female quail- bad eye

[hollyrocker91]

After moving my girl into the lower section of the shed she hasn't been the same. She began banging her head on the roof which had me very concerned- I narrowed it down to the fact she was on the same level as the guinea pigs which had spooked her. Since covering the guinea cage she has stopped the head banging.

This was on Sunday. Ever since, I've noticed that she can only open her left eye - her right eye has gradually closed in the days since, and now she won't open it at all. Could this be due to the head bang session on Sunday? Like, a head ache if that's possible? I don't want to stress her out further by trying to grab her, she is very shy. It's not swollen or red.

Any help and advice is appreciated as I am worried :-(

 

[Marigold]

Hi Hollyrocker and welcome to the Forum.
I'm interested to hear that she didn't like seeing the guinea pigs through the wire - maybe she didn't realise they are harmless and thought they were predators, they must have looked quite big to her! I find mine are happiest when I cover all but one side of the rabbit run they live in on the grass during the summer months. They are very skittish birds anyway, obviously they have to be to live in the wild, and as you say, they show they're stressed by suddenly flying upwards and then collide with the top of the cage.
She may have injured her eye - I would try to catch her if possible, maybe with a net if you can't easily get in there with her, and then if you hold her with your hand firmly but gently over her wings she won't panic and you can see if her eye needs bathing or is swollen. It does sound as if the injury is progressive, doesn't it? One might have expected it to swell up and be settling down by now, rather than the reverse.
I've found that quails do recover from quite bad injuries, caused by fighting or mating, and the feathers grow back OK, but if her eye was actually injured I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what would be best to do, other than bathing with lukewarm salty water perhaps. If she is walking around OK and there's no sign of her balance being disturbed I wouldn't think concussion is her problem.
Is she on her own? Like all poultry, they are flocking birds and are happier with company of their own species.

 

[hollyrocker91]

Thank you for your reply, it has reassured me that no serious damage has been done.

I forgot to also mention that there were feathers everywhere, but she didn't look damaged in the slightest.
She shares her cage with just one male. I know the best ratio is around 3 or 4 females per male, but since they hatched, he really took care of her and as they came into maturity, it hasn't proved a problem. He isnt aggressive in the slightest and he is being gentle even more so since the weekend. So im not concerned about the two of them being together.

I will try to catch her this weekend if it continues, it certainly isn't getting better

 

[Marigold]

Do let us know how she gets on. With such small birds, its hard to know what to do beyond simple first aid, isn't it, but they do seem to be fairly tough!

 

[hollyrocker91]

Thank you - yes im struggling with emotions seeing her like this. She didn't rush to her food this morning, she still hasnt eaten whilst I've been observing her. She opens her mouth as if she's going to make a noise but nothing comes out. She's drinking a lot of water.

She keeps sneezing, I've never seen any of my others sneeze. Should I be concerned more so?

 

[Marigold]

Could she be tempted o eat with a few mealworms, do you think?

 

[hollyrocker91]

I put some in not long ago, she didn't even move towards them :-S

 

[Marigold]

Oh dear. Nothing you can do really, except keep her quiet and as comfortable as you can. At least, as you say, the male is a companion who doesn't harass her, which is fairly uncommon.

 

[hollyrocker91]

Yes he is very caring, unlike my others which is why they are separate

 

[hollyrocker91]

Had to separate them as not improving - been bathing her eyes with salt water for 4 days, still no improvement. She's now walking around with both eyes closed, banging into things. I have no idea what else I can do :-(

 

[Marigold]

Sadly, there's probably nothing else you can do. With such small birds, whose life span is very short in any case compared with larger ones, it would be very difficult and expensive to get skilled attention from a specialist avian vet, even if you had access to one, and then the chances of accurate diagnosis, treatment and recovery would still be slim. It does sound as if she did some brain damage when she hit her head, and possibly this has resulted in a bleed on her brain which has progressed and caused blindness and lack of co-ordination. (I'm only guessing here, you understand, from the symptoms you describe.)
Quails are incredibly tough little birds, and are noted for making fast recoveries from what appear to be horrific injuries, so as your little girl isn't improving after several days, it may be that you have the difficult decision to make about how much she may be suffering, and whether you feel the time has come to help her out of this. I'm so sorry. Please keep in touch and let us know how she gets on.

 

[hollyrocker91]

Im completely torn because on one hand, she does sometimes have a little peek and responds to my voice and is coping so well, going about her business. But on the other hand she's having to cope with not being able to see. She was my miracle survivor when she first hatched, and this is so tough :-( would the vet be guessing if I took her in?