Sad news and a warning

[brianlinkles]

I didn't know if I could even bring myself to write this. It is still very hard to think about. My daughter woke us up yesterday to tell us that one of her cockatiels had died. She was hysterical and holding poor sweet Orville in a towel. We could not figure out what had happened. She said that Wilbur her other cockatiel was fine. We were downstairs finding a suitable box to bury him in when she came down holding Wilbur saying that he wasn't acting right. He was all fluffed up and clearly failing very fast. I called my breeder and they told me to bring him over. The avian vet was quite a distance away and it was very early in the morning before any vets were open. I drove him over and by the time I got him there he was almost gone. She and I sat and kept him warm and I held him while he took some of his last breaths. It was so horrible, I still can barely talk about it. She knows how we care for our birds so we were baffled by what could have happened. She started asking questions when she asked me if my daughters had been sick lately. (Lili's birds stay in her room, she is 12) I said yes about 3 weeks ago they (both daughters) had the flu. My breeder said that she thinks that is what happened to them. I checked their seed dishes when I got home and they didn't seem to have eaten. My daughter has been caring for them and does such a great job that I have not been checking the dishes anymore. I feel so guilty, perhaps I could have caught this sooner and we could have saved them. I just feel so awful, I felt Wilbur as he lay in my hands and he felt so thin. I just feel terrible. The breeder says that strep throat in people is also very bad if it is around birds. By around I mean if we allow our saliva (from mouth or hand etc.) to get in the birds mouth. She said that with my daughter she probably still played and also fed and watered the birds while she was contagious. To play it safe even though my two birds are downstairs and no one but me feeds/waters them she gave me some antibiotics to put in their water dishes for 10 days. Both Moses and Dorothy are acting normal, eating, talking, playing etc. but better safe than sorry.
I guess I just wanted to warn people that when we are sick we have to be very careful around our birds. I really never thought about the feeding/watering of them when we are sick. My daughter knows that they are never to eat off of anything we have eaten off of or that they should never be around our mouths. However I never thought about the act of feeding etc. I just want to warn everyone of this danger. I feel so very guilty that I wasn't following up and checking the food cups. I feel like I may have been able to prevent this.

 

[Birdlover11]

That is so sad , I'm sorry for your daughters cockatiel. I have always worried about that when I'm sick, that something will be into their food . I am your daughters age so I could just imagine how sad she must be, I could never imagine losing my budgies

 

[weco]

Brian, I'm going to go out on a limb here & disagree with your breeder, but while Avian flu may well have caused problems for your 'tiels, but it was not a flu or other virus.....because, if it happened as you described, it happened too quickly.....I would be looking for a poison of some sort.....lotion, spray of some sort, etc.....

I would venture to say that what you're looking for was introduced within the last two weeks......did you change foods, open a new package of food, started using any new deodorizer of any sort, started using any over the counter medication.....anything different in the last two weeks that is different than 4 weeks ago?

 

[NWQuakers]

Yeah, my vet wasn't too concerned with human cross-contamination when my quakers were sick. He said there really aren't a lot of bugs affecting humans that jump to parrots.

There are so many things in the general environment though that affect them.

Sorry for your terrible loss. No matter what the cause, it's always hard.

 

[brianlinkles]

I started thinking about this as well, I think I mistyped. My husband and I were just thinking about when they were both sick and it was over Christmas break. We have all been passing things back and forth since then. So it was the beginning of January or the end of of December. This is when they were very sick with the flu. I am not sure of the timing of all of this. I think my breeder thinks that some type of bacteria affected the birds from the girls flu/strep. Nothing here has changed at all. I have racked my brain over this whole thing. I feel so very guilty that I could have detected this. However they both acted just fine. I cannot think of anything at all being different. It is all so awful, I feel sick about it.

 

[antoinette]

So sorry for your loss. I am in tears knowing what you are going through.

Just for precaution I always try keep a distance between Mishka and myself when I am ill, even though it has been proved that we can't pass illness onto our birds.
There must be an explanation as to why it happened.

In my thoughts

Be strong

 

[brianlinkles]

Thank you for everyones well wishes. This has made me so nervous about Dorothy and Moses. They are acting just fine however I am so scared that something is going to happen. I think it is making me second guess my abilities in taking care of them. I have prided myself in giving them good food, attention etc. However this was so shocking and upsetting.

 

[Peeker]

I'm having a hard time thinking it was from the strep or human illness that this happened. I've had my birds for 10 years and between the adults, the kids, and my grandson there has certainly been sickness in the house many times.

Is there a chance with the flu you could have run a humidifier (with teflon?) or something else that could be the culprit? Id on't knkow the age of your daughter but perhaps there were spray perfumes, or curling irons..any other appliances with teflon parts?

I know you have to be worried about your other birds so figuring out any possibilities could help put your mind to rest.

I'm so sorry for you and your daughter to have lost her cockatiels was a terrible tragedy.

 

[goalerjones]

It isnt too late to have a necropsy done. In this case I would strongly recommend it since there is so much speculation as to the manner in which they passed.

Even if you have buried them its not too late.

 

[Thingamagigs]

Did you get a look at the birds droppings in the bottom of the cage? That can tell you a lot about what was going on. How long had they not been eating for? Respiratory illness is normally very noticeable and it is very unusual for them to pass on in such a close time frame from general illness. I would look into any bedding, new toys, change of food or poisonous substances that your daughter may have used without knowing the consequences.

I want to broach something fairly delicate... the only reason I even mention it is because if it is the case, then your daughter may be feeling unimaginable guilt that you wouldn't want her to carry alone. Do you think maybe your daughter forgot to feed them fresh food, maybe she thought the bowl was full of fresh seed when it was just hulls? Perhaps the seed had only just been put in?

 

[wenz2712]

I am so sorry for your loss, but I do know that it is not possible to pass on colds and flu to our Birds.

 

[brianlinkles]

I apreciate everyones response and believe me I have racked my brain trying to figure it out. I know that Lili has been feeding fresh food everyday. She is very responsible which is why I haven't been checking out the food dishes. I do know that our mouths contain lots of bacteria that is very dangerous for our birds. I do however find the fact that they died so close together strange. I keep going over and over this in my head. I have broken down a time line for things, ruling out airborne items. (my girls are very careful of this) I do know that there was a change in the food but when I say change it was mixed with the same base just had extra items in it. (confusing) but it was a change in the seed/pellet mix. We mixed in a different seed mix. I know that the mix is fine I feed it to my other birds as a treat when on the java tree. I have been feeding it for a long, long time as their treat. However I am now wondering if this change made them go off their feed. Ugh, if that is the case, I am at fault and I feel awful. It still had the same base of little seeds etc. In fact it is far, far to small for my other birds but they seem to love to play around in it. The cockatiels still had the other pellets etc. mixed in. I don't know, I just know that we all feel such sadness about this.

 

[aliray]

I am very sorry for your loss

 

[Kiwibird]

I am so sorry this happened. Parrots are such sensitive animals unless you have a necropsy done, you will probably never know the true cause. I would be doubtful they died of an infection overnight without ever showing a symptom in the days leading up (unusual lethargy, wheezing, sitting on the bottom of their cage ect...). I agree with others that the more likely culprit was something new to the environment (perfume, household cleaners, a Teflon product, accidentally ingesting beauty care products ect...). The fact your other 2 birds are doing well when illness spreads quickly in birds is also a big indicator this was a tragic accident. Depending on the age of your daughter, she may not have even realized something was toxic to the birds they could have been accidentally exposed to. I would really suggest you have a necropsy done in the interest of your other 2 birds. You need to determine what killed them, and prevent the other birds from being exposed or start them on the vet recommended preventative medication if it was indeed a infection of some sort. And please don't blame yourself or anyone else in the family. It sounds like your daughter was taking excellent care of them, and you had no reason to worry. Accidents and illnesses happen sometimes where no one is at fault.

I wanted to add, several years ago I woke up to my beloved bearded dragon, Tiffany, dragging herself around by her front legs because the whole back of her body was seemingly paralyzed. I took her to the vet, who said the most likely cause was a lack of calcium in her diet (despite her always being fed calcium dusted crickets and veggies). Tiff died a few days later, and I was beyond heartbroken, fully believing I was at fault for her death. It was very difficult at the time, but I did have the vet preform a necropsy, and he discovered she had died of a tumor that was pressing on her spine that had finally got big enough to kill her. He also noted that at 13, she was well within the upper range of her natural lifespan too. It was a huge relief to know I hadn't inadvertently harmed her, rather she was just old and died of natural causes. IMO, it's always best to know for sure, rather than beat yourself up over speculation.

 

[bkparrot]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I cant even imagine what your daughter is going through.

 

[crimson]

I can sympathize with you so much!...my daughter is now 11 and helps me with all of my birds, feeding, cleaning, etc...she has gained quite a bit of experience over the past 3 years of owning many different birds, including cockatiels.She is hands on in every sense of the word.
Even though she is very good, I still to this day, go over what she has done with the birds before and after.
I have found sometimes her forgetting things, or making mistakes, due to her age.
Since I breed cockatiels, my youngest customer was a 12 year old girl, who travelled with her mother some 45 minutes to purchased a beautiful hand fed and tamed cockatiel.
She worked hard on her farm and saved her own money for the bird and a cage. She had considerable knowledge when it came to birds.
She would text me asking questions weekly. 3 months later the bird died. She was heartbroken, I was mortified.
Even as adults, we all miss things, so if you can, try and get a necropsy done, to put your mind at ease and your daughters.

 

[SandyBee]

Poor birdies, I am so sorry for your loss.
There may never be a way of knowing exactly what happened.I am throwing out a few ideas since you have other birds in the home.

Has your daughter had any friends over lately? Things that young people may not think and even us adultcan slip.
If girls were painting their fingernails or perhaps using felt tip markers for drawing or a school project or glue or correction fluid.
Maybe a new toy that had potential of lead or zinc poisoning?

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

I'm sorry for the loss of your Cockatiels. My first inclination was to see if the food being feed had been recalled. Maybe you had a bag of food around for a while that had recently been on a recall list. Just a thought.

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your daughters tiels!!!


I also have to disagree with the strep throat theory. When I was younger, I got mono, but the first Dr told me it was strep throat. I had to suffer for a few days, taking what felt like horse pills, to try and get rid of the infection.... except mono has no cure. A second Dr said it was mono, told me there was nothing he could do, but did tell me that I could eat icy foods (i.e. popsicles and the like). I recall the burn of antiseptic mouth spray, the pain of trying to eat solid food, the pain of trying to swallow even water... not to mention, the pain of eating ice cream or acidic foods (even if frozen). I recall falling asleep with a bag of ice on my throat, and over time, the ice felt warm to the touch.

After I got over mono, for the next two or three years, I kept getting strep throat infections. (usually lasted 2-3 weeks) My mother thought it was mono so refused to take me in to a Dr since one wouldn't be able to do anything for me... this has resulted in some scarring or *something* in my throat because phlegm couldn't drain properly (at one point in time, a friend of mine told me that I spit worse than a construction worker - not nearly as bad as it used to be, but I can still feel it when some gets stuck in the back of my throat).

I finally went to an emergency Dr (was told I didn't have any insurance [not true] so a regular Dr wouldn't look at me, and I had no money at the time) who told me I had strep throat. Gave me a Vicodin before I left and a prescription for strep throat. That was the last time I had strep throat.


During all of that misery, I lived in the same room as my birds, and I still took care of them on my own. I didn't lose any.


Having said all that, when we are sick, the bad bacteria in our mouths does multiply, and that can make birds sick. Not strep throat, but the regular bacteria that is present in our mouths even when we are healthy.


I still think it could have been something else though... and I wish there was a way that we could bring back those that we love! Bring them back as healthy beings.

 

[MikeyTN]

How long have you had them? I would disagree with your breeder as well. Seems no one have mentioned this, BUT a bird can be a carrier of virus and not show up until they're stressed or sick with something else. That's when it takes over in full attack as it will kill them off very quickly. I've had it happen in the past when I trusted a lady with her bird, he was fine in their home so I brought him home with me without thinking to quarantine him, within a week, he died right when he show his symptoms and all the other Cockatiels started to show signs, it kills very quickly within 24hrs. I took one to the vet to be examined and they found the virus right away and prescribed medication and I get them in large quantities to bring home to treat the rest of the flock. I lost three before the treatment started, within the first treatment, no one died on me after the 24hr period, but it took me a couple of months to get everyone healthy and in good shape again. So depending on how long you guys had the birds, the virus might of come from your breeder to begin with....