ScottinSoCal
Member
- Sep 7, 2019
- 66
- 73
- Parrots
- Had a Blue Front Amazon. Now have an African Grey (CAG)
Last night I got home from work, looking forward to a regular weekend. Scooter out, exploring the kitchen counter while I got her dinner ready. When I was done, she didn't want to go back to her cage and eat, but I had to get Silly Bird fed, so Scooter went on the back kitchen counter while I took care of Silly Bird on the island counter. Scooter helped herself to a banana. Silly goes back in her cage, and I left Scooter to wander while I cleaned up the banana mess. Looked over, and Scooter had helped herself to an avocado.
Call to the regular emergency vet, they don't treat birds. Call to the emergency vet they referred me to, and they said bring her in, but call the ASPCA poison control center first, to get a case open. Call the ASPCA number, they tell me there's nothing I can do, take her to the emergency vet, here's your open case number, and a number for your vet to call for consultation.
At the clinic they check her heart, blood sample, and then come back with their recommendations:
2 day stay for observation at the clinic
Crop lavage (force a tube down into her crop, fill the crop with saline solution, suck it back out, repeat until no more food comes out)
Charcoal force-fed, to soak up the toxins
2 day stay is out immediately. I'm not leaving her.
Crop lavage is potentially fatal, from a number of causes, but it will help flush out undigested avocado. After talking with hubs the RN, we both agree the known risks weighed against the unknown aren't worth it. No on the crop lavage.
Charcoal feed is yes. And they take her away.
I pace, fret myself into heartburn, try to read, and beat myself up for not keeping a closer eye on her, for not keeping her away from the avocados, for putting her on the counter, for even bringing her into the house where clearly incompetent people are supposed to be taking care of her and failing miserably. They bring her back, she's ruffled and unhappy and keeps shaking her head and spraying charcoal everywhere.
I bring her home, take her up to her sleeping closet, and settle in to watch her for the night, 3+ hours past her normal bedtime. This morning she didn't want to come out of her night cage. When she finally did, she didn't want to eat. She normally can't wait to dive head-first into her food bowl. These are both symptoms of poisoning, and I fret more. Hubs gets frustrated, snaps that I'm overreacting, just give her time. I snap back that he's too dismissive, this is serious. Scooter just sits on her perch.
Finally, after an hour or so, she goes down to her food bowl and eats. Gradually, she starts moving around more. Now, 5 hours after she woke up, she's almost back to normal. Quieter than she usually is, but not enough sleep, being dumped with strangers and having a tube shoved down her throat might account for that. She's gone up with me to do laundry, and she explores, pokes into the cupboards (when she learned what cupboard doors were, and that they open if you pull on them the right way, she was a happy parrot - now her life purpose is to check every cabinet) and keeps me in line and on task. Which is good, since I'm running on about an hour of sleep, and too much coffee.
If she's still fine by tonight, we're out of the danger zone. I'm cautiously optimistic.
This is her this morning, being a sound machine in front of her mirror. Distant, but if I move closer she clams up.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGhioRUDvQI"]Scooter the noisemaker - YouTube[/ame]
Call to the regular emergency vet, they don't treat birds. Call to the emergency vet they referred me to, and they said bring her in, but call the ASPCA poison control center first, to get a case open. Call the ASPCA number, they tell me there's nothing I can do, take her to the emergency vet, here's your open case number, and a number for your vet to call for consultation.
At the clinic they check her heart, blood sample, and then come back with their recommendations:
2 day stay for observation at the clinic
Crop lavage (force a tube down into her crop, fill the crop with saline solution, suck it back out, repeat until no more food comes out)
Charcoal force-fed, to soak up the toxins
2 day stay is out immediately. I'm not leaving her.
Crop lavage is potentially fatal, from a number of causes, but it will help flush out undigested avocado. After talking with hubs the RN, we both agree the known risks weighed against the unknown aren't worth it. No on the crop lavage.
Charcoal feed is yes. And they take her away.
I pace, fret myself into heartburn, try to read, and beat myself up for not keeping a closer eye on her, for not keeping her away from the avocados, for putting her on the counter, for even bringing her into the house where clearly incompetent people are supposed to be taking care of her and failing miserably. They bring her back, she's ruffled and unhappy and keeps shaking her head and spraying charcoal everywhere.
I bring her home, take her up to her sleeping closet, and settle in to watch her for the night, 3+ hours past her normal bedtime. This morning she didn't want to come out of her night cage. When she finally did, she didn't want to eat. She normally can't wait to dive head-first into her food bowl. These are both symptoms of poisoning, and I fret more. Hubs gets frustrated, snaps that I'm overreacting, just give her time. I snap back that he's too dismissive, this is serious. Scooter just sits on her perch.
Finally, after an hour or so, she goes down to her food bowl and eats. Gradually, she starts moving around more. Now, 5 hours after she woke up, she's almost back to normal. Quieter than she usually is, but not enough sleep, being dumped with strangers and having a tube shoved down her throat might account for that. She's gone up with me to do laundry, and she explores, pokes into the cupboards (when she learned what cupboard doors were, and that they open if you pull on them the right way, she was a happy parrot - now her life purpose is to check every cabinet) and keeps me in line and on task. Which is good, since I'm running on about an hour of sleep, and too much coffee.
If she's still fine by tonight, we're out of the danger zone. I'm cautiously optimistic.
This is her this morning, being a sound machine in front of her mirror. Distant, but if I move closer she clams up.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGhioRUDvQI"]Scooter the noisemaker - YouTube[/ame]