"Wobbly" Conure?

Went to feed my conure, Beaker, this morning, and he is acting somewhat strangely. He seems a bit "wobbly", or unstable....nothing extreme, but not sure on his feet like normal, and a bit off balance and out of sorts.

Have not been doing any cooking with teflon, burning any candles, using any air fresheners....nothing at all that would be putting anything possibly toxic into the air, which was the first thing that flashed into my mind. No new or strange foods, nothing out of the ordinary that he has been exposed to.

We have had somewhat of a family crisis going on here over the last couple of days, so I honestly have not observed him closely in that time frame, his acting like this may have started a bit sooner than this moning, and I simply did not see it until it got more noticeable.

One other odd thing.....for the past couple of months, he has turned into a rather cranky bird, and would not cuddle and sit with you while out of the cage like he used to, in fact he'd rather bite you than be loved. this morning, he let me rub his little head, and then pick him up, and is currently nested seccurely in my hand, cupped up against my stomach, sleeping away (which is why it just took me 10 minutes to type this one-handed and probably not very well). He still seems a bit unstable when he does move about.

It doesn't seem like a hugely pressing issue, but not knowing for sure, I will probably give my vet a call this morning after I know he's back from church and see what he thinks. Just looking for some input from some birdy folks here to see if you have any ideas, since with ruling out the obvious, I am admittedly clueless.

Cathy,

There are ongoing concerns in the bird community about caging and bird toys in reference to both lead and zinc which can be harmful to birds. There are some inexpensive commercial lead test kits, I do not know of any for zinc.

Any new bird toys, or has your conure chewed paint off the cage? I hope the vet can give you answers and that all is well with your conure Beaker soon.

Nope, no new toys, and his cage is unpainted, but thanks for the thoughts.

OK, I just tried to set him back in his cage so I could go get more cofee, and he fell off his perch. it's like he's not able to keep his balance at all.

Cathy, birds do get ear infections. What you are describing is an awefull lot like what my quaker did when I first got her. Mine was not that extreme though. She was crabby, and shook her head, tilted it, and was a bit off balance.

Take him to the vet. The equilibrium issue could be a simple ear infection. but if left untreated, may become a worse issue.

Just my 2 cents .. so no, not sure for certain. but surely sounds fairly serious if he fell off the perch!!!

No ear infection....best diagnosis I have is some form of systemic infection, which apparently has been going on for awhile. He has been quite cranky and bitey for the last month or so, and following the advice of other bird folk, I have just pretty much given him the opportunity to be friendly on a regular basis, but not forced it on him, as I kept being reassured that there was something bothering him in his environment that I hadn't identified, and he'd come around.

Well, the vet theorizes that this is when it all started, and he is a very sick little birdie now. He is on Baytril, and just general supportive care (I actually have him in a large snake tub, to keep his temp good and warm, and no drafts), and we'll just have to see how things go from here. I feel terrible for not knowing this was going on right away, but other than his general crabbiness, there have been no other noticeable symptoms until the last couple of days. If I would have been holding him as normal, I should have noticed the weight loss, but between the perhaps poor advice I had been given and the desire to keep my fingers and earlobes (he had a sneaky trick of flying up to your shoulder then latching on to your earlobe when you messed with him and he wanted to be left alone), I didn't push it on him.

awwwwwww, the poor baby.

I hope he gets well Cathy!!!

Thanks, Brandi.

He's doing better....he doesn't much like his temporary tub home, but he's just getting to feeling well enough to really protest much. He actually sat up on my finger without a hardly a wobble this morning, and even gave me a kiss.

Keeping my hopes up, the vet seemed rather bleak, but if he keeps improving like he has, he just may do OK.

oh I am so happy to hear that Cathy!!! keep us posted!

Still improving! He's gained 3 grams (not a lot, but a good start) and was feeling ornery enough to try to fly away, then bite me today when I went to put him back into his "tub" after being out to get some excercise. LOL. I have had just paper towels for lining the tub, and after I put him back, he completely shredded it....so his energy level is obviously up too.

He's eating his regular food very well, and ate some scrambled egg and apple today besides. We'll return to the vet the end of this week, and see what he thinks, but I'm feeling more optimistic with each day.