Sudden Loss - Trying to figure out cause

[noodles123]

In terms of your current situation- I am so sorry you are having to wait longer and I feel for you. Birds are excellent at hiding things from us. I commend you for getting to the bottom of this and I hope you get answers.

<3

I have to beg you: DO NOT RISK IT WITH THE PANS (despite the fact that some people do it- it is not safe). Would it be worth your bird's life if something went wrong due to the pans in the future? I am so glad it wasn't PTFE/PFOA/PFCs, but when my vet's "hold" message explicitly tells bird owners to get rid of teflon-coated appliances and pans, that is something. It is a minor sacrifice to cook without them, so I see no need to gamble in that department...It's one of the leading causes of pet birds in the USA. If you have any doubts, please visit this link and read the stories to the right of the main article-- also, see the references and do your own research (the references are verified): https://www.ewg.org/research/canaries-kitchen/teflon-kills-birds There are also many tradgedies reported by bird owners relating to Teflon (they are pretty upsetting, so don't read them now...but do read them if you are wondering whether to use a non-stick pan https://www.ewg.org/research/canaries-kitchen/bird-death-diaries )

 

[Therainbowfamily]

Preliminary results are back. So confusing. The vet said that she had starved herself. She was underweight and had no food in her system. We're so confused because she appeared to be eating regularly. The vet said she may have been fake eating to mask her symptoms. She said her lungs were totally fine. We are waiting for some labs to come back with additional results. Another thing that I noticed since seeing a few other birds, her feet were always much cooler in comparison. I'll update once the labs come back.

So sorry to hear this!

Can I ask what you were feeding her, was it what the breeder you got her from recommended to feed? Or did you try a bunch of new stuff?

Sometimes going to a new house and being given brand new unfamiliar food will cause birds to do this -- they need to be transitioned with food they are already familiar with. What were you feeding exactly?

I do want to mention that we've cooked with non-stick pans for years and have never had issues, our birds are right off our long kitchen and have never had a single issue with cooking. Just saying, from my own personal experience the cookware isn't the cause here.

The only other thing I can think of is that your bird wasn't weaned properly on its own yet -- though rare some birds refuse to eat food on their own until 6+ months old! It's possible that the baby was still being weaned, hand-fed formula and then you bought it just as it was still wanting formula, but never got any.

There's also the possibility that she was just poorly bred -- whether it be the breeder let two related birds have babies or some sort of genetic defect, perhaps she was not super healthy from the start.

So very sorry for your loss. It is never easy, but most of us have also experienced loss like this.

So, we were feeding it the seed from the place we got it. The guy said it was what he was feeding it. We added in pellets too. It appeared to be eating and we had the bird for 15 days, so I cannot imagine that it wasn't eating at least in the beginning. We're still waiting for labs to see if it was sick. After looking at other birds, I now do realize that this one's feet were a little cooler than the ones I have held recently. I also had added a new toy to the outside of the cage a couple of days before. I am worried that maybe the toy scared it from eating, although the toy was on the outside of the cage and on the opposite side of the food. I am trying to think of anything it could have possibly been. If the labs all come back negative, I may have to concede we'll never know for sure.

 

[Scott]

Puzzling indeed, perhaps lab tests will define an illness.