How I met Tiki

[SavannahPolson]

I recently, Monday, got a 26 year old umbrella cockatoo. I received a call around 4:30 from a friend who had been contacted by another bird friend about an injured bird. I went to Texas, which is a four hour drive for me, to pick up what I was told was a Goffin's cockatoo, she isn't, who was being given away because it had its leg shut in a door. The leg was broken and them woman decided she just wanted to get rid of the bird because she could not afford the vet bill. So I made the drive, arrived at 11pm, picked her up, and got home at 4:30 due to a heavy fog. At 8:30 the following morning I took her to a vet who I was told specialized in parrots. I was shown the original X-ray, it was a clean break, and we decided to put a pin in to hold the bone in place. Wednesday afternoon, she had the surgery. I received a call from the vet saying when she was coming out of anesthesia that she flew off the table and they didn't have the ecollar on yet. She bit her leg and broke the pin. The vet splinted her leg and said she felt she wouldn't work on her now, she explained when I arrived that Tiki, the cockatoo, would require a more in-depth surgery than she felt comfortable performing. So I picked her up and immediately went to another vet who I was referred to by a falconer, he looked at the X-rays and the splint and decided a surgery was over complicating things since the bone was aligned fairly well and would likely heal well with just a splint. Tiki has since started plucking her chest feathers. I realize its most likely from all of the stress. She is in her original cage, has the set up almost identical, just more broken leg friendly, and blankets in the bottom. She is the first cockatoo I have owned, but not the first parrot. I also own a Miligold macaw and have worked with Moluccans and scarlet macaws. I was told I should contact the state board of veterinary medicine. What are your thoughts? She's a super sweet bird. I'm hoping she will regain use of her broken leg. She is in a quite room, I have held her a bit, but she is also showing signs of mating behavior so I am trying not to encourage that. She will get a round of antibiotics tonight. Has anyone else had anything similar happen? What did you do? I was also told she supposedly survived hurricane Katrina. Note, the original owner has still not contacted me to check up on her.

 

[Scott]

Well first, thank you for adopting this special bird from a terrible dump-job scenario. I believe it is evident why the original owner has not contacted you.

The pinning of a leg the size of an umbrella is conventional surgery for an avian-certified vet. I've done this once each for an eclectus and Timneh Grey with perfect outcomes. Whether a splint will now be sufficient is conjecture unless you have faith in the second vet. You now have two opinions that differ, so whether a third is required is judgmental.

I would imagine Tiki's new plucking is stress related. You'll definitely want to support her as much as possible, mindful of her mating behavior.

Hard to determine if a formal complaint against the surgical vet is warranted. Seems marginal to incompetent nursing care allowed Tiki to wake and flee the table resulting in further injury. Mistakes can happen; I would have to assess based on the totality of the experience and how the error was mitigated. It might be possible to research past allegations against the clinic to arrived at a balanced opinion.

Good luck with Tiki, and please keep us updated!

 

[texsize]

Thank you for rescuing Tiki. Sounds like she is in good hands. I hope she makes a full recovery.