Can anybody help me understand what happened?

Hi everybody.

I need help. Let me state first that I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, but I don't know where else to put it. Also this is extremely sad, and possibly graphic in a way so please be cautious if you decide to read. My vet does not perform any sort of testing or examination after a bird has passed, so I don't know what happened and I just want to see if anyone can throw me some ideas.

My young tiel passed away this morning. She was my baby, and I am going to miss her dearly.

Abby had been not eating well since probably Friday. I had changed the stainless steel food bowls out for a mess free feeder because it was getting ridiculous. I figured she would learn to eat from them and everything would be ok. She was having trouble, but she was eating outside of the cage.

Come Friday she started not acting like herself. She wasn't singing or running around or flying. She just wanted to fluff up and nap. Same thing Saturday, and yet I didn't think much of it for some reason. Yesterday I decided she had to go into the vet, but it was Sunday so it would have to wait until Monday (today).

My mom woke me up early this morning and told me Abby was at the bottom of the cage and she didn't think that was normal. I got up straight away and took her out. She seemed off balance, like she couldn't stand up. She cried when I picked her up, and as soon as I sat down with her she fell forward onto me. Obviously I'm extremely worried, so I check her over and see if there's any obvious injuries or signs of illness. Nothing, but I did notice her feet were EXTREMELY pale. It was really strange, for ten minutes she just relaxed with me, but then she suddenly tried flapping her wings and fell over. I picked her back up and she tried to flap her wings again, but she wasn't using her legs to try and stand up. (Best way I can describe it is I was holding her like a hot dog... her belly in my palm.)

I sat her down on a towel and propped her head up so I could go get dressed to take her to the vet as soon as they opened. She tried to stand up and fly a couple times, but she fell over immediately. She settled down after this and within minutes she was gone. She seized once before she went totally still... I don't know if that's normal. Her eyes were wide open when she passed. I'm extremely confused as to what happened.

Also another strange thing I noticed was this. Keep in mind Abby normally weighed in at about 97 grams, and was at it the last time I checked her before this, which I believe was Wednesday.

Saturday - 84 grams
Sunday - 82 grams
Monday - 72 grams

How is this even possible? How can a bird lose 10 grams overnight?

Please, any ideas are welcome. I'm so confused and so heartbroken that I lost my baby. I'm taking in my other two birds tonight for wellness checkups, even though they seem themselves and I don't believe this was something that could spread. Sorry if this is a mess. I only lost her about four hours ago.

Here's a quick list of what happened. Also if I didn't mention in the post, I found her at 8, and the vet didn't open until 9. I fully intended to take her in immediately but the closest emergency that takes exotics is an hour away, so it wouldn't have saved any time.

Switched food bowls which resulted in not eating in the cage besides millet sticks

Abby eats outside of cage but starts acting strange friday + saturday

Sluggish sunday and decide to take her to the vet monday

Get up today and she is on the bottom of the cage and cannot stand

Rests on me, tries to flap wings, but cannot stand, seems sort of in pain when I move her

Lay her down on towel and she passes away

The time when I took her from the cage was 8:00, and when she passed was about 8:21 AM.

I'm so sorry. If you can take her refrigerated (not frozen) body to the vet, the vet could do necropsy and hopefully tell you what happened. It's possible she could have been egg-bound, where an egg is formed but doesn't come out. That can be fatal. Or she could have been sick for some other reason. Birds are very good at hiding their health problems, because a bird that acts sick might be kicked out of the flock, or selected by a predator as an easy target. Often they act fine until one day you find them at the bottom of the cage. Any bird that fluffs up and sleeps unusually much, at unusual times of day, is likely to be sick and should go to the vet right away. By the time they look sick, it is often too later.

They can pass away for a umber of reasons and birds are very good at hiding their symptoms. At the point you noticed her acting differently likely was even then too late to save her, but this you will not know for sure unless you get a necropsy done. See all the vets in Michigan I posted in your other thread may be a bit of a drive but it will be worth it to know why she passed. My hen died of liver and kidney failure and they found her tissues to be diseased, something genetic that there was nothing I could have done. I urge you to do the same, as no one will be able to tell you for sure what happened except a trained professional.

I figured I'd update here as well.

I have chosen not to get a necropsy done. The closest location I could have it done would be a 4 hour drive altogether, and then another 4 hour drive to retrieve her for burial. By the time my family and I would even be able to make this trip, it would be six days since she passed. I don't think any of us could handle that emotionally either at this point. We're going to bury her this evening so we can feel some closure.

I will be keeping an extremely close eye on my two remaining birds for a few weeks. I don't believe it was anything that could be passed, but I will monitor their weight and behavior.

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i'm very sorry you lost your baby, it's a terrible thing to go through...however, i totally disagree in not getting a necropsy done, and especially disagree that "it's not something that could be passed to your other birds", as yes, it sounds very much to me like either a bacterial infection of some sort (do to the sudden loss of weight and the seizing right before death, along with the hypoxia as indicated by her blue feet, these are all clear signs of a possible septic infection that could have already infected your other birds, especially if they are in contact with each other at all)...

The problem without a necropsy is that you have no way of knowing what type of bacterial infection she had, or where, and so the only way of diagnosing whether your other birds have the same infection would be to take multiple cultures/swabs from both, crop washings, fecals, etc. It's much easier to at the very least have a basic blood panel done on the dead bird, as the cbc will confirm an infection, and if that is negative, the liver and kidney panels will confirm disease...

I will repeat again, it is extremely common for birds with an advanced bacterial infection/sepsis to stop eating, lose a large amount of weight quickly, and then have a seizure right before dying as you described perfectly. So please don't just assume that it wasn't something contagious, as all bacterial infections are contagious, some are air born...it doesn't sound like a yeast infection or a viral infection, but very much like a bacterial infection, as it was sudden onset, progressed quickly, and showed symptoms and signs of sepsis...I'd highly recommend that you at least get a full blood panel done on the dead bird...a "wellness exam" on your other birds will only help if they both have a routine blood draw that includes at least a CBC to rule-out infection. That might be the way to go, if your other birds are old enough and weigh enough for a routine blood draw, request that on each of them to rule-out an active infection and/or liver or kidney issues, it's good to have a baseline blood panel done for future issues anyway. At least you'd know that they do not have anything contagious if their CBC's come back all within normal ranges, or rather, if their white cells come back elevated (among other levels), then you'll know that they do in-fact have active infections going on, then you can proceed from there...

I am very sorry to read about Abby,and you have my familys condolences. I have nothing to add to the comments of members above, so I will do what I try todo for each of our members loved parrots when they go over the Rainbow Bridge.Iamde a donation in Abby's name to the Cornell University Vet School, tobe used exclusiviely for parrot related studies and programs. I wish we could domore to ease your sadness. I think each of us has lost a loved fid, it is never easy and always leaves a mark on our hearts. I hope our gesture helps in some small way to know Abby will be remembered by a lotof people.

Thank you, Mr. GoodWrench. I always take comfort with your generous donations. Something good arises from something tragic, and you make that happen.

EllenD said:

i'm very sorry you lost your baby, it's a terrible thing to go through...however, i totally disagree in not getting a necropsy done, and especially disagree that "it's not something that could be passed to your other birds", as yes, it sounds very much to me like either a bacterial infection of some sort (do to the sudden loss of weight and the seizing right before death, along with the hypoxia as indicated by her blue feet, these are all clear signs of a possible septic infection that could have already infected your other birds, especially if they are in contact with each other at all)...

The problem without a necropsy is that you have no way of knowing what type of bacterial infection she had, or where, and so the only way of diagnosing whether your other birds have the same infection would be to take multiple cultures/swabs from both, crop washings, fecals, etc. It's much easier to at the very least have a basic blood panel done on the dead bird, as the cbc will confirm an infection, and if that is negative, the liver and kidney panels will confirm disease...

I will repeat again, it is extremely common for birds with an advanced bacterial infection/sepsis to stop eating, lose a large amount of weight quickly, and then have a seizure right before dying as you described perfectly. So please don't just assume that it wasn't something contagious, as all bacterial infections are contagious, some are air born...it doesn't sound like a yeast infection or a viral infection, but very much like a bacterial infection, as it was sudden onset, progressed quickly, and showed symptoms and signs of sepsis...I'd highly recommend that you at least get a full blood panel done on the dead bird...a "wellness exam" on your other birds will only help if they both have a routine blood draw that includes at least a CBC to rule-out infection. That might be the way to go, if your other birds are old enough and weigh enough for a routine blood draw, request that on each of them to rule-out an active infection and/or liver or kidney issues, it's good to have a baseline blood panel done for future issues anyway. At least you'd know that they do not have anything contagious if their CBC's come back all within normal ranges, or rather, if their white cells come back elevated (among other levels), then you'll know that they do in-fact have active infections going on, then you can proceed from there...

Click to expand...

I wanted to get it done, but wasn't able to. It simply wasn't possible for me to get her body out to where she could be examined.

However, I do think I'll try and get my birds in and see if any bloodwork can be done. Nobody is acting weird, but it would be really good to know. I'll definitely get them in soon!

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Ziel said:

EllenD said:

i'm very sorry you lost your baby, it's a terrible thing to go through...however, i totally disagree in not getting a necropsy done, and especially disagree that "it's not something that could be passed to your other birds", as yes, it sounds very much to me like either a bacterial infection of some sort (do to the sudden loss of weight and the seizing right before death, along with the hypoxia as indicated by her blue feet, these are all clear signs of a possible septic infection that could have already infected your other birds, especially if they are in contact with each other at all)...

The problem without a necropsy is that you have no way of knowing what type of bacterial infection she had, or where, and so the only way of diagnosing whether your other birds have the same infection would be to take multiple cultures/swabs from both, crop washings, fecals, etc. It's much easier to at the very least have a basic blood panel done on the dead bird, as the cbc will confirm an infection, and if that is negative, the liver and kidney panels will confirm disease...

I will repeat again, it is extremely common for birds with an advanced bacterial infection/sepsis to stop eating, lose a large amount of weight quickly, and then have a seizure right before dying as you described perfectly. So please don't just assume that it wasn't something contagious, as all bacterial infections are contagious, some are air born...it doesn't sound like a yeast infection or a viral infection, but very much like a bacterial infection, as it was sudden onset, progressed quickly, and showed symptoms and signs of sepsis...I'd highly recommend that you at least get a full blood panel done on the dead bird...a "wellness exam" on your other birds will only help if they both have a routine blood draw that includes at least a CBC to rule-out infection. That might be the way to go, if your other birds are old enough and weigh enough for a routine blood draw, request that on each of them to rule-out an active infection and/or liver or kidney issues, it's good to have a baseline blood panel done for future issues anyway. At least you'd know that they do not have anything contagious if their CBC's come back all within normal ranges, or rather, if their white cells come back elevated (among other levels), then you'll know that they do in-fact have active infections going on, then you can proceed from there...

Click to expand...

I wanted to get it done, but wasn't able to. It simply wasn't possible for me to get her body out to where she could be examined.

However, I do think I'll try and get my birds in and see if any bloodwork can be done. Nobody is acting weird, but it would be really good to know. I'll definitely get them in soon!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

That's exactly what i would do asap, as i said, if you've never had a baseline blood panel done on either of them before, then it's always a good thing to get done and have for future reference anyway, so this would be a good time to do it. Try to get them in for it asap, in the meantime just watch them carefully for lethargy, fluffing, excess sleeping, lack of appetite, vomiting, any liquid coming from their nares, mouth, or eyes, etc.

Again, i'm very sorry you lost your baby, i know it's a horrible thing to go through, and i hope you find peace in your other birds..

EllenD said:

Ziel said:

EllenD said:

i'm very sorry you lost your baby, it's a terrible thing to go through...however, i totally disagree in not getting a necropsy done, and especially disagree that "it's not something that could be passed to your other birds", as yes, it sounds very much to me like either a bacterial infection of some sort (do to the sudden loss of weight and the seizing right before death, along with the hypoxia as indicated by her blue feet, these are all clear signs of a possible septic infection that could have already infected your other birds, especially if they are in contact with each other at all)...

The problem without a necropsy is that you have no way of knowing what type of bacterial infection she had, or where, and so the only way of diagnosing whether your other birds have the same infection would be to take multiple cultures/swabs from both, crop washings, fecals, etc. It's much easier to at the very least have a basic blood panel done on the dead bird, as the cbc will confirm an infection, and if that is negative, the liver and kidney panels will confirm disease...

I will repeat again, it is extremely common for birds with an advanced bacterial infection/sepsis to stop eating, lose a large amount of weight quickly, and then have a seizure right before dying as you described perfectly. So please don't just assume that it wasn't something contagious, as all bacterial infections are contagious, some are air born...it doesn't sound like a yeast infection or a viral infection, but very much like a bacterial infection, as it was sudden onset, progressed quickly, and showed symptoms and signs of sepsis...I'd highly recommend that you at least get a full blood panel done on the dead bird...a "wellness exam" on your other birds will only help if they both have a routine blood draw that includes at least a CBC to rule-out infection. That might be the way to go, if your other birds are old enough and weigh enough for a routine blood draw, request that on each of them to rule-out an active infection and/or liver or kidney issues, it's good to have a baseline blood panel done for future issues anyway. At least you'd know that they do not have anything contagious if their CBC's come back all within normal ranges, or rather, if their white cells come back elevated (among other levels), then you'll know that they do in-fact have active infections going on, then you can proceed from there...

Click to expand...

I wanted to get it done, but wasn't able to. It simply wasn't possible for me to get her body out to where she could be examined.

However, I do think I'll try and get my birds in and see if any bloodwork can be done. Nobody is acting weird, but it would be really good to know. I'll definitely get them in soon!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

That's exactly what i would do asap, as i said, if you've never had a baseline blood panel done on either of them before, then it's always a good thing to get done and have for future reference anyway, so this would be a good time to do it. Try to get them in for it asap, in the meantime just watch them carefully for lethargy, fluffing, excess sleeping, lack of appetite, vomiting, any liquid coming from their nares, mouth, or eyes, etc.

Again, i'm very sorry you lost your baby, i know it's a horrible thing to go through, and i hope you find peace in your other birds..

Click to expand...

I think I should be getting them in soon I hope. Unfortunately I've got to convince my family first. (I'm 19 and in school/no job) Right now though I'm monitoring them extremely closely, and since Abby passed I've made it a part of my schedule to weigh them every day before they go to sleep as well. I watch for any weird behavior/visible illness daily anyway though, if that makes you feel any better. If everything hadn't been chaos for my family and I a few weeks ago, I probably would have noticed Abby acting strange sooner. Looking back on it I definitely saw some signs. I'm making it a goal to watch better. On the same note, do you know how much basic bloodwork usually costs? I've got one cockatiel and one budgie now.


Thank you, I appreciate it. My other birds have been smothering me with affection, so while I miss Abby terribly, it's not as bad as it could have been.


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Basic bloodwork generally starts at $75-$150... not counting just walking in the door... which could easily be $30-$80...


If you (or rather a relative) can get CareCredit, it can help with the costs. Do need to spend a minimum of $200, then pay it off within the promotional period to not get charged interest.