New (Sickly) Kākāriki!

[jaxyk]

Hi, I'm new here, and I'm so happy to hear you've rescued this pair! We also rescued a sweet little red crested we named Boo and they are truly wonderful birds and the best fliers!!

My fingers are crossed for you, hope your new friends get healthy

Best,
Jacki

 

[Kentuckienne]

I'm so glad things turned out well. Must be a relief. I gave antibiotic injections to a parrot, and it wasn't my favorite thing. A few shots is one thing, but twice a day after a while it's hard to find places that haven't already been stuck. Plus there was no good way to sterilize the skin under the feathers and I worried about causing an infection. If you can bury the taste of the medicine in melted ice cream or peanut butter...in a spoon or by syringe, and go to injections if there's no other way. Get well soon, little guys.

 

[Teddscau]

Thanks guys . She actually swallowed the medicine last night. However, she's freaking me out right now! Earlier, she was acting normal, but now she has her head turned backwards like an owl! It's freaking me out! I know birds do this all the time to look behind them, preen, or rest, but she's doing it as though it's normal! Fudge, I don't know what's going on. I went to check on them, and Ria's just standing on the bottom of the cage with her head turned as far around as physically possible. My mom put her hand in the cage and went to pick her up, but Ria didn't like that and turned her head back in the normal direction and scurried away. She can climb around and stuff and put her head in the normal direction, but she keeps standing there like an owl with their head turned around.

Fudge, at this point, I'm just pretending her sinuses are messing with her equilibrium, and she's just doing this because it's relieving the pressure. Okay, good, she just stopped now. Freaky.

 

[Scott]

You must be so relieved following the consult with Dr. Morris! Hopefully the current treatment will be successful and you'll be so happy with healthy birds.

Shame on the humane society for giving you so much grief. They are tasked with so much these days, but withholding crucial medical records is unacceptable.

 

[Violet_Diva]

Only just read this - Gosh - what a terribly stressful time! Im so glad your other birdies are still safe & well and that it wasnt something more sinister. Hopefully your dedication will see this pair right soon enough!

 

[EllenD]

Unfortunately in my rescue experience it's not unusual for a shelter, rescue, pet store (Petco in particular), etc. to either say they have never received prior health records or to say they will "mail" the buyer/adopter the records and then never do. They want the animal out of there and do not want to discourage someone from adopting it. It sounds like that is exactly what the Humane Society did to you, especially if finding a home for birds is as difficult in Canada as you say it is. That sucks, big time. A friend of mine had a local Petco tell her that they had not yet received the records for a baby Green Cheek she bought, but that they would send them to her once they received them. She had asked how old the conure was and was told by the Petco associate that they had just gotten the bird a week prior, so the bird was still very young. Then the manager came in to work while she was at the register paying for the bird, and the associate asked him if he knew how old the green cheek was. He got a strange look on his face and said "We didn't get it's records yet, remember? It's just a baby though". So a month went by and nothing was sent, she called and called, she spoke to several managers, district managers, it went on for months. The records were lost, had never been sent by the vendor, every excuse possible. So I went with her to my local Petco with a photo of the bird's leg band, I know a girl that is the animal manager there. Turns out that her bird had been sent from Petco to Petco for over a year, this is what they do when the first store doesn't sell the bird in 3 months, it goes to another Petco, then another, and another. Each time the bird is put out at full retail again even though it had been 25% off at the last store, and each time it is advertised as a "hand-fed baby green cheek conure", which it was originally, but by the time it is through 3-4 Petco stores it is no longer a baby and no longer tame at all because most stores don't handle them. So even though the store she bought him at had only had the bird for a week, the bird was almost 2 years old! And she paid $449 for him when he was $247 at the last store. And when she presented this to corporate Petco and wanted a refund, as she thought she was buying a "baby" bird, they told her they would give her store credit only and she would have to return the bird to the store she bought him at, after she had had him for 6 months at that point. When asked what would happen to the bird if she returned him, the corporate Petco guy said they would put him out for sale again as a "juvenile" bird...No shame at all, none. And that whole "Pets come first at Petco" slogan is nothing but BS.

Keep a close eye on your girl, any time a bird is sitting on the bottom of the cage in a sleeping position it's scary and a worry. Hopefully she is just feeling badly because of the illness and the stress, but if she stops eating, drinking, or her droppings get funky or she becomes very lethargic all the time or very unsteady, I'd get her back to the avian vet ASAP.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[Teddscau]

I'm impressed by how many people are interested in my new kids! They're definitely eating better (i.e., they're actually eating the Goldenfeast seed blends as opposed to peanuts, cracked corn, and roasted soy beans), and are settling really well. They were really freaked out by the dogs the first couple of days, but now they're watching them with a cautious curiosity. It took Ziggy almost a year to get over his hate of dogs.

I bought some raw nuts at the Bulk Barn today (pistachios, cashews, macadamia, pecans, and pine nuts), and I broke some up and put some on a plate for them. I know I have to be careful since they're fattening, but I really don't care since at this point I'm just trying to get them to try different foods. I'm sure they've never had a balanced diet before, so it won't kill them to indulge in new, human-grade foods. Once they actually start eating more of what I offer, then we'll worry about balanced nutrition and counting calories. Apparently the majority of their diet should be veggies and fruits, but we've got a ways to go yet.

Anyways, they're eating, drinking, and preening in front of me already, which is awesome! They barely sleep, from what I've seen. I don't know if they even have naps. They're definitely pretty weak. Ria was winded after flying around for 30 seconds at the vet. They sometimes fall when they scratch themselves, too. I don't think this is due to illness, rather the fact that they've been kept in a puny cage with garbage food for the past few months. At night, they like to climb upside down doing laps on the top..underside...something about a cage. Sorry, I'm kind of tired. Anyways, I can hear them banging around for at least half an hour after I turn the lights off for them to go to sleep.

I know I've said this before, but they seem like really sweet little birds. They've been chewing on the mahogany pod and the shred toy from Things for Wings I put in for them. Kākāriki aren't known for shredding or playing, but it makes me happy to see them chewing. Oh, know what's cute? Tiki has a couple of green feathers hidden away on his back. I also make kākāriki vocalizations back and forth with them since I think they find it comforting. Ooh, I'll have to try playing music for them. I think we'll have to start with "Stuttering" by Fefe Dobson.

I'm going to bathe them again tomorrow. Apparently kākāriki adore bathing, but sadly we can't fit a dish to bathe in in the cage, so I'll have to just mist them again. Oh, I think they're also going through a moult. From what I've been reading on this one kākāriki forum, kākāriki go through extremely light moults, and most people don't realize it when their kākāriki have moulted because the just drop a few feathers, compared to other parrots. They've lost maybe a dozen since bringing them home on Thursday (their feathers are huge compared to my other birds!).

Anyways, I'm not at all surprised by your friend's experience with Petco. Almost every animal in pet shops are from mills. Bettas are shipped in tiny bags filled with sedatives with barely enough water to cover them. Many arrive dead. Hermit crabs are captured en masse from the wild and are stored in buildings filled with thousands of their kin before having their shells crushed by workers to force them to pick "pretty" shells before being sold to retailers. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the ongoing criminal investigations into Pet Smart and their suppliers? Animals kept in bins at warehouses without food or water; rotting animals; animals left without any veterinary care, etc. I don't support any businesses that profit from the sale of animals. Almost all of my animals are pre-loved (well, a few were treated like trash), and I've had far too many bad experiences over the years to ever support a pet store again (I support suppliers of pet products if they don't sell animals).

 

[Teddscau]

Fudge, so I actually checked Ria's weight today. Before now, I just wanted to give her her medication as quickly as possible and put her back in the cage immediately. Anyways, I felt her keel, and she quite emaciated. It's quite sharp and pronounced, and I'm unable to really feel any fat or muscle. I felt down to almost her vent, and I could still easily feel her keel. I weighed her, and she's only 46—47 grams. In good condition, I feel she should easily be 52 grams, probably a fair bit more. She also has poor balance and is quite weak. I'm going to phone Morris and see what we can do to help get her weight up. I'm wondering if I should maybe order some handrearing formula and try to spoon feed her. By which I mean I restrain her in my hand and push little blobs of formula onto her tongue. I might try to make some homemade formula for her, since that would be quicker than ordering it online.

How does a purée of nut and seed butter, quinoa, soaked chia, and applesauce sound?