Sick OWA

My poor Plumas OWA, My first and oldest parrot my be sick.
My wife called me at work to tell me that he was falling off his perch.
We have an appointment first thing in the morning and I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Because he is a wild caught bird I absolutely HATE to take him in because of the stress involved. I just hope that it's worth it and wont make a bad situation worse.:17:

I bought him in 85 but there is no way to tell just how old he is due to his wild caught status.

texsize

I'm sorry to hear Plumas is not well. Has he ever seen a vet? Can you observe any outward signs of illness?

Hopefully you have an experienced avian vet who should know how to handle him to minimize stress. Please keep us advised of how Plumas is doing tomorrow and after the vist. Wishing him the very best!

Scott said:

I'm sorry to hear Plumas is not well. Has he ever seen a vet? Can you observe any outward signs of illness?

Hopefully you have an experienced avian vet who should know how to handle him to minimize stress. Please keep us advised of how Plumas is doing tomorrow and after the vist. Wishing him the very best!

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HE has not been to the vet lately. When I have taken him he pants very heavily and it scare's me.

I have tried to minimize handling him.
Only recently have I gained enough of his trust so he lets me carry him to a tree stand I bought.

I have found a good avian vet in my area. The down side is he does not work every day Monday through Friday. I was lucky to get an appointment with him on such short notice.

Thank you for your support, I know there are a lot of forum members that have been through things like this.

texsize

Our LCA was wild caught and also was very unset when visiting the our now retired AV. Much of it was the time she spent toweled. The combination of the stress of the exam and the heat build-up of being toweled was very hard on her also.

Vet care has come a longways since than and the current, newer /younger AV's seem to be practicing a more open /single room approach to Vet care. We found that the more we could teach /work with our Amazon's on assuming specific positions that minimized the amount of time they are in fact toweled has helped greatly.

We are currently owned by a good sized DYH Amazon who is a strong flyer and strong as an ox. At the end of the visit, it appears that the AV and AVT are as tied as him.

We have also found that the more relaxed and supportive we are, our Amazon's tend not be as stressed. After all they tie deeply into our emotions and by keeping relaxed ourselves also seems to help them. Easy to say, much harder to do when faced with a very sick baby.

Best wishes and prays for you're Amazon!

I hope it is nothing serious, I am keeping Plumas and you in my prayers. I hope the vet visit isn't too stressful as well.

Awww, I hope there is nothing serious going on with Plumas. My mom's wild caught DYH is also severely traumatized when she has to go to the vet, especially since its a male vet and she has never forgot or forgiven the fact that it was a man who removed her from the jungle. She too does not see a vet unless she is actually injured or ill because it is just too traumatic. Hopefully your AV will be experienced enough dealing with frightened birds to keep the appointment as gentle and quick as possible for Plumas. Please keep us posted.

Sending best wishes and prayers for Plumas, keep us updated?

Hopefully everything is okay. Please keep us posted.

post-vet status

Other than my hands my never be the same the vet visit went better than expected.

I was able to take Plumas out of his carry cage without trouble and he was willing to perch on the stand made for the scale for his weigh-in.

My big mistake was to put him back in the cage while we waited for the actual vet to come in to the exam room. This was his day off and he came in early just to see my bird !! Plumas is not a shoulder bird ad I figured he would feel more comfortable in the cage.
he was so comfortable he did not want to come out again. I got chewed up pretty good getting him out a second time.

The blood draw was so quick I did not even see it happen. I cant say what all the tests on the blood are going to be, receipt just says avian blood profile and bile test $216.

only results I took home today was 2 things.
#1 his bile test showed a small amount of bad bacteria.
#2 vet said his blood showed he was hemo um..um.. cant remember but it meant the blood was to thick not enough serum vs red blood cells.

I was given a antibiotic Baytril and instructions to administer Pedia-lite or Gatorade .
texsize

Glad the visit was not totally traumatic - your hands notwithstanding.

Sounds as if you have a competent vet with great skills! Hopefully the complete blood panel combined with the current results will be instructive. Avian medicine is reasonably well advanced, let us hope whatever malady is easy to quickly cure!

Really appreciate the quick feedback, so often members post significant issues and for many reasons may not return.

Tex, Amy and BB and I are sending well-wishes to you and Plumas

I am happy to hear your AV made a special case for Plumas and came in early to check him out.

I have been taking my kids to the same vet for almost 30 years. Dr Giddings has long since retired and there are two young ladies now that took over his practice. They are exceptional Doc's as far as birdies go,very loving and compassionate.
When Amy went to get her blood work/dna done,I was more upset than she was lol.

Again, I pray everything turns out good with your OW.


Jim

I'm so glad you were able to get him in, and that it wasn't too hard on him. I hope he gets better quickly now

How is Plumas feeling a few days after beginning treatment?

blood work

I got a voice mail yesterday while I was at work. Blood test showed NO infection but I was instructed to continue antibiotics for 1 week.
I would think that the blood work tested for things other than just infection but the message did not say anything more.
I will call the vet Monday to see if I can get any further details.

thanks for all your support. I will be monitoring his behavior closely over the weekend.
texsize

My experience with similar symptoms has been because of liver issues and lack of vitamin a. I MO I'd get my AV to look in that direction , just my .02 worth.

Glad there was no infection. I would also imagine with blood draws the vet would be testing for other things too.

Curious- did the vet check his feet for signs of arthritis? My mom's GCA is becoming increasingly unable to perch/falling due to arthritis (and a withering foot damaged by a stroke a few years back). Given Plumas' potential age, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities he's having some age-related issues that are making it difficult for him to grip his perches.

Kiwibird said:

Glad there was no infection. I would also imagine with blood draws the vet would be testing for other things too.

Curious- did the vet check his feet for signs of arthritis? My mom's GCA is becoming increasingly unable to perch/falling due to arthritis (and a withering foot damaged by a stroke a few years back). Given Plumas' potential age, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities he's having some age-related issues that are making it difficult for him to grip his perches.

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Great Point!!!

Switching all perches to the Big MAC sized will make it much easier for older Amazons to remain stable. The 3" (75 mm) and much larger diameter perches allows the Amazon's feet to be on a 'flatter' surface, thus improving balance.

As for vitamin A Plumas eats more carrots than my other 2 amazons combined. I don't think it's a problem but I can ask about what all was tested in the blood work.

The vet did get a good look at his feet as he gave Plumas's nails a trim and had him step up onto his finger to check grip and how stable he was.
If any one thing was the cause of his falling it was his nails being too long. MY BAD, I know it, I am a big CHICKEN when it comes to that and I am starting to take care of this myself. I think it has to be less traumatic/stressful for me to do it at home that take a 20 min. car ride, wait in a waiting room, see strangers ect.ect.ect. Plus I always worry they wont trust me any more.

Perches. The cage they live in has 3 perches one manzanita and two dowels. The dowel that goes all the way across the cage (came with cage) is of a large size though not 3" more like 1 1/2" the smaller dowel is in one corner, short, lower down and about 1".
I could do 1 or 2 things. My YNA has one of those BIG HONKIN perch/branches in his cage and I have let my birds swap cages in the past. They accept that.
I could go get a 2nd large branch perch for Plumas's cage but I can't just "shove it in there". They would freak out, it must be done slowly and gradually. Heck I can't even give them a new TOY without letting them see it outside of there cage for several days.
I will se what is available at the local pet shop.
PS
would one of those rope perches be a good idea ?

Glad you've gotten a good report so far!!

Rope perches are terrific, many of my birds love them for the softness and frequently pick a the strands. Others keep the rope intact - for those who do not it is important to monitor and trim possible areas that might snag nails.

We love rope perches around here. Because of Kiwi's, ahem, issues with wood perches, I have 3 rope perches in his cage- a thin one maybe 3/4", medium one about 1" and thick 2" diameter one one of our members custom made, but I am not sure if she's still doing perches. You can also provide a corner platform too, which are like little pizza slice shaped shelves with bars that attach in a corner of the cage and are available in all the common cage colors plus stainless. Kiwi really likes his platform and it may not be as upsetting to them since you could get it in the same color as their cage so it blends into their known environment more than a big perch.