EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
- 3,979
- 65
- Parrots
- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I haven't been on here in a while, I've been sick with an abscessed tooth and in the hospital, so just taking it easy. I thought I'd post this as a reminder to everyone, mostly the very experienced bird owners who think they're birds are always safe...Yeah, that's what I thought.
Last month my Senegal parrot, Kane, got his toe stuck in his cage bars, and because I forgot to put him back inside while I ran out for less than an hour he ended up chewing half of his toe off to get loose. Somehow he lived through major blood loss and a horrible Infection that occured, even with vet care. Now because I was in the hospital and had other people watching my birds, my green cheek conure, Bowie, is badly injured, alive, but badly injured. So I guess I'm both the luckiest person in the world and the most unlucky at the same time. But I'm afraid 3 strikes and I'm out, you know...😥
My bird-owning friend had my 4 larger birds and my mom was feeding the dogs and the budgies in my house. My friend brought my 4 birds back to my house and had them out on Friday morning before I got home. Well, the Senegal, Quaker, and cockatiel were put back into their cages, but Bowie the green cheek was somehow allowed to be loose. I got dropped off by my mom and was so glad to be home to see them all after 2 weeks. Well I walked in the door and immediately Bowie came flying over to me and landed on my shoulder. I thought all of the birds had been let loose too, but then I saw Lita the Quaker in his cage. I didn't notice the ceiling fan on in my living room when I first walked in, and Bowie seemed excited to see me, and was flying back and forth throughout the downstairs. I never, ever have that damn ceiling fan on, not ever. All of my birds are fully flighted and my dumb ass didn't notice that he left the ceiling fan on and Bowie out. He flew over to me again, I had sat down on the couch, and suddenly I hear this noise, like a "whack" noise, and Bowie falls right in front of me to the floor. I saw the ceiling fan, ran to turn it off because the other birds were out now, then ran to Bowie, laying on my Burton backpack full of clothes, which may have saved his life, I don't know, but he didn't slam to the hardwood floor. I had just thrown my backpack on the living room floor and he landed on it.
His wings were open and he was obviously stunned, I absolutely had a panic attack, like the first one I've ever really had. I have a background in Animal Health Science and medicine, but I completely blanked, all I could think was "Bowie is going to die". I figured there was no way he wasn't going to. I smacked myself around a little bit to get with it, honestly my brain wasn't working at first. I grabbed a small Rubbermaid container and put the heating pad in it, scooped Bowie up gently and put him in it and plugged it in near the couch, then sat down and assessed him. He had a large cut on his head that reached to the white around his right eye, but somehow (I have no idea how) his eye itself was unhurt. I used a pen light to check it, his pupils were fine, but he couldn't stand up, his feet were limp and curled up, and I knew enough to know this was bad. I wasn't supposed to drive (on pain meds and had just had an IV of morphine taken out less than 30 minutes prior in the hospital) and I felt awful, and it was Saturday, which meant the emergency Animal hospital, where maybe my avian vet was on-call, but maybe not, and if not I had no help. But against my better judgment I grabbed Bowie and off we went. I figured I at least needed an x-ray, a little while in an oxygenated brooder, and pain meds. I got there and ran in, told them what happened, and since the certified avian vet was not there anymore (I had no idea) they wouldn't even see any birds until they got another one. I sat and called every vet number within 2 hours, found a certified avian vet in Harrisburg that was open on Saturday, but driving 2 hours in city traffic while high as a kite from morphine wasn't a good idea. I begged the local hospital to just take some x-rays for me and refill my Metacam prescription (Kane's toe had used up all of my pain meds at home). Nope.
So home we went yesterday. So he still hasn't seen a vet, he will tomorrow morning first thing, but he seems fine now. His right eye is very swollen and has some bruising (in the white around his eye), his beak has a small crack, and he has a cut on his head, but externally that's it. I've cleaned, dressed, and medicated his eye, head, and beak. I'm trying to keep him still but that little jerk started flying around again the minute we got home. The curled feet and sleepiness/disorientation stopped pretty quickly, but regardless I CLIPPED HIS WINGS YESTERDAY. He's mad at me, I felt badly doing it, but I know he has a concussion and if he hit his head again so quickly it would surely kill him. He's eating and drinking and playing normally, yesterday he seemed fine after an hour. But I don't know how; he hit a running ceiling fan!!! How is he fine? How was Kane fine after he lost more blood than I thought he had in his body? Am I lucky or unlucky?
I blame myself for both of these accidents, regardless of who or what actually caused them. They're my family and I didn't protect them. I didn't tell my friend what happened to Bowie, what good would it do? Instead, I called him to thank him for watching them for 2 weeks, and told him he had left my ceiling fan on, and asked him if he kept his on when his IRN was out of her cage, he said "he tries to remember not to", so I warned him about it and asked him to just not turn them on again if he's here. No problem with that, but telling him what happened would just make him feel horrible for no reason. It was important to explain to him why ceiling fans are bad with birds, but other than that, this is on me.
31+ years of bird experience and I still have these things happen. So please, never get complacent, never think you're immune to accidents or issues with your birds simply because of your knowledge and experience, because the minute you stop thinking about potential problems, tragedy can strike. And you can't take it back.
Now I have to go and spend some time with Bowie, he's acting 100% fine and I just cannot understand how, he's a very small green cheek and he got thumped by a ceiling fan on high. It's amazing.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
Last month my Senegal parrot, Kane, got his toe stuck in his cage bars, and because I forgot to put him back inside while I ran out for less than an hour he ended up chewing half of his toe off to get loose. Somehow he lived through major blood loss and a horrible Infection that occured, even with vet care. Now because I was in the hospital and had other people watching my birds, my green cheek conure, Bowie, is badly injured, alive, but badly injured. So I guess I'm both the luckiest person in the world and the most unlucky at the same time. But I'm afraid 3 strikes and I'm out, you know...😥
My bird-owning friend had my 4 larger birds and my mom was feeding the dogs and the budgies in my house. My friend brought my 4 birds back to my house and had them out on Friday morning before I got home. Well, the Senegal, Quaker, and cockatiel were put back into their cages, but Bowie the green cheek was somehow allowed to be loose. I got dropped off by my mom and was so glad to be home to see them all after 2 weeks. Well I walked in the door and immediately Bowie came flying over to me and landed on my shoulder. I thought all of the birds had been let loose too, but then I saw Lita the Quaker in his cage. I didn't notice the ceiling fan on in my living room when I first walked in, and Bowie seemed excited to see me, and was flying back and forth throughout the downstairs. I never, ever have that damn ceiling fan on, not ever. All of my birds are fully flighted and my dumb ass didn't notice that he left the ceiling fan on and Bowie out. He flew over to me again, I had sat down on the couch, and suddenly I hear this noise, like a "whack" noise, and Bowie falls right in front of me to the floor. I saw the ceiling fan, ran to turn it off because the other birds were out now, then ran to Bowie, laying on my Burton backpack full of clothes, which may have saved his life, I don't know, but he didn't slam to the hardwood floor. I had just thrown my backpack on the living room floor and he landed on it.
His wings were open and he was obviously stunned, I absolutely had a panic attack, like the first one I've ever really had. I have a background in Animal Health Science and medicine, but I completely blanked, all I could think was "Bowie is going to die". I figured there was no way he wasn't going to. I smacked myself around a little bit to get with it, honestly my brain wasn't working at first. I grabbed a small Rubbermaid container and put the heating pad in it, scooped Bowie up gently and put him in it and plugged it in near the couch, then sat down and assessed him. He had a large cut on his head that reached to the white around his right eye, but somehow (I have no idea how) his eye itself was unhurt. I used a pen light to check it, his pupils were fine, but he couldn't stand up, his feet were limp and curled up, and I knew enough to know this was bad. I wasn't supposed to drive (on pain meds and had just had an IV of morphine taken out less than 30 minutes prior in the hospital) and I felt awful, and it was Saturday, which meant the emergency Animal hospital, where maybe my avian vet was on-call, but maybe not, and if not I had no help. But against my better judgment I grabbed Bowie and off we went. I figured I at least needed an x-ray, a little while in an oxygenated brooder, and pain meds. I got there and ran in, told them what happened, and since the certified avian vet was not there anymore (I had no idea) they wouldn't even see any birds until they got another one. I sat and called every vet number within 2 hours, found a certified avian vet in Harrisburg that was open on Saturday, but driving 2 hours in city traffic while high as a kite from morphine wasn't a good idea. I begged the local hospital to just take some x-rays for me and refill my Metacam prescription (Kane's toe had used up all of my pain meds at home). Nope.
So home we went yesterday. So he still hasn't seen a vet, he will tomorrow morning first thing, but he seems fine now. His right eye is very swollen and has some bruising (in the white around his eye), his beak has a small crack, and he has a cut on his head, but externally that's it. I've cleaned, dressed, and medicated his eye, head, and beak. I'm trying to keep him still but that little jerk started flying around again the minute we got home. The curled feet and sleepiness/disorientation stopped pretty quickly, but regardless I CLIPPED HIS WINGS YESTERDAY. He's mad at me, I felt badly doing it, but I know he has a concussion and if he hit his head again so quickly it would surely kill him. He's eating and drinking and playing normally, yesterday he seemed fine after an hour. But I don't know how; he hit a running ceiling fan!!! How is he fine? How was Kane fine after he lost more blood than I thought he had in his body? Am I lucky or unlucky?
I blame myself for both of these accidents, regardless of who or what actually caused them. They're my family and I didn't protect them. I didn't tell my friend what happened to Bowie, what good would it do? Instead, I called him to thank him for watching them for 2 weeks, and told him he had left my ceiling fan on, and asked him if he kept his on when his IRN was out of her cage, he said "he tries to remember not to", so I warned him about it and asked him to just not turn them on again if he's here. No problem with that, but telling him what happened would just make him feel horrible for no reason. It was important to explain to him why ceiling fans are bad with birds, but other than that, this is on me.
31+ years of bird experience and I still have these things happen. So please, never get complacent, never think you're immune to accidents or issues with your birds simply because of your knowledge and experience, because the minute you stop thinking about potential problems, tragedy can strike. And you can't take it back.
Now I have to go and spend some time with Bowie, he's acting 100% fine and I just cannot understand how, he's a very small green cheek and he got thumped by a ceiling fan on high. It's amazing.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
