Sick Ruddy

[GregH]

Last Monday I noticed that a male ruddy was looking off but was still flying around but the following morning I found him on the aviary floor, fluffed up and largely unresponsive. I picked him up without him exerting any effort to escape and placed him in a hospital cage. The heat lamp soon worked it's magic and he was soon moving around and tight feathered but with a strange posture - head down and bum up! He has lightly soiled feathers around the vent, which appears distended and pert (reminiscent of an egg-bound hen). Initially he spent a lot of time displaying his rear directly in front of lamp but now just faces it panting. He could move further away from the heat source but doesn't. Does anyone have any ideas what it coud be? Initially I thought he may be constipated but he's creating a nice soiled area at the front of the cage so that can't be so but now I'm wondering if he could have an infection or tumour.

[Craig52]

Hi Greg,African fires tend to have a habit of sticking their tails up in the air when they are stressed or cornered,imo just leave him alone in a nice quiet area and he should come good but don't worry about the tail bizz every time you check him.
All the pytilia's do the same thing with their tails when stressed as well. Cheers Craig

[GregH]

Thanks for the posture advice Craig. As expected his bum is still up and the feathers were caked with faeces today so I decided to clean him up. After catching him I noticed an unwelcome clicking wheeze that I've only heard before with Air Sac Mite on Gouldians, I've started the birds on Ivamectin and hopefully this will be the end of the problem.

[Myzomela]

Thanks for the the help Myzo. The bird still continues to hold it's strange posture but looks so much better than when he was captured on Wednesday. When laid on his back the abdomen is definitely convex which I take it means there is some idiopathic enlargement of the viscera. I haven't wormed lately so hopefully the ivamentin will fix that up (if that unknown factor is the cause). Incidentally the clicking in his breathing is still there but it's less than 24h since treatment with ivamectin commenced so I'm not too worried about that. I've got some chlortetracycline so I can give that too. The faeces is still caking around the vent so at least he's eating.

Greg

[GregH]

Oops. looks like I deleted Myzo's post as I've been in a bit of a hurry lately with the wife interstate and me looking after the kids. Just up dating the status of my Ruddy - He died! Perhaps the sulfur drugs may of helped but I didn't get them and paid the price. My crude necropsy didn't show too much other that most fat reserves had been consumed and the gut was empty at the time of death. I didn't find the body until many house after it's demise and placed it in the refrigerator for 2 days until I was free to inspect it. There was a little gas in the rectum but that was probably from the delayed inspection. No other bids have come down with symptoms and I hope that is the end of the isssue.