Lacerating throat or trauma during feeding?

[saganismyhero]

Are there any brave breeders out there willing to answer some questions for me? I just adopted an African Grey who has uniformed lesions in his throat on the left side, after a lot of diagnostics the vet thinks it may be because of some kind of trauma due to white blood cells being normal, liver and kidney function being normal, and no other suggestions of bacterial or yeast infections. We did a full work up, and the lesions present more like scar tissue than anything else (other than protozoa parasites, but we ruled that out too). Anyway, I'm just wondering, when feeding, what is the likelihood this boy was mismanaged and trauma occurred? Does this happen often with inexperienced breeders? Have you ever heard of trauma so bad that the bird had issues eating/swallowing later in life? Could the potential be there of hot formula being given that's too hot it burns the throat?

 

[plumsmum2005]

Yes, yes, yes! Loads of idiots out there playing at breeding birds hun. I am really sorry if this is the case. The number of people who want a baby bird and think it's fun to take it home unweaned.

 

[saganismyhero]

so actual lacerations that are deep enough to need stitches? how could someone do that with a rounded syringe?

 

[noodles123]

I wouldn't doubt it--- Noodles has scissor beak (likely due to improper weaning). Honestly, there are SO many people who do things wrong...Wish I had more info on this in particular though. I hope you get answers!

 

[LaManuka]

There are so many things that can and do go wrong when attempting to hand feed baby birds, and burning the crop with formula that is too hot is just one of them. Not sure if you've read the following sticky yet, which was written by a very dedicated and knowledgeable member of our Forum, but the list of things that can go wrong is very long indeed!

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

Improper hand feeding or weaning techniques can cause any number of chronic health and/or psychological issues later in life and I'm so sorry if any of these have impacted Sagan, but he certainly seems to have found himself in a very good place now that he is with you!

 

[Laurasea]

If this is scar tissue, I find it hard to think is causing active elevated results in your 3 year old parrot.

My first GCC, I got from pet store had scaring closed of one nostril from aspiration during hand feeding. That's what I was told, and tge nostril was non functioning fir her life of 17 years, led to sinus infection throughout her life.

 

[wrench13]

Gravage feeding, which is done by some breeders to chicks, is a method of brining a tube directly into the chicks crop, greatly speeding up the time to feed each chick. When done correctly it should not damage the 'throat', but many say it is bad psychologicaly for the chick because it does not promote a healthy feeding reflex. Its possible the breeder was a dumb ass and did it incorrectly or used the wrong equipment.

 

[saganismyhero]

If this is scar tissue, I find it hard to think is causing active elevated results in your 3 year old parrot.

My theory as a surgical neurophysiologist by trade (on humans) is that when we damage a nerve during a surgery, and the nerve has to repair itself, you see the same heightening in muscle enzymes over a much longer period of time due to the nerve tissue trying to repair. When we do cervical procedures on humans the vagus and rln nerves can become damaged, same with improper intubation, so I wonder if this is something similar. It's just a theory.

I mean who knows, biopsy is tomorrow.


Also, if there was consistent trauma during hand feeding, the damage could have been so severe that every time he eats he may be eliciting the need for new tissue.

 

[Laurasea]

If this is scar tissue, I find it hard to think is causing active elevated results in your 3 year old parrot.

My theory as a surgical neurophysiologist by trade (on humans) is that when we damage a nerve during a surgery, and the nerve has to repair itself, you see the same heightening in muscle enzymes over a much longer period of time due to the nerve tissue trying to repair. When we do cervical procedures on humans the vagus and rln nerves can become damaged, same with improper intubation, so I wonder if this is something similar. It's just a theory.

I mean who knows, biopsy is tomorrow.


Also, if there was consistent trauma during hand feeding, the damage could have been so severe that every time he eats he may be eliciting the need for new tissue.

I love learning new stuff! I certainly didn't know any of that, thank you for sharing. You have a very interesting job as well. Seems like fate abd good news for your grey that he is with you.
You might like this
https://veteriankey.com/avian-nutrition/

 

[saganismyhero]

I love learning new stuff! I certainly didn't know any of that, thank you for sharing. You have a very interesting job as well. Seems like fate abd good news for your grey that he is with you.

I don't know, I'm clearly freaking out. haha a stressful job does not help the anxiety aspect of trying to figure out what the hell is growing out of my brand new parrots throat. I'm like all over the internet trying to find SOME KIND of example of this to ease my nerves, because clearly this is a much better scenario than cancer LOL

 

[Laurasea]

I'm looking too. Crop issues yes, but not back of throat issues, that I can find.

 

[saganismyhero]

I feel like when this happens, they obviously aren't going to take it to a vet and have pictures taken of it. It probably happens a lot more often than we even know because so many people are breeding now since the price on Grey's have gone up over the years

 

[Scott]

I feel like when this happens, they obviously aren't going to take it to a vet and have pictures taken of it. It probably happens a lot more often than we even know because so many people are breeding now since the price on Grey's have gone up over the years

Quite possibly as result of consciousness of guilt. Sadly, many breeders are flesh-peddlers with little regard for their "stock." Hoping for benign results of biopsy and great prognosis for Sagan!