Is my canary ill? Spotting the signs before it’s too late

According to the MSD Veterinary Manual, birds hide illness so as not to appear vulnerable. VCA Animal Hospitals adds that by the time signs appear, the bird has often been ill for several days to several weeks, and that serious illness can set in very quickly.

In canaries, time matters even more: according to Dorrestein’s handbook of avian medicine, a small songbird that goes more than 24 hours without eating can develop serious complications.

• Fluffed-up feathers, a canary sitting puffed up, sleeping more with its eyes closed.
• Perching low or sitting on the cage floor.
• Less singing or calling, less activity.
• Laboured breathing: open beak, a tail that bobs with each breath, wheezing.
• Eating or drinking more or less than usual, regurgitation.
• Loss of balance, head tilt, falling off the perch.
• Soiled feathers around the vent, runny eyes or nostrils.

According to VCA, a canary that is stressed, moulting, ill or has just moved to a new environment may stop singing. Dorrestein adds that males sing mainly in spring, and that a canary that has been ill may not start singing again until the following spring, even once it has recovered.

A dropping has three parts: the faeces (the formed green or brown part), the urates (the white part) and the urine (the clear liquid). According to VCA and an avian vet writing for the World Parrot Trust, these are abnormal:

• fewer droppings (it is eating less);
• soft, black or red faeces, or faeces with blood;
• whole seeds in the droppings, to be reported especially if the bird is losing weight, according to Dorrestein;
• much more urine, or yellow, green or pink urates.

Paper on the cage floor, changed every day, makes them easy to keep an eye on.

Feather cysts

Common in some canary breeds, notably frilled or soft-feathered types, according to the MSD Manual. Only minor surgery prevents them coming back.

Feather loss

Outside the moult, a bare patch or damaged feathers should be checked by a vet (see our page on the canary moult).

Kitchen fumes

An overheated non-stick pan gives off fumes that can kill a bird with no other warning, according to the veterinary edition of the MSD Manual.

In a bird of 15 to 25 grams, weight loss can’t be seen by eye. Log every weigh-in in MyArk: the weight tracker, shared by the household, shows a drop before other signs.

• A weight chart for each bird
• A weekly weigh-in reminder
• Dated observations in the health record
• Your vet’s contact details on the pet sitter sheet