Amazon - possible fractured femur

[Geslina]

I noticed last night that my 37 year old Amazon (blue front) was not putting weight on his left leg, which is his dominant leg. He was using it to eat, but not standing on it, and trouble walking on it. Other than huddling a little on his perch, probably from pain, he still was eating, moving around, and even took a bath in his water bowl this morning. His drippings look normal. So, this being Saturday, I took him to the emergency vet near us, where I know no one and no one knows me.

They took him from me as soon as I got there, and after an almost 3 hour wait, I finally talked to a student, who said the initial exam was done by some avian doctor who was somewhere in the building, and she thought a femur fracture, or severe osteoarthritis of the hip joint. I have not see him fall, or do anything else that was bad enough to break a bone. Could it be his just getting older and his bones are fragile and that even a twist the wrong way could break a bone? Anyway, they want to do X-rays to confirm, which is another several hours wait because they are so busy. He will have to be sedated for the X-rays. I asked what could be done if it was a fracture, and she said either surgery or amputation. (!!!)

So now I am waiting for the them to do the X-rays. Poor Max. I asked to see him and he is so, so scared. I am extremely worried about the fracture, but just as worried about the stress he is under, and about sedating him. Max is a wild caught parrot, and pretty robust and healthy. But still a lot of cause for worry here.

Has anyone here ever had a bird with a fracture? Can anyone say anything to make me feel better…because I am just sick with worry right now. I have had this bird for 31 years. Half of my life. I can’t lose him.

 

[LaManuka]

I noticed last night that my 37 year old Amazon (blue front) was not putting weight on his left leg, which is his dominant leg. He was using it to eat, but not standing on it, and trouble walking on it. Other than huddling a little on his perch, probably from pain, he still was eating, moving around, and even took a bath in his water bowl this morning. His drippings look normal. So, this being Saturday, I took him to the emergency vet near us, where I know no one and no one knows me.

They took him from me as soon as I got there, and after an almost 3 hour wait, I finally talked to a student, who said the initial exam was done by some avian doctor who was somewhere in the building, and she thought a femur fracture, or severe osteoarthritis of the hip joint. I have not see him fall, or do anything else that was bad enough to break a bone. Could it be his just getting older and his bones are fragile and that even a twist the wrong way could break a bone? Anyway, they want to do X-rays to confirm, which is another several hours wait because they are so busy. He will have to be sedated for the X-rays. I asked what could be done if it was a fracture, and she said either surgery or amputation. (!!!)

So now I am waiting for the them to do the X-rays. Poor Max. I asked to see him and he is so, so scared. I am extremely worried about the fracture, but just as worried about the stress he is under, and about sedating him. Max is a wild caught parrot, and pretty robust and healthy. But still a lot of cause for worry here.

Has anyone here ever had a bird with a fracture? Can anyone say anything to make me feel better…because I am just sick with worry right now. I have had this bird for 31 years. Half of my life. I can’t lose him.

View attachment 82052

I haven't had a bird with a fracture before, but I have had a few stay in clinic for a few days a couple of times and a number go undersedation for various treatments as well. I'd be lying if I said everything always turned out 100% successful although the vast majority of the time it was so I do quite understand how anxious you feel, and I am so sorry you're going through this. You're certainly not alone though, and you have my every sympathy, good wish and prayer for Max to get through this

 

[rheashard2]

This is hard for both of you . You have my prayers. Fear, concerns and what if thoughts can play havoc with your emotions and thinking. Take care of yourself so you can take care of Max

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I noticed last night that my 37 year old Amazon (blue front) was not putting weight on his left leg, which is his dominant leg. He was using it to eat, but not standing on it, and trouble walking on it. Other than huddling a little on his perch, probably from pain, he still was eating, moving around, and even took a bath in his water bowl this morning. His drippings look normal. So, this being Saturday, I took him to the emergency vet near us, where I know no one and no one knows me.

They took him from me as soon as I got there, and after an almost 3 hour wait, I finally talked to a student, who said the initial exam was done by some avian doctor who was somewhere in the building, and she thought a femur fracture, or severe osteoarthritis of the hip joint. I have not see him fall, or do anything else that was bad enough to break a bone. Could it be his just getting older and his bones are fragile and that even a twist the wrong way could break a bone? Anyway, they want to do X-rays to confirm, which is another several hours wait because they are so busy. He will have to be sedated for the X-rays. I asked what could be done if it was a fracture, and she said either surgery or amputation. (!!!)

So now I am waiting for the them to do the X-rays. Poor Max. I asked to see him and he is so, so scared. I am extremely worried about the fracture, but just as worried about the stress he is under, and about sedating him. Max is a wild caught parrot, and pretty robust and healthy. But still a lot of cause for worry here.

Has anyone here ever had a bird with a fracture? Can anyone say anything to make me feel better…because I am just sick with worry right now. I have had this bird for 31 years. Half of my life. I can’t lose him.

View attachment 82052

Yes. I had a budgie that fractured her femur in a fall, confirmed by xray. I was told there was nothing that could be done. I put her in a heavily padded plexiglass "cage" so she couldn't fly or climb. She also continued to eat. She recovered to live another year when she suffered a bad stroke and I had her euthanized. She had a history of too much egg laying prior to me adopting her and had osteoporosis.
Max will need to be kept safe from falls that will prevent healing. Climbing should be prevented too, because it stresses the fractured area. I would not amputate. Surgery would probably be risky but may be successful in a large bird like an Amazon.
Dont worry about risk of sedation with xrays. I have had many budgie sedated for xrays. It's far less stressful to sedate the bird than to try to do an xray or other procedure without sedation.

 

[kme3388]

I do not have any experience with a parrot with a fractured femur. I do have 2 parrots that I adopted with broken wings. I was informed by 2 vets that surgery is not an option. Parrots don’t do well under anesthesia is what one vet told me. The other one told me with my larger parrot that macaws generally don’t fly in captivity anyways as they are a big bird, and need lots of space to do so. It’s more rare that they do fly from what I was told. It’s an old injury so the muscles are already weak. The risks just aren’t worth it was my perception from the appointments. I hope your parrot is okay, and just strained something temporarily.

 

[wrench13]

I hope everything goes well with your old boy! He's not even that old, so a heathy bird, treated and handled by good staff has good chance of being OK.

 

[Geslina]

Thanks for the replies. I had a friend who took her military macaw to a local vet, one with a great reputation - it was a routine visit. He was dead 20 minutes later, happened when they took him back I think to do bloodwork.

Anyway, thank you for your replies. I just called for an update and they said the doctor would be calling me in a few minutes.

I hope everything goes well with your old boy! He's not even that old, so a heathy bird, treated and handled by good staff has good chance of being OK.

the X-rays confirmed that he has a fractured femur. The vet I talked to…he called me…never actually saw a vet, you don’t see the them at this place, I guess. I really didn’t want to go to this particular emergency vet, but it was the only one I wouldn’t have to drive over an hour to get to..

Anyway, I finally got him back after a long long day of worrying about him being there, him being so scared, a bunch of strangers handling him and stressing him out. He was freaked out at first, but by the time we got home, he was ok. He ate some spaghetti, a few pistachios, and a piece of apple. Then I got him in bed with me, he lets me pick him up like you would pick up a chicken, and he fell asleep between my boobs for a few hours. We both fell asleep, actually, then I woke up with him trying to take my readers off, he had had enough of snuggling. They have him on tramadol and an anti inflammatory and cage rest. He isn’t cooperating with the cage rest. I took all his perches out and set things up at the bottom of the cage, made him a towel perch, but he is still trying to climb up to where his dish holders are. The holders are part of the cage, I can’t take them out, and he wants to perch on them. So I put a wide cement perch really low in the cage, only an inch or two high, and so far he is staying on that. But I might have to dig his old cage out of the shed, or get one of those big plastic boxes so he can’t climb.

I am beyond devastated. I have had him for so long. He had 2 other owners in his early days, so I am his third owner, I got him in 1993 from someone who just didn’t want him anymore, he was getting married and the bird didn’t fit into his new life. I just can’t imagine my life without this him. I think all the time about him getting older, how much time he might have left, or what would happen if something happened to me…but I never thought something like this would happen.

I think I am going to take him to Penn Vets in Philadelphia. Get a second opinion, and if it has to be surgery, have it done there. It’s not that far for me, and is the best place around.

Thanks everyone for your replies. There is no comfort here, it is what it is and I guess all I can do now is hope he makes it through surgery, hope there are no complications, and pray for the best.

 

[rheashard2]

Glad things are looking up. Good luck and take care of yourself as you take care of him.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The large plastic bin is a good idea. He's going to be okay. As long as he's eating he will be okay. I wouldn't have surgery. He will heal.

 

[LaManuka]

Thanks for the replies. I had a friend who took her military macaw to a local vet, one with a great reputation - it was a routine visit. He was dead 20 minutes later, happened when they took him back I think to do bloodwork.

Anyway, thank you for your replies. I just called for an update and they said the doctor would be calling me in a few minutes.

the X-rays confirmed that he has a fractured femur. The vet I talked to…he called me…never actually saw a vet, you don’t see the them at this place, I guess. I really didn’t want to go to this particular emergency vet, but it was the only one I wouldn’t have to drive over an hour to get to..

Anyway, I finally got him back after a long long day of worrying about him being there, him being so scared, a bunch of strangers handling him and stressing him out. He was freaked out at first, but by the time we got home, he was ok. He ate some spaghetti, a few pistachios, and a piece of apple. Then I got him in bed with me, he lets me pick him up like you would pick up a chicken, and he fell asleep between my boobs for a few hours. We both fell asleep, actually, then I woke up with him trying to take my readers off, he had had enough of snuggling. They have him on tramadol and an anti inflammatory and cage rest. He isn’t cooperating with the cage rest. I took all his perches out and set things up at the bottom of the cage, made him a towel perch, but he is still trying to climb up to where his dish holders are. The holders are part of the cage, I can’t take them out, and he wants to perch on them. So I put a wide cement perch really low in the cage, only an inch or two high, and so far he is staying on that. But I might have to dig his old cage out of the shed, or get one of those big plastic boxes so he can’t climb.

I am beyond devastated. I have had him for so long. He had 2 other owners in his early days, so I am his third owner, I got him in 1993 from someone who just didn’t want him anymore, he was getting married and the bird didn’t fit into his new life. I just can’t imagine my life without this him. I think all the time about him getting older, how much time he might have left, or what would happen if something happened to me…but I never thought something like this would happen.

I think I am going to take him to Penn Vets in Philadelphia. Get a second opinion, and if it has to be surgery, have it done there. It’s not that far for me, and is the best place around.

Thanks everyone for your replies. There is no comfort here, it is what it is and I guess all I can do now is hope he makes it through surgery, hope there are no complications, and pray for the best.

I think you are doing the right thing, @Geslina, getting a second opinion and looking in to the surgery. In my experience these things are largely out of our control, what's going to happen will happen. It's a situation of "damned if we do and damned if we don't" sometimes, I've been there and irrespective of what I had or hadn't done, it still would've broken my heart, and it did. Whatever you choose to do, it will be the right thing for Max because you're doing it out of your love for him, and I wish the two of you all the very best of luck in the world.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I really think Max is going to be okay. You can go ahead with surgery but the femur is inside the abdomen and surgery in there is risky. That's what my avian vet told me. Not feasable on a large Englsh budgie and risky on a larger bird. My budgie healed. These breaks can heal without surgery. I'd ask him if the fracture is displaced or not displaced. If it's not displaced it can heal in one piece. Displaced wouldn't, but even then the two ends will heal and he will just limp. I broke my outer foot bone a few months ago (all the way through) and walked on it a lot for 14 days before I knew it was fractured. It did not displace despite all that walking. It healed fine.
I'd hate to see how heartbroken ypu would be if Max died in surgery.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The other risk with surgery is that if they survive the operation they will have an incision and animals including birds can't seem to stop licking and chewing at stitches and bandages. They probably heal quickly if they don't pick at the wound but it's hard to stop them. Birds don't do well with collars.
I hope Max gets through this. It's odd that he fractured his femur without an obvious accident or fall but osteoporosis can lead to broken bones without a lot of force. My budgie fractured hers just falling from the cage door to the floor less than three feet down. Like Max, she limped and couldn't put weight on the leg so I brought her to the vet and the xray showed a femur fracture. The vet said her condition was "guarded" meaning msybe msybe not (survival) I didn't give up on her.

 

[texsize]

Please keep us updated.

 

[rheashard2]

Guarded is a medical catch all word. The medical community avoids phrases like; looking good, doing well, stable etc. The reason is law suits for mental duress and other such. If he is looking good, doing well, stable then why is he worse or dead? Not knowing your vet I can't judge. My vet told me that as when Nameliss had pneumonia and dog had major surgery. From him it meant follow directions, be alert for changes, especially negative. No matter how subtle change is, especially for my bird. If any call at once. There's concern that broken bone can develop problem associated with this injury. It doesn't mean that it will happen! Be alert and take care of yourself too. Too much of your worrying can leak to Max causing him stress. He won't know or understand why you are worried. Only that you are.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What he meant by "guarded" was that he didn't know whether Lilibet the budgie would heal and survive or die from the injury. I figured that as long as she was eating drinking and pooping, she felt okay. Not eating would be a sign that she was in severe distress and a bird that won't eat will die. Some birds that DO eat will die, of course, but a broken bone that doesn't penetrate the skin and doesn't perforate any vital internal structures generally won't kill a bird. Bones have a good blood supply and do heal. Torn cartilage, ligaments or tendons do not heal as well because they don't have a good blood supply. I'd much rather break a bone than tear my rotator cuff.

What is a lawsuit for "medical duress"? I was a medical malpractice attorney for 20 years and I'm not sure what you're referring to.