Devastated by sudden death of my girl

Everyone, my first post here and such a crappy one, I am sorry. This morning we woke to find our girl, 16 year old Reilly, a Catalina hybrid Macaw, dead of unknown causes. To my knowledge she was not exhibiting any signs of illness - eating, drinking, pooping as normal. We had one incident that I am wondering if it was to blame - our heat was on the fritz yesterday and the house became quite cool during the day (around 60) until my husband came home and fixed it. I have my doubts that this was the cause - ? But I can't think of anything else out of the ordinary. When we went to bed she was acting normal - I last saw her about 2 AM and she was asleep on top of her cage (her normal place to perch). At 6 AM my daughter woke me to say she thought she was dead - and indeed she was, on the floor on her back in full rigor. Any guesses at all? She was so young.
:smile014:

60f wouldn't have been cold enough to be lethal unless exposed to it for more then a day or so. There's no way for us to tell you the cause, only way you can get a definite or close to definite answer is via a necropsy.

Oh, my... I'm so glad you're here with us. And I'm so sorry. How awful.

I doubt any of us can speculate too confidently... do you have an avian vet who might do an autopsy? It's a very personal decision, I know.

In any event, if you'd care to share any photos or stories of your darling, we would love to hold your hand a bit and help you through this in any way we can.

I'm glad you found us.

Owlet said:

60f wouldn't have been cold enough to be lethal unless exposed to it for more then a day or so. There's no way for us to tell you the cause, only way you can get a definite or close to definite answer is via a necropsy.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. I was just wondering if anyone had any brilliant guesses.

Can't really see on here where/how to attach a photo?

So sorry to read you lost a friend

if you really want some answers - a necrosy would be your best option I am afraid.
(Good to know, not fun to decide to have done to a friend, but knowing is better than guessing and possible self-blaming etc.)

sorry- no great guesses.
15,5 degrees (for non-Fahrtenheit people) is not really something she should have problems with.
(Unless she was used to non-stop tropical temperatures 24/7 of course/ in that case it might have been a tad stressfull, but not lethal.)


Not sure what went wrong with your heating?
but
CO-gas is a possible killer, of course, but usually will not take so long and you would have noticed something wrong yourselves ( headaches, dizzyness, nausea etc.).

Aw, so sorry your first post is a sad one. She sounds very loved.

Birds hide illness and disease very well, and sometimes it just happens. My cockatiel hen died last year (while on eggs) so I got a necropsy done and it turned out she had liver and kidney issues that was likely something she was born with. I gave her the best diet and just like that she was gone. It did give me much peace of mind to get a necropsy done to ensure my other bird was not passed on an illness.

If you have other birds, or want real answers, get a necropsy done. Expensive yes but worth it when you start beginning to blame yourself.

She was quite young to go. What was her diet? Last vet checkup?

Another guess, I don't want to alarm you, but it's also quite possible that she could've fallen off the cage while sleeping and broke her neck with the impact of hitting the floor. If she would've been in her cage she may not have had quite the fall and had perches to stop her. But that's only a guess. Birds are always safrer in their cages.

I did hear of a macaw that had a stroke while sitting on top of a shower curtain rod and fell, breaking her neck as she fell and hit the tub floor from the height. She was 40. Very sad. It happens...

So very sorry this happened to you.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss!!!! So terrible!!!! My only guess could be burnt plastic from heater fritz???
Just so sad

I am so incredibly sorry for your loss! Question, between last night and today has anyone in your family been suffering from headaches? Low levels of carbon monoxide will make you feel sick, but it will kill a bird immediately!

So sad for you and your family. Weknow what this is like, having lost a parrot a few years ago jus tlike that - alive, happy, eating and playing normal, and the next morning just.........gone. Our condolences.

I am so sorry for your loss.
60ºF should not be so cold as to cause the death of a bird epically such a large bird.
Our heater went out one night about 2 weeks ago. Woke up to temp of 53ºF inside the house at 3:30 am.

Fixed the minor problem with the heater and my birds were all fine.

I am so sorry. I would be a mess...
As others have said, birds are masters of hiding illness....
If you can get the vet to do an autopsy/necroscopy, that may be the only way of knowing.
Was anyone cooking or using any heating appliances (hair dryers, irons, ironing boards etc) or any other chemicals such as cleaners or scented products? When the furnace was out, did they use any weird chemicals or gasses to repair it---did anything burn or melt when it was first going out? Are there any toys/materials outside of her cage that she could have choked on or ingested that would have been poisonous?
Again, I am so so so sorry.

We are so very sorry to hear of your loss.
I know that Kelly and myself would be an absolute wreck.

As others have suggested a necroscopy is the only way to know what happened.

Additionally, I ask what kind of furnace, gas (natural or propane), or heat pump.
If gas fired, have you checked for carbon monoxide (CO)?
Not being insensitive, I ask because of concerns for your safety.
Birds have extremely sensitive respiratory systems and any amount of CO will most likely to affect them before you.

If you decide to have a necroscopy performed, please share the results if you wish.

Melodee74 said:

Can't really see on here where/how to attach a photo?

Click to expand...

My deepest condolences for your loss of Reilly. The pain of sudden loss cannot be overcome by anything less than a period of mourning. A necropsy may help to understand why she passes so suddenly.

Easiest way to post pictures is via hosting site such as Imgur. Instructions: http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures-6.html#post718293

Another method uses the "paper clip" icon near top center of the grey box immediately above where you type text: http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures-4.html#post371157 (click on thumbnail in post at top of page)

So sorry for your sudden loss. If you don't have carbon monoxide detectors in your house, you really need to get some. Last year, I lost almost my entire flock to carbon monoxide poisoning when our furnace malfunctioned, including all my breeders and their babies. I still haven't gotten over the loss.

That's not to say that's what happened here though. We had CO detectors and they did go off. A close friend of mine lost her blue and gold macaw last year that she raised from 2 weeks old. Dottie was only 10. In her case it was just bad luck really, she happened to be born with a heart defect that, when she was put under just a little bit of stress, caused her to go into respiratory distress.

If you choose to get a necropsy done, which is a very personal decision, it could show you those types of things.

Again, sorry for your loss which is all the more devastating when they are taken so young. Let us be here for you.

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I am so sorry for your loss. The shock of it happening suddenly is so hard.
I'm glad you found us, we understand and know how deeply it hurts. My thoughts are with you.

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, that's an awful thing to have happen under any circumstances, let alone when you don't know why it happened...Often having a Necropsy done will give you some closure, so that you're not wondering about it forever...I don't know if you have any other birds, but if you do then you'll definitely want to get a Necropsy done in-case it was something that would be contagious to them or something that could also potentially hurt them...

With heating/cooling/electrical having issues, I would take a guess that it could have been fumes or even CO poisoning, which is harmful to you as well...Do you have Carbon Monoxide monitors in your home? If not, you should get one ASAP just in-case. Birds are far more sensitive than we are, and just like putting the "Canary in the coal-mine", it's awful but this could be a sign that you could have a CO issue...