# Sneezing and Head Scratching



## Renalight (Jun 5, 2013)

Hey guys I just need some insight before I take my month old babies to the vet. First off, they're active and exercising their wings and are very curious about their surroundings and seem very healthy. Poop is solid and consistent. However, they both sneeze throughout the day and scratch their heads. Also I've noticed after eating when they nap on me their beaks open and close almost constantly and even sticking their tongue out a bit. They had a physical checkup about a week ago and everything looked fine. They drink plenty of water and are stubborn with mainly only eating the white and brown peas from their Purgrain mix and took their second bath today. Overall pretty healthy should I not be so worried? Does it seem they maybe have the beginnings of URI or something else? I'll check their mouths for canker when hubby gets home, but could that beak swallowing motion just be them settling things down in their crop after dinner? They seem to be drinking and eating the big peas just fine and no abnormal noises while breathing...


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## Renalight (Jun 5, 2013)

Oh almost forgot they do have a slight tail bobbing while sleeping but they don't seem to have any difficulties in breathing.


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## Crazybird (Jul 13, 2013)

Have you checked for external parasites? That could account for the scratching. Hopefully some of the more experienced members will be along to help out with your other questions


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## Renalight (Jun 5, 2013)

I haven't seen any mites or anything else on them and the check for canker was a negative. Still active although I've noticed the boy has been laying down flat with his wings kinda out to the sides and not up against his body like they usually lay. Is this normal?


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Head scratching,sneezing,open beak breathing are symptoms of infectious catarrah...
Some thing repiratory is what I'm pointing at...
Check them for ectoparasites also. Only 10% of parasite population is what u see on birds in daylight. Rest 90% come out of their hiding places at night to feed on blood and body fluids of pigeons...


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## Renalight (Jun 5, 2013)

It's not really open beak breathing...but more like swallowing? Like after you eat something you kind of lip-smack and run your mouth along the roof of your mouth as you do it...it's hard to describe lol. But I will check thoroughly for parasites tonight because I hadn't thought about the fleas starting to come back from my dog and cats...I'd love to flea raid the whole house but I'm sure that would be very harmful to the birds if not downright kill them. 

I just thought of something else...how bad is cigarette smoke to birds? Sadly my husband smokes and he does his best to do it away from the cage but their cage is in the living room with him when he watches TV. I'm thinking of getting a stand up fan to blow away the smoke from the cage but I don't want to make it too drafty for them and we don't really have windows that we can open for better ventilation...


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Birds are more sensitive than humans. If a bird can be affected by fumes then I guess the smoke could irritate them especially when there's limited ventilation.
But head scratching points could towards repiratory infections caused by mycoplasma.


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## Renalight (Jun 5, 2013)

Thanks for the advice! I noticed a couple of tiny holes in one of their tails so I have them s small dose of endecto in case it's mites. Just a quick question since its been bothering me: should they not be bobbing their tail at all when they're resting or should I be concerned only about heavy tail bobbing? How much is too much bobbing?


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

IME,if tail bobbing is found evidently with inhale and exhale of air then it could be sign of weakness,deficiency or sickness.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Renalight said:


> It's not really open beak breathing...but more like swallowing? Like after you eat something you kind of lip-smack and run your mouth along the roof of your mouth as you do it...it's hard to describe lol. But I will check thoroughly for parasites tonight because I hadn't thought about the fleas starting to come back from my dog and cats...I'd love to flea raid the whole house but I'm sure that would be very harmful to the birds if not downright kill them.
> 
> I just thought of something else...how bad is cigarette smoke to birds? Sadly my husband smokes and he does his best to do it away from the cage but their cage is in the living room with him when he watches TV. I'm thinking of getting a stand up fan to blow away the smoke from the cage but I don't want to make it too drafty for them and we don't really have windows that we can open for better ventilation...



The smoke and the fleas have to go for them to be well cared for. I would treat them both for canker just in case. they also could be allergic to the smoke, I don't blame them for sneezing and scratching it is an irritant for them.


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## Turdus (Aug 14, 2013)

Frequent swallowing motions could be due to mucus coming up the trachea due to a lower respiratory tract infection or down through the choanal slit due to sinusitis.

I have a bird who beak-wipes, coughs on occasion, and does the aforementioned swallowing. He looked OK during multiple oral exams and has no nasal discharge. But when I went to swab his trachea it had a lot of mucus. I'm currently treating him for mites and he is beginning to show signs of improvement (there was no meaningful response to antibiotics).

Many things can cause increase mucus from mites to pneumonia to environmental irritants.


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