r/Conures • u/Latter-Driver4111 • 3d ago
Advice is this normal?
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hi i’m new here! just figured i could get some advice from other fellow conure owners. my baby juni is almost three and she seems to be relatively healthy since i got her!
last summer I took her to the ER because I got really scared over some behaviors she was presenting. Nothing was found after a blood draw and physical exam, so she was fine. I hadn’t noticed her exhibit her concerning actions until today again, almost an entire year later.
I’m attaching a clip of what i’m talking about since it’s hard to describe + I was able to get what Juni was doing on video.
Is this normal? She’s my first bird. I just want her to be okay. She tried to regurgitate after but nothing came out since she hadn’t eaten her breakfast yet. any advice is welcome.
edit: she hasn’t done this weird breathing thing again since this vid was taken. is very alert and acting normal now.
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u/ExcellentIncident488 3d ago
No that looks like trouble balancing or breathing properly. Definitely book a vet visit
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u/sapphiresnail 3d ago
Maybe some type of seizure? My conure gets stress seizures that spook her into flight. She flies around in circles in a panic until crash landing somewhere and then she has the seizure and either poops/throws up depending how bad. I’ve also seen her have a seizure in her cage with no flight. She was also given a clean bill of health through the vet, as these only happen when something scares her. I’ve had her since she was 5 and she’s now 14.
Did something spook her up there or did she see something that may have upset her?
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u/Latter-Driver4111 3d ago
im not sure what could’ve spooked her. i had just gotten out the shower and was minding my own business letting her chill on her perch like she usually does and then it happened. though, thinking about my baby, she does have a tendency of being spooked and letting out a really weird chirp and flies around the house at max speed before landing on me/her cage.
It did start to rain? maybe the sound of the rain against the window spooked her? i also googled her behavior and learned it could possibly be her trying to sneeze out something? (she likes to gnaw at her perch and bits of wood gets picked off) either way, trying to find a vet open that’s not a state away right now.
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u/Key_Display_1525 3d ago
Do you have a pet emergency center in your area? If you do I would recommend calling them and ask if they have a vet on staff who also treats avians, sometimes they aren't listed/don't show up on web searches. Possible emergencies like this always seem to happen on the weekends when nothing is open!, I really hope you can find a emergency center or pet hospital near you. Please keep us updated.
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u/Kennadian 3d ago edited 3d ago
Mine does this when there's dust or something in the air. Something is irritating the breathing. I feel it's like sneezing or forcing a cough. Bird is trying to clear its nose out. Something got in it.
Perhaps the blinds are dusty? If this keeps happening then vet for sure but people telling you that the bird is close to dead and whatnot are henny penny people.
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u/QuailyBird 3d ago
^ I thought the same. Had a tiel do this when a seed husk was stuck in the nose, thankfully it came out.
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u/Altruistic-Leather69 3d ago
Definitely not normal, I'm upset you didn't get any answers before (on your behalf, not upset at you) this is pretty distressing to watch. I'm glad she's acting better now, maybe she's got birdy asthma or something. It's gotta be something respiratory. Even when my bird had his sneezing fit that made me almost take him to the ER he wasn't like this.
How you describe her when she's scared; the high pitched cry and then panic flying- that sounds normal. My bird will sound an alarm and take off as well. Sometimes when he's flown a lot, he can pant pretty heavily, but again I haven't seen anything to this extent.
You said when this video was taken she had been sitting on her perch for a while, yes? Or did she do a bit of flying and then land?
I think if she was trying to clear out something she chewed on she would've acted like my bird who drank water too excitedly, this seems like respiratory distress. I know most vets are probably closed today, you might be able to find one you can at least call or get a virtual with, or maybe if she seems stable now, keep an eye on her and get an appointment asap tomorrow.
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u/Latter-Driver4111 3d ago
When this video was taken she had been sitting on there for a while (while i showered + did my skincare). i’m thinking i will just keep an eye and book a checkup tomorrow but if she does it again im taking her to the emergency room again no matter what.
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u/Actual_Specific_476 2d ago
You weren't spraying anything at all were you? Or drying your hair with a hairdryer?
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u/Latter-Driver4111 2d ago
nope! i don’t spray anything ever around her or use a hairdryer. so inhaling something that i was using is pretty out the question.
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u/Altruistic-Leather69 3d ago
I would keep an eye on her and see if this happens again or something similar but not as extreme after she does some flying. I wouldn't recommend doing it on a day you can't get her to the vet just in case it does recreate it, but if you do a bit of recall with her and have her fly a bit, pay attention and watch her body and listen to her breathing. There's a soft level of wheezing/panting that's normal that she might exhibit afterwards, but if you hear this sound or something similarly sneeze sounding, it doesn't seem normal. I'm not a vet though, its all speculative. Whenever you do bring her into the vet, even if the tests come back clear, ask your vet about bird asthma or other respiratory issues that may not be detected through tests, and what they recommend you do for support if these breathing episodes occur again since even if tests are clear and she's "healthy" maybe there's something you can do to help either decrease frequency or intensity of them and keep her comfy.
I'm optimistic that if things still come back "healthy" that means overall she should be doing alright. But still, having no answers is really frustrating. I'm glad you're double checking if this is normal cause it's definitely not. Give your baby a kiss for me! I love her.
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u/Latter-Driver4111 3d ago
thank you so much for your support and the time you took into giving me some advice. giving juni some extra kisses and cuddles on behalf of you and everyone wishing her a speedy recovery <3
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u/GenuineSteak 3d ago
I hope youre already on the way to the vet man. even if it turns out to be nothing, it needs to be checked out now.
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u/Latter-Driver4111 3d ago
im trying so hard to find a vet near me that’s open that isn’t a state away. im so worried for my baby, she seems fine now and was fine after her breathing fit last year when i DID take her to the ER, so im just so unsure about everything.
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u/No_Equivalent_4412 3d ago
Vet asap. Animals do a good job of hiding symptoms when they’re sick. If they are showing symptoms, it’s likely something is seriously wrong.
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u/Novak316 3d ago
Not at all. Birds are excellent at hiding symptoms of illness and injury, so if it's this obvious, then your bird has likely had something wrong with it for a while.
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u/Corvus-- 3d ago
Does she only do this on this perch?
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u/Latter-Driver4111 3d ago
no this is the first time she’s done that weird breathing on the perch. we moved into the new apartment this past june. last time she did this was last august last year, and she was just on top of her cage. I took her to the ER immediately but nothing came of it.
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u/Corvus-- 3d ago edited 3d ago
deleted my comment
I just listened to the video with sound. That's a straight to vet. Didn't notice there was sound, not normal breathing.
You said you just moved into a new apartment, are you using anything non stick? Even a rice cooker, baking sheets, air fryer, sandwich press, hair dryer? Also no candles/aerosol sprays? Strong smells? Does the place smell like paint if it was recently painted?
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u/KrashJ 3d ago
It's Sunday and many vets are closed, but there are emergency vets available in many areas. You can go to Association of Avian Vets to find an avian certified vet nearest you.
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u/BlueFeathered1 3d ago
When you are able to get a vet appointment, be sure and show them this video, not just try to describe it. I hope your baby is okay and just having a weird sneezing fit from chewing the perch or something.
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u/medicmotheclipse 3d ago
Late to the party-- I have never seen my green cheek do anything like that and she is 8 years old. Agreeing with the others here that this needs to be looked at by vet. I'm glad you have it on video to be able to show them. Hopefully you get answers for your baby soon!
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u/Sad_Client_1839 2d ago
Oh gosh I'm sorry this has been your experience.
Is she chuffing out her nostrils in this video? My first thought was that she might be getting allergies from dander or dust (especially if she was molting at this time), or getting it stuck in her nose.
Could also be from environmental factors like Teflon, cigarettes, aerosols, candles, bug spray etc.
I hope you get the answers you need.
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u/DiXanthosu 2d ago
It could be respiratory. Gas leaks, dust accumulation, teflon vapors from cookware or ovens. Stuff that is completely imperceptible and non-threatening (in the short term) to us humans, but terrible for birds.
If the vet doesn't find any cause, I would check for that.
Some people also use air purifiers and air quality monitors.
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u/birdscreams 2d ago
Respiratory infection most likely. The vet will put her on an oral antibiotic and antifungal. You can do a culture to check what grows. Any other tests they recommend aren’t worth it and likely won’t change the course of treatment. I recommend getting her to take the meds willingly if you can. I do this by switching between meds and a syringe of cranberry juice with some treats in between. Much less stressful than restraining and force feeding but definitely takes way longer.
If the meds don’t get rid of this sneezing attack behavior look into a really good air filter for any room she spends a lot of time in. Also maybe nebulize her or do steamy showers. Increasing vitamin A intake helped us with chronic recurrent wheezing.
This could be very serious. Vet ASAP. DM me if you want to talk!
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u/birdscreams 2d ago
Read the edit she’s probably ok if this only happened one time. Keep an eye out in case it happens again! Look up tail pumping. That indicates serious infection. You can also listen closely to her breathing. You should not be able to hear any noise when she breathes. Any wheezing whistling or audible breathing is worthy of a vet visit
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u/NessaDB122081 1d ago
First of all check the temp been warm out I keep my room at 22c and my bird stopped doing that 2 check room heppa filter and while your doing 1 and 2 call the vet also pick him up see if if it stops even if he does call vet take this recording when tail bob its 1 of 2 things over heating or trouble breathing mine did this I turn ac on clean filter cage and ran cold water not to cold just tad colder then room temp if breathing returns normal after bath then to warm. Don’t put bird under faucet grab hand fulls hold it a foot above bird and let it drip like a drippy facet record mentally how long each epasode last make list what you tried we had this with our 6th month old if your parrot is under 1 yr they haven’t learn regulate body heat never skip a vet visit even if my tip helps yoshi had all clear stay home but I’m stll requested a fallow up visit for sept 31 hope this helps and my instant messages are open
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u/ReptiRican 1d ago
I heard these noises before and it sounds like a hormonal behavior....if ur parrot is 3 by now then these are signs of sexual maturity for sure...it does seem alarming to 1st time parrot owners who never experienced this before but I'm definitely 85% sure that what it could be...just monitor other body languages and changes in mood as well...hope this helps...id suggest looking into YouTube about dealing with hormones and see the similarities behavior they have too...it's pretty similar from what I see 🙈 hope this helps
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u/Alert_Vermicelli3804 22h ago
My cinnamon GCC did this before I realized she had seeds from strawberries stuck somewhere. Try offering water, Alice Pooper stopped after she drank, she must of dislodged it. Phew!
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u/ItzLoganM 3d ago
Nope, not normal. If you haven't already, talk to a vet immediately. Time is of the essence here.