Not sure if she is with eggs or ?

[peachesANDslugger]

Update on my Peaches, we had to take her back to the vet, because wasn't any better. It turned out that she never had an egg inside her. They repeated the xray and that thing that looked like an egg had just about gone but with her syntoms, they are leaning towards Proventricular Dilitation Disease, or Bornavirus. Our vet said, it wasn't anything we did, she most likely already had it in the nursery where we bought her. It stayed dormat until now, and it a real possibility our Slugger may have it to just isnt showing syntoms as of yet. Their going to do a barium test in the morning to look at her g i tract, that will tell us for shore. This disease has a poor prognosis.

 

[MonicaMc]

Came across an x-ray of an amazon that had two eggs inside of her.... one of which had calcified. (the egg wasn't laid, so her body naturally covered the egg with calcium layers...)

https://c2c5e5.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/amigo-an-egg-bound-amazon-parrot-part-1/



Sorry to hear Peaches may not have an egg after all but something possibly worse. Here's hoping they figure out what's wrong and can give her the correct treatment to heal!

 

[JerseyWendy]

I truly hope your birds don't have PDD. Thank you for the update, and please keep us posted. If it indeed turns out to be this devastating disease, I'd make sure and let her breeder know.

How is Peaches doing?

 

[Anansi]

I am so very sorry to hear that Peaches may have PDD. Looking again at that x-ray, though, the proventriculus does seem like it may be compromised. (Full disclosure, though. I've done tons of research and 2 avian vets have spoken to me in depth about the disease, one of whom was a pioneer in its discovery and research, and the other who showed me on an x-ray where the signs would show up. But I am by no means professionally qualified to read an x-ray.) Is there another image taken with Peaches on her stomach or back?

Either way, if there is any possibility that she might have PDD, you should separate her immediately from the rest of your flock and implement quarantine.

At this time, no one is certain of just how contagious PDD is. One vet I spoke to believed that it is largely transmitted vertically, which is to say parent to child. My own Bixby was infected this way, and died back in February at just over 1.5 years old. Thankfully, Maya's x-rays have shown her to be free of the disease.

However, while it definitely seems to be less readily transmissible than say PBFD, the possibility of infection via feces or dander while an infected bird is actively shedding remains very real. Your best defense for your other birds, aside from the aforementioned quarantine, is scrupulously good cage and bird hygiene.

And btw, PDD comes from Avian Bornavirus. If Peaches is already showing signs of proventricular dilation, or if her crop seems similarly compromised, that would be an indication of PDD, not ABV. Clinical symptoms don't show under the ABV stage.

How are Peaches' droppings? If there are seemingly undigested particles of food, that would be another sign. (The dilation of the proventriculus allows some food to pass undigested through the digestive tract.)

And while the disease does indeed have a potentially poor prognosis, if caught early enough it's progress can be slowed considerably. In fact, one macaw in the pioneer vet's care has lived with the disease for 12 years, now. Anti-inflammatory drugs to control dilation and swelling, coupled with antibiotics to combat the secondary infections that can attack the compromised immune system, have proven effective. But again, only if caught early enough. And with varying degrees of success.

I really hope that it's not PDD, but I just wanted to give you some information on the subject in case it is.

Please keep us updated. You and your flock will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[peachesANDslugger]

I am so very sorry to hear that Peaches may have PDD. Looking again at that x-ray, though, the proventriculus does seem like it may be compromised. (Full disclosure, though. I've done tons of research and 2 avian vets have spoken to me in depth about the disease, one of whom was a pioneer in its discovery and research, and the other who showed me on an x-ray where the signs would show up. But I am by no means professionally qualified to read an x-ray.) Is there another image taken with Peaches on her stomach or back?

Either way, if there is any possibility that she might have PDD, you should separate her immediately from the rest of your flock and implement quarantine.

At this time, no one is certain of just how contagious PDD is. One vet I spoke to believed that it is largely transmitted vertically, which is to say parent to child. My own Bixby was infected this way, and died back in February at just over 1.5 years old. Thankfully, Maya's x-rays have shown her to be free of the disease.

However, while it definitely seems to be less readily transmissible than say PDD, the possibility of infection via feces or dander while an infected bird is actively shedding remains very real. Your best defense for your other birds, aside from the aforementioned quarantine, is scrupulously good cage and bird hygiene.

And btw, PDD comes from Avian Bornavirus. If Peaches is already showing signs of proventricular dilation, or if her crop seems similarly compromised, that would be an indication of PDD, not ABV. Clinical symptoms don't show under the ABV stage.

How are Peaches' droppings? If there are seemingly undigested particles of food, that would be another sign. (The dilation of the proventriculus allows some food to pass undigested through the digestive tract.)

And while the disease does indeed have a potentially poor prognosis, if caught early enough it's progress can be slowed considerably. In fact, one macaw in the pioneer vet's care has lived with the disease for 12 years, now. Anti-inflammatory drugs to control dilation and swelling, coupled with antibiotics to combat the secondary infections that can attack the compromised immune system, have proven effective. But again, only if caught early enough. And with varying degrees of success.

I really hope that it's not PDD, but I just wanted to give you some information on the subject in case it is.

Please keep us updated. You and your flock will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Our avian vet did a repeat xray, and the thing that looked like an egg, was swelling in her stomach and gizard. The new xray showed some others areas in her GI tract of concern and the fact that she's eating well and still losing weight, and she did regurgitate alot with some kind of slime. Slugger her bonded mate has been with since the nursery, their doing the barrium test now and we should know for sure in a few hours. It's possible he may already have it, but not showing signs yet. If her test comes back positive, were going to have him tested as well. He's in the hospital with her for moral support for her to keep her stress down. I'm sorry for your loss. If she has this I'm going to call parrot mountain in Tennessee where we got them and make them aware. We don't have any other birds just those two, which we've had since they were 8 weeks old. Thank you for your feedback. I don't have a picture of the new xrays that were taken. I will update as soon as i know

 

[JerseyWendy]

The only thing I'd like to add at this time is if you find out your babies do NOT have the disease, please don't ever set them up to breed, as it sounds like they are actually clutch mates.

 

[peachesANDslugger]

The only thing I'd like to add at this time is if you find out your babies do NOT have the disease, please don't ever set them up to breed, as it sounds like they are actually clutch mates.

We had already decided were not doing babies. I never really wanted to anyway, but these two were bonded in the nursery and we didn't want to separate them from each other, found out later we had a girl and a boy. We got them at 8 weeks old. I'm going to phone the breeder as soon as we know for sure

 

[peachesANDslugger]

The only thing I'd like to add at this time is if you find out your babies do NOT have the disease, please don't ever set them up to breed, as it sounds like they are actually clutch mates.

We had already decided were not doing babies. I never really wanted to anyway, but these two were bonded in the nursery and we didn't want to separate them from each other, found out later we had a girl and a boy. We got them at 8 weeks old. I'm going to phone the breeder as soon as we know for sure

We never wanted to be breeders, i just wanted a friend, and now were not even sure she's going to make it.

 

[Anansi]

Yes, the gizzard is the proventriculus. Kind of like the pre-stomach. Distortions there, as well as in the stomach and crop would indicate the possibility of PDD. And if Peaches and Slugger are indeed hatchmates, then yes, he may have it as well. Bixby's hatchmate did.

But it's not a foregone conclusion. If separating them is out, just be sure they're being extra strict about cleaning up after Peaches.

I know the next few hours of waiting will be very difficult, and I wish there was a way to make it easier for you. Just know we're all behind you, no matter the results.

 

[MonicaMc]

Have they done any gram stains yet or blood work?

 

[peachesANDslugger]

Have they done any gram stains yet or blood work?

Yes, they found yeast in her poo, and blood work showed last Saturday 0 calcium in her blood, but as of today her calcium is coming up.

 

[peachesANDslugger]

Update on Peaches, her calcium levels have come up, still not normal, but alot better. Her barrium test went well, but we still can't rule out PDD OR Bornavirus, . The avian vet changed her diet, to a high protein diet and changed her medications, she is still eating well, but has very low energy. They may do a blood test in the morning to try to rule out Bornavirus. I will update as soon as i know something

 

[SoCalWendy]

wow i can only imagine how hard this must be... sry you all are going through this. poor thing. thx for the updates...

 

[peachesANDslugger]

Thank you everyone for your support. I will update tomorrow after my vet calls me with her update.

 

[friendcaique]

Oh my gosh i hope that your best bird friends will be okay.

 

[MonicaMc]

Glad to hear her calcium levels have come up. Hoping she pulls through!

 

[peachesANDslugger]

We just got home an hour ago with them both and Peaches is her old snappy self, so we can tell she feels better. The first thing she did was take a bath. Lol. PDD or Bornavirus so hasn't been found. The Barium test went very well and xrays are great too. Digestive tract system looks good and she's gaing weight. They did find yeast in her poo, and her calcium is coming up. They did send off another blood work up, to check for Chlamydia. Were treating for yeast, and antibiotics for the aspiration of her medication, we caused, by accident. The wee little bit of medication she gets, the first time we gave it the wrong way. She is also taking calcium supplement and probiotics, and an immmune system booster. I'm nervouse giving it, hoping everything continues to go well. When we bought our babies at 8 weeks old from parrot mountain they gave us our first bag of food, which I figured out a month ago was seed, not good for them, she and Slugger always picked out their favorites and droped the rest, so we switched them a month ago to Harrison's pellets, but maybe she was already going down in nutritionally and we also found out that 2 tablespoons of chop and they should only have a teaspoon of chop a day each. The vet thinks maybe they were eatng all the chop and not enough pellets. I learned a big lesson.

 

[peachesANDslugger]

Our Slugger got checked out too, and clean bill of health. We are first time bird owners, I have read everything and anything i can get my hands on so we can take good care of them. I would've thought that parrot mountain would've gave us pellets or least mentionist to us.

 

[Flboy]

Hang in there, you have more support than you can imagine!

 

[MonicaMc]

Chop isn't unhealthy, as long as it is balanced. Granted, it can be difficult to make a balanced, healthy chop for birds that meets their nutritional requirements without lacking in anything.


Glad to hear Peaches is feeling better.