HEALTH

Hi Dr. Rob! I Have a question for you. I have a 1 year old Nandy Conure and he has recently has been diagnosed with PDD. My bird eats soft seeds as pellets are too harsh for him to digest. I also hand-feed him the Exact Hand Feeding Baby Formula from Kay Tee. In addition I add in a multi-vitamin and mineral powder for extra nutrition. Medicine-wise my bird is on Batryl, Flagyl, and Meloxicam to help fight infection and provide pain relief. He is also on Cimedidine and Metaproclamid to help settle his upset stomach in times of painful intestinal swelling. The infection is currently down by half under the current antibiotic regimen but won't go down any further. My ultimate goal is to wean him off his current meds (over time). I am looking to re-jumpstart the bird's immune system and to bring back into play the correct flora/immune system defense mechanisms. I need your recommendations on nutrition as well as pre-probiotic and probiotic recommendations What is puzzling me is that my bird is not passing whole seeds like a PDD bird would and his fecal is a consistent homogenized looking mass, sometimes broken up by bouts of diarrhea. So now I'm wondering if we're looking at a lead or zinc poisoning. The doctor did say way back in July that his toxicity levels were very, very high and if I had allowed him to eat any padlocks or metal rings and I said no. But we have introduced a new cage which might have been sprayed white prior to 1996 and might very well contain high levels of zinc which are creating the same symptoms as full blown PDD. If that is the case what kind of chelation therapy would you recommend? I don't want to put the bird back through another extensive blood test as he might not make it the next time around. He’s ok now but why chance it? Should the vet do a GI flush or would that be too much for him as well? Any particular injections the vet should do? Anything you can suggest would help tremendously. Thank you Dr. Rob