Cat bite parakeet Blue Boy

[Littleredbeak]

Love his name! Wishing him the best! Glad you found him!

 

[Laurasea]

Thank you Littleredbeak, I was watching Heart of Dixie and the show is set in Bluebell, so since he is a blue boy it was close lol ...

 

[Laurasea]

so its early, I can see Blue Boy looks better this morning than yesterday morning, but its still dark, so no meds or seeing the wound yet.
Edit: just gave antibiotics. He is strong!! Full of fight , bite and screeching at me!! Yippee! Looking good, wound looks great!! Very hopeful!

We are now on direct path fir hurricane or tropical storm. So very thrilled that Blue Boy is safe in my house.

This is a partial article from pupmed, on infection and risk of infection from cat bites or scratches. This is why I treated it like sn emergency, and am trying so hard to prevent infection.


" [ Pasteurella multocida infections in birds following cat bites (author's transl)]
[Article in Dutch]
T Smit et al. Tijdschr Diergeneeskd. 1980.
Show details

Cite

Abstract
Infection with Pasteurella multocida caused by bites has been known for several decades. Cats are an important factor in Pasteurella multocida infection. Considerable numbers of victims are 'rescued' from the mouths of cats and submitted to bird reception centres for treatment. A number of bird shelters sent birds in this condition to the present authors for closer examination. The majority of birds caught by cats die. The mortality rates in shelters were reported to be 30, 90, 99 and one hundred per cent. Of the birds rescued alive from the mouths of cats, approximately 40 per cent died from the direct effects of the bites, and approximately 60 per cent died from Pasteurella multocida infection. "

And this link about cat attacks on wild birds. Please if you rescue a bird from a cat take it to a vet or wikdlife rescue. As even a minor scratch will result in death without treatment.
https://catsandbirds.ca/blog/from-the-field-wild-birds-and-pet-cats/

Ps. I plan to put him in a container and weigh him , and start tracking weight. His crop is full, poops are normal in appearance and frequency, so i know he is eating well. But I want see how much he gains back.

 

[Laurasea]

I just gave him veggies and hung a leaf of romaine lettuce. He just nibbled on the lettuce!!! He is bee bopping around the cage, checking stuff out!!

This morning, this is the good side, he hides the side with the puncture from me. But yiu can see looks bright and alert.

 

[LaManuka]

That's awesome news Laura! I hope your lovely little Blue Boy manages to beat the odds and make a full recovery! He looks like my ex-budgie Pete, and from what you say about his singing he sounds like my beautiful boy Val who just sings and sings and sings all day long. Aren't budgies wonderful?!

 

[Laurasea]

Blue Boy weighs 32 grams.
I weighed one if my healthy budgies, Cloudy , who weighs in at 45 grams.

If we take Cloudy's weight as normal, then if my math is right Blue Boys Weight loss was about 40%, all from starvation......if weight was taken the very fist day i imagine he would likely have lost half his body weight....

Like I've said before he is a living skeleton, tho already in just 2.5 days he seems better.
It will be interesting to see the rate he gains back weight. And what his healthy weight will be.

To weigh i put him in a plastic storage container i had zero out on my kitchen grams scale. Since I have to grab him up for medicine, I can keep weighing him

 

[saxguy64]

Laura, what you've done for Blue Boy so far is nothing short of amazing! Rescued from the literal jaws of death. Sending more healing prayers your way!

 

[Scott]

so its early, I can see Blue Boy looks better this morning than yesterday morning, but its still dark, so no meds or seeing the wound yet.
Edit: just gave antibiotics. He is strong!! Full of fight , bite and screeching at me!! Yippee! Looking good, wound looks great!! Very hopeful!

We are now on direct path fir hurricane or tropical storm. So very thrilled that Blue Boy is safe in my house.

This is a partial article from pupmed, on infection and risk of infection from cat bites or scratches. This is why I treated it like sn emergency, and am trying so hard to prevent infection.


" [ Pasteurella multocida infections in birds following cat bites (author's transl)]
[Article in Dutch]
T Smit et al. Tijdschr Diergeneeskd. 1980.
Show details

Cite

Abstract
Infection with Pasteurella multocida caused by bites has been known for several decades. Cats are an important factor in Pasteurella multocida infection. Considerable numbers of victims are 'rescued' from the mouths of cats and submitted to bird reception centres for treatment. A number of bird shelters sent birds in this condition to the present authors for closer examination. The majority of birds caught by cats die. The mortality rates in shelters were reported to be 30, 90, 99 and one hundred per cent. Of the birds rescued alive from the mouths of cats, approximately 40 per cent died from the direct effects of the bites, and approximately 60 per cent died from Pasteurella multocida infection. "

And this link about cat attacks on wild birds. Please if you rescue a bird from a cat take it to a vet or wikdlife rescue. As even a minor scratch will result in death without treatment.
https://catsandbirds.ca/blog/from-the-field-wild-birds-and-pet-cats/

Ps. I plan to put him in a container and weigh him , and start tracking weight. His crop is full, poops are normal in appearance and frequency, so i know he is eating well. But I want see how much he gains back.

Seems you literally caught him in the nick of time. Knew cat attacks are deadly, but the stats are overwhelmingly distressing.

 

[Laurasea]

so its early, I can see Blue Boy looks better this morning than yesterday morning, but its still dark, so no meds or seeing the wound yet.
Edit: just gave antibiotics. He is strong!! Full of fight , bite and screeching at me!! Yippee! Looking good, wound looks great!! Very hopeful!

We are now on direct path fir hurricane or tropical storm. So very thrilled that Blue Boy is safe in my house.

This is a partial article from pupmed, on infection and risk of infection from cat bites or scratches. This is why I treated it like sn emergency, and am trying so hard to prevent infection.


" [ Pasteurella multocida infections in birds following cat bites (author's transl)]
[Article in Dutch]
T Smit et al. Tijdschr Diergeneeskd. 1980.
Show details

Cite

Abstract
Infection with Pasteurella multocida caused by bites has been known for several decades. Cats are an important factor in Pasteurella multocida infection. Considerable numbers of victims are 'rescued' from the mouths of cats and submitted to bird reception centres for treatment. A number of bird shelters sent birds in this condition to the present authors for closer examination. The majority of birds caught by cats die. The mortality rates in shelters were reported to be 30, 90, 99 and one hundred per cent. Of the birds rescued alive from the mouths of cats, approximately 40 per cent died from the direct effects of the bites, and approximately 60 per cent died from Pasteurella multocida infection. "

And this link about cat attacks on wild birds. Please if you rescue a bird from a cat take it to a vet or wikdlife rescue. As even a minor scratch will result in death without treatment.
https://catsandbirds.ca/blog/from-the-field-wild-birds-and-pet-cats/

Ps. I plan to put him in a container and weigh him , and start tracking weight. His crop is full, poops are normal in appearance and frequency, so i know he is eating well. But I want see how much he gains back.

Seems you literally caught him in the nick of time. Knew cat attacks are deadly, but the stats are overwhelmingly distressing.

yes ......uh I was informed by multiple people and my vet...nearly 100% fatal........but i treated the wound with alcohol within a minute or two of the attack, came home and used peroxide and betadine , and repeated that every couple of hours. , and antibiotics into him within 2 hours of attack ....

He has now sneezed a couple if times and development of a slight tail bob....i called my vet, because I'm worried that he aspiration of the antibiotics.....she is more worried its a sign of infection......we will do antibiotics 3 times a day now instead if twice a day.. soooo I'm very worried.
But he is eating, active, and still sings with my parakeets sooo we will see

 

[LaManuka]

Sending more prayers and healing vibes for your little warrior Laura. C'mon Blue Boy, you can do this!!

 

[Laurasea]

A few more sneezes, rubbing beak, picking nose with feet...still slight tail bob

I feel like I caused him to aspirate meds this morning...so bummed

But still eating, singing right now with my other boys. .

So hopefully its just mild and he will be ok

 

[bug_n_flock]

Hmm, anything you might be able to mix the meds with to thicken it a bit? Like maybe a little babyfood or something?

 

[Laurasea]

thats a good idea! I'll see what I can come up with
Have you done that? How have you done meds?

 

[Laurasea]

Someone asked for a little recap on what happened with the cat.

The people who called me because they thought it was Neptune, have a cat. The bird ended up being a parakeet, abd he was using a 10 foot evergreen shrub on the side if their garage as his home base. About 7 feet up there was a hole in she shrub and he would fly in there. We tried a to catch him . He ended up going 3 houses down to a huge oak tree, with a hawk. I left to get my budgies abd cane back, never saw him again.

I came back the next morning. I looked in his home shrub and down to oak tree and didn't
see him. put my budgies on top of my car and played budgies sounds for about 1 and half hours. ( I was determined ) then he flew a loop over my car and landed in a small tree across the street from his home shrub. So I gathered everything to set up under the tree. I lost sight of him so came back to the home shrub to check. He was there. So I went across the street to get my birds and stuff. When I came back he was gone.

20 min later the home owner called me , I was sitting by her shrub but she didn't know that. She said her cat had caught the parakeet , and she took it out of the cats mouth. She said she bring me the bird outside. When she brought me Blue Boy, he was bleeding pretty good from the side of his face. I freaked out asked for peroxide and q tips. She raced back inside and came out with alcohol ( didn't have any peroxide) and q tips. I was so worried about how bad he could be hurt, I didn't ask any questions . I jumped in my car treated his face, tried to slow the bleeding down. It was a lot for a tiny bird. Raced home, called my vet..like many of you, i know how deadly the bacteria from a cats mouth can be, so i was focused on cleaning the wound , and getting him medication, the rest you know
The hole is from the side of his cere down to his lower beak. The depest part is between upper beak and lower beak and goes into the mouth. I imagine he had his beak open screaming or trying to bite the cat.. he is so tiny I think is whole head was in the cats mouth... ugh it hard to think about

 

[bug_n_flock]

I usually just do the meds straight by syringe. But I've only done oral meds by syringe a handful of times. Alex took it like a champ the one time I had to give him baytril. Sunny I was only giving 1 drop to twice a day(metacam), and other times I have given metacam for various bumps or bruises. My vet usually has me put doxy in the water when doing antibiotics, though.



The thickening the meds with baby food to prevent aspiration is advice I am drawing from human medical care. After my grandmother's stroke they had her only drinking thickened liquids. My mother who is a speech pathologist who worked in a nursing home early in her carreer, told me this is very normal procedure when one is having trouble swallowing, and that she often would perscribe thickened liquids for the folks she was working with.


Plus if you choose a tasty flavor of baby food (hmmm, maybe banana?) he might be less peeved about the meds. Part of why Alex took the baytril so well was he was only a year or so old at the time and had been hand fed with a syringe, but also because I would give him tasty stuff by syringe in addition to meds 1nce or 2ce a day.



But when it comes to hands on feeding with a syringe, most of my experience is hand feeding babies. I'm sure others here have more experience with giving meds by oral syringe.

 

[mica21493]

Great idea about thickening it. I’ve never tried plain baby food, but I've put meds in hand feeding/rescue formula and that worked well.

 

[Laurasea]

I usually just do the meds straight by syringe. But I've only done oral meds by syringe a handful of times. Alex took it like a champ the one time I had to give him baytril. Sunny I was only giving 1 drop to twice a day(metacam), and other times I have given metacam for various bumps or bruises. My vet usually has me put doxy in the water when doing antibiotics, though.



The thickening the meds with baby food to prevent aspiration is advice I am drawing from human medical care. After my grandmother's stroke they had her only drinking thickened liquids. My mother who is a speech pathologist who worked in a nursing home early in her carreer, told me this is very normal procedure when one is having trouble swallowing, and that she often would perscribe thickened liquids for the folks she was working with.


Plus if you choose a tasty flavor of baby food (hmmm, maybe banana?) he might be less peeved about the meds. Part of why Alex took the baytril so well was he was only a year or so old at the time and had been hand fed with a syringe, but also because I would give him tasty stuff by syringe in addition to meds 1nce or 2ce a day.



But when it comes to hands on feeding with a syringe, most of my experience is hand feeding babies. I'm sure others here have more experience with giving meds by oral syringe.

Bug,
I had to visit a speech pathology, because Myasthenia Gravis, makes swallowing hard sometimes and I choke. I had the hardest time with water , but juice was better. She explained that water was the easiest to choke on and tgst the difference in viscosity (?,) between that and juice made it easier. So I totally get it!! But hadn't applied that to this ! I really like the idea @
My vet will give me doxy for the water. But are worried he wouldn't get enough meds in, and she prefers i give by mouth.
And like Mica fir the use of formula, he needs that Xtra calories and vitamins anyway... thank you both for great ideas

 

[Laurasea]

But I'm worried about contamination of the wound that goes into his mouth. If sugar, or protein from soft food get into it, it will be such a breeding ground for bacteria..

Thoughts on that??

 

[saxguy64]

I'm liking the idea of rescue formula. Poor baby can use all the calories and nutrients he can get. Not sure how it might affect potential infection. I would think the extra nutrition would help give him some more strength to fight it off too.

 

[mica21493]

Could you gently wipe that part of the wound off with a very wet Q tip only if the soft food gets on it? I know you said skin was breaking down, but I'm not sure if it was the part next to his mouth?