I have been absent here on the forums as Lucky, my 10 year old eclectus that I had recived in December had been going through quite an ordeal and I didnāt want to post snippets until I had the whole story.
A few months ago I noticed that Lucky had been throwing up often. Lucky had been loosing weight and the vet recommended that he get a bavarium X-ray to examine his digestive tract. They found that Luckyās stomach was swollen and that it was likely that he had Pachecos Parrot Disease (PPD). In short PPD is a contagious fatal disease affects the nerves surrounding the stomach and interferes with the parrots digestion of food causing them to vomit or pass undigested seeds resulting in infections in the intestines and starvation.
The next step in the testing was to remove a piece of his crop and have a biopsy done. Lucky did not do well after surgery but recovered from the procedure after a few days. At this time he was still losing weight so the vet decided to begin treatment anyway. The vet prescribed a drug called Metacam, which is usually not prescribed though he has had very successful results using this drug with birds who were diagnosed with PPD and are still living with the disease now for several years.
After waiting a couple weeks for my results I was called and asked to come to the vetās office and bring Lucky. Lucky had still been throwing up and I was fearing the worst. When I arrived the vet notified me that the sample that they removed was undiagnosable and that they would need to take another sample. When the vet checked Luckyās weight he was back up to the normal range. The vet was concerned with Luckyās last reaction to the surgery and decided it would be best to keep him on the medication as long as that was working and forgo another crop biopsy.
My feelings on this are mixed. I am very happy that Lucky is no longer losing weight (but he does continue to vomit) though I am a bit frustrated that I do not have a concrete diagnoses. He seems to be doing fine now, but I wonder if his usual subdued demeanor which I took as a well a shy, well behaved bird is linked to his health.
A few months ago I noticed that Lucky had been throwing up often. Lucky had been loosing weight and the vet recommended that he get a bavarium X-ray to examine his digestive tract. They found that Luckyās stomach was swollen and that it was likely that he had Pachecos Parrot Disease (PPD). In short PPD is a contagious fatal disease affects the nerves surrounding the stomach and interferes with the parrots digestion of food causing them to vomit or pass undigested seeds resulting in infections in the intestines and starvation.
The next step in the testing was to remove a piece of his crop and have a biopsy done. Lucky did not do well after surgery but recovered from the procedure after a few days. At this time he was still losing weight so the vet decided to begin treatment anyway. The vet prescribed a drug called Metacam, which is usually not prescribed though he has had very successful results using this drug with birds who were diagnosed with PPD and are still living with the disease now for several years.
After waiting a couple weeks for my results I was called and asked to come to the vetās office and bring Lucky. Lucky had still been throwing up and I was fearing the worst. When I arrived the vet notified me that the sample that they removed was undiagnosable and that they would need to take another sample. When the vet checked Luckyās weight he was back up to the normal range. The vet was concerned with Luckyās last reaction to the surgery and decided it would be best to keep him on the medication as long as that was working and forgo another crop biopsy.
My feelings on this are mixed. I am very happy that Lucky is no longer losing weight (but he does continue to vomit) though I am a bit frustrated that I do not have a concrete diagnoses. He seems to be doing fine now, but I wonder if his usual subdued demeanor which I took as a well a shy, well behaved bird is linked to his health.
Last edited:
