Organs in the Wrong Place - With Xrays!

BadChemistry

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Parrots
Green Cheek Conure - Her name is peep!! :)
Hi there! Long time reader of the forums for bird advice, first time poster! I have a very, very unqiue problem with my 11 year old (female) green cheek conure named Peep, and I am hoping someone here maybe has had experience with this interesting health concern.

To put it bluntly, my bird's organs are in the wrong place. (You can see what I mean in the xray pic)

You'll see in the xray that hollow area that is circled? It should be full of organs. Her organs are all present, just... shoved to one side. Her lungs are also dense and she has an englarged/overworked heart, with a few other lesser concern oddities. The vet thinks it might be congenital; She's lived a fairly long life, she's always been a healthy weight at checkups, a good pooper, etc. She's even laid eggs once! Vet says that if something traumatic enough to shove her organs into a different place had happened, she'd likely have passed away from the injury - So, thankfully it doesn't seem that is likely, and instead Peep was likely just always like this.

Vet assured me she isn't in any pain, isn't in any discomfort, and other than a current illness, is actually very surprisingly healthy! The only reason we even had the xray is because over the last few months Peep has had a chronic, but seemingly mild respiratory issue. We thought maybe she needed a humidifyer, but something about it didn't sit right with me, despite the fact that her lungs always sounded good, a healthy weight, no nasal discharge, eating and pooping well, very alert and awake, etc, just... Her voice sounded off to me. It took 3 visits, but we finally got answers and that answer was "her organs are in the wrong place and she has mild pneumonia."

Unfortunately, Peep does have mild pneumonia, which is stressing out her heart, as it is already having to work harder to compensate for the weird organs. So, she lost her voice. Safe to say, I'm glad I kept pushing for an answer to why she seemed off, despite being in seemingly good health. We would have never known about the organ thing otherwise!

Anyway, does anyone here have a parrot, no matter what species, that has had something like this? If so, what was your experience as they aged?

I'm trying to keep positive here, and not freak out, so any insight or experience is super welcomed!

(And, if you had a parrot with pneumonia, how long did it take for your baby to feel better? We're on day 2 of antibiotics)
 

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Wow! What a special little bird Peep is! Never heard of this occurring in parrots- It must be congenital. It would be really helpful if you posted a normal xray image (from a textbook, perhaps?) depicting the organs where they are supposed to be.
What's amazing to me is that her female "plumbing" works well enough to allow her to produce and lay eggs!
Does she have any pneumonia symptoms? Even if not, don't miss any doses of antibiotics or it will not clear up.
I hope little Peep gets well soon!
 
Yessss.
Not exactly the same but ā€¦. Wellā€¦

My Yellow nape Amazon..
Itā€™s a long story but to keep it short.
His abdominal organs are enlarged to the point that he has no lower air sacks.
Birds lungs donā€™t expand and contract like ours they depend on air sacks.

My CAV doesnā€™t know why and his blood work was nearly 100% normal.

The cost for diagnostic tests at a specialist about an hour away was just too much.

I have the X-ray pic somewhere, Iā€™ll see if I can find it.
Iā€™m sure itā€™s posted here on the PF somewhere.

 
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I'm surprised you are having trouble getting an ultrasound on Bingo inc.
QƦĀ¹ So. Cal. My CAV here in Maine performs them. I've had a couple birds that needed them. One older budgie had fatty tumors in the lower abdomen that were crowding his organs.
Did you ever get the ultrasound? Does Bingo get winded easily? Can he fly?
 
Situs inversus is the name for reversed abdominal organs and 1 out of 10,000 people have it. People with it lead normal lives. Isn't Google great?
 
I'm surprised you are having trouble getting an ultrasound on Bingo inc.
QƦĀ¹ So. Cal. My CAV here in Maine performs them. I've had a couple birds that needed them. One older budgie had fatty tumors in the lower abdomen that were crowding his organs.
Did you ever get the ultrasound? Does Bingo get winded easily? Can he fly?
Never got the ultrasound my CAV isnā€™t equipped for it.
The closest one he knows about is up near San Francisco a 6 hour drive (one way)..

Bingo pants. Not really bad. Itā€™s only noticeable if you look closely. Not all the time but worse in winter.
No tail bobbing.
He hasnā€™t flown in years but itā€™s safer for us that way.
He would attack other family members if he could fly.
I know he doesnā€™t feel well, I can tell.
I have been giving him meticam every day by Rx.

Even though I live in So. Cal. I live in the north most part of Los Angeles County and nothing close by.
The one place I found that was an hourā€™s drive only wanted to do a CT scan not ultrasound and was just too costly.
 
To give input on pneumonia - my zon Salty took like 3 courses of meds belfore we finally beat it. Vet tried different antibiotics each time. Sorry I forget which one was the last. THe important thing with those meds - make sure he gets the full dose each time and 100% go thru the full course of treatment. Thats critical. Re organ displacement - special needs parrots can live quite a long time and almost as long or as long as other birds. Just follow your CAV input and dont stress him (the bird) out! Good Luck!
 
Never got the ultrasound my CAV isnā€™t equipped for it.
The closest one he knows about is up near San Francisco a 6 hour drive (one way)..

Bingo pants. Not really bad. Itā€™s only noticeable if you look closely. Not all the time but worse in winter.
No tail bobbing.
He hasnā€™t flown in years but itā€™s safer for us that way.
He would attack other family members if he could fly.
I know he doesnā€™t feel well, I can tell.
I have been giving him meticam every day by Rx.

Even though I live in So. Cal. I live in the north most part of Los Angeles County and nothing close by.
The one place I found that was an hourā€™s drive only wanted to do a CT scan not ultrasound and was just too costly.
Getting an ultrasound would probably be nothing but an intellectual exercise, an expensive stressful one at that. I always ask the doctor (or vet) "what are you looking for and what's the plan if you find it?" If there's no viable plan, it's a waste. My Dad (passed at 89 in September) had several large inoperable cancerous tumors in his abdomen for the last ten years of his life. The tumors did not cause his death. He was going to a cancer center for scans every 4 months for years to monitor their growth until he and I decided it was nothing but an intellectual exercise because there was no plan, so he stopped.
 

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