Anyone know about parrot strokes?

[Chica_]

My conure died three weeks ago at just four years old and because she was so young, we had an autopsy done on her to figure out if she had any diseases or if I somehow caused her death accidentally, or maybe I missed the warning signs of whatever was wrong with her. Well, the results came back. Inconclusive. She was perfectly healthy and well taken care of, which I was really glad to hear because I was so distraught thinking I did something that hurt her. They did a ton of tests on her and everything came back fine--no diseases, nothing in the toxicology report, no trauma, etc.
She went from fine to dead in less than ten minutes. She fell off her perch and I thought she was having seizures because she was twitching and moving involuntarily. Within two minutes of this happening, I was in the car on the way to the emergency vet at 1am and as I walked in, before I could even hand her over to the vet, her heart stopped. I asked the vet what could have possibly happened that would cause her to die so young that wouldn't show up in an autopsy and she said it could be a stroke.
Has anyone else dealt with this before, especially with such a young bird? I'm wondering if this is something genetic that I should notify her breeder about... But I don't know anything about it and the vet can't meet with me to discuss the results further for a couple days.

 

[goalerjones]

A stroke from blocked blood flow is the brains version of a heart attack. The blood vessel is blocked for a reason and the tissue it was supplying blood to dies. They can vary in area of effect.

External damage can also cause a stroke, but this time trauma causes blood vessels to rupture inside the skull and the leaked blood causes so much pressure in the cranial cavity that the brain tissue is crushed.

And finally, an aneurysm, a weak spot in the wall of an artery can rupture, causing the same result as trauma.

The net result of all 3 types is the inability of the brain to maintain core functions like respiratory rate, balance, or heart beat.

Did your bird experience any trauma? Like flying into a mirror/window? Get attacked by another animal (even a small hit on the head from another bird can do it)? Was his diet full of fatty foods?

 

[weco]

Very sorry for your loss, but you're going to get your best information from your vet. You can read through a couple of older forum threads about strokes, one Goaler started a couple of years ago, but you can see that he did not get much response then either:

http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/24207-update-barney-parrots-can-have-strokes.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/questions-answers/26343-strokes-parrots-some-questions.html


Several years ago I sat in on a talk at a local bird group, given by a couple of veterinary professors from the University of Tennessee vet school and one of the topics was the difficulty in diagnosing cerebrovascular accidents, because unlike humans, there is virtually no history on the avian patients a veterinarian sees. They said that even the records of most breeders are often valueless simply because they don’t go back far enough and then they are not medical records of a particular bird’s lineage.

They did say that a portion of the strokes in avian patients could be attributed to the genetics of a bird, including interbreeding within a family line and to breeding for traits (color specifically) and crossbreeding species…and…they mentioned that while it would be nice to be able to answer a bird’s owner’s questions factually, the fact was that many owners did not want the expense of an in-depth necropsy.

While this link describes human conditions, the information is relevant to birds also & gives you a primary working vocabulary, at least, to do your own further research…..enjoy your reading…..

What is Stroke? - National Stroke Association

 

[Featherz]

I once owned a cockatiel that had a stroke.
I woke one morning to find her at the bottom of the cage, unable to move and with her head to one side. I rushed her to the vet immediately and they ran tests and said she had a stroke. She was at the vets for approximately a week and made a full recovery.
A year later, one afternoon, she let out an almighty scream, fell off her perch and passed away then and there. It was very distressing for me to witness. I assume she passed from another stroke or heart attack.

 

[Scott]

Wonder if there is a preventative treatment of blood thinners or other therapies that can be applied to a parrot that has conclusively suffered a stroke but recovered? Will have to ask my vet next visit....

 

[Birdman666]

Strokes are actually fairly common. It just happens.

I had a conure that had one and ended up with paralysis on one side. He lived for another two years after his stroke, but was never the same after that.

It's essentially an internal blood clot that breaks off travels to the brain, and causes brain damage. If it lodges in the brain and stops blood flow for an extended period, the [bird/animal/human] dies.

Any living thing can get a blood clot. It just happens... nothing anyone did wrong. Nothing we can really do to prevent it from happening.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[bonita]

Dear Chia. I don't know about strokes , wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss. No one can feel our pain because only you had the special one of a kind relationship with your bird. I did however go thru the same questioning when I lost 2 parrokeets to eggbinding. Olive saw the vet twice to know avail was suffering and I chose to put an end to her pain. Big boy was lonely and we got what was suppose to be a male friend. She passed with egg binding ( very young and tiny) before I could get her to the vet. I had not even realized she was expecting till the day she died .For a long time I beat myself up with the "If only's". Life and death is in God's hand alone. The best you can do is remember him and go on with life. It's what he would want for you. Sincerely, Bonita