egg AGAIN

noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Took Noodles to the vet today because I knew she was going to lay an egg again and the last few days she has been showing all the signs. At the risk of complications (since they aren't open and doctor has very very limited hours due having recovered from very serious COVID) I took her in on emergency and went ahead with the prostaglandin...As I believe her 24 hours post-formation had passed...thereby defining her as "egg bound'. I wonder if she just takes longer, because the times when she did it herself, she waited a bit longer, but that amount of polyuria was concerning me because I was afraid she would get too weak if that lasted longer (even though she was eating and drinking).

Egg shot out on the drive home. Replaced it with a dummy that happens to be much larger because I bought new ones based on the size of her last (of course....the last one would have been a match, but this dummy egg is larger compared to this egg *hoping she was too busy contracting to pay attention to details..) I asked about the fact that she is still messing with that old dummy egg and he insisted that I should leave it (even with the new one) until I stop seeing her move it around at night. I will say that it was month to month for a while there, so leaving the egg does seem to have afforded

I am at my wit's end with her laying. I do everything I can to control hormones (12 hours sleep, no shadowy spaces in or out of cage, no nesting materials, petting on head and neck only).

I do cover her cage at night (not before bed--- ONLY AT BEDTIME--which she has memorized from her internal clock), but I use a black out cover and she sleeps in her room with the lights off/ drapes drawn. She puts herself to bed like clock-work, and she is very insistent upon it, but it lines up perfectly w/ 12 hours.

I just don't get how she never had this issue for so many years and then BAM-- and I still think it has to do with how happy she was to see me when I cam home each day after returning to work after the stay-at-home orders all summer. Like, my presence after work pushed her over the edge....

Now we are in a cycle....

I do give her some oatmeal daily, which I guess I could stop doing (it is mushy), but it never caused an issue all these years ....Laura mentioned in another post that maybe I should try not covering the cage at night, but the light/dark hours she would get would be crazy, as it isn't dark until 8 or so and she wakes up with me at 5am (gets light around 6). I also KNOW she would have a fit and wouldn't sleep uncovered, as she has never done it before. She screams in the car if we drive past dark and she isn't in her big cage and covered.....If I didn't cover, she'd get an excessive amount of light and not enough sleep. **TO BE CLEAR--I never ever partially cover the cage or anything crazy like that (which would be a massive trigger). I only cover her at the start of her 12 hours sleep, which she initiates within the hour daily).

OY --OF COURSE this happened on the worst possible day....sucked all of the peace out of my week...I feel like I haven't slept in days.


Any thoughts are welcome.

**I know lupron and other hormonal methods are options for excessive layers, but according to the vet, at egg 3, he said her laying is not "excessive" enough to merit something so invasive..... I wonder if egg 4 changed that opinion. I didn't ask because he was clearly not feeling well after his ordeal and I was squeezed in after his hours (they are shorter because of his covid recovery). The receptionists and techs were exhausted and the whole ordeal just was really really stressful. The egg itself wasn't the stressful part (although polyuria is and egg-bound behavior is terrifying)- but the timing was (that seems to be a trend...always starts mid week and lays it on the dang weekend)

I believe this is egg 4 since November (so she has laid 50% without intervention)...I wonder if this one would have come out on its own (I was starting to think it might this afternoon, but I was terrified that if it didn't Sunday would roll around and I would be out of luck).


I thought about moving her cage, but that would be complicated because of window positioning and the next best room would put her open window at sidewalk level in a very heavily traveled sidewalk RIGHT next to the road. I haven't moved much around in her cage, which I could also do, but again, never had issues before and she really doesn't like changes to her cage very much at all (she gets super scared of certain perches etc)


The vet gave me a huge compliment in terms of how well I know her---I'm like an egg detector LOL. I asked about prolapse risk from intervention and he said it is always a slight risk but that most people wait way too long to get their birds in for this issue and that shouldn't be an issue for her because I act quickly each time. HONESTLY, I cannot imagine waiting any longer (I always wait as long as I can). So that's upsetting to know that people are so out of touch with their animals that they would let it go on and on without noticing. A bird yesterday had an egg stuck to its uterus as a result of waiting and he had to literally peel it off...Can you imagine the horror?
 
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Laurasea

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Great job! Egg psychic!!

Try moving the cage a foot.
Try one night not covered. Yes stop oatmeal .
Does he have any calcium concerns?

You've read all the stuff I have.

Good luck. It is stressful.
 
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noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
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Great job! Egg psychic!!

Try moving the cage a foot.
Try one night not covered. Yes stop oatmeal .
Does he have any calcium concerns?

You've read all the stuff I have.

Good luck. It is stressful.


The last time we tried to run blood, there was an issue during transfer and the sample was not usable, but she also had an xray that day and he said that we should not take more blood (again, once we found out it was an egg, the concerns for blood were decreased)

That was when she was showing signs of egg-laying but xray showed no egg. She did lay an egg a few days after (so at the time, my concern was, if it isn't an egg, what is it--- but it turned out to be an egg).



Anyway, since this was so chaotic and I was squeezed in after hours, I talked as little as possible (other than thank you thank you thank you).



I can move her cage a foot or so-- that is not hard.



I just don't see the point in not covering when not enough sleep and extended daylight make it more likely that she would lay. I DO think I will get better black-out curtains though, because I think the sun may be shining a bit through the black out cage cover and making it feel more nesty..Like a cave or something (which obviously is no good). It's weird though, because she has been sexually mature for ages and our first year in this house, she also never laid an egg (same cover, cage, window etc) It all started about a month after I returned to working in person.
 
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Jen5200

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Oy, you have my sympathy! I just went through this with Tee (GCC) for the second time. She ended up getting Lupron shots. They suggested the implant, but I feel like the shots are less invasive and they last about the same amount of time. Last fall Tee did this and on egg two I got her in because I felt like it was taking too long (she was new to me as well and I didn’t know her behavior well enough to know what was normal or not). I had also been told she was a boy, so it was a total surprise lol. We did Lupron shots and that lasted until the end of March.

She started laying again in April and we went in to the vet on egg 6 - she had no distress but that’s way too many eggs for my comfort. She’s had supplemental calcium in her chop since I noticed her getting a bit heavy and thought she might have an egg in the hopper. I opted for Lupron again, and she laid two more and stopped. She’s fine - we have one more Lupron shot next week and supplemental calcium for a few more weeks.

Now that I know she’s a regular layer - I’ll do Lupron shots in March next year to hopefully get ahead of her even thinking about eggs. My vet suggested changing up her cage setup, more sleep and moving her cage position. Tee does sleep covered and gets lots of rest, but I definitely did the other things as well.
 

Laurasea

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Noodles they can evaluate her bone density from the x-ray, and determine if she is starting to loose due to egg laying.

Jenn 8 eggs!! Wow!! She is determined! I'm so glad she is ok
 
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noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
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Noodles they can evaluate her bone density from the x-ray, and determine if she is starting to loose due to egg laying.

Jenn 8 eggs!! Wow!! She is determined! I'm so glad she is ok


He's x rayed her many times recently (because of eggs) and he's like the most respected avian vet in this area (as I was once told to drive 5 hours to see him when I was living elsewhere--in a different state, actually). ..He said everything looked good --organs, bones etc on past x-rays (last of which would have been Feb or March). So that is reassuring at least...--she has had blood work within the past 3 years, because I forgot to mention that. The last x ray would have been egg 2 (I THINK) because then I called and told them that she had another on her own. If he had died of COVID...that would have been tragic (not just because he's a human with a family and a good heart) but because, seriously, 2 major metros (one of which is 4 hours away) depend on this guy. Thank GOD he made it and is still fighting for these guys (even though he is obviously still recuperating)...He's a really good person!


Again, my whole thing is, she has been egg-free for SO MANY years past sexual maturity...and now we are in a loop...a very recent loop. It is maddening.
 
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Scott

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I see strong parallel to your return to working in person but no explanation for why such dramatic response. I could better understand if newly sexually mature with significant home changes, but not the case.

Glad she's doing well as is your priceless vet!
 
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noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
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I see strong parallel to your return to working in person but no explanation for why such dramatic response. I could better understand if newly sexually mature with significant home changes, but not the case.

Glad she's doing well as is your priceless vet!




I know, right? That's how I feel too...It's really odd.


One thing I wonder----she never has had 2 eggs at once (but she only ever lays one at a time and then it is a month or so before another, and a typical clutch would be more than 1. I know most birds don't sit until the full clutch is out, so I am trying the 2 eggs to see if maybe she gets this out of her system. She was the quietest she has ever been this morning when I woke up very late (she normally starts slamming her seed skirt around at like 5am, but not expecting her silence, I slept until 9AM!!!! AHHH!). Anyway, when I uncovered her, she had the bigger of the 2 eggs under her chest...Maybe this is promising...granted, she hasn't sat on them all day since I woke up (so again, Noodles is the world's worst, but well-intentioned mother).
 

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