My cockatiel was wheezing and died this morning - how can you save your pet bird?

My male cockatiel spent yesterday's afternoon in his cage in a shaded area in my garden in the company of my other female cockatiel. The last few weeks they have enjoyed the warmer weather of April from inside their cage where they have been able to pick from the grass in the garden, eat their seeds, drink their water and move out of the shade to bask in the sunlight. Around this period of the year I start to place my birds out of my house in the garden to give them a breath of fresh air and let them enjoy the new season. Yesterday it was sunny and warm with almost no wind. When I placed the cage back inside in the evening I noticed the male cockatiel had started making a funny noise - the same noise you can hear in the video. I called some vets but they all told me that they didn't treat birds as patients and they knew nothing about them. My male cockatiel continued the whole night making the same sound, breathing heavily, and this morning right after making this video I watched him run out of air and die of heart attack in his cage. I can't understand what has happaned to him. The female cockatiel that has always lived in the same cage beside him is doing just fine. Help me understand the reason of my bird's sudden demise!

[@margaretselander8010]

I’m sorry about all the insensitive, know it all, comments on here. I have lost 2 cockatiels to the exact thing this year. I took them to emergent vets, probably $1k in vet bills, best avian care you can get in Ohio and it didn’t save them. The respiratory issues took them with almost no warning, less than a day. And for those who may want to shame and blame, I have an extra large flight clean flight cage that’s better than most. Nutritional deficiencies can make birds prone to fungal, bacterial, and viral infections as well as dry, dusty air and household toxins. I’m so sorry this happened to you too :(

[@joeygallo-rodriguez2114]

Could be a respiratory infection, maybe caused by a toxin, when you clean make sure cage is thoroughly dry before putting them back and remove all food and chewable toys from the cage, you should also look into getting a larger cage, I could see maybe one bird staying in here but two won’t have enough room, also id suggest cleaning more regularly, I do a bit of spot cleaning every day because cockatiels are very “dusty” and leave LOADS of dander not to mention they poop so much, also when he died he had a seizure it’s very common in cockatiels and lovebirds, I’m sorry for your loss

[@himakshibhattacharjee1568]

Plzzz plzz my bird is suffering frm this right now i need help plzzz i cant lose him...there should be some way plzz

[@theresechauvin5216]

My bird Luna has an infection her vet Dr Emily did xray and "spotted a spot" to diagnose respiratory infection. She prescribed medicine'; I have also sanitized the cage, and given clean fresh filtered water, clean food, and turned up the heat to 25c to help her, and lots of cuddles. I have also looked up "how to give medicine to cockateels" and learned "not to put pressure on their body, but to gently hold the head by the ear spots to give syringe medicine". I hope this helps someone in the future to save their friendly little bird. I am still worried about Luna i hope I brought her in to the Dr soon enough. I am just glad my local vet office has a bird specialist. I agree "birds are common pets and all vets should be educated in bird medicine too". I am so sorry for your loss.

[@Thaneesh05]

Don't keep your bird in a small cage

[@ischmidt]

I'm so sorry for your loss, I've had some heartbreaking bird deaths over the years and I know how it feels. It's very important when you have birds to at least know where an avian vet is in your area so you have somewhere to take them in an emergency. I would strongly recommend finding one and getting a checkup done on the survivor in case there is something they both got into.

[@Justin-nq6kf]

Your cage and place with bugs flying around doesn't look the cleanest that might have had something to do with it

[@ekaterinechaduneli7276]

omg I feel so bad for you

[@TheDeluche]

The thing is that a lot of vets are not bird specialists so some vets who are not avian specialists will tend to not help or shy away from helping. Also birds like cockatiels tend to hide their symptoms for a long time. My guess is it could’ve been a respiratory issue. Birds like cockatiels have extremely sensitive respiratory systems so that’s why you need to keep them away from chemicals, aerosols, and stop cooking with non-stick cookware because the fumes that teflon gives off are extremely toxic to birds. Also I suggest trying to find a bigger cage (at least 50cm in every direction) for your other cockatiel unless he’s out of his cage for most of the day. All the best for you!

[@mohammedzubair7047]

Plz keep them in big cage this is very small there can not live

[@70bigheavy]

I'm sorry for your loss the bird flu is going around keep your birds inside and away from the wild. he was a cute little guy. I loss a cockatiel myself and i know he will always be with you. God bless you.

[@rxibot]

I love you my brother. I hope your soul has healed.

[@babycakes.x]

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s always good to have medicine. I don’t know if you can buy it online and I don’t know if this helps. My cockatiel had pneumonia and was incubated for 3 days in the vet. The Dr (she was so great) she gave me Meloxicam, Enrofloxacin, & Nystatin. I bought these from chewy. It’s always good to be prepared❤

[@TanZ779]

I pray to God for the bird's soul peace 🙏🙏😔😞

[@opsihota2118]

When I was a teenager I bought a cockatiel and I had no idea what I was doing, this was in the 90's and we didn't have the internet so I went by outdated books. That bird lived for nearly 20 years. I then went online in college, read everything I could, set up the perfect aviary, got everything everyone told me to get, took care of it perfectly, fed it a varied diet and all that stuff. It died after 10 years, suddenly, with no warning. Sometimes it just happens...

[@cloroxbleach5159]

This has traumatized me. I hope my boy makes it to 15, he’s 10 now

[@infomatters.]

So sorry for your loss

[@canton7180]

It could be an array of causes, it could be congenital, it is really hard to determine for even avian experts, one of my female greys passed but she was beyond 12, it still hit me hard she was old and had multiple issues that cropped up within months.

[@EdmundRamirez]

I just lost Ogie, our cockatiel. So, I searched for answer/s, eventhough I may have one. He looked the same as your cockatiel that passed. He was about 23 years old. It feels like I lost a son.

[@grandmastere2444]

Sorry for your loss