African grey seizures

I am new here. My sweet 18 year old grey starting having seizures in 2009 they would happen every so often til 2013. He has been on keppra He went a whole year no seizures, they have come back at random, gabapentin has been added within 1 week has already had another. Anyone out there with the same situation?

I am so sorry to here about your troubles. This sounds like a specialist is in order not just the average avian vet.

I wish you all the luck there is.
texsize
'

What type of seizure, can you be more specific? Just for the sake of knowing what can happen or to watch out for.

Our grey had the same thing. He was being seen by a specialist and they never could find the cause of the seizures. Unfortunately Beau passed away a few years back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know that a lot of Grays have seizures because of hypocalcemia, and unfortunately a lot of avian vets rule it out as a cause based on one normal blood test. Since calcium levels rise and fall based on circadian rhythms, one blood test should never rule out hypocalcemia. They should do an ionized calcium test, and if it's obviously low then you know if your bird has hypocalcemia, but still the normal range is very wide (if I remember normal is like 8.0-13.0 for that test), so usually they will prescribe a calcium supplement that is added to the birds water or food, and then will wait to see if the seizures stop. Something to try and add to his meds that won't hurt him but may help.

The fact that your Gray went so long without having a seizure makes me of course wonder what changed during that period, like his diet, living conditions, environmental changes, etc. so try and think of anything that changed for your bird before the seizures started again. Of course it could just be that the medicine stopped being effective for him, but it's always good to analyze his situation.

I would also check his preen gland (uropygial gland) to make sure it's producing the greasy stuff, because it's related to vitamin D, especially if he plucks at all in addition to the seizures. You can actually rub the wick through your fingers and check for the grease, and if there is none then rub the preen gland a bit and see if you then get the grease. If not then he could have a D3 problem.



"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

Just to add to what I just said, the vitamin D3 problem is usually related to vitamin A and UV light deficiency, as these are both related to hypocalcemia as well. So usually the entire natural cure for Grays having seizures is a calcium supplement (giving tums every day is enough), a beta carotene supplement, and getting a UV light for your bird to sit under every day. It's quite documented that Grays that live in the wild rarely have seizures because they get constant UV light.

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"