I need your thoughts/experience.

[Echo]

So I noticed that one of my GCC had one eye closed. I flushed it out with water in case she got something in it. Couple days later and still no improvement so I brought her to my Avian Vet. She acts normally, very active, eats well etc. Her eye is not runny, oozy, swollen, sticky and no sign of injury other than the fact that she keeps it closed.

The AV looked in her eye and around it and noticed a tiny line on the under lid, slight bruise. The inside of the eye looked like it had a little blood in it so she gave me 2 meds to put in her eye: 1 is an Ibuprofen drop and the other is an antibiotic drop in case of infection. She initially thought that she either got hurt on a toy or that her mate's beak was the possible culprit (even if not intentional).

Well 7 days later I brought her back for a check up, which my AV had said that if she was back to normal not to worry coming back so soon. Well NO IMPROVEMENT! NONE! However, like she said, it hadn't gotten worse either. Still no other symptoms other than the fact that she keeps it closed. She is able to open it but it seems like she wants it closed.

The AV looked inside her eye again, and really no change and she was puzzled. She had me look too and the inside of the eye is totally ORANGE! My vet is and Avian only and also treats wild birds. She said that her eye looks like the eye of Raptors that she sees that have been hit by a car! So now we are thinking that she flew into something! All my birds are flighted and sometimes one gets spooked and gets everyone flying in all directions. She could have hit the wall or window and gone right back into the breeding box, which would explain why I didn't notice her dazed or anything.

So it could be HYPHEMA? Anyone has any experience with that type of eye injury? That's the only thing that the vet can think of where the eye would look like that.....
Scary to realize just how fast a full flighted bird can hit something with such a force as to damage its eye the way raptors do when they get hit by a car!!!! OMG!!

My vet still wants me to go see a Ophthalmologist to confirm it is indeed what she did.

In the meantime, I guess I wonder how long until her eye heals if it is Hyphema?
Could it be something else that could explain her orange eye?

 

[Echo]

Hmmm so no one has any input on the subject?

Also I wanted to mention to those who want a flighted bird, that the speed at which they fly can seriously injure them should they hit something....food for thought. I would almost think of clipping 2 of her flight feathers just to slow her down (unlike my Crimsons who are "normal flyers", my GCCs are race flyers it seems ). However, they raise their babies and teach them to fly so I will not clip them whatsoever.

Tha AV has added Metacam for pain relief. I have an appointment with the Ophtalmologist so I will see what he says....

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'm sorry, but I had to actually look up what a Hyphema was. For those who don't know: Hyphema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've never experienced this with either of my fids, but I truly hope the Ophtalmologist will be able to clear it up completely.

 

[Mayden]

I've no experience with that, either in humans or birds I'm afraid. But I'm confident your eye dr will have better responses than us, it seems to be a fairly common thing within birds - especially wildlife, so I'm sure they'll be able to fix it. Keep us updated. Poor baby, having something obscure your vision like that must be so scary and frustrating - it's not like you can tell him what's wrong

Unfortunately it's a risk of being flighted - but on the flipside, many birds get injured from being clipped.

 

[Echo]

So we went to the Ophtalmologist and her eye diagnosis is : Anterior Uveitis.
It was definitively caused by impact trauma. So either she flew into something or she got "punched" by a bigger beak, both are possible. There is no cut or bite marks but definitively blunt hit.
I'm always around when they are out and the bird room is right next to the kitchen with windows in between for me to keep and eye on them. I didn't notice anything, other than every so often, one sees something spooky and sends all flying around crazy for a couple minutes. It happens so fast usually and then they're back to normal. I didn't notice any distress from her at all. However she spends lots of time in the nest box so she could have very easily hit something and got back into her box.

I have steroid drops for her eye. She will unfortunately be blind in that eye though

Uveitis - Veterinary Vision

 

[MonicaMc]

Sorry to hear that Echo! Never had to deal with an injury like that before.

I wonder if trimming the secondaries instead of the primaries may slow her down without preventing flight? (re: link)

Clipping And Trimming | The Parrot University, llc


How is she doing?

 

[goalerjones]

THe steroid drops will slow the immune response so the inflammation won't be so bad. Birds are incredibly adaptive creatures and it won't be long before he has adapted and won't be bothered.

 

[Echo]

Her eye is looking better in color when I open it to put the drops in. However, she mainly keeps it closed still. I wonder, when a bird is blind from one eye, does he keep it closed or open? Does the fact that there is no vision from that eye is the reason why she keeps it closed? Or will she eventually keep it open but will have no vision from it? Like some blind people keep their eyes closed and others have them open.....

She has an appointment in 1 week for a follow up.

 

[MomtoPercy]

That is so sad! I have experience with such things but I hope that losing the sight in one eye won't impact her too much

I have to ask - you took her to an Opthalmologist. Is this one that deals with humans and helped you or is it an avian opthalmologist? Sorry if it is a stupid question but I'm very intrigued. I've never heard of an avian opthalmologist and the human docs we have here wouldn't look at a bird, I'm sure. Either way. I'm very glad for you that you had access to someone who could check that eye for you.

 

[Echo]

That is so sad! I have experience with such things but I hope that losing the sight in one eye won't impact her too much

I have to ask - you took her to an Opthalmologist. Is this one that deals with humans and helped you or is it an avian opthalmologist? Sorry if it is a stupid question but I'm very intrigued. I've never heard of an avian opthalmologist and the human docs we have here wouldn't look at a bird, I'm sure. Either way. I'm very glad for you that you had access to someone who could check that eye for you.

He is a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist. My Avian Vet recommended him as he's known to be really good. So he only sees animals eyes

http://www.eyecareforanimals.com/doctors/diplomates/548-dr-abrams.html

 

[Echo]

That is so sad! I have experience with such things but I hope that losing the sight in one eye won't impact her too much

She's acting like normal, flying well etc.

 

[BoomBoom]

So sorry to hear this. There is no chance she will regain her vision at all?

 

[Echo]

So sorry to hear this. There is no chance she will regain her vision at all?

Not from what the Ophthalmologist said. I'm still in shock and can't believe her eye is so damaged. I secretly have a little hope she will regain sight in that eye....how can she have hurt it that bad??

 

[BoomBoom]

So sorry to hear this. There is no chance she will regain her vision at all?

Not from what the Ophthalmologist said. I'm still in shock and can't believe her eye is so damaged. I secretly have a little hope she will regain sight in that eye....how can she have hurt it that bad??

Yeah that's what I was thinking. She had to have hit her cage so fast, and I just don't see that happening within the walls of a cage no matter how large it is. She'd need momentum. Hitting a wall at top speed while flying around your home, yeah maybe.

Maybe she will recover, who knows! Birds are incredibly resilient. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys.

 

[MomtoPercy]

That is so sad! I have experience with such things but I hope that losing the sight in one eye won't impact her too much

I have to ask - you took her to an Opthalmologist. Is this one that deals with humans and helped you or is it an avian opthalmologist? Sorry if it is a stupid question but I'm very intrigued. I've never heard of an avian opthalmologist and the human docs we have here wouldn't look at a bird, I'm sure. Either way. I'm very glad for you that you had access to someone who could check that eye for you.

He is a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist. My Avian Vet recommended him as he's known to be really good. So he only sees animals eyes

Ken Abrams, DVM, DACVO - Eye Care for Animals

Well, there you go. Never too old to learn something

Best wishes for your girl, I hope she can regain at least some sight in the eye, the poor dear.

 

[Echo]

Yes he thought hitting a wall or glass window.....definitively that kind of impact.....only I saw/heard nothing.....really weird as i'm always around when they are out.....Must have happened so fast and she may have gone right out of sight in her box.....Didn't see her dazed or anything.

And yet, I was like, "wouldn't she have hurt both eyes, beak, neck, bled etc."? Not necessarily from his point of view.

I also thought one of the bigger guys like my Pionus could have "punched" her in the eye with her beak......which could explain no other injury. A beak is hard ...... He couldn't tell me exactly what kind of impact....

 

[BoomBoom]

I forgot about injury through the other bird. I see that more likely rather than from hitting a wall. I would think she would get a concussion or head trauma first before anything. But I'm just speculating of course.

Either way, a little hope goes a long way. I hope things turn out okay. Update us!

 

[goalerjones]

Eye damage that causes vision loss usually comes from retinal damage. The macula comes away from the retina and it loses it's blood supply and dies. Vision loss can be total or partial. Without direct feedback being possible there's no real way of knowing how much vision your baby has. Some vision loss results in light/dark shadows so once all the damage has healed as much as it will you should be able to tell by attempting to shield one eye and place treats in front of the other.

 

[MonicaMc]

From my limited experience with birds that have impaired vision or are blind, they do not keep their eyes closed at all.

Charlie lost half his beak to a blind ruby macaw. The macaw, at best, might have been able to see shadows, but there is no doubt she was completely blind! And she was also blind due to blunt trauma to her head. If you listened to the stories about the trouble she'd get into, it didn't sound as if she was blind.. I mean, she climbed down off her cage, roamed the floor, climbed the curtain between the kitchen and the living room, climbed up on her own play gym above her cage, would climb up onto the bed and chase the cats off the bed.... She loved to play with toys and to forage!


She didn't look blind, but I was able to hold her without her "knowing" - that is, until I spoke. Then she nailed me! Still have the scar, too... and it was quite a few years ago.

She's not been my only experience, but the only one that was, as far as I know, completely blind.