Ralphie- perch potato anonymous

[SailBoat]

I had been in hospital three time during 2020 and (I'm told) that I'm not as cranky as I have been. I had gotten the cold shoulder from our Amazon from time to time. But also attentiveness during my recoveries.

Parrots deeply connect with us and faking something different can be seen clearly by the Amazon. Be you to the best you can. Remember that the sooner that we accept the pain of a close loss, the sooner we see a path forward. We never forget, but we do move forward.

 

[raeleigh26]

Conflicting messages.
Ralph FREQUENTLY leans out, with the laugh/ purrrr wings shaking toward us.
I know this means he wants to go to the person/ place/ thing...... but he refuses any attempt to comply. He even acts offended.
So confusing.

Happened to get a not great picture of this as he was wanting to follow dh to the other room. (But if he'd been offered the opportunity to join him, he'd refuse. Adamantly. ) he did this three times.
He does this from his perch, from his cage, from the top of the cage, from person to person.

Also, he uses a banana shaped pellet to scratch his head, massage his face, and get those pesky spots under the chin.

And, yesterday he flew from his perch in the living room to the plant (14x14 square pot) next to his cage in the bedroom with a perfect and controlled landing.

I moved his cage to the opposite wall so he can see most of the house if he chooses to remain in his room. He has yet to actually launch towards something, rather than away, except for this one time. Baby steps.

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[SailBoat]

Well, he is clearly a Blue-Fronted Amazon from the more South Range as seen in the amount of coloration from a Standard Blue-Fronted. As that group ranges further South they have great yellow on their wings (Yellow-Winged Amazon). Possible a hybrid, but more on that later.

No question that Amazon Body Language can be confusing as at this point with the Humans on a fast track to catch-up. Likely, you when to pick him up when he wanted dh to pick him up!

He needs to learn that any ride to where he wants to go is a good ride! But, that comes with time!

 

[texsize]

That does look like launch mode.
Have you tried encouraging him to fly to you instead of step up?

 

[noodles123]

Other than getting him checked out medically (like I said, my bird did this when sick, so I'm paranoid) BUT is there ANYTHING new outside or in the room with him?
Lighting all the same? No burnt out bulbs that had been lit? (Noodles noticed that one too-- so sounds like a crazy question, but it was a problem for like 3 days until I figured it out).


Is the flickering of the screen in that mirror possibly bothering him? Has it always been there and is it on all day or not? Oh wait..maybe that's your phone...

 

[raeleigh26]

We have tried to encourage flight, he's too afraid, but he has flown out of fear (when he was left alone) 4 times now, and he flew towards his room rather than away from something fearful and stuck the landing perfectly.
He doesn't really *crash* land.. he just flies until he gets low enough to touch the floor. He hasn't hurt himself, though that is a concern.
Eventually I hope he'll be confidently flighted. Right now it seems he's only flown in fear, and wasn't great at landing, but he turns very well and flutters to the floor.

I'm always paranoid about his health. Vet visit pending. Nothing indicating an issue at the moment.

Dh is convinced Ralph has flipped attachments. Ralph was napping earlier and I decided to get him moving(he'd been on the perch almost all day. Trying to slow down all the new.) I got him to come off his perch onto the couch via ladder. He lunged at me when I tried to pick him up from the couch.
But a few target games later he did step up to my hand from the couch.

I tried to give him to dh so I could make dinner. He bit him.
Then Ralph made a huge racket cuz he couldn't see me and even flew into the hall by the kitchen door. I picked him up and asked dh to entertain him, Ralph wanted none of it.
Put him on the back of a chair so he could see us both and he was fine.
But dh didn't believe me that he was only upset that he couldn't see us both.

(It really is ridiculous how much a bird can hurt your feelings lol)
I've been trying to teach him peekaboo for this reason. But when dh left the room, Ralph made a liar of me by NOT calling to him.

*sigh*

With dh confined to the bed or couch with his leg propped up, he's limited to what he can do with Ralph. I did get him to play a little with targeting. We don't allow treats on the shoulder any more. Ralph doesn't rush up anymore either. But dh is basically laying down, so.... oy vey

It's been 20 days. So much has changed. And Ralph changes so quickly. He's very picky. Moody. He doesn't bluff. And yeah, he certainly does not hide what he's thinking.

I love that stubborn little green monster lol

(Photo was this morning. But Ralph doesn't love him anymore. *eye roll*)

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[Laurasea]

The food thing again. Still.
In photo you can see Ralph after a bath sitting in the window(with the most light) listening to music with me while he dries off. He loves this.

He's started doing the thing where he brings up food and chews it, re-swallows, but occasionally enough comes up that bits drop out of his mouth.

He seems perfectly content when he does this. It's not a dramatic throat stretching arching gag regurgitation like I've seen in videos of hormonal birds.
More like a little burp. He'll make purring sounds or grind his beak occasionally though.


You can see where over the last ten minutes he's dropped quite a bit of liquid food to the floor and even splattered the window when he shook to help dry himself.
If I could share video you'd see him munching away at what he brought up.

How do you tell the difference between regurgitation and vomiting?

ETA: side note; moving to another window, and having cardboard to tear up(yay! He's destructive!) Has stopped the cud chewing.

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I am concerned with this. To regurgitate to you, is one thing. To regurgitate and drop food, is completely different. When parrots bring up food and shake their head it is generally considered vomiting, and not regurgitation..He also looks thin....what is his weight? ...ok after bath, was worried
not taking care if himself.. adjusting crop more often plus regurgitation.. I feel something is up??? What are poops and poop and urine color like?
Hunched can be a sign of a health issue, if this isn't a behavior. As can be resting down on hocks more and not standing .

 

[raeleigh26]

He regurgitates when he's content with us, and also shortly after a meal.
A distraction stops the behavior. I have seen no evidence of vomit in his cage.
Those photos were directly after a bath. The shaking was drying.
I ordered a gram scale, my hanging scale that I use for feed doesn't weigh below 1 lb.
Vet appointment made, 2 weeks out.
Over an hour drive to the one certified avian vet near me, but I'm grateful there is one. There are no dairy vets near here, and dairy cows are a totally different animal than beef cows.
He behaves normally. I'm paranoid. I watch him constantly. If he takes a nap in the day. If he doesn't like a certain color or shape of pellet all the sudden. He's fluffed up. Is he happy or sick? Omigosh his feathers are messy by his foot, is he plucking? He's scratching his chin a lot, mites? He bobs his head sometimes is he dying? Is that sleepy eye closing or sick eye closing?!

But honestly, other than getting to know each others personalities, he's the same as the day he came home. He preens an appropriate amount each day. He seems to like the environments he's placed in, his room, cage, perch... working on getting him a play station, jungle gym. He eats well. He has tried some new foods, though getting him to eat them again, or in different forms, is difficult. I've only given pellets today, again, trying to slow down on the new stuff.

His poo is normal. Wet after bath or new veggies, darker after green veggies, appropriate amount of solid, liquid, and uric acid. Predictably different or the same with diet changes. Clean underfluffies.

No scales or discharge anywhere, no sneezing. He does pick at his feet sometimes, seems better after a bath for a few days even, so I think dry.

So while I do want a full work up, I don't see an emergency, except maybe those horrible nails.

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[Laurasea]

It will be good to have a scale..as has recently been reinforced for me and my sick flock. As 2 had no change in activity or behavior. Even under my paranoid eyes after having one sick.. later they did develop more symptoms.
Shaking head still seems like vomiting.
Mine have regurgitate to me and or a toy before. Looks different then the head shake vomiting.

Hopefully will be healthy. And you guys can continue becoming buddies.

 

[raeleigh26]

Got his weight! 415g
Within range, but this late in the day... I'll be weighing him daily to get a good base/ average.
For future reference, at what point should I worry if he's losing?

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[Laurasea]

Greater than 3%
Amount lost ÷ normal weight x 100 =%lost

 

[raeleigh26]

Well, seeing him rubbing his sinuses with a pellet, being puffed up with eyes half closed, combined with him actually vomiting about a teaspoon into his food bowl right after previous post had me taking him to a vet immediately.

We're just now leaving, not the vet I'd made the original appointment with, but also CAV and very very nice.

The verdict: Ralph is stressed.
Regurgitating is not due to any medical causes, likely over eating/ stress.
He DOES have very beginning signs of sinusitis. Antibiotics started.

Vet encourages higher temps in the house, and slowly bringing them back to our normal 70* to better acclimate him.

He says stop all things new, stick to one new thing he's accepted(carrots) and work from there.

Nails trimmed. Beak had overgrown so badly it had caused deformity and will need several visits to completely correct.

Otherwise he's in great shape. We'll be coming back in 4 weeks.

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[Laurasea]

Well, seeing him rubbing his sinuses with a pellet, being puffed up with eyes half closed, combined with him actually vomiting about a teaspoon into his food bowl right after previous post had me taking him to a vet immediately.

We're just now leaving, not the vet I'd made the original appointment with, but also CAV and very very nice.

The verdict: Ralph is stressed.
Regurgitating is not due to any medical causes, likely over eating/ stress.
He DOES have very beginning signs of sinusitis. Antibiotics started.

Vet encourages higher temps in the house, and slowly bringing them back to our normal 70* to better acclimate him.

He says stop all things new, stick to one new thing he's accepted(carrots) and work from there.

Nails trimmed. Beak had overgrown so badly it had caused deformity and will need several visits to completely correct.

Otherwise he's in great shape. We'll be coming back in 4 weeks.

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Great to catch early! Might want to use a humidifier, burds safe abd squeaky clean of course.

 

[raeleigh26]

Antibiotics. Strawberry flavored. He took it on a piece of bread last night just fine. This morning, he tossed it. Even with me eating the bread, and pretending to eat the flavored bread, he took it again, ate around the medicine, & tossed it.

He won't eat anything else but his pellets. Cannot touch him.

Not sure how to get him to take it. Wasted 2 doses now. I think we were given extra for this reason, but...
He also regurgitated what little bread he did eat. He didn't drop any of it though. Chewed and swallowed.

Vet could not find a medical cause for it.

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[Laurasea]

Applesauce tiny amount with meds,
Oatmeal, In tiny amount peanut butter mix well offer on a little plate or something yiu can see that he licks it up ...good luck.

All this regurgitation doesn't seem normal , I know behavioral is suspected....

Could he be sensitive to the pellets, some birds are, especially colored ones

 

[raeleigh26]

Oatmeal is a bust. Only have cinnamon applesauce, he's not one to try new things. Maybe I can get the whole dose in him one lick/ taste test at a time lol.

Also, figured out his reluctance to leave his room is likely the temperature difference. The house is between 68-70, his room is kept between 72-76. He comes out mid day when the warm evens out because we open his door.

ETA his beak is sore from trimming. He wants pellets, they're too hard. Soften them, they're not normal. Sigh.

Also, poo. Antibiotics? Chicken he ate last night? Bread(different than he'd had before)

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[Laurasea]

If you have a safe popcorn maker some aren't tgey off gass that toxic fumes..
Anyway popcorn is a good treat maybe yiu can soak meds on that.

You will find what works. And share your ideas with us.

 

[raeleigh26]

Vet called to check in today. Not sure what to think, actually.
He doesn't seem worse. But I'm definitely more in tune with symptoms I'd missed or brushed off as personality quirks.

He has not regurgitated since the vet visit except once.
His mouth is very sore and he's been eating soft foods, cut very tiny and hand fed, sweet potato, parsnip, corn, beets, carrot... he refuses to eat anything green.
He will, as of today, eat his pellets broken into teeny pieces and again, only hand fed.

I'm wondering how much of this is related to his... not poor, but not great, diet, since he did that from day one. He'd discovered cuttlebone about the time I started watching him for being off, has yet to touch the mineral though.
His stool was dry today, vet said make sure he's eating more than veg. I have seen him drink. He refuses to try any fruits.

He's on trimeth-sulfa. Every attempt to give him his dose failed. I've been toweling him. The first time, I was lucky his mouth was sore, he couldn't bite as hard as usual. Second time, took longer for him biting the syringe. Today, he didn't scream, was more just angry than afraid. More like a game to avoid the syringe than a struggle to survive.

And, a side effect of all this is that even if he objects, he steps up without pause. Like I've gained his respect out of necessity, rather than through friendship. Sad thing, that.

He's got 6 doses left, ten full days.

He's staying in his room mostly, we've kicked the heater up, it's about 78 in his room, doubled the humidifier output,
- btw, be careful after cleaning humidifiers with vinegar... I did something seriously stupid and for some reason turned it on without enough water in the reservoir.... the burning smell of vinegar had me opening the window and running out of the room with it to clean it all over again.

- it was the heating element, soaked to remove calcium build up. Apparently unless you get all of the mineral off, it still smells of vinegar when heated.

I wanted to give him a shower, he's got some of the medicine on his wing from this morning, it's still there, but in afraid of him being cold. But I did read that being in the room while someone is showing creates enough steam to be helpful with sinusitis.

- no coughing, no sneezing, no mucous, except little bit of sticky feathers behind his eyes. barely perceptible.
Eyes squinting. Fluffed up head tucked behind wing sleeping. Shivering.

4 doses and I don't think he's any better, really. No worse though. He hung out with dh getting bits of food until he had enough, then he flew back to his cage and I put him to bed at 7.

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[SailBoat]

If your Vet calls again or on his next Vet visit, tell them not to remove as much from his beak! Anytime that the beak is trimmed, it should be minimum!

For the next three or four days, your Amazon will have a sore beak! There is a fine line between just enough and too much. Soft food will be a good choice for the next few days.

 

[Laurasea]

I just looked at poop pic,
The yellowish urine and scant urates can be dehydration, or sign of infection. But had good amount of fecal matter and formed well..

Vinegar when heated does have toxic fumes.

Keep us updated. I hope he feels better, and yiu find a way to get meds in him.

I'm deathly allergic to sulfa drugs so I never have them prescribed for my pets ..

Was a culture done?