Side Effects to Chelation Treatment for Heavy Metal Poisoning?

[crazyforfeathers]

Hi Everyone. 2 nights ago, my conure started having very watery poop, then violently vomiting water almost every hour. It was traumatizing and I felt so bad for my bird.

Took him to his a-vet the next day and was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning. His xray showed 2 small bits of metal and an enlarged gizzard I think. The gizzard was enlarged because of a toxic reaction to the metals. According to a-vet, the enlarged gizzard is keeping him from ingesting his food and water that's why he throws it up.

Blood samples were taken but I won't get the results until late this week or next week. A-vet said we'd have to start chelation asap, so he injected my bird with a chelation shot, forgot the name. He also had me take home 30 days worth of chelation oral medication to be administered twice daily. I will return to a-vet in 30 days to take new x-rays to see if the chelation succesfully binded and flushed out the metals.

My bird stopped having diarrhea and has not vomited since the vet visit yesterday. His appetite has slightly improved but still 50% of what it usually is. He still seems very weak and subdued. He is fluffed up and always wants to sleep. My vet said as long as he is not vomiting anymore, to keep going. My questions are as follows:

1) I read somewhere in this forum in the past, that chelation treatment was hard or stressful on the bird. Is this true? I asked my a-vet and he said the injection treatments might be but not the oral ones.

2) Could be weak still from the toxic heavy metal poisoning? I'm just not used to him being like this.

Thank you in advance for any help and knowledge you can share.

 

[Laurasea]

I'm sorry you have a sick bird. I'm so thrilled you got him to the vet quickly and they found what was wrong!!! Great job!!!!!

I do not have experience with this. I hope you will keep sharing your story so we can learn from you.

I do know that supporting warmth is hugely important for sick birds. It saves them calories, and promotes healing. It a huge help in nursing them back to health. I use tge sweeter heater,, a radiant heat panel. Amazon only seems to have the huge ones tonight now, which you would have to set back a foot or more from the cage. But they work great. I never recommend heat lamps to dangerous. You want to keep him 80-85 degrees. You can also feed warm foods like oatmeal.

I'll look for my sick burd link.
https://www.littlecrittersvet.com/s...of providing,temperatures ranging form 85-95F

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/sickbirdcare.html

 

[noodles123]

I haven't had to do it, but it is pretty well-known when it comes to standard treatment of parrots with metal poisoning....


I think that without, the consequences can be very deadly/serious.


I would make sure that, in the future, you only allow access to stainless and parrot-safe powder coated metals.. Things like jewelry, zinc bells, chicken wire...most ,metal objects in general can prompt the need for this sort of thing. I knew a guy who let his bird chew on toothbrushes and the little copper/ metal fixtures that keep the bristles in place ended up causing him to have to have his parrots undergo this therapy (despite the fact that they only ever mouthed them and no bits were ingested).

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and Limbo during the most stressful of situations. Kudos for recognizing life threatening symptoms and visiting a vet without delay!

Is your vet avian certified? Having specialized education and equipment helpful to diagnose and treat heavy metal poisoning. (nothing you posted suggests to the contrary) Hopefully the vet fully explained side effects of chelation, but one thing is for certain: If X-Rays identified bits of metal, the odds of lead are fairly high unless you absolutely know the origin and can verify the substance. Might find this helpful! https://thegabrielfoundation.org/wp...1/HeavyMetalToxicosis-in-Birds-LafeberVet.pdf

Wishing Limbo a speedy recovery, please keep us updated!

 

[Littleredbeak]

I personally don’t have any experience in this. I did find this and it maybe helpful to you in know what to expect https://www.justanswer.com/pet-bird/60u3k-bird-currently-undergoing-chelation-treatment-heavy.html

If it’s possible I would book an appointment for telehealth to get information how to support your bird holistically for during and after treatment. I’ll have to get back to you on the name. I have his book Holistic Birds and recently found out he does virtual appointments - he has a practice in Colorado .

Anytime anyone is on medication,, after they are finished taking the med I do a detox procedure of milk thistle and dandelion in their food to help them detox. Ialso give them senior nutri berries as a treat. These nutri berries have all this and glucosamine which also helps the body detox. The nutri berries just has more sugar/corn syrup than I would like.

 

[crazyforfeathers]

Hello Everyone. I'm sorry for my late update. I've been reading your posts but have not had a chance to respond. First of all, thank you so much for your concern, reassurance and feedback.

We are in day 2 of 30 of Limbo's chelation treatment. I am keeping him warm and scouring my place for the source of the offending metal. Limbo's condition has massively improved since my post. He is eating voraciously (almost too much) as if to make up for the past few days. He still has not vomited and his stool is normal. He is back to beak grinding. He flies around more and seems to have a more steady grip. He is back to vocalizing as well.

But he is not yet 100%. I see him sometimes with eyes half-closed and would prefer to cuddle or nap instead of wreak havoc. I wonder if this is a side effect of the chelation treatment? The justanswer link that Littleredbeak provided is a more extreme version of my experience. It does kind of remind me of what I read in this forum years ago, that chelation is taxing to birds. I also got scared that the link talked about potential damage to internal organs. I had asked my vet if this the chelation treatment would weaken Limbo but he dismissed it, saying only the injection was harsh, but the oral chelation was not. Limbo got an injection once and 30 days of oral chelation.

My vet is avian certified and his practice is focused only on birds. Here is his link: https://www.thebirdclinic.com/ I'm not sure if I should share my vet's website. If it's against the rules, I will take it down.

Thank you again for all your input. They are all appreciated and valued!!

 

[Laurasea]

Its one if those things , he has to be treated or would die. And he wouldn't be 100% yet. The metal is likely still inside him??

I think its great he has improved so much. Tho I would keep him caged and not flying , giving him more of a chance to recover.

I don't know much in this I admit. But they have to be treated.

Thank you for the update. O hope he has a full recovery!

 

[Littleredbeak]

I personally don’t have any experience in this. I did find this and it maybe helpful to you in know what to expect https://www.justanswer.com/pet-bird/60u3k-bird-currently-undergoing-chelation-treatment-heavy.html

If it’s possible I would book an appointment for telehealth to get information how to support your bird holistically for during and after treatment. I’ll have to get back to you on the name. I have his book Holistic Birds and recently found out he does virtual appointments - he has a practice in Colorado .

Anytime anyone is on medication,, after they are finished taking the med I do a detox procedure of milk thistle and dandelion in their food to help them detox. Ialso give them senior nutri berries as a treat. These nutri berries have all this and glucosamine which also helps the body detox. The nutri berries just has more sugar/corn syrup than I would like.

Update: the book is called Holistic Care For Birds by David McCluggage DVM & Pamela Leis Higgins.

Dr. David McCluggage is pretty well know Avian vet.

 

[Littleredbeak]

Hello Everyone. I'm sorry for my late update. I've been reading your posts but have not had a chance to respond. First of all, thank you so much for your concern, reassurance and feedback.

We are in day 2 of 30 of Limbo's chelation treatment. I am keeping him warm and scouring my place for the source of the offending metal. Limbo's condition has massively improved since my post. He is eating voraciously (almost too much) as if to make up for the past few days. He still has not vomited and his stool is normal. He is back to beak grinding. He flies around more and seems to have a more steady grip. He is back to vocalizing as well.

But he is not yet 100%. I see him sometimes with eyes half-closed and would prefer to cuddle or nap instead of wreak havoc. I wonder if this is a side effect of the chelation treatment? The justanswer link that Littleredbeak provided is a more extreme version of my experience. It does kind of remind me of what I read in this forum years ago, that chelation is taxing to birds. I also got scared that the link talked about potential damage to internal organs. I had asked my vet if this the chelation treatment would weaken Limbo but he dismissed it, saying only the injection was harsh, but the oral chelation was not. Limbo got an injection once and 30 days of oral chelation.

My vet is avian certified and his practice is focused only on birds. Here is his link: https://www.thebirdclinic.com/ I'm not sure if I should share my vet's website. If it's against the rules, I will take it down.

Thank you again for all your input. They are all appreciated and valued!!

That’s so amazing they only treat birds!

 

[Scott]

Hello Everyone. I'm sorry for my late update. I've been reading your posts but have not had a chance to respond. First of all, thank you so much for your concern, reassurance and feedback.

We are in day 2 of 30 of Limbo's chelation treatment. I am keeping him warm and scouring my place for the source of the offending metal. Limbo's condition has massively improved since my post. He is eating voraciously (almost too much) as if to make up for the past few days. He still has not vomited and his stool is normal. He is back to beak grinding. He flies around more and seems to have a more steady grip. He is back to vocalizing as well.

But he is not yet 100%. I see him sometimes with eyes half-closed and would prefer to cuddle or nap instead of wreak havoc. I wonder if this is a side effect of the chelation treatment? The justanswer link that Littleredbeak provided is a more extreme version of my experience. It does kind of remind me of what I read in this forum years ago, that chelation is taxing to birds. I also got scared that the link talked about potential damage to internal organs. I had asked my vet if this the chelation treatment would weaken Limbo but he dismissed it, saying only the injection was harsh, but the oral chelation was not. Limbo got an injection once and 30 days of oral chelation.

My vet is avian certified and his practice is focused only on birds. Here is his link: https://www.thebirdclinic.com/ I'm not sure if I should share my vet's website. If it's against the rules, I will take it down.

Thank you again for all your input. They are all appreciated and valued!!

Absolutely acceptable to post link for recommended vet. We have a dedicated "sticky" thread in General Health Care if you wish to share: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/9841-vets-your-area.html

I have not personally used Dr. Nemetz but his background and user comments on social media are impeccable. You can rest a bit easier knowing Limbo is entrusted to a highly skilled vet!

 

[noodles123]

I'm so glad he's doing better. I have to say, without treatment, this could have been deadly, so the tiredness etc is likely due to the metal and stress- not necessarily the meds. Chelation is crucial in these circumstances, and I am hoping you caught it just in time. I am sure you can find horror stories about birds appearing to get sicker because of it, but I would venture to say that it was probably the metal or an extreme individual reaction in those instances.