topher
New member
Hi all,
I've not been one for message boards these past few years, but I do have a need to vent a bit, if you all can bare with me.
I have a 16 year-old red-sided Eclectus named Zephyr. I've had him since he was just a tiny lump of a baby at the bird store I worked at as a teenager and college student. I worked with and raised many, many birds, but Zeph is the friendliest, most social bird I've ever known. When he was a baby, I would take him out and hand him to every customer who came into the store. Now, if given the option, he prefers to meet new people, rather than stay near me. I'm still dad, though.
He's an Eclectus, all the way around. He's mischievous and messy and loud and talkative and goofy and wonderful. He's always been my buddy. My BIG buddy... Zeph has always been nearly 500g. He's bright... he knows to poop and say 'up' before coming out. He hops on command, shows off his wings, and likes to make fun of my voice. He puts his cheek up to get a kiss, but sneaks in zerberts. He snuggles under the blanket, and wants nothing more than to just sit on my knee while I'm at the desk.
When he was 2-3, he began plucking. Just a little around the neck, but still enough to worry me. He saw two different avian vets, but nothing could be determined. After a couple years of trying all different solutions, I just had to be resigned to it. He kept it limited, initially, so I wasn't too upset. It's appearance, he's always been healthy and happy otherwise. Some years ago, he started to escalate his plucking. It stepped up when I had to have him stay with a friend of mine while I returned to grad school. Now, he's just a mess of chewed feathers and damaged down feathers. But he's still the same wonderful boy. Just a little spotty on the outside.
Sadly, now my buddy is sick, and I'm sick with worry. A couple weeks ago, he developed a growth under his wing. It became fairly large, almost the size of a half dollar. It is yellow and crusted, and seems to encompass the top layer of skin, leaving it raw underneath. I kept him clean, but he began to become lethargic and didn't eat as much. He developed a slight squeak.
I found a wonderful vet practice nearby, who ran bloodwork, cultures, and an x-ray. His bloodwork came back with a white blood cell count of 30,000. X-Rays showed the possibility of metal, which was shocking, given the lack of accessible metal around him. Everything around him is either stainless steel or powder-coated (including an awesomely powder-coated bell, which he doesn't care about anyway.) His toys are all foraging and shredding toys, so I'm at a loss about possible metal. Liver values were normal, so probably not any kind of xanthoma. The vet prescribed topical cream (silver sulfadizine), Baytril with an anti-fungal, and an NSAID for pain. I am giving him some psyillium husk to see if we can clear out any possible metal, just to be safe.
Within 2 days of the vet visit, Zeph was back to normal. More active and energetic than I've seen him in weeks. But, the caveat here is that it is incredibly likely that Zeph has aspergillosis, and that his sudden energy is a result of clearing out an associated bacterial infection. I feel bad for my buddy, and worse that I did not catch it sooner. His wings look painful, but like most birds, he's a champ and didn't let on.
Meanwhile, I'm a doctoral student and make really terrible RA money, so this has already knocked out 1/14 of my annual income. Money is just money, certainly, but ouch. Of course, nothing would be as bad as losing my buddy, so Zeph's going in for the aspergillus test on Thursday. Hopefully his other cultures will give us answers of some sort.
Sorry for the long rant. I had multiple meetings this week that I was fully unprepared for, and people tend to give you a "uh....huh" look when you tell them that you couldn't think because you were worried about your bird. He's my buddy!
t
I've not been one for message boards these past few years, but I do have a need to vent a bit, if you all can bare with me.
I have a 16 year-old red-sided Eclectus named Zephyr. I've had him since he was just a tiny lump of a baby at the bird store I worked at as a teenager and college student. I worked with and raised many, many birds, but Zeph is the friendliest, most social bird I've ever known. When he was a baby, I would take him out and hand him to every customer who came into the store. Now, if given the option, he prefers to meet new people, rather than stay near me. I'm still dad, though.
He's an Eclectus, all the way around. He's mischievous and messy and loud and talkative and goofy and wonderful. He's always been my buddy. My BIG buddy... Zeph has always been nearly 500g. He's bright... he knows to poop and say 'up' before coming out. He hops on command, shows off his wings, and likes to make fun of my voice. He puts his cheek up to get a kiss, but sneaks in zerberts. He snuggles under the blanket, and wants nothing more than to just sit on my knee while I'm at the desk.
When he was 2-3, he began plucking. Just a little around the neck, but still enough to worry me. He saw two different avian vets, but nothing could be determined. After a couple years of trying all different solutions, I just had to be resigned to it. He kept it limited, initially, so I wasn't too upset. It's appearance, he's always been healthy and happy otherwise. Some years ago, he started to escalate his plucking. It stepped up when I had to have him stay with a friend of mine while I returned to grad school. Now, he's just a mess of chewed feathers and damaged down feathers. But he's still the same wonderful boy. Just a little spotty on the outside.
Sadly, now my buddy is sick, and I'm sick with worry. A couple weeks ago, he developed a growth under his wing. It became fairly large, almost the size of a half dollar. It is yellow and crusted, and seems to encompass the top layer of skin, leaving it raw underneath. I kept him clean, but he began to become lethargic and didn't eat as much. He developed a slight squeak.
I found a wonderful vet practice nearby, who ran bloodwork, cultures, and an x-ray. His bloodwork came back with a white blood cell count of 30,000. X-Rays showed the possibility of metal, which was shocking, given the lack of accessible metal around him. Everything around him is either stainless steel or powder-coated (including an awesomely powder-coated bell, which he doesn't care about anyway.) His toys are all foraging and shredding toys, so I'm at a loss about possible metal. Liver values were normal, so probably not any kind of xanthoma. The vet prescribed topical cream (silver sulfadizine), Baytril with an anti-fungal, and an NSAID for pain. I am giving him some psyillium husk to see if we can clear out any possible metal, just to be safe.
Within 2 days of the vet visit, Zeph was back to normal. More active and energetic than I've seen him in weeks. But, the caveat here is that it is incredibly likely that Zeph has aspergillosis, and that his sudden energy is a result of clearing out an associated bacterial infection. I feel bad for my buddy, and worse that I did not catch it sooner. His wings look painful, but like most birds, he's a champ and didn't let on.
Meanwhile, I'm a doctoral student and make really terrible RA money, so this has already knocked out 1/14 of my annual income. Money is just money, certainly, but ouch. Of course, nothing would be as bad as losing my buddy, so Zeph's going in for the aspergillus test on Thursday. Hopefully his other cultures will give us answers of some sort.
Sorry for the long rant. I had multiple meetings this week that I was fully unprepared for, and people tend to give you a "uh....huh" look when you tell them that you couldn't think because you were worried about your bird. He's my buddy!
t
