reeb
New member
- Oct 23, 2017
- 568
- 85
- Parrots
- Berry (♀ Cockatiel) hatched June 2017
Opal (♂ Budgie) hatched 13 August 2017
Pearl (♀ Budgie) hatched 15 August 2017
+ an aviary of 16 other budgies! all hatched 2014-2017
Late on the afternoon of the 11th of December, Berry became suddenly and violently ill with vomiting and bright green diarrhoea. It was late, so I rushed her to the vet first thing the next morning. They immediately suspected some kind of toxicity. Through an x-ray, it was discovered that she had consumed a tiny shard of metal. It was in her gastrointestinal tract. I have no idea where she consumed the metal, but I removed all toys that had any metal whatsoever from the cage as soon as I found out. I always thought I was careful about what the birds have access to, but clearly I wasn’t careful enough. I really beat myself up over this, because it was entirely my fault.
She was admitted and the vets began by giving her a 5 day course of injectable chelation treatment, as well as other supportive meds, including antibiotics, anti-fungals and anti-inflammatories. When birds are poisoned by metal, their entire immune system takes a knock, so they are far more prone to infection. As well as this, she was crop fed, as she was no longer eating.
After 6 days in the clinic as she had improved a lot and was discharged. However, she deteriorated once more and so I took her back. Another x-ray revealed that she had still not passed the metal. So, she was readmitted for another 5 day round. During this period, she was very, very sick. She just wasn’t improving. I woke up every morning expecting to get a call from the vet telling me that she had passed away. It was so traumatic. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost her.
She was discharged again on the 24th. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to depart on the 25th due to pre-arranged vacation plans with a friend that I hadn’t seen in months. So, I left her in the trusty care of my mom, who is very experienced with birds. Berry started improving at home almost immediately, and began eating on her own again. We believe that she passed the shard of metal on either the 24th or 25th, as she was pooping A LOT, probably because she was finally eating on her own again. By her follow up appointment on the 27th, she had improved enormously, and an x ray revealed that - at last - the metal piece was out of her system.
Just to be safe, the vet sent her home with 5 days of oral chelation meds, as the metal could have easily entered her blood stream. After this point, she improved in leaps and bounds, gaining her weight back and getting back to her normal, active self. By the time I arrived home on the 4th of January, she had recovered completely. She had lost nearly 40g during her illness, starting at a (chubby) 128 g and ending up 92g. She is currently 111g. In a way, I’m glad she was a little overweight when she got sick, as it meant that she never became severely underweight.
Seeing her again, I realised that if I had caught it just a day or two later, her prognosis would have been far worse. She might have had worse symptoms, such as seizures and paralysis. I had just returned from a holiday in the Netherlands on the 9th of December. I shudder to think what might have happened if she had gotten sick like this while I was away.
I was SO grateful for the vets who worked tirelessly to save her, so I got a cake made for them. They were so thankful! It really made me appreciate how important it is to have a team of both vets and nurses who specialise in avian and exotic animal care.
Today, Berry is doing well. I find myself incredibly paranoid about her health, however. It’s been very a very hot few days (it’s summer here), and she has been SUPER hormonal. She has those classic big egg-laying stools and I feel like I just don’t need more stress and strain with her haha! Hopefully, if she lays, she does so with ease as she has in the past. Here’s a recent photo of her:
So, the moral of the story? Apart from keeping your bird away from metal, always, ALWAYS take your bird to a vet immediately. The sooner you get them there, the higher their chance
of survival.
She was admitted and the vets began by giving her a 5 day course of injectable chelation treatment, as well as other supportive meds, including antibiotics, anti-fungals and anti-inflammatories. When birds are poisoned by metal, their entire immune system takes a knock, so they are far more prone to infection. As well as this, she was crop fed, as she was no longer eating.
After 6 days in the clinic as she had improved a lot and was discharged. However, she deteriorated once more and so I took her back. Another x-ray revealed that she had still not passed the metal. So, she was readmitted for another 5 day round. During this period, she was very, very sick. She just wasn’t improving. I woke up every morning expecting to get a call from the vet telling me that she had passed away. It was so traumatic. I didn’t know what I would do if I lost her.
She was discharged again on the 24th. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to depart on the 25th due to pre-arranged vacation plans with a friend that I hadn’t seen in months. So, I left her in the trusty care of my mom, who is very experienced with birds. Berry started improving at home almost immediately, and began eating on her own again. We believe that she passed the shard of metal on either the 24th or 25th, as she was pooping A LOT, probably because she was finally eating on her own again. By her follow up appointment on the 27th, she had improved enormously, and an x ray revealed that - at last - the metal piece was out of her system.
Just to be safe, the vet sent her home with 5 days of oral chelation meds, as the metal could have easily entered her blood stream. After this point, she improved in leaps and bounds, gaining her weight back and getting back to her normal, active self. By the time I arrived home on the 4th of January, she had recovered completely. She had lost nearly 40g during her illness, starting at a (chubby) 128 g and ending up 92g. She is currently 111g. In a way, I’m glad she was a little overweight when she got sick, as it meant that she never became severely underweight.
Seeing her again, I realised that if I had caught it just a day or two later, her prognosis would have been far worse. She might have had worse symptoms, such as seizures and paralysis. I had just returned from a holiday in the Netherlands on the 9th of December. I shudder to think what might have happened if she had gotten sick like this while I was away.
I was SO grateful for the vets who worked tirelessly to save her, so I got a cake made for them. They were so thankful! It really made me appreciate how important it is to have a team of both vets and nurses who specialise in avian and exotic animal care.
Today, Berry is doing well. I find myself incredibly paranoid about her health, however. It’s been very a very hot few days (it’s summer here), and she has been SUPER hormonal. She has those classic big egg-laying stools and I feel like I just don’t need more stress and strain with her haha! Hopefully, if she lays, she does so with ease as she has in the past. Here’s a recent photo of her:
So, the moral of the story? Apart from keeping your bird away from metal, always, ALWAYS take your bird to a vet immediately. The sooner you get them there, the higher their chance
of survival.
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you did great!!
