# Urgent, baby with food in lungs



## aussiegirl

Help. My little 3 week old Georgie has got food in lung?
His last feed was 4 hours ago however he was really sleepy?, i picked him up and he was not responsive as usual, His little legs are stiffening up at the knee joint.
I held him upside down and he vomited food, not voluntarily but it just came out, i grabbed a pen and took the inside cartridge out and started blowing some air into his mouth.
He is in and out of consciousness, I dont give up easily, is there anything i can try, i hope someone is online that may be able to offer some help.
Thanks


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## aussiegirl

Im still here, im hoping for help as well as searching all lung threads!!
Please help


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## Pidgey

Well, usually if they aspirate, it goes into the air sacs and not the actual lungs. When that happens, it's usually a downhill slide to pneumonia that can't be stopped without systemic antibiotics in combination with nebulized antibiotic treatment as well. I suppose that the worst of it is that it sounds like he's was in pretty bad shape before that as well.

Pidgey


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## Pidgey

That said, you'd probably need to give him a cocktail of antibiotics and if his crop is in stasis, oral antibiotics would be unlikely to make it into his system. Therefore, you'd probably need to get him injectable medications. If he's unresponsive, you're going to have to worry that he's in or beginning some kind of encephalitis or meningitis. Not knowing what it is that he's got, it's impossible to say what to give him.

Pidgey


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## aussiegirl

Ok, thanks, He has picked up, I find if I hold him upside down, not for too long say 10 seconds and massage the area between his wings he gets really responsive and tries to hold his head up.
I decided to try and feed him as he must be dehydrating fast and he swallowed the formula in little mouthfuls as per normal with his eyes opening and closing as per normal.
Just as im typing this i heard him moving around in his cage which is fully padded and comfy. His legs have regained warmth and are flexible again.
I also gave him a crystal healing before which has been known to work wonders on others so i thought id give it a go.
Its now 1.51am Friday here.
I have MS so i suffer from tiredness but right now i feel so alive and im probably making no sense.
Is there anything I can try ie: electrolytes, sugar water etc???
He had a good feed about 3/4 of what he usually does.
Ill see an avian vet tommorrow if he is here in the morning.


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## Lovebirds

aussiegirl said:


> Ok, thanks, He has picked up, I find if I hold him upside down, not for too long say 10 seconds and massage the area between his wings he gets really responsive and tries to hold his head up.
> I decided to try and feed him as he must be dehydrating fast and he swallowed the formula in little mouthfuls as per normal with his eyes opening and closing as per normal.
> Just as im typing this i heard him moving around in his cage which is fully padded and comfy. His legs have regained warmth and are flexible again.
> I also gave him a crystal healing before which has been known to work wonders on others so i thought id give it a go.
> Its now 1.51am Friday here.
> I have MS so i suffer from tiredness but right now i feel so alive and im probably making no sense.
> Is there anything I can try ie: electrolytes, sugar water etc???
> He had a good feed about 3/4 of what he usually does.
> Ill see an avian vet tommorrow if he is here in the morning.


I've read the thread and wish I could tell you something to do, however, this is beyond my expertise for sure. I've never seen or dealt with anything like this, so I'm at a total loss. Just wanted to say good luck with the little one......I don't expect a little bit of water would do any harm as long as you let the baby swallow it from the side of the mouth. Dehydration would be a concern I guess.


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## Pidgey

It's usually very difficult to prove one way or the other that a bird has, in fact, aspirated. If you started hearing or seeing respiratory distress like wheezing, coughing, accelerated breathing, open-beak breathing and that sort of thing, then you'd be more likely to assume that the worst has happened.

Aspiration pneumonia takes a day or so to truly show up.

Pidgey


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## Whitefeather

It's great to hear the little one seems to have recovered from his incident.  
Job well done.  

Cindy


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## aussiegirl

Hi, He has pulled through wonderfully, its 7am here and he as waiting eagerly for his breakfast.
I cant believe it, he was so ill last night, after his feed last night he started the heavy breathing with open beak and I gave him maybe 10% chance to survive the night. I then tried my partners VENTOLIN puffer.
I gave him 2 short squirts into mouth which he inhaled.
I set him on a warm water bottle covered with baby blanket and tucked him in. He has a low watt red light on too.
I need to mention that when i first posted i said i held him "upside down" what i meant was that i held him with his head towards floor as in a aeroplane dive position and massaged between wings.
He isnt showing any signs of laboured breathing at all today.
He looks pretty tired which is certainly expected after what he went through.
Im going back for a nap now if i can, im so happy.
Thankyou.
Ps, i was in such a hurry last night that i posted this in wrong section, Georgie is my baby fantail.
I was so upset that i didnt have any new photos of him with his new white feathers, but now im going to take some!
Im trying to work out what actions saved him. Im sooo glad i fed him last night even when he looked so ill.


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## Whitefeather

It sounds like to me he probably did aspirate a bit of his formula. Thankfully, not enough to do extreme damage, however enough to put him *& *you in a panic. 

I would suggest though, that you not 'squirt' the formula into his mouth.

Cindy


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## Grimaldy

In America they sell a pediatric solution called "Pedialyte" which you can pick up at pretty much any drugstore. Great stuff for instant rehydration and eletrolyte loss.


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## aussiegirl

Thankyou, we have gatorade here for that too, I used it with a sick chick.
The squeaker however still wishes to try and swallow the syringe!! we are going very carefully from now on. I have tried all other feeding methods but he is sooo stubborn, ill keep trying the glove end trick.
Thanks


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## aussiegirl

well, Georgie went downhill again yesterday after food so I took him to a vet who said that it looked like meningitis!! He gave him some 3 injections of antibiotics and electrolites, he looked sooo ill, then once again he has picked up 200% and he has been wonderful all day today and last night.
The vet put it down to perhaps overfeeding whereas the gut cannot break down all food and infection sets in. He is now sipping from a medicine cup which he learnt on the first go today, hes clever.
I have cut his food intake at each feeding so that his crop isnt so big no matter how much he whinges for more.
This has been my main problem, not knowing how much to feed with 100% confidence. Id rather underfeed than overfeed him for his health's sake.


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## Skyeking

I'm so sorry to hear the baby has had such a time of it.

But I'm SO glad to hear the baby is doing better. That must have been such a scare! 

Now that he is sipping, he will be ready to wean, and it is so much better when they learn to eat on their own.

Thank you for the update.


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## aussiegirl

Thankyou for your well wishes. George is still very well and has been back to normal all day.
The stress from the last 2 scares has left him with baldness in the front of the neck around the crop region ~ possibly from high temps in that area .
Poor little guy, he probably doesnt even know about the dramas he has had, but thankfully all is well now.


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