R.I.P Kiri, Koba and Sho

[LunaTruths]

Well.. I've lost three of my tiels this week. I don't know what's happening. I lost my 2 year old male tiel, and two of the babies he had with my female. I had separated him from my female tiel, because he was mating her again. Well, two days after I did that, I went to uncover his cage, and he was lying on the bottom of the cage floor. Did he die from being lonely? Is that possible?

The babies that I lost.. I lost one on the twelfth of this week. She had her own problems, after taking her to the vet, I had been told she'd never be able to walk on her own. Due to having no muscles in her legs. However, the vet said she was a healthy weight, and had no parasites. I don't know what happened to her either. She was completely fine, and I had her out of the cage, with me. She had been eating properly, but she went to sleep on the 11th, and never woke up again.

The second baby I lost.. I lost him yesterday. I had just given the tiels fresh food and water, and then I left to go run errands. i was gone for about three hours. During that time I was gone, he had gone off to a corner of the cage alone, and just laid down. He was dead when I made it back home from my errands. I'm really worried, that there's something going on that I don't know about. I have six other birds to worry about, now. I had taken all of these birds to the vet, and all of them were said to be healthy. Yet I lost three in the same week.

I have made another appointment at my vet, to get in my remaining birds, just in case there is something going around that I am not aware of. This is all very frustrating to me, because I don't know whats happening, or how to help.

On a slightly happier note. My female tiel, has laid three new eggs. I've checked them already, and none of them are fertile.

[boomer girl]

I am sorry for your loss of so many birds in such a short time, it must be hard to lose so many. Truly my heart goes out to you.

Do you think this could be something in the air? Are you using plug in air fresheners? Cleaning with new cleaners? New furniture? Anything that smells or puts out odor is hard on a little bird and too many odors can easily kill a bird. Do you have a new cat or dog who could be scaring them while your away?

[LunaTruths]

It really is hard. I don't know what happened to them.

I am not using plug in air fresheners, and I don't have any new furniture or new cleaners. I do have a new dog, but he doesn't seem to bother any of the birds. He hasn't even really noticed them.

The only thing I can think of, is that my grandfather smokes a lot, like two packs a day. Would that have caused it? I mean. I've had them for a while now, and he's always smoked that much and its never affected them before. The remaining 6 birds go to the vet tomorrow, so I can find out if there's something wrong with them.

[maxollie]

Of course smoking is not a good idea when you have any pets around. However, your vet would be the one to examine your remaining tiels thoroughly, and would advise you concerning the smoke. I am thinking on the same wave length as Deanna. Did you begin using some new house cleaning item, or do you fry/cook with teflon pans? Was the new dog that you have now, sprayed for fleas, or other chemicals. And further, has there recently been some sort of chemical released in the air outside of your home. Sometimes outside chemicals can sift into a home through a chimney or some windows, even though they may be closed. It definitely is alarming that the ones that you lost, died very swiftly with no apparent signs of physical distress.

I'm very sorry you lost your precious little tiels. I hope your vet will have some answers for you. And I hope you can get your babies into the vet ASAP!

[boomer girl]

I couldn't imagine losing 3 birds all at once, this has to be such a sad thing to deal with. It is good your taking your flock to the vets to get checked out, this way you will know they are still healthy and fine.

Smoke is bad for them so if you can put them in a different room then where your Grandpa smokes it would be great for them. If he has smoked around them all the time I wouldnt think this would suddenly kill them but it is really bad for them to live in a house with a person smoking.

I wouldnt mention anything about dogs but I have been bird sitting and dog sitting and noticed that the peoples dogs tend to go up to the cage and bother the birds when the birds get excited and flap all around in there cages. My sisters dog likes to go up to Mangos (Amazon) cage and bark at Mango when no one is watching so from just dog and bird sitting at the same time it makes me wonder what dogs do when people are not at home. A couple of weeks ago I watched two birds and two dogs and seen the little dog trying to get the birds through the cage and these people had just lost two of there birds to a unknown death. It made me think it was perhaps the little dog freaking them out when no one at home to watch him.

[LunaTruths]

Well my grandfather has not stopped smoking at all since I got the birds. It didnt' seem to bother them before, and there were no health issues with them because of it. I talked to my vet about it, when I first got them, and she said that it wouldn't cause them any damage; unless he was blowing the smoke directly into their faces. Which he is not. He smokes in another room, and I don't like the idea of him smoking with any of my animals in the house, but he doesn't care. He assumes that since he's one room away, that the smoke will not filter through into the other parts of the house.

I don't think there's been any chemicals released outside, but I am not entirely positive of that. Yes, they showed no signs of distress, and didn't seem to be bothered by anything. And then slowly, they all just died.

As for the dog. He's really little, and can't even reach the cages, to peer inside of them. So I'm fairly positive, he's not messing with them. Though its really hard to say for sure. Would his constant barking possibly have scared them? Its been cold here, and snowing recently, but the cages are always covered, and the house is always very warm. I really just don't know what happened to them, and its starting to bother me. If it was something contagious, I need to know how to treat it, so that my other birds don't get sick from it.

[maxollie]

I totally agree with your concern about the others. Hopefully you can get to an Avian vet with them, and also take some time to sit down and talk to your vet about the last few weeks when the others were alive and the environment in your home, as well as other things you might consider important to talk to your vet about. I truly feel sad for you because I know how heartbreaking it is to lose a precious little fid, let alone losing three at one time. I sure hope you will get some answers from your vet to prevent the others from dying.

[LunaTruths]

Hi, Ellen. Thank you for your concern. I have taken them to the vet already today. My vet said that she did not see any health issues wrong with any of the remaining six birds. I also spoke to her about the amount of smoke that is inside my house, and again she said. That as long as he is not blowing it directly into their faces, it should have no effect on them. However, the cold may have proven as the culprit of the baby tiels deaths. My cages are not placed on the floor, so I did not understand what she meant. She also said, that the babies were probably not weaned off the mother properly, since she was trying to mate again, before they were eating on their own. That because of that, the two babies may have possibly starved to death, instead of being sick.

As for my 2 year old tiel, she says she had no idea what was the reason for his death. Especially since it was so sudden, and there were no warning signs of him even being sick. She gave me something called.. 'BOOST' to put in all of their food, and this clear liquid to put in all of their water. She said that if one more bird happens to fall ill and suddenly die, then it is probably something very contagious that she isn't catching through her exams. I really hope that is not the case.

[Pipers Mom]

I am so sorry to hear about losing your 3 tiels. Please keep us advised to what your vet says about the rest of your flock. My heart goes out to you. I just lost a tiel in September and he was only seven. I know Deanna and Ellen mentioned household cleaners, teflon, furniture and even cigarette smoke, but for some reason, burning candles popped into my mind. By any chance, did you have any candles lit nearby your tiels?

[LunaTruths]

I did not have any candles nearby. I don't have any candles in my home, because I was always afraid of one of the birds flying to it and getting burnt. There is a humidifier, in my home. Do you think that could have been the cause of it? I really have no idea what happened to them, and it is very frustrating. Especially since my vet couldn't really tell me more than what she did.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated with everything.

[Pipers Mom]

What kind of humidifier? Is it ultrasonic or evaporative? Do you have heavily chlorinated water? My humidifier is evaporative and is attached to my furnace. Never had any issues with my fids. I do change the humidifier pad on annual basis, usually in the fall. When was the last time you had the heat exchanger checked on your furnace? There could be a ventilation problem with a gas appliance such as a water heater. Just throwing some ideas out for you.

[LunaTruths]

Its an evaporative one. I don't think there's heavy chlorinated water. Um. The last time it was checked was a few months back, like early September. I appreciate all the ideas you're giving me. A few of them I didn't even think about. Though i have checked out every possible cause I could think of, and so far nothing seems off, or seems like it would be bad enough to kill three birds so suddenly. My only other thought, was that one of my grandfathers cats, managed to harm the birds while I was at work. I'm not sure how they would have done that, but that's the only thing I could think of.

[Pipers Mom]

I will continue trying to think of some more ideas.. Like you, I never burned any candles in my home for the same reason of my birds getting burnt. If I think of anymore, I will post them on this thread..

[LunaTruths]

That would be very helpful. Thank you again.

[Pipers Mom]

Just had another thought.... Do you have any indoor plants by your cages? I know some plants are toxic to birds..

[maxollie]

Carolyn gave you some great thoughts to ponder. I think that evaporative humidifiers need to be cleaned often, because the filters are wet all of the time and they can get moldy. And that mold can come out the top of the humidifer mist and out into the air in the room. You wouldn't be able to see the mold flying around in the air, but it would be there. Fids definitely would get sick if they ingested that mold. Just another idea to consider. I can only imagine how sad it was to find 3 of them all at one time. Is there any chance the seed you were feeding was old, or had fungus in it. Tiels will get a respiratory infection from bad seed.

[maxollie]

Courtney, It sounds to me like you have an excellent avian vet. That is a real plus for you, because in some areas it is hard to find one. I also live in Illinois (close to Peoria), and as far as my research has taken me there are no "avian vets" in that area. There are "vets", but many of them do not treat "exotic pets", such as tiels and budgies. I hope things work out so you don't have to have so much worry about them.