Kiwibird
Well-known member
- Jul 12, 2012
- 9,539
- 111
- Parrots
- 1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
A few months ago, I posted on this forum desperately seeking answers about my moms green cheek amazon Barney, who fell off his perch in the middle of the night, had limited movement on one half of his body, and appeared to be dying (he's a pretty old guy, about 40 years old). After a thorough examination and several tests, the vet concluded he most likely suffered a stroke! Who knew parrots could have strokes? The vet hadn't really ever seen anything like it (and he is an experienced avian vet), so he prescribed some arthritis/pain medicine to help ease any pain, but didn't have any answers on how to help him recover (I don't think he really thought he would recover). 3 months later, and he is well on his way to being his normal old self again. There really isn't a lot of information on parrots having strokes, so I wanted to put it out there for anyone who may experience a similar problem what we did to help him regain motor control again (birdie physical therapy!):
After his stroke, his wing and foot did not work, so we removed all perches from his cage to prevent injury, and lined the bottom with soft towels. A few times a day, my mom would manually move his foot around for a few minutes at a time (open and close it), and manually extended his wing (like how you would for clipping) to keep them from atrophying. He was still attempting to move, but the foot was just limp. After about a month, she sat a perch wrapped in soft cloth directly on the bottom of his cage so he could start attempting to perch again. It took a few more weeks of his "physical therapy" but he slowly started to be able to grip the perch and walk a little more on it. In addition, when he started to attempt perching again, she would get him out of the cage, hold his feet, and pull him down so he flapped his wings. The wing has actually regained function faster than the foot! 3 months in now, he has graduated to a an actual perch, sitting about 6" off the cage floor which he seems to be gripping pretty well, and has taken a couple small, supervised flights off the bed to the floor, landing successfully. Hopefully by the new year, he will have gained full function of his foot and wing so he can keep up with the other birds again! You can tell he's determined, and he never lost his huge appetite or love of shredding things. His vet is beyond amazed at his progress, given his advanced age and how close to death he seemed right after it happened. It's been a very amazing thing to watch! Almost more amazing is his lifelong mate, who will go into his cage, preen him, regurgitate, shred stuff with him....you wouldn't imagine animals being capable of that kind of emotion. So basically, while it's very rare, if your bird does have a stroke, please don't give up on him/her and put them down. There is hope for recovery with just a little dedication.
After his stroke, his wing and foot did not work, so we removed all perches from his cage to prevent injury, and lined the bottom with soft towels. A few times a day, my mom would manually move his foot around for a few minutes at a time (open and close it), and manually extended his wing (like how you would for clipping) to keep them from atrophying. He was still attempting to move, but the foot was just limp. After about a month, she sat a perch wrapped in soft cloth directly on the bottom of his cage so he could start attempting to perch again. It took a few more weeks of his "physical therapy" but he slowly started to be able to grip the perch and walk a little more on it. In addition, when he started to attempt perching again, she would get him out of the cage, hold his feet, and pull him down so he flapped his wings. The wing has actually regained function faster than the foot! 3 months in now, he has graduated to a an actual perch, sitting about 6" off the cage floor which he seems to be gripping pretty well, and has taken a couple small, supervised flights off the bed to the floor, landing successfully. Hopefully by the new year, he will have gained full function of his foot and wing so he can keep up with the other birds again! You can tell he's determined, and he never lost his huge appetite or love of shredding things. His vet is beyond amazed at his progress, given his advanced age and how close to death he seemed right after it happened. It's been a very amazing thing to watch! Almost more amazing is his lifelong mate, who will go into his cage, preen him, regurgitate, shred stuff with him....you wouldn't imagine animals being capable of that kind of emotion. So basically, while it's very rare, if your bird does have a stroke, please don't give up on him/her and put them down. There is hope for recovery with just a little dedication.
