- Jan 19, 2014
- 14,247
- 222
- Parrots
- Red Bellied Parrot /
Ruppell's Parrot /
Bronze Winged Pionus /
English Budgie
For those who aren't familiar, Raven is my 14 month old Bronze Winged Pionus. He was shipped to me by a known reputable breeder from out of state in January. I'll give a brief as possible back story first, then what my vet said.
A couple weeks before I was due to get Raven shipped to me, he had an accident at his breeder's house. I want to make it clear that it was NOT the breeders fault. Raven was injured by a sibling. My breeder's story is that when Raven and his 3 siblings were scrambling around all excited to come out of the cage they were in, a sibling accidentally punctured a sharp toenail into Raven's right nare (nostril). This caused a tenacious bacterial infection. At the time of shipping, she believed the infection was gone. When I picked Raven up, and for the next couple days he didn't appear to have any symptoms. Then within a week, the sinus infection symptoms appeared again. Long story short, between the breeder's vet, my regular avian vet, and an avian specialist vet, and many treatments, the infection is gone, but still left residual problems to deal with..... For the rest of his life.
Today, it was time again to get Raven's "nose picked". In other words, have the dried junk in the sinus cavity left over from the old infection removed, as he's had to have done several times now.
Raven had a little bit of clear discharge only one part of one day last week, and ONLY ON THE DAMAGED SIDE. Then a few days later a tiny amount of already dried blood only on that side as well. I watched it closely and never happened after that.
Doctor explained that the infection is long gone, but that the reason for the slight clear substance out of only the damaged side, is because the damaged shape of his nare and the part you can't see behind it is tweaked to the degree that his sinuses aren't always going to function properly as far as draining goes. The blood only from the damaged side is because of the shape now (and it's a very vascular area) it can get torn easily if he should scratch it in a way that his toenail gets in there a little. Kind of like a human who gets nose bleeds (some people don't have them, some people get them often), Raven is now predisposed to having it happen easier. You can also hear his breathing a little more after exertion, more than a normal bird because of the damaged narrowed passageway through the sinus/nare area. He said if symptoms happen too often there is an outpatient surgery they can do. Otherwise, he's kind of like a guy who will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Not a big deal, but I need to always be aware of it. At least now I know what the issues are here.
THE INTERESTING PART I thought, was as Dr. N was grooming Raven's beak, after he got the excess keratin layers off and it looked nice and clean, he said that original injury is from a BITE WOUND not a toenail. He said no way would a toenail cause this (scar on the beak that we saw) and his right nare is pretty misshapen too. He said siblings at that age can definitely do that. I'm thinking the breeder maybe didn't see exactly what happened, and she and her vet guessed it was a toenail. Who knows, but it doesn't matter now. Besides, after some conversations, she ended up reimbursing me half the money I paid her for Raven. I see she couldn't give him to me essentially 'free' unless I shipped him back, and that wasn't happening, so I think that was fair of her as a responsible, professional breeder.
My poor teenage "Scarface"
LOL.
I don't know what it is, but when I first got my favorite "dream bird" species Bronze Winged Pionus in 2005.... She died. Now another Bronze Winged, and this happened. Perhaps just coincidence. I guess my little handicapped boy was meant to be with us.
__________________________
Oh... And in reference to my other thread in which Raven bit my face, doctor DID confirm that although Pionus aren't ready to breed until about 3, hormones do happen anytime after one year. He told me AGAIN today that Bronze Winged males are nasty. He doesn't see BW very often, but I guess from the ones he does see they're apparently ALL supercharged hormonally?!
A couple weeks before I was due to get Raven shipped to me, he had an accident at his breeder's house. I want to make it clear that it was NOT the breeders fault. Raven was injured by a sibling. My breeder's story is that when Raven and his 3 siblings were scrambling around all excited to come out of the cage they were in, a sibling accidentally punctured a sharp toenail into Raven's right nare (nostril). This caused a tenacious bacterial infection. At the time of shipping, she believed the infection was gone. When I picked Raven up, and for the next couple days he didn't appear to have any symptoms. Then within a week, the sinus infection symptoms appeared again. Long story short, between the breeder's vet, my regular avian vet, and an avian specialist vet, and many treatments, the infection is gone, but still left residual problems to deal with..... For the rest of his life.
Today, it was time again to get Raven's "nose picked". In other words, have the dried junk in the sinus cavity left over from the old infection removed, as he's had to have done several times now.
Raven had a little bit of clear discharge only one part of one day last week, and ONLY ON THE DAMAGED SIDE. Then a few days later a tiny amount of already dried blood only on that side as well. I watched it closely and never happened after that.
Doctor explained that the infection is long gone, but that the reason for the slight clear substance out of only the damaged side, is because the damaged shape of his nare and the part you can't see behind it is tweaked to the degree that his sinuses aren't always going to function properly as far as draining goes. The blood only from the damaged side is because of the shape now (and it's a very vascular area) it can get torn easily if he should scratch it in a way that his toenail gets in there a little. Kind of like a human who gets nose bleeds (some people don't have them, some people get them often), Raven is now predisposed to having it happen easier. You can also hear his breathing a little more after exertion, more than a normal bird because of the damaged narrowed passageway through the sinus/nare area. He said if symptoms happen too often there is an outpatient surgery they can do. Otherwise, he's kind of like a guy who will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Not a big deal, but I need to always be aware of it. At least now I know what the issues are here.
THE INTERESTING PART I thought, was as Dr. N was grooming Raven's beak, after he got the excess keratin layers off and it looked nice and clean, he said that original injury is from a BITE WOUND not a toenail. He said no way would a toenail cause this (scar on the beak that we saw) and his right nare is pretty misshapen too. He said siblings at that age can definitely do that. I'm thinking the breeder maybe didn't see exactly what happened, and she and her vet guessed it was a toenail. Who knows, but it doesn't matter now. Besides, after some conversations, she ended up reimbursing me half the money I paid her for Raven. I see she couldn't give him to me essentially 'free' unless I shipped him back, and that wasn't happening, so I think that was fair of her as a responsible, professional breeder.
My poor teenage "Scarface"
LOL. I don't know what it is, but when I first got my favorite "dream bird" species Bronze Winged Pionus in 2005.... She died. Now another Bronze Winged, and this happened. Perhaps just coincidence. I guess my little handicapped boy was meant to be with us.
__________________________
Oh... And in reference to my other thread in which Raven bit my face, doctor DID confirm that although Pionus aren't ready to breed until about 3, hormones do happen anytime after one year. He told me AGAIN today that Bronze Winged males are nasty
. He doesn't see BW very often, but I guess from the ones he does see they're apparently ALL supercharged hormonally?!
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