Goffin Seizures help!!

[crpaletta04]

I have a goffin named Tobie who is 8 years old, I have had her for 6 years. She has always been a very happy bird but recently she has started having seizures when she gets to upset. I have taken her to the vet and they did all the blood work they could on her and found nothing wrong. All her organs are working properly and she has no infections or parasites. They sent me home with some seizure medicine that I have to put into her water. She has also started plucking but she is hiding it very well. She is only doing it on her legs and certain spots on her back where other feathers will cover it up. She has also completely stopped playing with all her toys! I move them around and give her new ones every couple of months and nothing. She used to play and destroy them all the time. Now all she does is sit in front of her heat lamp and pick her legs. The vet also had me change her diet so now she gets organic baby food (she was having fits over the pellets and throwing them out) homemade bird bread that I make with natural grains and veggies, and I still offer her pellets. She is eating ok, however, the vet did say she was a couple of grams under weight and I have always had this problem with her. When she is out of cage all she wants to do is preen herself, she used to not be like that. I'm worried that there is really something wrong but the vet can't seem to find anything and it is quite upsetting for myself and Tobie. Has anyone else had problems like this?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That's heart breaking D: If you can afford it get a second and even a third opinion. Even if you have a good avian vet a different one may notice something he missed or had a bird with a similar problem.

 

[Adinafloyd]

I agree, I would get a second opinion. Scritches for Tobie and my best wishes for you both

 

[luvmytooo]

I would definitely get a second and even a third opinion but before you do , has anything changed in Tobie's schedule ? How about YOUR daily schedule ?
TOOs are very sensitive to any kind of change in their environment.
I try to stay consistent with my daily routines. Especially when I brought home Stella and Baby made a appearance , lol.
Has your work hours changed or maybe a new friend ?
You may need to focus on changes in the home . Changes in clothes detergent , maybe its too strong and it affects Tobie , small things like this can have a big affect on some birds. Has someone smoked near her ? Or have you changed foods or bought from someplace different then you normally do ?
Just a though

 

[Mare Miller]

I don't know anything about seizures, but am sort of familiar with a goffins preening itself. When Sassy came to us, she was over-preening, plucking and never held still especially while getting scritches. My U2 molts but I've never seen anything like this! Could she also be going through a molt? I'm sorry she is having these issues and hoping she pulls out of them soon.

 

[luvmytooo]

Molting can cause discomfort and some different behaviors you dont normally see everyday. How many times a week do you bathe Tobie ?
Do you use any aloe based sprays ? These are very good for dry itchy skin ..
What does Tobie's skin look like ? Have you noticed any mites ? Mites can send a bird over the edge with pain and annoyance . It may look like a seizure but Tobie is just trying to rid herself of the buggers and stop the pain.

Im just typing what comes to mind. I hope with all our suggestions , we can figure out the root cause and get Tobie better.

Best of luck , please keep us updated on Tobie.
The poor baby , I really hope things get better for her. Hugs for Tobie

 

[melissasparrots]

I'm not sure about the seizures as none of my birds have had that problem. I do have experience with itchy cockatoos though. My sulfur crest has allergy problems and a combination of good diet, air filter and about a teaspoon of Noni juice in her soft food every day really calms the itch down. Not all Noni is equal. I've found Noni Pacific to work best on her and I freeze it in portions lasting a few days. Its vial tasting nasty stuff, but it really works for Ariel. I takes some patience and consistency to get them eating it well enough to do anything. Less than a full dose and its like any medicine, it won't work. At first when I tried it, I tried a different brand and wasn't hugely convinced. But once I started getting more into her and switched to the better brand, she went from itchy picky and showing it, to calmer, happier, relaxed body language, no picking. Run it by your vet and make sure you know what your doing with the basic concept of diet conversions, because it will be tough getting enough into the bird to do any good. Ariel was just miserable so it was worth it to me to give the Noni the best shot I could and see if it worked. It took a few months of slowing upping the amount before she was getting enough to show consistent results.

My goffin's does a little bit of behavioral plucking, but for a while there she was also itchy like crazy when I petted her, and after flying around/displaying. She pulled a lot of feathers around her legs and chest. The Noni helps her a little. But she was also helped from a little bit of sea salt in her water. Basically, I mix up a gallon of water from the grocery store with 1 teaspoon of regular grocery store sea salt. I give her two bowls of water. One with the weak salt solution, one with plain water. So she can choose between the two and self regulate if needed. When I first started this, Cassie was drinking a lot of the salt water. About 3 weeks later, I noticed I could pet her again without having her get itchy, she was active again with out itching and the plucking was dramatically reduced. About that time I noticed her drinking a lot more of the plain water, so the two bowl system was effective in allowing her to self regulate and get what she needed. I take her off the salty water and just offer fresh for a few weeks now and then just to make sure she isn't slightly overdosing on the salt long term. But if I have her off it for very long, she will start to pluck again. If you try either of those methods, run it by your vet first. The Noni juice does tend to act like a medicine so you will need to treat it accordingly. If you feed a mostly pellet or dry diet, you might need to be careful with the salt water solution.

I have never personally met anyone who's bird was helped by the Noni juice. However, I have seen some odd references here and there on the net about cockatoos that were helped. I only mention it because it sounds like your bird isn't doing so well and it might be time to try a few less intruisive holistic things. Neither of my birds has anything diagnosable. But Ariel definitely follows a season allergy pattern to her plucking. Make sure by consulting your vet that nothing I suggested with react with her seizure meds.

 

[crpaletta04]

Thank you all so much for your information! I am going to get a second opinion for Tobie because I want her to feel better. There are a couple of changes that have happened in our home. First is we rescued a stray dog almost a year ago and we had no plans on keeping her we were just going to try to get her adopted out, however, we have found out that she is not friendly with other dogs so most people don't want her. I still make sure that Tobie has enough attention from my husband and my self and we always give her attention before the dog. Other than that not much else has changed in our routine except that I graduated college and am now home during the day, but she just gets more attention now that I'm home. I have checked her for mites and she doesn't have any bugs on her at all. Her skin on her legs looks red and irritated and the feather follicles have small scabs over them from her plucking, but the rest of her skin looks fine. Now she is pulling off the scabs so I'm worried that it won't have a chance to heal up. I did make a homemade aloe spray that I spray her with daily and I rub aloe on her legs but that doesn't seem to stop her from picking. As far as the bathing goes it has been a while since a full bath but that is because when she gets overly excited she has a seizure and now I'm scared to bathe her. I don't think she is going through a molt right now but I am worried that she may be having allergies to the pollen that is outside, however, she doesn't go outside and I have to keep my house pretty clean because I'm sensitive to a lot also. Everything I use in my house is organic so she is not around any kind of fumes or harmful chemicals. I am going to try the salt water and see how that works and I have to take her in a couple of weeks for a beak trimming so I am going to talk to them about the Noni juice and see what they say. Also, her beak is very crooked. They think it happened when she was hand fed as a baby, her top beak sits to the side of the bottom one causing is to grow extremely fast! When she opens her mouth it becomes straight but when she closes it sits off so she doesn't keep it filed down on her own. When i take her in for a beak trimming it is a massive ordeal because of the seizures she has to be put under local antithesis just for them to be able to trim it. I know that doing that is stressing her out but I don't have any other way for her beak to be taken care of with out her freaking out.

 

[luvmytooo]

Good luck with Tobie . I really hope you can get to the bottom of this and her better.
**hugs**

 

[MonicaMc]

Just spouting potentially useless information here....

When I first read seizures, I thought DMG. Vetri-DMG is a clear liquid that looks like what and it's supposed to help birds who have seizures. I'm not sure how exactly, though... but you can order it online or maybe through your a-vet. The place I bought from online came from the following link.
Vetri-DMGboost boosts the immune response

Second, heart problems comes to mind. Someone on another forum mentioned that plucking can potentially be a sign of heart problems and blood not being able to get through the entire body? I would have to go find that post again, but the plucking from heart problems doesn't sound the same as what your goffin's is experiencing.

Third, a skin infection, which can sometimes be hard to find. Taking a skin sample or feather samples may help in finding out whats wrong. However, again, this doesn't sound like the same kind of picking that she's doing.


You can buy calming supplements (powder form or liquid/spray) from Harrison's or AviTech (to name acouple) if Tobie easily gets overstressed/anxious. You could also try chamomile tea for a more herbal remedy.

Only other things that come to mind are red palm oil, milk thistle and an aloe detox. RPO is good for the skin and feathers, milk thistle is good for the liver and the system overall (since the liver works so hard to detox the body, worked well for a sick bird of mine when I couldn't get her antibiotics), and aloe detox just as a detox to the entire system.



Beyond that, all I can suggest (for the plucking) is to look into foraging and clicker training... keeping her mind/beak busy so she doesn't have a chance to pick at herself.



If/when you go for a second opinion by another avian vet, please make sure to get all of Tobie's current records so you can take them over to the other a-vet. This may help keep things cheaper (without the need to redo all those tests) and will give the second a-vet a bit of history of whats been done and maybe what hasn't.