts.....you name it!!

I have an air cleaner in there room and in the living room. I do not use chemicals or teflon. I don't wear perfumes around them. I have all wood floors that are swept once a day. No potpourris, plug ins or air fresheners. They get showers atleast 3 times a week and lightly misted daily.

Any ideas?

[Jessalyn Eaton]

I don't know but I'm betting someone here will! We will just send beakie kisses and pray they get well soon!

[Michelle & Fids]

Did they flush her nares and do a culture of it? I would have first guessed allergies, but since your Grey now has it I would rule that out. I will look through my books later to see if I can come up with any ideas. Hopefully Gary will see this, he is pretty good with the medical stuff.

[Karen]

Gina, sorry to hear Roxy is not feeling well. It may be fungal in nature and not bacterial. Antibiotics will help a bacteria infection but do nothing for a fungal infection.

I had the same problem with my GW and my former vet just kept giving him more antibiotics and it never helped. My new vet did a deep sinus flush and cultured the debris. She identified fungal hyphae consistent with Aspergillus on the cytology. I nebulized Amphotericin B twice a day for 10 days and gave him compounded Terbinafine (Lamisil) twice a day for 6 weeks. Happy to say he is fine now, no sneezing, no junk flying out of his nares and no smell.

So have your vet culture and find out if the problem is bacterial or fungal in nature and go from there.

Good luck and let us know how she is doing.

[Jessalyn Eaton]

How's sweet Roxy today?

[WingedVictory]

Hi, you are feeding a great diet! The smell you are talking about is it only from the nares? Can you smell anything from the beak? If you can play with your macaw for a bit and look deep in the beak area, do you see any plaque? Are the papillae sharp on the roof of the mouth not blunted. A smell could be a fungal or bacterial infection. The way to determine this would be cultures by your avian vet.

You might try mixing 2 drops of GSE in water and use this for sinus drops. See if you bird will drink the water with 2 drops of GSE in it, so do and some don't. Give your birds a nasal steam by placing them on a perch in the bathroom and let the shower run on hot. The steam should help clear the nasal cavity. If the above does not work after several days it is time to see your avian vet.

Another herb you might want to read about is slippery elm. Slippery elm

Please keep us posted

gary

[Bluediamond]

Hi thanks for the replies. So sorry that its taken me so long to post.

The smell is only coming from the nares. I take them both in for steam showers almost daily and this has not helped. Roxy has been to the vet 3 times and checked within 1 1/2 years, She is 2 years old. Nothing ever showed up on her and her grams always came back negative. So i just eventually tossed it up to an allergy of some sort until now that my African Grey has the same thing, she is 3 years old. If I look into Roxy's mouth, her papillea are all sharp.

Karen, the fungal vs. bacteria makes alot of sense and this may be whats going on????

I am hoping to maybe fix the problem hollistically or something. I hate constantly taking her in to the vet and spending $200-$300 each time for nothing

GSE drops? What is that?

Slipper Elm, I will try this also.

Thanks

[Xanthus]

GSE = Grapefruit Seed Extract

[Bluediamond]

Went today and picked up some of the GSE. I mixed it with water and put some drops in both of the birds nares. I also picked up some aloe vera for them to drink.

Hopefully this works

[Jessalyn Eaton]

I hope so too! I put a drop of GSE in Ruby's water dish every day. Give them beakie kisses from us!