Amazon - possible fractured femur

[DonnaBudgie]

I wish my budgies didn't throw their food on the cage floor. They tossed about a pound of seed out of their dispenser a few days ago. It would be a huge waste if it was pellets. At least I can put the wasted seed out for the wild birds and chipmunks. Pellets might not get eaten especially after getting wet on the ground.

 

[Geslina]

I have had my macaw 51 years. He was a wild-caught adult, so age unknown. I estimate about 55+. My bird hates pellets as well. He used to tolerate the ZuPreem nut-flavored pellets for large birds, but then they discontinued them! The version for small birds was unacceptable to his discriminating palate. I have tried so many brands and varieties of pellets and he would rather starve than eat them! I figure that he has made it this long on his diet (fruit, veggies, oatmeal, nuts, the occasional bit of egg, etc.), that pellets were just not meant to be.

He is in great health. You would never guess his age by looking at him! My vet agrees with your comment about wild-caught birds having a stronger constitution than captive bred birds. Survival of the fittest!

Wow, 51! And captured as an adult, poor birdie. I am going to try pellets again, maybe after all this trauma, Max will have a change of heart about them.

I picked him up at 4p today. The nurse that did his discharge was the one who assisted with the anesthesia during his surgery, and she was so sweet and so genuinely happy about how well he was doing, she said the whole team was. She said Max was their “ pride and joy” case for the week, maybe even the month. So he is home, have his little rehab box set up. He hates it. He has his fleece collar, which he is determined to take off and would have by now if I wasn’t here. Not sure how I am going to handle that. His appetite isn’t great but they gave me a supplement I can feed him with a syringe and I think he likes it. Right now he is asleep in my lap in a cushy fleece blanket. Going to just take it day by day, what else can you do?

 

[LaManuka]

Wow, home already! That's awesome, I'm so happy for the two of you!

 

[Geslina]

Such a tough decision, but all that matters now is that Max survived the surgery! Geslina was very brave- probably braver than I would have been. She's so lucky she had access to such a great facility with world class avian vets. I'm a couple hours from Boston and Angell MSPCA vet hospital and vet school so that's where I would go if needed.
Maybe we should all try to identify the best veterinary teaching hospital closest to us in the event we need very high end care like this for our birds and pray we never need it.

I think that is a good idea. I could not be more thrilled with the genuine caring I felt from the team who cared for Max. I could have taken him to Penn Vets (part of PennUniversity vet school in Philadelphia) but the place I went also has an excellent reputation, and both were about a 45 min drive, and I really didn’t want to drive into the city, so Max had his surgery at NorthStar Vets. They have a few locations, one in Philly, one in south Jersey, and the one I went to, in Robbinsville, which is central New Jersey, near Trenton. Oh, and the last quote I got for the surgery was I think $7000-$9000 - but it turned out to be less, less than $6000, around $7000 if you count the X-rays and bloodwork on the consult day, and around $50 in gas with all the trips back and forth. So, always nice to have things turn out to be cheaper!

Thank you for saying I was brave….even though I wasn’t. I was just sick with worry all week and cried so much I stopped bothering to even put makeup on. I am just so grateful for how things have gone so far, and hope he will recover from all this.

Here he is, zonked on Tramadol. Going to put him to bed soon, we could both use a good night’s sleep!

 

[Geslina]

Wow, home already! That's awesome, I'm so happy for the two of you!

I would have been ok with them keeping him another night, but they said he was eating and drinking and everything looked good, so here he is! So now I am just going to balance rest with showering him with tons of love, making him all his favorite things to eat, and keep praying he makes it through the recovery process and we can get back to a somewhat normal life!