AprilJ
New member
- Sep 27, 2024
- 1
- 0
- Parrots
- Ziggy, green cheek conure
Binky, cockatiel
& Very spoiled & precious non parrot, Beetle the mynah bird
Hello, I'm new to the forum but I have had parrots for the past 44 years, but this is a new issue I've never faced.
Binky is my 15-year-old male Latino cockatiel.. He developed a cataract in one eye about a year ago and now is going blind in the other eye. I do think this week he has gone almost completely blind, Not only because he doesn't respond to my finger till it's extremely close to his eye, but also because he does not respond to any visual stimulus that used to make him go bananas, such as hats, and small towels of any kind.
Last month a wild bird rehab vet, the only Bird vet on our Island (I live in Hawaii) checked him out and confirmed he was definitely going blind in the eye and took blood sample to check for diabetes (negative).
About 2 months ago when I could tell the vision was rapidly diminishing we set up his cage to be easy to navigate and have not changed anything since.
He's been on an excellent pelleted diet with veggie supplements his whole life and the vet confirmed. I've done everything right in terms of nutrition, and had no real explanation or solutions.
In the last two weeks, his behavior has really changed. He's mostly in the back of his cage, isn't playing with his toys, not really responding to whistles and the normal things that always elicit, whistling and silly behavior ....and the weirdest thing is he does a lot of extremely heavy breathing if disturbed much and I become extremely worried that he's going to collapse. Then he will smooth all his feathers out and seem normal and want pets.
This is most pronounced at night, and I know he definitely is one of those cockatiels that has night fright type issues.
During the day he seems less depressed and a little more interactive and will vocalize a little bit.
Part of me rationalizes that of course this is a normal response to losing his sight, and another part of me is envisioning that he's got terrible tumors or cardiovascular disease or something else horrific, And that we have almost no bird medical resources at all here.
I'm really hoping that people here with experience with blind birds can chime in and let me know this is normal to see an increase in anxiety, loss of normal behavior, etc.. I tried taking him to work with me which in the past he liked but now he just huddled in the back of the cage and was completely withdrawn and seemed extremely cold in the AC and wouldn't eat..
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Binky is my 15-year-old male Latino cockatiel.. He developed a cataract in one eye about a year ago and now is going blind in the other eye. I do think this week he has gone almost completely blind, Not only because he doesn't respond to my finger till it's extremely close to his eye, but also because he does not respond to any visual stimulus that used to make him go bananas, such as hats, and small towels of any kind.
Last month a wild bird rehab vet, the only Bird vet on our Island (I live in Hawaii) checked him out and confirmed he was definitely going blind in the eye and took blood sample to check for diabetes (negative).
About 2 months ago when I could tell the vision was rapidly diminishing we set up his cage to be easy to navigate and have not changed anything since.
He's been on an excellent pelleted diet with veggie supplements his whole life and the vet confirmed. I've done everything right in terms of nutrition, and had no real explanation or solutions.
In the last two weeks, his behavior has really changed. He's mostly in the back of his cage, isn't playing with his toys, not really responding to whistles and the normal things that always elicit, whistling and silly behavior ....and the weirdest thing is he does a lot of extremely heavy breathing if disturbed much and I become extremely worried that he's going to collapse. Then he will smooth all his feathers out and seem normal and want pets.
This is most pronounced at night, and I know he definitely is one of those cockatiels that has night fright type issues.
During the day he seems less depressed and a little more interactive and will vocalize a little bit.
Part of me rationalizes that of course this is a normal response to losing his sight, and another part of me is envisioning that he's got terrible tumors or cardiovascular disease or something else horrific, And that we have almost no bird medical resources at all here.
I'm really hoping that people here with experience with blind birds can chime in and let me know this is normal to see an increase in anxiety, loss of normal behavior, etc.. I tried taking him to work with me which in the past he liked but now he just huddled in the back of the cage and was completely withdrawn and seemed extremely cold in the AC and wouldn't eat..
Any advice greatly appreciated.
