Vomiting Bird

[MaryT]

I understand that this is a Lovebird forum, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a Green Cheek Conure forum.

My little guy, Oscar, who is 11 years old, vomited this weekend. It was for an isolated period of time - periodically for about 15 minutes - and then he stopped and hasn't vomited again. His behavior is normal as is his appetite.

I have a call into his doctor, but wanted to post something as I wait - impatiently - for her to return my call.

Thanks!

[n8wb]

Let us know what the doctor says. I am curious as well.

[Oscar]

My birds name is Oscar too! sorry, haha i hope your oscar is fine ;)

[MaryT]

I just heard back from the doctor.

At first she questioned whether he really vomited vs. regurgitated. I explained that I've seen his regurgitation behaviors before, and this was definitely different. His wings went up, his body moved forward, and he thrashed his head to the extent that the vomit hit the wall and floor. Not typical regurgitation behavior for him!

As long as it doesn't happen again, there is nothing to do. The doctor said that if it happens again, he needs to go in immediately for blood work and x-rays to figure out what is going on.

Considering that his appetite, behavior, and weight are normal, it was - hopefully - some bizarre isolated incident.

[bellarains]

Hi Mary,

I have a GCC also, but have only had Cappie for two years. Projective vomiting would concern me also. Can you call your vet back and ask to bring in a poop sample for a grams stain? This is what I do if I have any doubt as to the health of any of my fids. It may not show any illness in Oscar, but it may show the beginnings of a bacterial infection. It will also give you some peace of mind. My vet is a strong believer in not stressing a bird out if there is no need, so he is fine with me just bringing in a poop sample.

I hope Oscar is alright. I don't know of a good GCC forum, but we have quiet a few members here with one, so you are more than welcome to talk about your baby here, and I'm sure we could learn from all your experience with Oscar also.

[Janie]

Mary, I have an older lovie and what you described is exactly what I saw him do one time last Sept. We were just leaving the vets office after his yearly exam and I saw this wet seed on his cage floor. I looked closely and that's just what it was, vomit. He did it several more times on the way home (slinging his head from side to side) and did stay a little fluffed up and quiet for several hours. I was freaked out, to say the least! The vets assistant wrote it off to the stress of the check-up or possible car sickness. The check up was nothing but a weight check, grams stain and checking his heartbeat. He was fine in a couple of hours but it really did scare me to death and especially because he's on the "older" side, around 10.

I do hope Oscar is OK. My boy, Oliver, has done that only the one time in the almost three years I've had him.

[Illumen]

Hi Mary...my Emma did the exact same thing. He sat on my shoulders really quietly and all he did was throw up, shaking his head vehemently and the seeds were just flying out of his mouth. He was a bit fluffed up and was asleep for a few hours in between vomits. Somehow he recovered by the evening and was back to normal. All the doctor said over the phone was that it was just probably a stomach upset.

Better safe than sorry, if your little one doesn't get better to have a vet check him out.

Mena

[linda040899]

Hi Mary,
I usually have abnormal behavior checked by my avian vet. If nothing else, have a gram stain done of samples from the mouth and from the cloaca. The stain will show if there's the beginning of any infection and you can go from there. If nothing shows, peace of mind has no dollar value. Gram Stains are not expensive.

[Janie]

Hi Mary,
I usually have abnormal behavior checked by my avian vet. If nothing else, have a gram stain done of samples from the mouth and from the cloaca. The stain will show if there's the beginning of any infection and you can go from there. If nothing shows, peace of mind has no dollar value. Gram Stains are not expensive.

My "peace of mind" came from Linda! :D Linda was so much help to me that day and kept in touch until Oliver was back to normal. She told me to keep him warm, call the vet back and watch him. I did, I did and I did. Since I was at the vets office when it first happened, I think they should have understood how alarmed I was since he'd never done that in the 2+ years I'd had him. He did vomit a couple of times on the way home and again, twice after we got home. That is when I PM'd Linda and calmed down. :)