It Seems She Waited For Me

Hello.
My sweet little love, Sara, passed this morning. She was 12 yrs. When I entered her room to uncover her, I noticed a strange noise. I uncovered her cage and found her sitting at the bottom (normal for her), but with wings out stretched, and gasping for breath. Somehow I knew this was really not good. I removed her and held her close for about five minutes before she took her last breath. I truly feel as though Sara waited for me before letting go. I suspect she may have been egg bound. If this was the cause, what signs did I miss? She was entirely normal last night, yet her passing was so sudden and unexpected. I'm heartbroken.

I am so sorry! I have nothing to add, but for you both, I am so glad you could be together for the passing!

Oh, I am so sorry to read this. Perhaps it was such a great comfort to her to be in your hands that she was able to relax a little. It's so sad to loose them, and you were able to at least love her goodbye.

I am so sorry for your loss I am sure she was comforted by you being there with her.
Sadly, sometimes the symptoms of egg binding just show up near the end, so please don't beat yourself up feeling like you missed something.
Fly free Sweet Sara, you will be missed.

My deepest condolences for your loss of Sara. No doubt she was comforted by your loving embrace.

So very, very sorry for your loss. Fly free little one.

I'm so sorry for your loss of your little love. She probably did wait for you and I'm glad you were able to be there to comfort her and say goodby.

Birds always seem to know when their end is near, and I'm certain she did wait for you, knowing you'd be there to hold her, comfort her, and love her at the end. She was loved, she knew it, and wanted to be safe and at peace in your arms while she passed.

There can be no greater honor or love than to be chosen to share their final moment. It's both heartbreaking and heartwarming, at the same time.

My heart is breaking at your loss. I've experienced it far too many times myself in the past year or two. All we can do is remember them, and make sure we still give all the love we can to the ones who are still with us.

Fly free, little Sara, fly free forever.

I think that is the perfect way to end a relationship with a precious bird. I hope I can do that for my Rickeybird. I hope it with all my heart. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope you feel the warm hugs from all of us.

I'm so sorry for your loss, I know how you're feeling, but if she was egg bound it's sometimes very difficult to tell. As a budgie breeder (I'm not sure what type of bird Sara was, the smaller the bird the more likely egg binding is) for 16 years, I had a few hens become egg bound, and I lost one to it, and it too showed no symptoms at all.

Usually if a hen is egg bound you can first of all see the egg very low in her abdomen, like how they usually look right before they lay an egg. In my experience my budgies would be tail bobbing, wings held away from their bodies, and panting with their beaks open. They typically have trouble pooing, the poos are very large and will become stuck to their vent and tail. I just simply made a rule that if I saw one of my hens that was carrying an egg looking like this and more than a day had passed since laying their last egg, then it was time to treat them like they were egg bound.

First and foremost, get them to an avian specialist immediately if you can, but it's likely that you won't be able to immediately. So if you have to wait a day or more to see the avian vet, you have to try and help your bird. Take the bird into your bathroom, close the door, no fan on, and start a very hot shower with the shower curtain open. Get the room as steamy as possible. Grab a container, bowl, something to fill with warm water and that you can put your bird in, like a bath. Also grab olive oil and a Qtip. Dip the Qtip in olive oil and thoroughly coat her vent area with the oil. Put the oil all over the outside of her vent, and very, very gently the surface and opening of her vent. DO NOT PUT THE QTIP INSIDE THE VENT OR TRY TO SQUEEZE THE EGG OUT!!! Sit with your bird in the steamy bathroom, trying to expose her and her abdominal area specifically to the steam (this will help to relax her muscles). Keep reapplying the olive oil to her vent every 5 minutes or so...then fill your bath container with warm water, and soak her lower half in the water while still in the steam. Keep the bath water warm, and let her in there for about 10-15 minutes...the hope is she will start to pass the egg because her muscles have loosened.

Please don't think that you missed something you should have seen or its in any way your fault. Egg binding is a very common cause of death in female birds, yet we still don't have any really good ways of predicting, preventing, or treating it other than to get to an avian vet who can cut it out if necessary.

I'm so sorry you lost your bird.

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I just HAD to revisit this thread. It's so full of "community". Thank you, Parrot Forums, for BEING here at times like this, at the ready, for strangers, 'regulars', and 'occasionals'.
*Patagonian Hugzszszszs*