Question about fluid from birds beak after bird death.

BlueFrontOwner

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Jul 29, 2013
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Sorry if this question seems to be inappropriate.

My amazon died this week and something I have been wondering about.

About an hour after death, I had her laying in the box she died in, I noticed a fluid that dripped out of her mouth. The amount took up the space of a dime or penny. I didn't really inspect it but it looked reddish/clear in color.

Would anyone have an idea about what fluid could have dripped out of her mouth?

I know she was grasping for air in the final minute, but I think that was because her heart was giving out and I heard this was normal in humans. She first became almost instantly paralyzed in the legs only, then died an hour later and she seemed normal right before this happened,.
 

SailBoat

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I am very sorry for your loss!

Within your other Thread several member suggested that to address your question as to what may have caused the lost of your Amazon, the need for a necropsy is the only way to address that question. This question has the same answer.

Although, I am aware that Parrot Forums have members with Avian Medical background and that Avian Vets and Techs visit from time to time. Your Avian Vet having access to your Amazon is the only true and honest method of providing clarity with hands on knowledge.

If you have kept your Amazon refrigerated (not frozen), it is still possible to have a necropsy preformed. It is the only way to provide you an answer.

I am sorry for your loss.
 

Kiwibird

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I am sad to hear your blue front has passed away. A necropsy done by an avian vet is the only way to be 100% certain of the cause of death. Anything else is pure speculation.

I will say, my mom described a similar reddish fluid from the beak when her amazon died a few years ago. His death was not unexpected though, he was old with genetic issues and died a few days after suffering his second major stroke. It is entirely possible that kind of discharge is common for parrots at the time of death. I will also note that the few times I've seen it, amazon vomit (not regurgitated food) can be a kind of reddish/orange color (even if red/orange food has not been consumed). I think it might be a digestive fluid of some kind.
 
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BlueFrontOwner

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Thanks, yes that is what I also think its just digestive food.

Unfortunately I buried my bird right away. I still debate if I should have gotten an necropsy. At the time I figured what would a necropsy tell me, she is dead. Maybe it would help with closure I don't know.

It just bothered me to see something dripping out of her like that, I figured it was probably just digestive fluids also. It was clearish with a slight red taint to it if I remember correctly.

The mistake I made was not noticing the subtle signs. I should have known that when I saw her reaching for her tail feathers in panic a few times that something was up when there was nothing wrong with any feathers. She only panicked for about 30 seconds and that was it each time, but she really panicked and growled while she was moving the feathers around to try and stop what was bothering her.

She did this same exact thing right before she died, she must have felt some kind of pain in her internally and thought it was something external.

About a few weeks ago my father called me also and said that the bird seemed odd and subdued all morning. However, when I saw her later that day she seemed normal. I wonder if there are subtle signs that you have to pick up on.

However, you always think that unless they really look sick they will just get better, she was only 33 years old.
 

Kiwibird

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I can certainly understand wanting to bury your bird right away. I can't imagine how devastating it was to loose her so suddenly and unexpectedly.

Something really caught my attention here in your description of her behaviors prior to death:

I should have known that when I saw her reaching for her tail feathers in panic a few times that something was up when there was nothing wrong with any feathers. She only panicked for about 30 seconds and that was it each time, but she really panicked and growled while she was moving the feathers around to try and stop what was bothering her.

Was she doing this only immediately before death or in the months and weeks before? As mentioned above, only a necropsy could have determined the exact cause of death but this description sent chills down my spine. My blue front recently displayed similar behavior, really freaking out/picking at his butt region, but the behavior was sporadic and got worse so gradually it almost became difficult to determine if he'd always done it or it was truly "off". Went on for months and I finally decided I wasn't imagining things and took him vet. She discovered it was in fact a severe kidney infection. They apparently do pick at their feathers/skin when they have an internal issue. His kidney was so inflamed (and had been inflamed for long enough) it was pressing into and demineralizing his spine. He showed absolutely no other symptoms besides a fixation on his butt region. He ate fine, played, active, seemed perfectly healthy. Vet said these kinds of infections settle in and it's extremely difficult to catch them as birds often don't display the symptoms bird owners are taught to look for until it's too late. Not saying this is what was wrong with your bird, but a long term undiagnosed internal infection may well have been a factor.
 
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EllenD

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I'm very sorry for your loss...

I'll reiterate that there is no exact way to know anything about why your bird died or what was going on without a necropsy, but what I will say is that after a bird, person, animal dies, a lot of different fluids are released from the body due to the body systems shutting down/letting loose...So that fluid could be anything, from blood to digestive contents to sinus fluid to a number of other substances, it's just a normal part of death unfortunately...
 

texsize

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When my Pacho passed away (due to ingesting some of her rope perch I think) there was no fluid coming from her mouth or nose.

Ehen I lost Plumas he passed away at the vet's office and I left him there to be cremated so I don't know about fluid coming from him after death. I think Plumas died from a stroke and was an old bird. He was wild caught so there was just no way to now how old he really was.

I could not/did not want to have someone cutting up my long time companions so I did not opt for a necropsy. In both cases I was certain they did not die from a communicable disease.


I am very sorry for your loss.


texsize
 

itzjbean

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While I understand your decision to bury her, your questions about what she passed from and the fluid coming from her mouth can only be determined by a necropsy done by a professional.

My hen died this year and I was so glad I chose to do a necropsy -- it brought me closure and the results were undeniable.

There is nothing we can do at this point but speculate. If you really need answers, you may still be able to unbury her and get an answer but it is up to you. Otherwise we can only offer our best guesses.

So sorry for your loss.
 

EllenD

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As this is a very uncomfortable, difficult conversation to have, it is a normal part of life and death, and it can be a type of "comfort" for people to understand exactly what happens when someone passes away, be it a human-being, a bird, a dog, etc. For people who have never been present at the exact moment of death of a living creature, many do not expect what they see during the first time that they experience this. And this goes for human beings as well as pretty-much all other mammals, birds, etc.

So it's important to know that any of the normal, bodily processes that occur in the moments directly after a living creature passes away usually have nothing at all to do with the reason that they passed away...So when you see the body of a living creature, whether it be a human, a bird, a dog, etc. who has just passed-away, start to release bodily-fluids, the most-common just after death being urine, feces, and any digestive contents, depending on the position of the body, it's very important to know that this is a completely normal part of death, and the body losing it's ability to contain these fluids, as the muscles and nerves normally responsible for containing these bodily fluids/waste products actually "die" in the minutes and even hours after the overall-death of the body (stopping of the heart, lungs, and blood-flow).

It's a tough situation to discuss, and to not seemingly be "cold" about when you try to talk about it in strictly a scientific or anatomical/physiological way, but I personally think that it's extremely important for everyone to no only be prepared for, but also to know that these processes have nothing at all to do with the cause of death (in most cases, some situations do influence certain bodily functions after death, for example, if a living creature drowns in water, then the lungs often release the water inside of them when they deflate, pushing the water out of the mouth, etc.)...
 
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BlueFrontOwner

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When my Pacho passed away (due to ingesting some of her rope perch I think) there was no fluid coming from her mouth or nose.

Ehen I lost Plumas he passed away at the vet's office and I left him there to be cremated so I don't know about fluid coming from him after death. I think Plumas died from a stroke and was an old bird. He was wild caught so there was just no way to now how old he really was.

I could not/did not want to have someone cutting up my long time companions so I did not opt for a necropsy. In both cases I was certain they did not die from a communicable disease.


I am very sorry for your loss.


texsize

Yes this is also the reason I didn't want to have one. My amazon only wanted to be touched on the head and was very protective of anything else. I couldn't have someone cutting her up.

But I kind of wish I knew exactly what did this, but since I don't ever plan on getting another parrot It isn't that important. The thing is she was also young at 33, seems so early to go. I was always wondering if she would outlive me.

I think for other people reading this it is something they might want to pre-plan on if they want to do this.

I just hope she didn't suffer much, she seemed fine and then less than an hour later dead. Its hurtful to imagine what she was thinking not able to use her legs. At one point she was pulling herself forward with hear beak, but she couldn't move her legs.

I guess it could have been worse, imagine if she lived much longer like that. At least she didn't have to make me decide if I should put her to sleep.
 
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BlueFrontOwner

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I can certainly understand wanting to bury your bird right away. I can't imagine how devastating it was to loose her so suddenly and unexpectedly.

Something really caught my attention here in your description of her behaviors prior to death:

I should have known that when I saw her reaching for her tail feathers in panic a few times that something was up when there was nothing wrong with any feathers. She only panicked for about 30 seconds and that was it each time, but she really panicked and growled while she was moving the feathers around to try and stop what was bothering her.

Was she doing this only immediately before death or in the months and weeks before? As mentioned above, only a necropsy could have determined the exact cause of death but this description sent chills down my spine. My blue front recently displayed similar behavior, really freaking out/picking at his butt region, but the behavior was sporadic and got worse so gradually it almost became difficult to determine if he'd always done it or it was truly "off". Went on for months and I finally decided I wasn't imagining things and took him vet. She discovered it was in fact a severe kidney infection. They apparently do pick at their feathers/skin when they have an internal issue. His kidney was so inflamed (and had been inflamed for long enough) it was pressing into and demineralizing his spine. He showed absolutely no other symptoms besides a fixation on his butt region. He ate fine, played, active, seemed perfectly healthy. Vet said these kinds of infections settle in and it's extremely difficult to catch them as birds often don't display the symptoms bird owners are taught to look for until it's too late. Not saying this is what was wrong with your bird, but a long term undiagnosed internal infection may well have been a factor.

Yes, in the last two weeks I noticed it, I believe two separate times.

While I was cooking in the kitchen cooking, she would freak out and start looking through her tail with her beak in a panic, like there was something there. She even growled at it.


SHe would only do this for about 15-30 seconds then stop, so what was bothering her must have went away as she was normal after this.

It reminded me of when she has like a broke feather that was poking her, she would freak out about something like that.

She panicked just like this one last time on my computer table, and right after this she quickly became paralyzed in the legs and then died within the hour.
Because of this odd and same exact behavior right before she became paralyzed, and noticing it two other times in the last week, it has to be related.

When she was paralyzed and I first tried to pick her up she started squarking and flapping her wings hard. Hard enough that I she was taking flight in my hands. She still had lots of strength in her wings but she just couldn't move her legs. I wonder why she squawked and flapped when I first went to pick her up off the bed, I wonder if it was pain she felt or if she was scared that she couldn't move her legs.

When I went to finally pick her up again I really wrapped my hands around her tight and she seemed ok to be moved.

Makes me wonder if something hit her spinal cord, but then if it did push into her spinal cord she would be paralyzed and still alive.
 
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Kiwibird

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That must have been so hard to witness:( If nothing else, at least she was with you, someone she trusted and who she knew loved her in her final moments. She died knowing she was loved, which is what matters now. Don't beat yourself up over not taking the tail thing as a sign of potential illness. Birds do odd behaviors occasionally and rarely are they a result of some kind of medical emergency where a vet could save them. It took me months to realize something was definitely off with my bird because the signs were so subtle. If I didn't work from home and wasn't literally around him all day every day, I may not have noticed something was off in time to treat him before permanent damage was done. As mentioned, they are EXTREMELY good at hiding illness, pain, discomfort etc... Often times, we get little warning as owners that something is wrong. Perhaps an emergency trip to the vet could have saved her, but with the rapid progression of symptoms, it also may have been a futile venture and that much more stress on her and less time in the comforting arms of her most trusted human.
 

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