An update on Cookie.....

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
Thought I should make an update on Cookie.

Well...I have finally stopped giving her the aloe detox. Turns out I wasn't giving her it correctly.

It should have been diluted and given daily for no more than three weeks. Cookie has been getting it for a lot longer than three weeks not diluted.

I had no idea how to give her it, I was giving her a quarter of a cap full (using the cap on the aloe detox bottle), I slowly poured it in her beak and she drank it.

After finding out I shouldn't have gave her it for more than three weeks, I finally decided to stop giving her it.

Sadly, it has made almost no difference with her.

She looks terrible. Her feathers are black and oily, and she has NO tail now. She has been chewing her feathers all the time the last few days.

I was hoping her chest feathers would go back to a nice normal gold colour instead of orange, but a few days ago I found a new orange chest feather growing in.

It looks like the green feathers on her back are growing in with some feather bronzing already. And she seems to be starting to smell worse again.

I really don't think Cookie will get any better now. I don't think there is anything more I can do. If I had known she had liver disease when I first got her I could have treated her, but I was clueless back then. She has had it for too long now. There is no hope.

I can't stand to look at her now. I just look back at photos of her from 2013 and it kills me. She looks so horrible now. She seems to be getting worse everyday...I'm just devastated.
 

OneHorseRanch

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That is just soooo sad. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. With any animal, it's hard to watch them be sick. How old is Cookie? I sometime have dreams of my little Sheldon dieing and I wake up sad. I'm so afraid I might miss an important piece of the picture and lose him to my ignorance. Hang in there, and just keep loving on her.
 

Phlox

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Don't be too hard on yourself. If there is legitimately something wrong with her liver, aloe wasn't going to solve that problem, no matter what the bottle says. The only thing that fixes a bad liver is a new liver, and you can't do that for her. All you can do is support her and if she's suffering you may need to make a hard choice.

Either way, it doesn't sound like your fault, just a sad fact of life.
 

BoomBoom

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Sorry to hear she is going through this ordeal. As was said above, keep loving her as if nothing has changed of her appearance. Give her extra care and attention. She will need it more now than ever. Not sure what to do to treat this, have you been to an a vet yet?
 
OP
Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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That is just soooo sad. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. With any animal, it's hard to watch them be sick. How old is Cookie? I sometime have dreams of my little Sheldon dieing and I wake up sad. I'm so afraid I might miss an important piece of the picture and lose him to my ignorance. Hang in there, and just keep loving on her.

Thanks.

Cookie is only four years old. She has had liver disease ever since I brought her home at about five months old. I am guessing it was genetic, maybe due to inbreeding. The "breeder" I got her from wasn't good.

I can't imagine losing Cookie. Just thinking about losing her makes me depressed. She is my best friend. It is horrible watching her feathers turn black, and watching her destroy her own tail.

All we can do with our birds is try to learn as much as possible to prevent things like this from happening to them. And if we do find out something is wrong with them that isn't fixable, we have to make their time alive as happy as possible.

It is hard to not blame myself though. If I had known more about birds when I got Cookie, I could have fixed this.
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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Sorry to hear she is going through this ordeal. As was said above, keep loving her as if nothing has changed of her appearance. Give her extra care and attention. She will need it more now than ever. Not sure what to do to treat this, have you been to an a vet yet?

Thanks.


Yeah, I went to an Avian vet a couple months ago.

Aloe detox is great for liver disease. I have heard miracles can happen when using it. Very sick birds have been cured after only a few weeks. I guess I just wasn't lucky enough for it to cure Cookie.
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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Don't be too hard on yourself. If there is legitimately something wrong with her liver, aloe wasn't going to solve that problem, no matter what the bottle says. The only thing that fixes a bad liver is a new liver, and you can't do that for her. All you can do is support her and if she's suffering you may need to make a hard choice.

Either way, it doesn't sound like your fault, just a sad fact of life.

Thanks.

The liver can repair itself with the correct treatment. Aloe detox is very good for detoxifying the liver. However, if the liver is damaged enough, it cannot be repaired. I think in Cookie's case her liver can't be repaired.

I have been thinking about just getting her euthanized. I think it would be easier to prepare myself before I got it done. Easier for me to get used to the fact she won't be there anymore, instead of her dying randomly one day.
 

Allee

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Emily, I'm very sorry to hear this sad news. You said it has been two months since Cookie's vet visit and since then you have given her the aloe detox. Did her vet recommend the treatment. Before I made the heartbreaking decision for Cookie to be euthanized, I would have a vet thoroughly examine her and see what he or she recommends for her, a soft special diet might be helpful, and possibly something to help her overall condition.

It is your decision entirely, Emily, but I know you adore Cookie and don't want to say goodby. Please don't lose hope until there is no other option. My thoughts are with you, Dear Girl.
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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Emily, I'm very sorry to hear this sad news. You said it has been two months since Cookie's vet visit and since then you have given her the aloe detox. Did her vet recommend the treatment. Before I made the heartbreaking decision for Cookie to be euthanized, I would have a vet thoroughly examine her and see what he or she recommends for her, a soft special diet might be helpful, and possibly something to help her overall condition.

It is your decision entirely, Emily, but I know you adore Cookie and don't want to say goodby. Please don't lose hope until there is no other option. My thoughts are with you, Dear Girl.

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

The vet recommended the aloe detox, they said it was amazing and often worked well with liver problems.

I will probably get her checked over one last time to see if there is anything I can do. I am going to try getting Roudybush AL Liver Care.

I hate seeing her like this, and I don't want to see her slowly fall apart, so I thought maybe euthanasia was best if there is nothing else I can do.

I was so happy to see her finally molting, but my happiness was cut short when I saw her new orange feathers and her new green feathers with black on them. She has now completely destroyed her tail too.

She still acts like a happy bird. She was just screaming "KISS!!!" in my face a few minutes ago.
 

Terry57

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Emily, I am so sorry about Cookie:( I would definitely get her checked out by the vet again and ask for more recommendations. If she is still a happy girl, and her quality of life is still good, then she may be around for awhile longer..please don't give up hope until you have no other choice.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and Cookie.
 

witchbaby

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I'm so sorry to hear about Cookie. :( Have you considered using Sunshine Factor? There's a chance it could help with the condition of her feathers.

If it were me, I wouldn't consider euthanization until her quality of life is noticably worse. Does she seem happy or is it obvious she's in pain? Check with the vet (or even get a second opinion from a different avian vet) and see if there is another treatment option. I would hate for you to have to say goodbye to Cookie too soon if there's an alternative.
 

GW.Joe

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It is hard to not blame myself though. If I had known more about birds when I got Cookie, I could have fixed this.

But, Cookie was born and had a life anyway (whether you knew or not)
So I guess what I am trying to say is at least she has YOU to love her
Anyone could have taken her, She is VERY lucky to have YOU
emoticon-object-086.gif


*HUGS*

Joe
 
OP
Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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I'm so sorry to hear about Cookie. :( Have you considered using Sunshine Factor? There's a chance it could help with the condition of her feathers.

If it were me, I wouldn't consider euthanization until her quality of life is noticably worse. Does she seem happy or is it obvious she's in pain? Check with the vet (or even get a second opinion from a different avian vet) and see if there is another treatment option. I would hate for you to have to say goodbye to Cookie too soon if there's an alternative.

Thanks.

I did use it for a while, but the condition of her feathers is because of her producing too much oil due to the liver disease. She also over preens a lot.

She seems mostly happy, but there are times where she gets very quiet and seems depressed.

I will try to find another Avian vet, but there isn't a lot of them where I live.

I was only thinking about getting her euthanized because it is difficult for me to watch her fall apart like she is. I definitely wouldn't get her euthanized if there are other options, if there's hope she will make it and she isn't suffering though.

She has changed so much since last year.
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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It is hard to not blame myself though. If I had known more about birds when I got Cookie, I could have fixed this.

But, Cookie was born and had a life anyway (whether you knew or not)
So I guess what I am trying to say is at least she has YOU to love her
Anyone could have taken her, She is VERY lucky to have YOU
emoticon-object-086.gif


*HUGS*

Joe

Thank you.

When I got her I never thought she would be so smart and funny. I also never thought I would like her so much. Four years with her might not seem like a long time, but it feels like she has always been here.
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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Emily, I am so sorry about Cookie:( I would definitely get her checked out by the vet again and ask for more recommendations. If she is still a happy girl, and her quality of life is still good, then she may be around for awhile longer..please don't give up hope until you have no other choice.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and Cookie.

Thanks.

I really thought the aloe detox would work, that she had a chance. But it didn't work and I don't know what to do now.

I won't give up, getting her euthanized would be a last resort.

I don't know if I can get Roudybush AL Liver Care anywhere. I know I would need a prescription to get it, but I don't know if I could actually get it at all. I don't think it is available anywhere in this country. I don't know if it would help either. I will try to find it though.
 

Kiwibird

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I'm so sorry Cookie's feathers aren't improving:( But just because she has poor feather quality doesn't necessarily mean she's suffering at this point or cannot have more years of happiness with you. Barney the GCA has some kind of genetic condition due to suspected inbreeding that made all his head feathers fall out (this happened about 25 years ago), his tail is scraggly, he now has cataracts (this photo is several years old) and it affects his beak and nails somewhat too. He looks like a zombie-parrot Halloween decoration, but he's perfectly happy and has lived many years as a bald parrot (and is just the biggest sweetheart EVER despite his appearance):
Newyork003_zps7334efee.jpg


Don't give up on Cookie because she has a genetic condition that is affecting her looks! I wouldn't consider putting her down until she begins to suffer. You could have many more happy years with her even if she doesn't look perfect. Perhaps one of the cute little fleece plucking collars would be good for her to give her something to preen on if her feathers are gone and would help you view her in a more positive way appearance wise:) I know it's very hard to see a bird be so sick on the outside, but it's really about how they're feeling on the inside. There are also special diets available RX through the AV for birds with liver disease, so I'd talk to your vet right away about getting her on one. And of course, be sure she's getting an extra-healthy overall diet, and just make her life as best as possible! Birds are amazingly resilient, have some faith in your sweet Cookie.
 
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RavensGryf

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Emily, I'm so sorry to hear this! :( If you can get Roudybush in England, I'm sure you can get their AL diet. It has to be ordered through an avian vet.

I think a second opinion would be a good decision. Even if it's a little drive, I'd bet there is probably another avian vet somewhere with a fresh set of eyes, and a different perspective on what can be done for little Cookie. I know this is distressing and hard.. I can understand. Let Cookie know you're still there for her as long as there are possible solutions which haven't been tried yet. :)
 
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Frumpydumple

Frumpydumple

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My birds: Skyler/Sky, violet Indian Ringneck. Mother's birds: Norman, African Grey and Mildred, Blue Crowned Conure.
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Here are some photos I just took of Cookie.














Hard to see, but this is the small orange feather growing in.




Orange feathers.







 

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