Freaking out a bit

[hiriki]

Hey yall.

So, I had a business trip these past two days. It was a short trip so I wrote up some instructions for my wife and aside from being lonely without my pets, I didn't worry about it. My wife did a fine job.

I got home a few hours ago and first thing I greeted all of my pets. I could tell from the jump that Birdie was acting unusual. Not sick--just overstimulated and fully unable to calm down. I opened the cage to give her some nutriberries and she squeezed out past my arm and for the next 15 minutes or so, she acted SO strangely... flying to my wife repeatedly, ignoring me, and clearly still overstimulated. Dancing nonstop, fluffing up, biting anyone who put their hand near her.

The ignoring me part and flying to my wife who she normally doesn't pay much attention to... that stung, but i've heard of it happening before so I was mostly just sad, not worried. But she wasn't calming down. I eventually asked my wife to step out of the room and spent some time sitting with her feeding her seeds, and she seemed to be kind of calming down at this point... once I was satisfied that she was calm enough to try putting her home, I grabbed some nutriberries and put them in the bowl in her cage and she put herself away, but this is where the panic really set in, because for the first time since getting home I got a good look at her cage.

She's clearly spent the last two days shredding /everything/. Her paper liner is in 100 pieces in the floor of her cage. Then as she went to take a drink I noticed a fluffy piece of fleece and realized that she'd chewed a hole through her snuggle hut.

That's my literal worst nightmare! I've known that snuggle huts can be dangerous if ingested for years, but the thing is that she's disabled with flat feet and has been sleeping in a snuggle hut since the day I adopted her from the rescue... in my head, I always just thought since she'd never shown interest in chewing it, it was fine, and it was worth something that she has a nice soft surface for her hocks, which tend to get red and chappy since she has to stand on them. I feel so stupid.

I called the emergency vet. I explained the situation. I told them I've seen her drink, I've seen her eat, and I've seen her poop multiple times. They told me I could bring her in or I could monitor. I didn't know what to do... I said I'd watch her since she's already so anxious and I'm so anxious and putting her in a carrier seemed like a lot. Ok. We hung up.

I investigated the cage again and realized that aside from the one piece of fluff by the water dish... there's no fluff anywhere else. It's got to be in her stomach. It's not impacted now but what happens if it is tomorrow??? I call again, I ask how they'll get it out now vs what they'd have to do if it's impacted... the tech refused to answer.

I've got her in a carrier now. My wife is driving me there as we speak. She's finally calmed down in the dark with a towel over the carrier but it took a while for her to stop squeaking and tapping in there. She's my heart bird and no business trip is worth losing her. I'm distraught right now.

Any words of advice would be appreciated... even just some heartfelt words or keeping us in your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

 

[LaManuka]

Hey yall.

So, I had a business trip these past two days. It was a short trip so I wrote up some instructions for my wife and aside from being lonely without my pets, I didn't worry about it. My wife did a fine job.

I got home a few hours ago and first thing I greeted all of my pets. I could tell from the jump that Birdie was acting unusual. Not sick--just overstimulated and fully unable to calm down. I opened the cage to give her some nutriberries and she squeezed out past my arm and for the next 15 minutes or so, she acted SO strangely... flying to my wife repeatedly, ignoring me, and clearly still overstimulated. Dancing nonstop, fluffing up, biting anyone who put their hand near her.

The ignoring me part and flying to my wife who she normally doesn't pay much attention to... that stung, but i've heard of it happening before so I was mostly just sad, not worried. But she wasn't calming down. I eventually asked my wife to step out of the room and spent some time sitting with her feeding her seeds, and she seemed to be kind of calming down at this point... once I was satisfied that she was calm enough to try putting her home, I grabbed some nutriberries and put them in the bowl in her cage and she put herself away, but this is where the panic really set in, because for the first time since getting home I got a good look at her cage.

She's clearly spent the last two days shredding /everything/. Her paper liner is in 100 pieces in the floor of her cage. Then as she went to take a drink I noticed a fluffy piece of fleece and realized that she'd chewed a hole through her snuggle hut.

That's my literal worst nightmare! I've known that snuggle huts can be dangerous if ingested for years, but the thing is that she's disabled with flat feet and has been sleeping in a snuggle hut since the day I adopted her from the rescue... in my head, I always just thought since she'd never shown interest in chewing it, it was fine, and it was worth something that she has a nice soft surface for her hocks, which tend to get red and chappy since she has to stand on them. I feel so stupid.

I called the emergency vet. I explained the situation. I told them I've seen her drink, I've seen her eat, and I've seen her poop multiple times. They told me I could bring her in or I could monitor. I didn't know what to do... I said I'd watch her since she's already so anxious and I'm so anxious and putting her in a carrier seemed like a lot. Ok. We hung up.

I investigated the cage again and realized that aside from the one piece of fluff by the water dish... there's no fluff anywhere else. It's got to be in her stomach. It's not impacted now but what happens if it is tomorrow??? I call again, I ask how they'll get it out now vs what they'd have to do if it's impacted... the tech refused to answer.

I've got her in a carrier now. My wife is driving me there as we speak. She's finally calmed down in the dark with a towel over the carrier but it took a while for her to stop squeaking and tapping in there. She's my heart bird and no business trip is worth losing her. I'm distraught right now.

Any words of advice would be appreciated... even just some heartfelt words or keeping us in your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

Oh @hiriki, how very frightening!! I'm SO glad you're on your way to the vet with her, all my hopes and prayers are with you and I hope it's just a false alarm with the snuggle hut and a touch hormonal overload with your little hen!

 

[hiriki]

Oh @hiriki, how very frightening!! I'm SO glad you're on your way to the vet with her, all my hopes and prayers are with you and I hope it's just a false alarm with the snuggle hut and a touch hormonal overload with your little hen!

Oh, you don't know how much this comment means to me, because believe it or not, hormones didn't even occur to me as an explanation. I've had her for almost 10 years now and she's never gone through periods of higher than usual hormones--my cockatiel Kibble was occasionally hormonal but Birdie has never laid eggs or acted remotely hormonal. This is so unusual for her.

She's with the vet now, I'm hoping an xray shows nothing in her tummy but regarding her behavior... hormones is very possible. Thank you

 

[LaManuka]

Oh, you don't know how much this comment means to me, because believe it or not, hormones didn't even occur to me as an explanation. I've had her for almost 10 years now and she's never gone through periods of higher than usual hormones--my cockatiel Kibble was occasionally hormonal but Birdie has never laid eggs or acted remotely hormonal. This is so unusual for her.

She's with the vet now, I'm hoping an xray shows nothing in her tummy but regarding her behavior... hormones is very possible. Thank you

Some seasons can be a lot tougher on them than others, and they can come on in the blink of an eye too, for both hens and roosters. Hoping for a clear x-ray right along with you!!!

 

[hiriki]

Some seasons can be a lot tougher on them than others, and they can come on in the blink of an eye too, for both hens and roosters. Hoping for a clear x-ray right along with you!!!

Definitely...... every time I feel like I'm used to birds and I know everything there is about living with them, they throw me a curve ball to keep me humble, I guess.

The fact that this happened around my business trip could very well be a complete coincidence because.... for the first time since adopting him, I let Birdie interact with the newest arrival to the flock, a GCC named Kiwi, on Wednesday. They were all over each other. I'm wondering if that was a trigger.

 

[LaManuka]

Definitely...... every time I feel like I'm used to birds and I know everything there is about living with them, they throw me a curve ball to keep me humble, I guess.

The fact that this happened around my business trip could very well be a complete coincidence because.... for the first time since adopting him, I let Birdie interact with the newest arrival to the flock, a GCC named Kiwi, on Wednesday. They were all over each other. I'm wondering if that was a trigger.

Well Kiwi could be the culprit. You ought to see how my princess parrot Peachie gets all bent outta shape over my lorikeet, Lovejoy. It's almost obscene!!!

 

[hiriki]

Well Kiwi could be the culprit. You ought to see how my princess parrot Peachie gets all bent outta shape over my lorikeet, Lovejoy. It's almost obscene!!!

Haha, I hope it's just that. I finished with the vet just now--she agreed that hormones could be the culprit behind the behavioral abnormalities, and as for the hut, she told me that she was not concerned about the possibility of impaction at this moment... there's no clinical signs that she's struggling to pass anything, she's alert and happy, and she told me that she's worked with birds for a long time and in her experience impactions are very rare. My anxiety was colored by the fact that any times I've seen people talk about their birds shredding cuddle huts, the result has been DEATH... but when I think about it, no one goes to the internet to report "my bird chewed her cuddle hut and absolutely nothing happened." No regrets for going to the vet but oh I feel so much better.

She did repeat what my vet said at Birdies recent wellness exam: she's overweight. So I'm going to have to really double down on trying to improve her diet. But that's not like a "oh my god she's going to die while I sleep" emergency.

 

[LaManuka]

Haha, I hope it's just that. I finished with the vet just now--she agreed that hormones could be the culprit behind the behavioral abnormalities, and as for the hut, she told me that she was not concerned about the possibility of impaction at this moment... there's no clinical signs that she's struggling to pass anything, she's alert and happy, and she told me that she's worked with birds for a long time and in her experience impactions are very rare. My anxiety was colored by the fact that any times I've seen people talk about their birds shredding cuddle huts, the result has been DEATH... but when I think about it, no one goes to the internet to report "my bird chewed her cuddle hut and absolutely nothing happened." No regrets for going to the vet but oh I feel so much better.

She did repeat what my vet said at Birdies recent wellness exam: she's overweight. So I'm going to have to really double down on trying to improve her diet. But that's not like a "oh my god she's going to die while I sleep" emergency.

Oh I'm so happy for you both, @hiriki! What a relief!! Birdie may not enjoy the new diet so much but, like you, I would MUCH rather be overly cautious and have this sort of thing checked out by the vet for peace of mind than hesitate and live to regret it!!

 

[hiriki]

Oh I'm so happy for you both, @hiriki! What a relief!! Birdie may not enjoy the new diet so much but, like you, I would MUCH rather be overly cautious and have this sort of thing checked out by the vet for peace of mind than hesitate and live to regret it!!

Yes, exactly!!! I was so worried this would turn for the worst while I slept. She didn't end up doing an xray because she told me that she saw no red flags that worried her and even if she saw some fluff in Birdies stomach, right now there's no reason to believe she won't be able to pass it, and there's no way to remove it. The xray would have given me a definitive answer on whether she'd ingested any, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the exam... and they would have had to sedate her. So we passed.

Thanks for keeping me company while I panicked over this lol.

 

[LaManuka]

Yes, exactly!!! I was so worried this would turn for the worst while I slept. She didn't end up doing an xray because she told me that she saw no red flags that worried her and even if she saw some fluff in Birdies stomach, right now there's no reason to believe she won't be able to pass it, and there's no way to remove it. The xray would have given me a definitive answer on whether she'd ingested any, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the exam... and they would have had to sedate her. So we passed.

Thanks for keeping me company while I panicked over this lol.

Oh you're most welcome, I've had my share of gut-wrenching emergency visits to the vet. I'm just so pleased your girlie's gonna be ok! Please give her a big kiss goodnight for me, won't you?