I’ll start off with some illustrations on what to look for. I would also like to add that this is for informational purposes of what has worked for me. I would encourage you to also seek your vet’s advice.
In addition, look for changes in the droppings. The first two illustrations are normal and what to look for if there is also a bacterial infection.
This ‘syndrome’ as vets are calling it, is referred to by many names as listed in the title of this article. For simplicity I will use the word Lock-jaw.
First off, I would like to state that the following is from my own independent research while helping others and my own hands on personal experience. I would also like to state upfront that I never bought into it and was very skeptical on it being labeled Bordetella or B. Avium.
As I write this I am less convinced it is a true disease meaning it is a secondary response to something that triggered it such as diets lacking in minerals.
Hopefully this link will work. It is skimpy on info. The article about the Lockjaw Syndrome is on page two: https://1drv.ms/b/s!An8fZNFL62oEgfU7wKp3acwtXLQ2zw
In reading this I concluded from the commentary that part of the reason that vets suggest having the bird put down is because of this and equally similar findings, if this is what they find when researching.
QUOTE from article: ‘Once chronic inflammation and fibrosis develop, it is unlikely that jaw mobility can be restored. Antibiotic therapy is often unrewarding in these cases.’
As a breeder this does not stand with me. I know from hands on personal experience that this is nonsense, meaning they gave up before they began and never tried common sense antibiotics to fit the symptoms and injectable supplements and vitamins.
As to the comment that antibiotic therapy is unrewarding, True, I’ve found that they do not help to loosen the jaw but are necessary for secondary bacterial infections. The unlocking of the jaw is done by supportive supplements and vitamins.
This IS treatable! Mobility to the jaw can be obtained within a week or less! Just that part of the treatment alone would be a 2-day injection of one item and a 5 day vet visit of a once a day injection for another. Improvement in jaw mobility can be noted within 24-30 hours. This is excluding antibiotics that may be prescribed.
Shown is what has worked for me. The first illustration is what you must request your vet to do.
This is the best antibiotics to ask for and use.
Please Note: If you do not have a vet or do have a vet that refuses to use what is shown above, I have used the Plan B option with success.
A must have...
In addition, I have always used with all babies the addition treatments my Spice Remedy (either one) as supportive care.
And these are some FYI illustrations of some of the above supplements used.
The following is lengthy and rambling in nature so bear with me…
My first experience with this was in the early 1990’s. I was a relatively new breeder. The local bird club was doing a favor another breeder in another part of the state by selling babies out of the nest. It was unclear the exact reason, but the breeder had sold the parents and was moving, and these were left in the nest.
Being naive and new, when I heard her name I jumped at the chance to have some birds with her bloodline. I bought a couple unweaned babies at the bird club meeting and to my inexperienced eyes they looked fat and healthy.
I was also new to hand-feeding and had thought because of my inexperience that they seemed more difficult to feed. I tried to be as gentle as I could, but they screamed and fought me when I tried to open their mouth. They appeared to just champ the beak closed. I had to pry and wedge the beak open with my fingertip to insert the syringe to feed. The baby had difficulty swallowing. Red flags went up that something was very wrong, and I rushed to the vet.
Not good news after the initial exam. Lock-jaw. Dummy me did not understand and I said from Rabies? how in the world… No, most likely a bacterial origin and explained that in the vet community there are various discussions and viewpoints about Lock-jaw and how to treat. He preferred to go by what was in his Avian Medicine book and treat it as Cockatiel Paralysis Syndrome. Since by then I had proved to him that I was competent in administering shots and medications he showed me what to do and the supplies needed.
One injectable was for 2 days, the other for 5, once a day for each as shown in the illustrations above. The antibiotics were to be given oral and he showed me how to gavage/crop feed which I would also have to do to get food in the crop. Before I left, he administered the meds. and gave Sub-Q fluid for hydration. (as illustrated earlier in the article)
He explained what to look for as to a secondary infection of yeast. One of the injectables could generate yeast. To cover the bases, he mixed Nystatin and Diflucan in one jar and instructed to give prior to feeding. I have since learned that Caprylic Acid is an effective natural alternative. He was very supportive and encouraging. The office girl phoned every few days to see how I was doing.
At the time I was also hand-feeding several of my own babies. I did not think and did not ask if the others can get this and should I treat them too, so I didn’t. In retrospect, while helping others through this, I would suggest you treat ALL babies.
I was a long road over several weeks to get the babies well. One did have problems with beak distortion and overgrowth, so I gained another breeder skill of fixing beaks. The most important thing to avoid this is to keep the beak, face and mouth clean as shown.
My first experience with this was in the early 1990’s. I was a relatively new breeder. The local bird club was doing a favor another breeder in another part of the state by selling babies out of the nest. It was unclear the exact reason, but the breeder had sold the parents and was moving, and these were left in the nest.
Being naive and new, when I heard her name I jumped at the chance to have some birds with her bloodline. I bought a couple unweaned babies at the bird club meeting and to my inexperienced eyes they looked fat and healthy.
I was also new to hand-feeding and had thought because of my inexperience that they seemed more difficult to feed. I tried to be as gentle as I could, but they screamed and fought me when I tried to open their mouth. They appeared to just champ the beak closed. I had to pry and wedge the beak open with my fingertip to insert the syringe to feed. The baby had difficulty swallowing. Red flags went up that something was very wrong, and I rushed to the vet.
Not good news after the initial exam. Lock-jaw. Dummy me did not understand and I said from Rabies? how in the world… No, most likely a bacterial origin and explained that in the vet community there are various discussions and viewpoints about Lock-jaw and how to treat. He preferred to go by what was in his Avian Medicine book and treat it as Cockatiel Paralysis Syndrome. Since by then I had proved to him that I was competent in administering shots and medications he showed me what to do and the supplies needed.
One injectable was for 2 days, the other for 5, once a day for each as shown in the illustrations above. The antibiotics were to be given oral and he showed me how to gavage/crop feed which I would also have to do to get food in the crop. Before I left, he administered the meds. and gave Sub-Q fluid for hydration. (as illustrated earlier in the article)
He explained what to look for as to a secondary infection of yeast. One of the injectables could generate yeast. To cover the bases, he mixed Nystatin and Diflucan in one jar and instructed to give prior to feeding. I have since learned that Caprylic Acid is an effective natural alternative. He was very supportive and encouraging. The office girl phoned every few days to see how I was doing.
At the time I was also hand-feeding several of my own babies. I did not think and did not ask if the others can get this and should I treat them too, so I didn’t. In retrospect, while helping others through this, I would suggest you treat ALL babies.
I was a long road over several weeks to get the babies well. One did have problems with beak distortion and overgrowth, so I gained another breeder skill of fixing beaks. The most important thing to avoid this is to keep the beak, face and mouth clean as shown.
I asked my vet how to go forward with this. He suggested that I hold back all the babies, the purchased ones and my own, to test breed to see what happens.
Moving forward I learned that the ones treated did not pass this along, BUT…I’d guess 50-70% of the untreated ones later when breeding had Lockjaw babies. Thus, ALL must be treated.
Over the years I have helped others, and have it randomly crop up. Since I started breeding I had the foresight to take photos and keep a journal of my daily activities.
By the third year I noticed that certain problems occurred at certain times of the year. For example, trapped in shell and DIS egg were from December into spring. Why I thought and looked back at the journal that this was because the humidity levels I had noted were very low. Thus, that was what I like to all the ‘Trigger’ to these events. Much of my candling and assisted hatch photo collages and info came from this learning experience.
Finding the trigger that resulted in lockjaw was harder because I could not pinpoint any clues from my notes. I had not changed anything and at the time no new birds and those I had appeared healthy with good reproduction rates.
Late fall I had some problems with the seed and off to the vet to see if it could be tested. With this batch it was determined the sunflower seed got wet. I must find old notes to say what it was, but it started with Myco something or other.
Back to questions and researching. Quality control is not governed in the US like it is in other countries. From there I studied seed companies and storage practices, harvest times. Etc. that gave me a place to start. Most cases of Lockjaw were occurring late fall when most suppliers were using up the last years crop. Hmmm… The company I was buying from stored in silos. With our summer heat and humidity this was subject to sweating, buildup of bacteria, Mycotoxins and depleted nutritional content. Exposure to this lowers the immune system and resistance to disease. Therefore, from my reasoning, good bacteria in the body becomes pathogenic. And with lower nutritional content vital nutrients obtained from the diet this further impairs the bird and I am guessing, may be the cause for the jaw to lock up and/or respiratory problems.
I had also noticed in reading prior journals that during the time, period of late fall starting around November, the birds were not as active and a few random deaths of 1-3 old chicks. What gives? I later tried to be diligent with nestbox checks and to check to see that chicks could fully open their beaks from day one. Several of those early deaths were from lockjaw. Scary, since there are no other visual indicators then if the other chicks have it then and by the time it shows it has become advanced with no simple treatment. In this case it would be of benefit.
In reading Cockatiel Paralysis Syndrome (CPS) can be caused by Giardia and Chlamydia (Psittacosis). My first year I treated with Doxy twice, only to later learn that all birds have this bacteria in their body and never a problem. It can be detected in tests under stress, etc. I also had my bouts with Giardia thus flock treated spring and fall each year. In addition to doing these preventive treatments I also made sure the diet was good for the time of the year. I would like to point out that even if you make the effort to provide a good diet on the surface food, grains and produce could appear fine but is the ground was depleted of minerals this can be a silent source of health problems.
Moving forward I learned that the ones treated did not pass this along, BUT…I’d guess 50-70% of the untreated ones later when breeding had Lockjaw babies. Thus, ALL must be treated.
Over the years I have helped others, and have it randomly crop up. Since I started breeding I had the foresight to take photos and keep a journal of my daily activities.
By the third year I noticed that certain problems occurred at certain times of the year. For example, trapped in shell and DIS egg were from December into spring. Why I thought and looked back at the journal that this was because the humidity levels I had noted were very low. Thus, that was what I like to all the ‘Trigger’ to these events. Much of my candling and assisted hatch photo collages and info came from this learning experience.
Finding the trigger that resulted in lockjaw was harder because I could not pinpoint any clues from my notes. I had not changed anything and at the time no new birds and those I had appeared healthy with good reproduction rates.
Late fall I had some problems with the seed and off to the vet to see if it could be tested. With this batch it was determined the sunflower seed got wet. I must find old notes to say what it was, but it started with Myco something or other.
Back to questions and researching. Quality control is not governed in the US like it is in other countries. From there I studied seed companies and storage practices, harvest times. Etc. that gave me a place to start. Most cases of Lockjaw were occurring late fall when most suppliers were using up the last years crop. Hmmm… The company I was buying from stored in silos. With our summer heat and humidity this was subject to sweating, buildup of bacteria, Mycotoxins and depleted nutritional content. Exposure to this lowers the immune system and resistance to disease. Therefore, from my reasoning, good bacteria in the body becomes pathogenic. And with lower nutritional content vital nutrients obtained from the diet this further impairs the bird and I am guessing, may be the cause for the jaw to lock up and/or respiratory problems.
I had also noticed in reading prior journals that during the time, period of late fall starting around November, the birds were not as active and a few random deaths of 1-3 old chicks. What gives? I later tried to be diligent with nestbox checks and to check to see that chicks could fully open their beaks from day one. Several of those early deaths were from lockjaw. Scary, since there are no other visual indicators then if the other chicks have it then and by the time it shows it has become advanced with no simple treatment. In this case it would be of benefit.
In reading Cockatiel Paralysis Syndrome (CPS) can be caused by Giardia and Chlamydia (Psittacosis). My first year I treated with Doxy twice, only to later learn that all birds have this bacteria in their body and never a problem. It can be detected in tests under stress, etc. I also had my bouts with Giardia thus flock treated spring and fall each year. In addition to doing these preventive treatments I also made sure the diet was good for the time of the year. I would like to point out that even if you make the effort to provide a good diet on the surface food, grains and produce could appear fine but is the ground was depleted of minerals this can be a silent source of health problems.
Weight gain is slow when hand-feeding because energy from food is spent on fighting this and not for growth. Shown is what helped me.
OK, now back on topic. I did learn a lot that has led me to believe that in addition to being seasonal, from all those I helped it was only with those that used seed as the bulk of their diet, not pellets. Hmmm…a mystery, but not enough reason to switch over to pellets, given my location was very humid and pellets spoiled fast. My cockatiels would only eat them when crunchy, fresh and when they had babies in the nest.
In being a curious person, I am I thought back to that bad bag of sunflower seed. When returning the manufacturer, the car stank of a gaggy orange smell. The only thing I could think this was from was something acting as a preservative, yet none were listed on the label. And when I asked they denied they used anything. In retrospect I should have asked what about when stored in silos of transported in (by train) from suppliers? What was used to prevent oxidation? If fumigation was used for pest, etc., what type. And how would this effect the bird’s immune responses? I was during this time I started using Garlic Powder and adding it to the hand-feeding formula. It contains trace amounts of A, B, C, E and Selenium. It stimulates the immune system, supportive of intestinal flora, supports the effectiveness of antibiotics while protecting the liver from harmful side effects.
Other times I have had have Lock-jaw appear was after a rainy season. City water systems can become contaminated with bacteria and protozoa. From personal experience, several times, it was Giardia that was the trigger to the onset of Lock-jaw.
These are some water treatments that helped me.
In being a curious person, I am I thought back to that bad bag of sunflower seed. When returning the manufacturer, the car stank of a gaggy orange smell. The only thing I could think this was from was something acting as a preservative, yet none were listed on the label. And when I asked they denied they used anything. In retrospect I should have asked what about when stored in silos of transported in (by train) from suppliers? What was used to prevent oxidation? If fumigation was used for pest, etc., what type. And how would this effect the bird’s immune responses? I was during this time I started using Garlic Powder and adding it to the hand-feeding formula. It contains trace amounts of A, B, C, E and Selenium. It stimulates the immune system, supportive of intestinal flora, supports the effectiveness of antibiotics while protecting the liver from harmful side effects.
Other times I have had have Lock-jaw appear was after a rainy season. City water systems can become contaminated with bacteria and protozoa. From personal experience, several times, it was Giardia that was the trigger to the onset of Lock-jaw.
These are some water treatments that helped me.
Yet it was discouraging that Lock-jaw still occasionally was seen. Sadly, how this spread was by an unethical show bird breeder faced with putting down her flock or selling out, meaning grabbing the money and running and not telling her victim buyers there was a serious health issue with her birds. This started a chain reaction of this horrid disease affecting aviaries nationwide, and they in turn passed it along to the pet trade. In addition to this many of these birds have been exported out of the Unites States. Two of the four people I helped through this were in the middle Eastern countries. It will not stop until breeders take responsibility for their actions and do flock treatments and treat all babies from suspect breeding pairs.
Moving forward to now. Since writing this I have helped four (4) people and my last incident of it to SUCCESSFULY treat this. ALL made the effort to follow my advice and get the supplies needed. This also was solid confirmation to me that my course of treatment WORKED. All used most of the information, meds, supplements etc. shown in this article.
Please note, feel free to copy/save and print the illustrations to take to your vet. You or your vet can also get in touch with me by using the CONTACT US section of the menu on our website.
May I take the time to mention if you are experiencing this please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or in need of someone to talk to. From personal experience I know how heart breaking and frustrating this can be. I wish you a successful treatment and recovery.
A request, if you can take pixs of when first noticed and the visual changes I would like you to share them with me.
Copyright © 1993-2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced and/or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission by this author.
TERMS OF USE: Use of this work is subject to the following terms except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store or retrieve on copy of this work.
You may not decompile, dissemble, re-mix or reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon your own re-wording, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense this book/work or any part of it without Susanne Russo’s (email ask.noodles@outlook.com )
You may use parts of this work for your own noncommercial and personal use only. Any other use of this article is strictly prohibited.
Moving forward to now. Since writing this I have helped four (4) people and my last incident of it to SUCCESSFULY treat this. ALL made the effort to follow my advice and get the supplies needed. This also was solid confirmation to me that my course of treatment WORKED. All used most of the information, meds, supplements etc. shown in this article.
Please note, feel free to copy/save and print the illustrations to take to your vet. You or your vet can also get in touch with me by using the CONTACT US section of the menu on our website.
May I take the time to mention if you are experiencing this please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or in need of someone to talk to. From personal experience I know how heart breaking and frustrating this can be. I wish you a successful treatment and recovery.
A request, if you can take pixs of when first noticed and the visual changes I would like you to share them with me.
Copyright © 1993-2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced and/or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission by this author.
TERMS OF USE: Use of this work is subject to the following terms except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store or retrieve on copy of this work.
You may not decompile, dissemble, re-mix or reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon your own re-wording, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense this book/work or any part of it without Susanne Russo’s (email ask.noodles@outlook.com )
You may use parts of this work for your own noncommercial and personal use only. Any other use of this article is strictly prohibited.
