Last night wasn't any fun

Last night I got home from work, looking forward to a regular weekend. Scooter out, exploring the kitchen counter while I got her dinner ready. When I was done, she didn't want to go back to her cage and eat, but I had to get Silly Bird fed, so Scooter went on the back kitchen counter while I took care of Silly Bird on the island counter. Scooter helped herself to a banana. Silly goes back in her cage, and I left Scooter to wander while I cleaned up the banana mess. Looked over, and Scooter had helped herself to an avocado.
Call to the regular emergency vet, they don't treat birds. Call to the emergency vet they referred me to, and they said bring her in, but call the ASPCA poison control center first, to get a case open. Call the ASPCA number, they tell me there's nothing I can do, take her to the emergency vet, here's your open case number, and a number for your vet to call for consultation.
At the clinic they check her heart, blood sample, and then come back with their recommendations:
2 day stay for observation at the clinic
Crop lavage (force a tube down into her crop, fill the crop with saline solution, suck it back out, repeat until no more food comes out)
Charcoal force-fed, to soak up the toxins

2 day stay is out immediately. I'm not leaving her.
Crop lavage is potentially fatal, from a number of causes, but it will help flush out undigested avocado. After talking with hubs the RN, we both agree the known risks weighed against the unknown aren't worth it. No on the crop lavage.
Charcoal feed is yes. And they take her away.

I pace, fret myself into heartburn, try to read, and beat myself up for not keeping a closer eye on her, for not keeping her away from the avocados, for putting her on the counter, for even bringing her into the house where clearly incompetent people are supposed to be taking care of her and failing miserably. They bring her back, she's ruffled and unhappy and keeps shaking her head and spraying charcoal everywhere.
I bring her home, take her up to her sleeping closet, and settle in to watch her for the night, 3+ hours past her normal bedtime. This morning she didn't want to come out of her night cage. When she finally did, she didn't want to eat. She normally can't wait to dive head-first into her food bowl. These are both symptoms of poisoning, and I fret more. Hubs gets frustrated, snaps that I'm overreacting, just give her time. I snap back that he's too dismissive, this is serious. Scooter just sits on her perch.

Finally, after an hour or so, she goes down to her food bowl and eats. Gradually, she starts moving around more. Now, 5 hours after she woke up, she's almost back to normal. Quieter than she usually is, but not enough sleep, being dumped with strangers and having a tube shoved down her throat might account for that. She's gone up with me to do laundry, and she explores, pokes into the cupboards (when she learned what cupboard doors were, and that they open if you pull on them the right way, she was a happy parrot - now her life purpose is to check every cabinet) and keeps me in line and on task. Which is good, since I'm running on about an hour of sleep, and too much coffee.

If she's still fine by tonight, we're out of the danger zone. I'm cautiously optimistic.

This is her this morning, being a sound machine in front of her mirror. Distant, but if I move closer she clams up.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGhioRUDvQI"]Scooter the noisemaker - YouTube[/ame]

Did she get skin or near the pit? Not that I would EVER suggest feeding it, but I have heard from multiple people who actually do feed their birds(poultry tho) avocado FLESH. Apparently it is LESS dangerous, but I still would not ever feed it. But if that is what she got, it may not be as dire a situation as you are thinking. Gooooosh I hope so!!!!!


Good luck, I've got you guys in my thoughts.



Accidents like this do happen though. Try not to beat yourself up. They seem to get into the biggest trouble when you are only distracted for a *second*. They are good at stuff like that.

bug_n_flock said:

Did she get skin or near the pit?

Click to expand...

It was a whole avocado, left in a bowl to ripen, and it was the thick skinned type (the worst kind, according to poison control). She bit through the skin to get to the meat.

I hope she is past the danger and ok. Charcoal is good stuff , I agree the best option.
Neptune once are a whole garlic glove, I took him to vet they said nothing could do was an avain specialist with years of exp. He was fine , no I'll effects that we ever saw....
Darn them for eating bad stuff..

Yikes - they do find the worst things to get into. Positive vibes for a quick recovery from my flock <hugs>

Here's hoping she didn't swallow any skin or anything.



One youtuber I follow gives his chickens the skins and pits of avocados and lets them pick them clean. Again, those are chickens and not parrots, but his birds do alright, they just don't eat the skin or pits themselves. Edit: well, used to follow. Before I moved and I had wifi still LOL



Oh I really hope everything turns out ok!


For the googlers reading this: this does NOT mean it is OK to feed avocados to parrots!

I’m keeping you all in my thoughts. The late bedtime could certainly account for her slow wake-up this morning.


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Hoping Scooter is fiine iin the AM..

Accidents happen, and you reacted quickly with great judgment! Birds have fairly high metabolic rates, so odds are Scooter is on the road to fast recovery. She'll likely be back to normal and hungry in the morning.

I hope scooter is fine...... and your heart rate is back to normal!!!


They are their own worst enemies are't they ?!?


Ive got to the stage where I simply dont buy foods that are harmful for my bird. Things like onion i buy frozen, avacado i buy in tubes that are kept in the fridge but thats about it for harmful foods.


Its like having kids all over again!