The frustrating part of bird rescue

[BeatriceC]

Yesterday Frankie had a small seizure. I rushed him to the emergency vet. They gave him fluids and oxygen and observed him for a few hours and then I brought him home and took him to our regular avian vet this morning. His diagnosis is age related heart disease. Of all the possibilities, this is actually the best outcome. The vet started him on a daily anti-inflammatory and we will see if anything more needs to be done after blood work comes back. All in all, the prognosis is good, but he's likely closer to 40-50 than the 26 based on what we were told of his age when he moved in with us. His prognosis is actually very good, and he should be around a good long while yet with appropriate supportive care. But even though we know that the ages we're given are probably not accurate, it's still frustrating when this happens.

Today we're redoing our bird room again to make it more appropriate for fall risks, and he'll stay in a flat bottom cage for a couple days just for observation, but he should be back to his normal, adorably obnoxious self soon.

 

[SilverSage]

I’m sad to hear he’s having problems but happy that you have good solid options!


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[Scott]

I know you've suffered terrible losses the last few years. You and Mr. C are amazing and repeatedly give birds the best years of their lives.

 

[BeatriceC]

I know you've suffered terrible losses the last few years. You and Mr. C are amazing and repeatedly give birds the best years of their lives.

Thank you. I think with Frankie we have a good long time left with him. Heart disease is treatable and he's responding very well to just anti inflammatories. It's just frustrating, even though we know that chances are good that a bird is older than we've been told, to be faced with absolute evidence of that reality.

 

[Scott]

Pimobendan is an effective heart drug depending on issue. Dr. J is undoubtedly aware of the entire spectrum of potions for these sorts of maladies.

 

[BeatriceC]

We're waiting on blood work results to decide if we should add additional meds. The various options for heart meds come with some amount of risk, and they don't want to start him on any until they have the full picture. If he continues to respond this well to just the metacam, then theres no need to add anything else just yet, except for more frequent check ups.

My adult son and his girlfriend just added a new critter (a russian dwarf hamster) to their lives, and he needs a ride to take her to her well critter check up on Monday, so we will chat again in person then.

 

[annierose]

i obviously don't know what's ailing frankie, but this galah's seizures were found to be a dietary problem. i never would have thought of that. i wonder how many veterinarians would think of it? [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpHh-gkSHwo"]Galah Cockatoo - Seizuring - YouTube[/ame]

 

[BeatriceC]

i obviously don't know what's ailing frankie, but this galah's seizures were found to be a dietary problem. i never would have thought of that. i wonder how many veterinarians would think of it? Galah Cockatoo - Seizuring - YouTube

We discussed his diet in detail. That was one of the things they suspected and they wanted to rule that out before starting any medications. I was truly hoping it would be something easy like that, but it looks like it's not to be.

We're heading back into the vet this afternoon. He's doing a billion times better, but he's just, I can't describe it except to say "off". This may be his new normal, but I just want to double check.

 

[EllenD]

I understand completely what you're talking about as far as that specific frustration of not knowing any detailed or even a very accurate history of a Rescue-Bird's prior ownership, age, and medical/health history...We try very hard at the Rescue I work at to try to get as much information (and more importantly documentation) of all the bird's histories, but most people are not the original owners of the birds they are surrendering, a lot of people just flat-out lie, and sometimes it's just impossible to know anything at all about the birds. I try to not write-down anything that I can't verify myself through wellness-exams, blood-work, behavioral tests, etc. about the birds we have up for adoption, but it's hard...

As far as parrots and seizures go, a lot of the time they unfortunately end-up being diagnosed as "Ideopathic", meaning we don't have a clue why it happened, and it might happen again or not happen every again...That's frustrating, more frustrating than a lot of much more serious health conditions even because at least we can diagnose the cause of them and know exactly how to treat them and prevent them...With seizures, it usually doesn't work that way, especially with birds. There are a million different things that can cause a bird to have a seizure, and a lot of the time it never happens again, and the poor owners are just waiting and waiting and waiting for it to happen again, and sometimes it never does, which is a good thing, but still horribly frustrating...

I know you have an AWESOME CAV, so that's a big plus...Usually when a bird has a seizure and it's thought to be related to a heart issue or heart "disease" of some kind, it typically has something to do with the heart not being able to pump with enough force, so fluid in-general builds-up in the body, and a lot of the time the seizures actually happen as a result of a sudden change in the bird's position...For example, if the bird has a heart condition that makes it difficult for it to pump enough volume or with enough strength (a lot of murmurs are a tip-off of valve issues that cause this weakness), and fluid starts to build-up as a result of this, when the bird has been in one position for a while, say while it's sleeping, and then after being in that position for a long period of time they suddenly move, like they stand-up suddenly, or they suddenly leave a perch they've been sleeping on or standing on for a long period of time and they fly somewhere, that sudden shift in position causes a sudden, drastic change in blood-pressure that the bird's heart cannot compensate for, causing a seizure (Orthostatic Hypotension)...And once the bird's blood-pressure finally adjusts, the seizure stops, and often won't happen again until the bird is again in one position for a long period of time and then suddenly moves, causing their heart to not be able to compensate and their blood-pressure to suddenly drop again, causing another seizure. There are a lot of different forms of this same issue, and a lot of different heart conditions/issues that end-up causing this same issue with compensating for sudden blood-pressure changes, which result in a seizure...Usually the treatment is medicinal, and usually very simple and effective, such as prescribing a daily Diuretic such as Lasix to keep the fluid from building-up in their bodies due to the lack of strength of the heart...Sometimes they also add a Beta-Blocker, Alpha-Blocker, Calcium Channel Blocker, etc. depending on what the actual issue with the heart is, but typically when seizures occur it's almost always a fluid-retention/blood-pressure issue due to a weak or leaky heart Valve which causes Orthostatic Hypotension, and all that is needed is a simple Diuretic...I hope it's that simple for your Frankie...

 

[BeatriceC]

The blood work they took Saturday should be back this morning, so we'll have more to go on after that. He's actually responded very well to just plain anti inflammatories. The vet said if their heart is working too hard, there's frequently inflammation, and just removing that can solve their problems, which is why they started that right away but nothing else just yet. The risks of the NSAID are pretty low compared to the risks of other meds, so that was safe to start before any of the labs were in.

It's hard to describe how he is right now. "Off" is the best I can do. He's not quite as loud, obnoxious, in your face as normal. He's more sedate and docile, though not a complete lump. He's not vocalizing near the frequency or volume as normal, but his big personality is still very apparent. His feet and legs shake a lot, and he gets tired fast. We have the heating lamps and pads set up for him, but that doesn't seem to help the shaking. It's not like whole body shivering, just his feet and legs. His appetite is excellent and his droppings are text book perfect. So he goes back today at 2:20 and we'll discuss his plan.

It's looking more and more to just be "old bird" issues. Just like old humans, they develop various treatable issues. I think that's where we're at.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Well, you may recall that the ol' Rb had a seizure last year... long story short... a high hematocrit revealed heart issues... enalopril (Vasotec) fixed him right up. Normal hematocrit, seizures banished.
Good luck.
You deserve the best. Plus you know how I feel about Mr. C. Seriously, I love you guys.

 

[BeatriceC]

I got busy yesterday and forgot to update.

His cardiac and liver function tests are both just barely outside of the normal range. His white blood cell count is also slightly elevated. There's a little bit of cart/horse dilemma here. He fell when he had a seizure, so the increased liver function values and the increased white blood cell count could be related to the fall, but maybe not. A small infection in combination with decreased heart and liver function could have just been a perfect storm that led to the seizure. They started him on an antibiotic, just in case he's got a little infection going on. We're going to keep with the anti inflammatory and recheck in a week. If everything is good we'll redo blood work at his regular well bird exam this summer. If not, we'll decide what to do at his follow up next week. He's slowly improving, so I'm pretty confident things will be fine.