Hahnzel Left for the Rainbow bridge today

[goalerjones]

My Hahns Macaw, Hahnzel passed today (1/12/26) at 14 years old. This will be my first post since she passed today around 3:30 PST. Normal day, no strange behaviors, no notice until she fell to the bottom of her cage, wings spread out in an apparent seizure. Then she passed.

She came to us in July of 2011 (thought she was a he, until the sexting came back female in 2014). We got her as a weaned baby, didn't even have her dark teal crown yet. I had no idea what to expect even after lots of research before shopping. I had a Jenday Conure named George prior, who had passed the year before, unfortunately under similar circumstances, passed while seizing (although we had just gotten him back after an adventure the day before).

Just spent some time going over my Facebook feed for the posts and videos, made me miss her more, but it was nice to hear her voice again. I had her down to Avian and Exotics Animal Hospital within an hour after she passed. I decided to do the full necropsy with UC Davis for a few reasons. First, when George passed I only had the gross anatomical version done, which showed nothing abnormal. Second, since the birds passed with similar endings, I thought it best to be thorough, and finally, I had just worked a bunch of overtime and had the money. ($650 USD) It comes with a final Vet one on one consult as well, so I can do a Q and A with Dr Jenkins.

I began cleaning out the old toys and perches when I got home tonight, and I have a couple of cages to clean up. Maybe I can sell them, maybe not, but wanted to be productive all the same.

I'll say this in closing, I loved my birds, and was very bonded although they had completely different personalities, and put up with all the shenanigan's, George escaping 5 times and Hahnzel jumping on my face and biting my nose and mouth when I got too close to her cage. I only got Hahnzel because my wife said I was a different person when I had a bird. I always had one eye on Hahnzel, and one eye on the day she would pass unfortunately because of how badly it hurt when George passed. I am not planning on having another bird at this time. These passings have been very hard on me as I tended to treat them like small humans.

One pastor I know was asked if our pets will be in heaven. He said, "God knows you and I perfectly, and He created heaven specifically for you. He guarantees you will be happy there, and if that means your pets will be there, then they will be."

 

[wrench13]

My deepest condolences to you. I too ( and many of us) have lost a treasured feather baby. Remember the good times , it does help a bit.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, with the pleasure also comes the pain. Maybe after some time has passed you will feel differently about getting another bird. You have a lot of love to give a parrot that needs it.

 

[LaManuka]

My Hahns Macaw, Hahnzel passed today (1/12/26) at 14 years old. This will be my first post since she passed today around 3:30 PST. Normal day, no strange behaviors, no notice until she fell to the bottom of her cage, wings spread out in an apparent seizure. Then she passed.

She came to us in July of 2011 (thought she was a he, until the sexting came back female in 2014). We got her as a weaned baby, didn't even have her dark teal crown yet. I had no idea what to expect even after lots of research before shopping. I had a Jenday Conure named George prior, who had passed the year before, unfortunately under similar circumstances, passed while seizing (although we had just gotten him back after an adventure the day before).

Just spent some time going over my Facebook feed for the posts and videos, made me miss her more, but it was nice to hear her voice again. I had her down to Avian and Exotics Animal Hospital within an hour after she passed. I decided to do the full necropsy with UC Davis for a few reasons. First, when George passed I only had the gross anatomical version done, which showed nothing abnormal. Second, since the birds passed with similar endings, I thought it best to be thorough, and finally, I had just worked a bunch of overtime and had the money. ($650 USD) It comes with a final Vet one on one consult as well, so I can do a Q and A with Dr Jenkins.

I began cleaning out the old toys and perches when I got home tonight, and I have a couple of cages to clean up. Maybe I can sell them, maybe not, but wanted to be productive all the same.

I'll say this in closing, I loved my birds, and was very bonded although they had completely different personalities, and put up with all the shenanigan's, George escaping 5 times and Hahnzel jumping on my face and biting my nose and mouth when I got too close to her cage. I only got Hahnzel because my wife said I was a different person when I had a bird. I always had one eye on Hahnzel, and one eye on the day she would pass unfortunately because of how badly it hurt when George passed. I am not planning on having another bird at this time. These passings have been very hard on me as I tended to treat them like small humans.

One pastor I know was asked if our pets will be in heaven. He said, "God knows you and I perfectly, and He created heaven specifically for you. He guarantees you will be happy there, and if that means your pets will be there, then they will be."View attachment 83685

I'm so sorry for your loss, @goalerjones, your girl was absolutely gorgeous.

 

[Corkscr.ew]

Sending my sincerest condolences! I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[goalerjones]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, with the pleasure also comes the pain. Maybe after some time has passed you will feel differently about getting another bird. You have a lot of love to give a parrot that needs it.

Thanks Donna. I'm considering this but will need time to separate from emotion and move towards reason. I do want to wait for the full necropsy before making any decisions, in case it was something in the home or diet that made the problem.

 

[Geslina]

My Hahns Macaw, Hahnzel passed today (1/12/26) at 14 years old. This will be my first post since she passed today around 3:30 PST. Normal day, no strange behaviors, no notice until she fell to the bottom of her cage, wings spread out in an apparent seizure. Then she passed.

She came to us in July of 2011 (thought she was a he, until the sexting came back female in 2014). We got her as a weaned baby, didn't even have her dark teal crown yet. I had no idea what to expect even after lots of research before shopping. I had a Jenday Conure named George prior, who had passed the year before, unfortunately under similar circumstances, passed while seizing (although we had just gotten him back after an adventure the day before).

Just spent some time going over my Facebook feed for the posts and videos, made me miss her more, but it was nice to hear her voice again. I had her down to Avian and Exotics Animal Hospital within an hour after she passed. I decided to do the full necropsy with UC Davis for a few reasons. First, when George passed I only had the gross anatomical version done, which showed nothing abnormal. Second, since the birds passed with similar endings, I thought it best to be thorough, and finally, I had just worked a bunch of overtime and had the money. ($650 USD) It comes with a final Vet one on one consult as well, so I can do a Q and A with Dr Jenkins.

I began cleaning out the old toys and perches when I got home tonight, and I have a couple of cages to clean up. Maybe I can sell them, maybe not, but wanted to be productive all the same.

I'll say this in closing, I loved my birds, and was very bonded although they had completely different personalities, and put up with all the shenanigan's, George escaping 5 times and Hahnzel jumping on my face and biting my nose and mouth when I got too close to her cage. I only got Hahnzel because my wife said I was a different person when I had a bird. I always had one eye on Hahnzel, and one eye on the day she would pass unfortunately because of how badly it hurt when George passed. I am not planning on having another bird at this time. These passings have been very hard on me as I tended to treat them like small humans.

One pastor I know was asked if our pets will be in heaven. He said, "God knows you and I perfectly, and He created heaven specifically for you. He guarantees you will be happy there, and if that means your pets will be there, then they will be."View attachment 83685

So, so sorry for your loss. And such a young bird too. How sad. Years ago I read an account online, some agnostic guy with a pine nut allergy who went into anaphylactic shock and coded in the ER. He said he found himself in a huge field of grass and bounding towards him at top speed was his dog who had died some years before. She leapt into his arms, was licking his face, overjoyed to see him again…he said it was as real as real life…and then he was back in the ER, doctor standing over him, saying “welcome back!”

Pope Francis said, “There is room in heaven for all God’s creatures.” I believe that. I worked in a nursing home for 14 years, dealt with death regularly, and had a lot of strange and unexplained things happen. Death is not the end. Wherever it is we go, I think everyone and everything we loved will be there too!

 

[goalerjones]

Thanks everyone for your comments and condolences. Took a few days off this week to process. It's funny, after 14 years with my 150gm overlord, I catch myself prepping for responses and safety, like hiding my toothbrush (which she always went after) and making sure outside doors are closed before entering the room. She used to sleep under my shirt while I charted my pt visits in the evenings, and the other night I went to stabilize her while I got up from my chair, as I had done nearly every night to keep her from falling, and forgot she wasn't there. Attached is the IG memorial Reel I made. link from IG reel

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Heartwarming yet heartbreaking at the same time- isn’t that the way love and loss always is. Hahnzel was such a beautiful special bird.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I hope you share the necropsy results with us. I had a budgie die at 13 years old of chronic kidney failure. He had cataracts and a probable history of a testicular tumor that had apparently died and my avian vet wanted to perform a necropsy to see what the insides of a geriatric budgie with his health history looked like and learn more about avian medicine. I was happy to give him Buddy's body after he died at home. He found the remnants of the shriveled up tumor that had been excreting femininity hormones for years then stopped. Buddy's kidneys were clogged with urates that they had been unable to clean out of his blood at the end. He learned something so it was all good.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

** Hugs** I'm glad they found a home with you . Sending my condolences, too.

 

[goalerjones]

Final necropsy report has come back. Appears to be an aortic aneurysm. So nothing preventable/predictable.

From Dr Mesli at UC Davis:
"The only and significant finding on the microscopic examination of the tissues was the acute, extensive hemorrhaging in the heart muscle - mainly in the septum and left ventricular free wall, which is consistent with the unexpected death of Hahnzel. I couldn't find arterial changes suggestive of atherosclerosis in the vessels examined, a more classically expected condition of psittacines. In order to get a better understanding of the source of the hemorrhage, I looked at multiple deeper - serial sections and trimmed additional heart sections. The additional sections have a better view that there is quite a diffuse, significant and chronic degenerative change in a major vessel (presumptively aorta) with asymmetrical thinning of the wall at the base of the heart, which may indicate a focal tear or rupture. The degenerative change is chronic, with a possible spontaneous tear. Talking to Joe, I believe Hahnzel didn't show clinical signs of heart disease prior thus it could have been subclinical until the acute tear. "

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you for sharing this, I hope it gave you a little closure but it's heartbreaking to have lost her nonetheless. Sending you love and hugs, @goalerjones, the life Hahnzel lived with you was so full of love.

 

[goalerjones]

Thank you for sharing this, I hope it gave you a little closure but it's heartbreaking to have lost her nonetheless. Sending you love and hugs, @goalerjones, the life Hahnzel lived with you was so full of love.

Thanks. It did bring me closure as the nature was sudden and totally unpredictable. She came from a breeder who had a lot of negative reviews in the marketplace, and cost me $500. I think I was lucky to actually get a bird at all, since scamming seemed to be an issue. The only possible way to have seen this coming was if we had known her family history which we didn't. I loved her for 14 years, even when she randomly bit my face. She was also the worst bite my avian vet had ever had in his career. So she's been immortalized.

The vet performing the necropsy and I had some good conversations. She feels like I should get another bird, as does my vet. He did however, recommend I NOT get another Hahns.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Final necropsy report has come back. Appears to be an aortic aneurysm. So nothing preventable/predictable.

From Dr Mesli at UC Davis:
"The only and significant finding on the microscopic examination of the tissues was the acute, extensive hemorrhaging in the heart muscle - mainly in the septum and left ventricular free wall, which is consistent with the unexpected death of Hahnzel. I couldn't find arterial changes suggestive of atherosclerosis in the vessels examined, a more classically expected condition of psittacines. In order to get a better understanding of the source of the hemorrhage, I looked at multiple deeper - serial sections and trimmed additional heart sections. The additional sections have a better view that there is quite a diffuse, significant and chronic degenerative change in a major vessel (presumptively aorta) with asymmetrical thinning of the wall at the base of the heart, which may indicate a focal tear or rupture. The degenerative change is chronic, with a possible spontaneous tear. Talking to Joe, I believe Hahnzel didn't show clinical signs of heart disease prior thus it could have been subclinical until the acute tear.

Thanks. It did bring me closure as the nature was sudden and totally unpredictable. She came from a breeder who had a lot of negative reviews in the marketplace, and cost me $500. I think I was lucky to actually get a bird at all, since scamming seemed to be an issue. The only possible way to have seen this coming was if we had known her family history which we didn't. I loved her for 14 years, even when she randomly bit my face. She was also the worst bite my avian vet had ever had in his career. So she's been immortalized.

The vet performing the necropsy and I had some good conversations. She feels like I should get another bird, as does my vet. He did however, recommend I NOT get another Hahns.

I'm glad you got the necropsy not only for your sake but for avian medicine. Looking at the insides of a parrot that dies unexpectedly like this is an important learning exercise to help them better understand why parrots die like this. Most people don't have their birds necropsied. When my avian vet necropsied my 13 year old budgie that died years ago he learned more about testicular tumors, renal failure, cataracts, and the overall condition of a geriatric budgie.

Why wouldn't you want another Hahns?

 

[goalerjones]

I'm glad you got the necropsy not only for your sake but for avian medicine. Looking at the insides of a parrot that dies unexpectedly like this is an important learning exercise to help them better understand why parrots die like this. Most people don't have their birds necropsied. When my avian vet necropsied my 13 year old budgie that died years ago he learned more about testicular tumors, renal failure, cataracts, and the overall condition of a geriatric budgie.

Why wouldn't you want another Hahns?

Hahn's have a reputation for being very aggressive overall, something my wife and son found out, as well as myself. My son went away to college and came home on break, only to find she had started attacking him for no reason. My wife also found the same behavior, she flew over to her just to bite her. It took awhile to get a good read on her nonverbal signs of aggression, but in the meantime it began to cause PTSD-type symptoms, always flinching and fearful of getting attacked without provocation. She could be very sweet at times, but that Jekyll-Hyde behavior was difficult to deal with.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

That makes sense. I would hate to be afraid of my own parrot.