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19 Year old Cockatiel with Breathing Difficulty

Why does my 19 year old cockatiel get breathing difficulty when I put him back in the aviary with the other birds. He is fine when I keep him inside with me and he doesn`t even get out of breath after flying. He is eating o.k. but after a week in the aviary he breathes with his beak open and looks distressed. What do you think could be causing this to happen.

Without physically evaluating your bird, it would be impossible to factually comment on what the causes of your observations are. There may be stressor(s) in the aviary environment generating anxiety, there could be environmental irritants that have a role in the augmentation of clinical signs, or there could be subclinical disease that is initially manifesting in this manner. Best recommendation: A good physical examination by an experienced and qualified avian veterinarian to rule out the latter categories, and narrow down the potential considerations of causation that remain.

About Brian Speer, DVM

Avian veterinarian Dr. Brian Speer was raised in a small town on California’s coast. He received his BS in Biology from California Polytechnic State University in 1978, and his DVM degree from the University of California at Davis in 1983.

An active member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV), Dr. Speer is a much sought after guest speaker and has presented at numerous conferences in the avicultural and zoological communities both within the United States and abroad. He is well published in the AAV annual proceedings, has served as guest editor for the journal Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine, the Veterinary Clinics of North America, and authored chapters in several recent veterinary medical texts on pet bird, avicultural and ratite medical topics. In 1995 he co-authored the extensive avicultural reference, The Large Macaws, and helped to co-author Birds for Dummies in 1999.

Since 1989, Dr, Speer has run a “bird’s only” practice in the San Francisco Bay area and is the President and Director of The Medical Center for Birds. He is a consultant for The Veterinary Information Network (Avian Medical Boards) and the Maui Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Lafeber award for excellence in private practice of avian medicine and surgery and in 2006, was named Speaker of the Year for the North American Veterinary Conference.