Toe paralysis

[abababa]

Very long shot here with what I think is an unusual condition!

12y/o peach-faced male; bacterial infection; rushed to vets and put on antibiotics & steroids.

Very much touch and go when we started the antibiotics (they're so good at hiding their sickness until it's critical!), and pulled through, but developed what I can best describe as 'toe paralysis' at the peak of the infection; it's been a month now and there's possibly some recovery but it's hard to quantify.

Leg (up to and including the ankle joint) movement is fine - the little guy can stand, fly, and has been amazing us with his adaptivity and resilience. He's definitely over the infection (behaviorally he's eating & tweeting, and a clear Gram stain).

We've run through the possible causes (no situation where an injury was noticed; potentially stroke - but unusual it's bilateral - so seems infection-related?). There's very little grip in his toes (the back two are pointed forward all the time); whilst he's re-learnt perching on flat feet, I'm just hoping anyone has had a similar case and can give some advice. This seemed new to the vet, so whilst he's got the best care possible in terms of obvious things (temp/humid/feed/lots of foot rubs!), I'm just wondering if any other owners have ever experienced anything similar?

 

[MonicaMc]

Any chance there is any abnormal swelling or discoloration around the area? At 12 years old, there could be arthritis, gout or perhaps something else going on.

 

[abababa]

Thanks for this.

I'd kinda ignored arthritis as a possibility due to the sudden onset (his feet aren't swollen either), but after some research a lot of the symptoms add up. The form of the toe paralysis (back toes curled forwards), and apparently that it can be caused by infection (which I didn't know!), plus his age.

He's also started visibly being in pain when his toes are massaged, which doesn't make paralysis due to injury/stroke impossible as a diagnosis but does make it less likely.

This sadly means it's possibly going to be a lifelong condition, but he's on the right medication (NSAIDS), and has a newly set-up environment to accommodate his more limited perching ability, and seems happy.

It's still impossible as ever to be completely conclusive, but it's helping work out the best treatments; basically a broad spectrum of 'try anything that probably won't help but won't harm' )

 

[SailBoat]

At this point one can speculate until mornings light and it will make little to no difference as it is what it is at this point.

- Junk the dowel style perches!
- Upsize the natural branch perches and consider using a sport /vet rap to cushion the perch.