My GCC broke his leg, I have questions as he heals.

[66corvair]

So on Saturday Rey broke his leg. He flew behind my fiance as she was in the bedroom and as she turned around he got stepped on. We got him to the nearest emergency vet, and after X Rays they determined only his leg was broken. They knocked him out and put a splint on.

Here's a picture when we were driving home.

So, we don't really know the next couple of steps as he heals. The doctors didn't really know/say anything.

We are getting him x rayed this upcoming weekend or on friday to make sure the splint is healing properly.

We currently have him in a medical tank which basically consists of his sleep hut, food, and water. It's a big plastic tub with a towel over the top. We tried to put him in his sleep cage but he kept climbing up and that was not good. So now we check on him every couple of hours, clean poop, move food closer to the side he can reach, give him hugs and tell him it's going to be okay.

Is there anything else we can do? He's on pain meds once in the evening. It breaks our heart to see him hobble around and he must be so sad in his cage, it's like a deprivation tank but we read that the less there is to do the less he'll move around and the more he'll sleep.

Is there anything else we could be doing? How long can we expect him to be in his cast? And he hasn't been bothering his cast too much, we hope to not cone him, but if we do what is the easiest way to make a cone? has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[66corvair]

Here are the X rays from the hospital. It looks like he only broke his shin bone, which we are very grateful for.

 

[Flboy]

You all are very fortunate! Most of the time, being stepped on kills the poor little guy!

 

[gracebowen]

Very fortunate. I am almost ways barefoot in my house. I have turned many a ankle trying to get off of an a pet and it doesn't help when they are unpredictable. I don't know about the cage. Can you let him out at all and let him sit on your shoulder? Or did the vet say not too?

 

[66corvair]

The vet didn't say much at all, the impression I had was they hadn't done many of these. They didn't say anything at all about recovery or healing, just that he would need X rays in 7 days and when to give him pain meds. We hope to talk to a vet during the follow up in 5 days to find out. And yes, we are very fortunate nothing else happened, we were both very scared, especially since we had to drive 180 miles for the closest vet. If any internal injuries had happened we would have probably lost him.

I do hold him occasionally, I hold him with his back in my palm, and pet his head or let him take a nap that way. He didn't really like it before the accident, but I held him for about four hours from when it happened to when we got him to the clinic so i think he feels safe that way now. As far as letting him sit on my shoulder i'm scared he'll fly or try to do something else and hurt his leg. He can fly with the cast on. We were thinking it would be too heavy but i guess not!

It's pretty heartbreaking now, when it first happened we were in panic/fix mode and now that he is okay and just has to heal it breaks our heart watching him hop around in his deprivation tank. My fiance has been crying a lot. I tried to tell her it's a freak accident but she feels really bad regardless.

 

[gracebowen]

If it helps your fiance pets are very unpredictable. Not that any of them were on purpose but I kicked the puppies about four times today in just over an hour. I also stepped on the rabbit. I was trying to step over or around but they moved. One I simply forgot it was at my feet. It's not usually that bad but we just had a litter of puppies that started walking.

Accidents happen.

I started going barefoot all the time after volunteering in my church nursery. We weren't allowed to wear shoes so we could feel better what we were stepping on.

 

[LaurenB]

I'm so sorry about Rey! I'm sure it's a terrible feeling seeing him in that condition but you just have to remind yourself that you are doing what's best for him... and you need to follow through with it so things can get back to the way they were. I can only imagine how guilty your fiancee feels, I know I would too. Just constantly remind her accidents happen. Rey knows she would never hurt him on purpose!

 

[TheresaR215]

I hope he heals quickly.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Ive been around several hawks who broke their legs, the legs had to be pinned back into place and it took a month of heal time before they could be allowed to move around some. All birds made a excellent recovery.
Hopefully your GCC's break wasn't too bad, poor baby

 

[RavensGryf]

Do you have a regular avian vet for Rey? The emergency vets are there for immediate help and stabilization of the patient. Generally, it's advised to see your regular vet asap after for follow up and more detailed instruction. Most times emergency vets aren't real familiar with birds. Good luck hope his healing goes smoothly.

 

[Doublete]

I second checking in with an avian vet, but it sounds like you may not be In a super populated area.

Tell your fiancé things happen. Ask her to spend some time with him just comforting him and it may help her heal the guilt if she feels he doesn't hold it against her.

 

[66corvair]

Thank you all for the well wishes.

Our vet situation is strange. We recently moved about three hours away from our first vet, who was wonderful. The only clinic in this new town that treats birds puts them out regardless of the reason for coming in. Checkup? Anesthesia. X-rays? Anesthesia. Bloodwork? Anesthesia. You get the picture. We are a bit leery of going to them and haven't yet. BUT our regular vet from the old town actually just moved here! But the place she moved to doesn't take birds! We are taking him to the local place on Friday for X rays however. Our old clinic said they would probably end up knocking him out for the X rays anyway so this is a chance to see the new place. Who knows, maybe they have a weird policy and are actually very wonderful.

We did talk to our old vet anyway, and even though she couldn't take a look at him she did take answer our questions. She said we seem to be doing the right thing, putting him in a tub where he can't climb. We just need to be watching him closely to make sure he doesn't get depressed. We need to watch how much he's eating, drinking, his mannerisms, make sure he's still moving around, etc.

Good news is he seems to be doing alright so far! He's getting a bit bitey whenever we put him back in his cage, and we have to constantly clean his feathers and cast cause he gets poop everywhere now but it's working out. He knows what his pain meds are now, so we don't have to force open his beak to syringe it in now. He seems excited for it. Bird's gonna be a drug addict

 

[66corvair]

Oh! and he hasn't bothered his cast (too much). We might not have to cone him!!!

 

[Allee]

Under the circumstances, it sounds like Rey is dealing with the situation pretty well. I'm glad he isn't trying to remove his cast, hopefully he won't need a cone at all.

Please give Rey some extra scritches and pass along get well wishes from me and my flock.

 

[RavensGryf]

That's good news that Rey seems to be dealing with it well, that can't be comfortable! Great that you were able to have a phone consult with your old vet. As long as Rey keeps being the model patient, keeping him at home and following instructions of your old vet sounds like a better plan than the vet you're near now. Wow, the anesthesia for everything makes it obvious that they aren't comfortable working with birds period. Which also makes it obvious that they can't possibly be as knowledgable about birds as they need to be!
Good luck

 

[66corvair]

Update:

My FIL let us use his X ray machine at his job to get some shots of Rey so the vet wouldn't have to knock him out... well.... this is what we saw;

Now i'm not an expert but I don't like that. We looked back through the older X rays and we saw this as well. We didn't see the faint outline of the cast before but they did this, took the X Rays and sent him out.

We haven't had a chance to talk to anyone yet but we are pretty angry. We are holding off contacting them until we get a second opinion but this seems like a terrible splint. Hopefully this entire week of healing doesn't get undone. I really hope they don't have to re-break it to splint it correctly, it's been like this for about six days now.

 

[ChocoboFun]

As long as it was splinted correctly, and he is taking his antibiotics (to prevent infection), he should be okay.

When we first got Peep, she did a fair bit of damage to a wicker toy and our inexperience showed. We didn't realize the damage was enough to be problematic and Perry got a toe hung in it. He panicked and severed the tip from one of his toes and broke his foot.
We put a cotton ball in his grasp since it was late at night, and wrapped it up. The next day when we went to our avian vet, she made sure to massage the bones into their correct position, then wrapped his foot up with vet wrap after putting a fresh (and more appropriately sized) piece of cotton in his grasp. A few weeks of healing and antibiotics later, we removed the wrap ourselves.

That is when the fun began. Muscle atrophy had set in due to not being able to close that foot. We basically gave him physical therapy for half an hour a day until he was as good as new. Now you can't even tell unless you look at both feet and see one toe is shorter than the other.

Bottom line/TLDR, make sure the bones are set in the right spot, and that they can't shift during the healing process, and all you'll have to deal with is muscle atrophy after it is healed.

 

[66corvair]

We talked to a couple of vets. The general consensus seems to be it's as good as it can be. That's a relief knowing we don't have to start over. Just have to let him heal up.

Thank you all for the well wishes and advice.

 

[66corvair]

UPDATE:

He got his cast off today! We didn't have to sedate him and he seems to be doing alright, he's preening a lot, so we have to watch and make sure he doesnt' get sores or any issues. He has to stay in his hospital cage for awhile yet, then we will transition him to a cage with low perches and finally back into his big cage.

 

[Taw5106]

Please do not be offended but did he get his cast on 5/4/15 and it was removed already? Bones usually need a minimum of 6 weeks to mend. However, every one and creature is different/unique. Also if you can find an avian vet, do so and get an evaluation. I have an eclectus who has some internal issues and using an avian vet has been stellar.

I'm glad your baby is doing better and I hope no one is feeling guilty because of how the injury happened. Critters can be unpredictable.