Update on Kiwi

[Conuremamma]

Just wanted to let you all know how Kiwi is progressing. He’s improved quite a lot since the “incident” Wednesday. He’s been sleeping well and eating well. Kiwi is eating his pellets very well along with the recovery food. In fact he’s quite ravenous in the mornings. He’s also been eating some egg, apple and cucumber. He’s pooping pretty normal. As for his left foot, it’s still not quite right, although he is gaining strength and more control of it every day. This morning he seemed to be walking much better on his left foot and he obviously is feeling more like himself as he was preening and then he decided to take a bath in his water dish! He’s been climbing the bars on his cage and sitting quite successfully on the perches, but that left leg is still a little lame. I’m hoping it will continue to strengthen as the days go by. It’s been wonderful to see him interacting with my husband and I in a normal way - making his cooing noises, giving kisses and engaging in beak grinding before he sleeps. He even tried a small flight today, although he’s never been a good flier, so we had to watch over him carefully (he’s more of a pedestrian). I’m feeling very optimistic for a full recovery.
I’ve been thinking more an more about what might have happened to him. I read that strokes can be caused by trauma. Apple is coming up to 2 years May 1 and in the last few weeks I’ve noticed she was a little more aggressive with him, demanding he preen her. They have had the odd spat, but its never been serious, although in recent weeks it’s been happening more often and getting noisier. I’ve never seen any serious attacks on one another - mostly just noise. I did notice on Wed that Kiwi had some kind of injury to his head, and I wonder if Apple pecked him and caused this event. I’m keeping them in separate cages, but they are in the same room throughout the day. She misses him and flies over to his cage to visit. He doesn’t seem interested which tells me something happened between them as they were inseparable and constantly cooed and preened each other in the past. Is her recent aggression related to adolescence and/or hormones? Will this pass, or will I need to keep these 2 separated from now on. I certainly don’t want to have my baby Kiwi hurt again!
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and good wishes!

 

[SailBoat]

Thanks for the update!!! Been wondering how Kiwi has been doing!

I fully agree with separating them as an odd accidental movement may have resulted in a hit in the wrong place.

FYI: Sometimes it is a good idea to provide an update as part of the original Thread as most members tend to follow a developing story... Just my two cents.

Again, happy to hear that Kiwi is doing much better.

 

[Conuremamma]

Hi,
I did actually post an update on the original thread - or thought I did. I wonder if I replied to one particular person instead. New to this site, and still learning how it works.

 

[Inger]

Hi,
I did actually post an update on the original thread - or thought I did. I wonder if I replied to one particular person instead. New to this site, and still learning how it works.

I saw it, so you did it right. I’m so glad to hear Kiwi seems to be on the mend. I know very little about keeping more than one bird, only what I’ve read here, but people often suggest that everyone has their own cage because you never know when aggressive behavior might start.

Is very likely that hormones are the culprit in your younger baby. I just googled and the internet says between 1-3 for conures so she’s right there.


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[Conuremamma]

Got a call from the vet today. Kiwi’s bloodwork came back and it’s all excellent. He’s in excellent health except for a very slightly lowered hematocrit (red blood cell count) which could be due to a bit of blood loss from the peck on the head and a slightly elevated WBC which likely indicates stress rather than infection, but we’re going to continue with the antibiotics and diclofenic for another 7 days just to be sure. Vet thinks this is NOT a neurological event, but rather more an injury. Likely the peck in the head disoriented him, he fell and injured his leg. Kiwi continues to improve every day. He is climbing all around his cage quite well now, although left leg still a wee bit of a problem. Last night, he climbed out of his cage and down to the floor and walked about 20 feet to join us in the living room to watch TV. Very normal behaviour and I’m ecstatic! So, I will keep them apart for now. It’s a shame, because they shared a cage for over a year and were so close. They always squeezed onto one perch or sat together in the cozy, shared food and preened each other. But, until she gets over these hormonal surges, I don’t think its safe for Kiwi. He’s such a gentleman with her, he would never hurt her (even though he’s bigger), so I don’t think he does much to defend himself.

 

[Laurasea]

Great update,! We all learn from posts like this!