Emergency-- African Grey oozing liquid.

My 5 month old CAG has been fine since I got him 11/11/11, he is not getting any hand feedings, eats completely on his own. Today was Thanksgiving, so I wasn't home all day but I did get him out at about midnight just to check on him and make sure he had enough food for break fast because he wakes up before I do. ( I work 2nd shift).

I got him out for a few head scratches, and while I was scratching his head all of a sudden I noticed his feathers were wet. I figured he got wet while trying to use the water bottle.

Then I saw some yellowish liquid drip on me...and I noticed it was coming out of him! Out between his feathers on his neck to chest, near the crop area. It looks like their could be some sort of wound. I didn't ever notice it before...and I have done nothing different with him. His cage is very safe, I don't know what he could have injured himself on.

The liquid that came out didnt smell foul, it smelled almost like water and roudy bush pellets, so maybe some sort of crop injury? I tried to examine him more, but then he started picking at it. Now I've put him to bed because I figure I'm not an expert anyway and I don't want to draw him to it anymore than necessary.

I'm in the room with him now and since I've noticed it, I've seen him eat, play with his pinata toy etc. He isn't acting sick at all or uncomfortable. In my immediate area, there are not any avian vets on call for emergency. I had an incident with my sun conure 4 years ago and I took him to an emergency vet, and all he could do was give him sub q fluids and refer me to an avian vet in the morning. I am just praying that the vet who saw him the Monday after I got him is available tomorrow because of the Thanksgiving holiday. If not, what do I do? Would a non avian vet who would be willing to treat him be ok?

Could this have been something that he had since I got him? Since the breeder shipped him out? Did I do something to hurt him? I know I should be sleeping now so I can be up and ready to dash to the vet first thing but I am so worried I can't even sleep.

He needs to get to a vet asap...

Update, I'm still awake and I heard him drinking water so I went over to him and it appears its definitely something with his crop...after he drank water it literally poured out. From all I'm reading online it sounds like it may be a crop fistula. Could that have possibly happened here? Or do you think he must have had crop burn as a baby from the breeder?

It's 3:40am here, and its a holiday weekend. I am praying the vet is opened tomorrow, but many places of businesses have a long weekend.

Is there a 24/7 pet hospital in your area? I'd think that any vet would be better than no vet. If nothing else, they would probably know somebody who can help!

I hope your baby is okay!

omg keep us up dated please and fingers crossed for you both X

Please keep us updated... I really don't like the sound of this... Hoping you find a vet as soon as possible...

The avian vets office should open at 9am...I'm going to call them first because I'd really rather not stress him out with a non avian vet. Plus, with it being black friday traffic will be insane and I'd rather not venture out now. I really cannot believe this is happening to him. I am so upset. Everything that I am reading online says that he's going to need surgery. I just want to know if there is any way that this could have happened here, or if it has to be from the breeder.

I'm gathering all the info for all of the avian vets in my area, and as soon as its morning I will call everyone in a radius around me, if no one is opened I will have to call the emergency clinic.

If you can not get ahold af a avain vet take him to any vet as they can get in touch with a avain vet and have them come in to their office and open it for your bird. This bird needs help asap! Please don't wait start making the calls now. You are risking his life by waiting.

melinda said:

If you can not get ahold af a avain vet take him to any vet as they can get in touch with a avain vet and have them come in to their office and open it for your bird. This bird needs help asap! Please don't wait start making the calls now. You are risking his life by waiting.

Click to expand...

This! I don't know what causes this, but you don't know what else could be oozing where... D:

Hi Jenlynn

Please let us all know how you got on at the vets. We are all waiting in anticipation to know that he is ok?? xx

I just got home from the vet. Niles is staying at the hospital right now because they need to figure out what to do for him. He does in fact have a crop fistula which is about 6mm in length and will require surgery. She will consult with the main avian vet in the practice to see if it something they can do, or if he will need to see a spe******t. I have only had him for 2 weeks today...I have no idea how much this will cost and if his breeder should be responsible for it or a part of it. I haven't fed him any hand feeding formula ever so I didn't cause it. She also said the tissue didn't appear to be red or inflamed so its quite possible its not a new injury, but she couldn't be sure either. This was exactly why I didn't want to finish off hand feeding. I didn't want to have to deal with problems like this and somehow here I am anyway without ever handfeeding him. Has anyone had their pet bird have surgery and how much were the costs? I am going to probably have to borrow from my 401k plan. This bird was from a breeder on birdbreeders.com that had stellar feedback. I guess sometimes you can never know. I am going to call the breeder now and see what she says.

I mean, could he have somehow eaten wood from a toy and poked himself? Has anyone ever heard of that? I don't want to be angry at the breeder if its something that could have happened here. Parrots chew stuff all the time. You'd think a crop fistula like this would be a more common thing if it could happen from chewing a nut shell or wood.

holy crap thats awful. I hope you can figure things out for your little guy

Hi everyone, I just got off the phone with the vet. Niles will be going into surgery between 2 and 3 pm eastern time. So any prayers would be appreciated. She's done bird surgery before, but never crop surgery. She said time is of the essence and we need to move quickly so its in his best interest to do it now. I'm praying that God will guide her hands and help my little baby.

I spoke with the vet and she said the cost will be between 500-750.

She really cannot be sure, but she said her guess would be since it does appear to have no inflamed tissue around the hole, that its a wound that healed and potentially a scab that came off. I have only had him 2 weeks, and never offered him any hand feeding formula or any hot food of any kind. She also doubts it was anything in his diet that could have punctured it.

The breeder was very kind on the phone and seemed genuinely shocked and said she cannot afford to give half, but maybe she'd try to give 100. That stinks but its at least something. I love this little guy so much already so he's worth the extra cost.

The vets office closes at 5:00 and she'd like to send him home today.... He'll probably be in an elizabethan collar and very scared. I work until 12am. If my Dad brings him home, do you think he'd be okay in the travel carrier until I get home at 12. I'd have him just put him on my bed in a dark room in his travel crate. It's your standard small animal dog carrier without a perch or anything. It makes me nervous for him to be all alone at the hospital without someone keeping watch. My dad has no bird experience and I'd rather not have him attempt his first bird handling with a scared bird that will probably bite him. Not so worried for my dad being bitten but his reaction to the bird and possibly dropping him while putting him in the cage etc.

Calling off from work is out of the question. I'd lose my holiday pay for thanksgiving and for today. I need that money to pay these bills.

Hi Jenlynn, my neighbour & friend has had 3 IRN parrots that all had to have surgery for the same sort of problem. They were out of the same clutch & seemed to all start leaking at the same time, she had weaned them all & they were all out in the aviary when the problem started. The Vet had no idea what caused it. Except he said that the problem started inside the crop, he thought an infection, cause unknown.

You will have to be very careful after surgery as crop surgery takes a long time to heal. We found by not to much handling & only feeding formula we were able to save all three birds. I am sure your Vet will tell you all the do"s & don't of caring for him. Also it would be an idea to have a small cage to put him in so there is less chance of him falling & hurting his crop before it gets a chance to heal.

I wish you the best of luck.

Just treat your bird as normally as possible.

How are YOU going? You must be beside yourself.

Thoughts and prayers xx

Thanks for thinking of me. It was a very tough day at work but luckily I got to leave 2 hours early. I had to fight back tears here and there all day. When they took him from me at the vets he was like clamped on my finger. It killed me. He is home now and seems to be ok.

The vet recomends normal diet and normal activity. She said to just put him back in his cage and keep an eye on him closely. He's on his sleep perch now resting.

He didn't tolerate the Elizabethan collar so now its just a matter of making sure that he doesn't pick at his wound.

He's definitely not out of the woods yet, so please keep him in your prayers.

so glad he made it through the surgery okay. I can't believe that the breeder only offered to pay for $100 of the surgery. Is this normal practice? Even stores like petsmart have a 14 day guarantee on live animals, you only had this baby for 2 weeks and the vet said that it looked like an old wound that reopened. Seems like the breeder should be partially responsible, if not entirely responsible. I'm guessing she sells her babies for around $900, I can't believe all she can afford to help with is $100...