Recovering after a huge trauma

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 ā€“ August 14, 2021
Hello everyone! I have a concerning situation and the one place I always turn to for the best advice and comforting support is here.
So here is what happened on Tuesday morning:
my beautiful green cheek Paisley accidentally (found and) chewed on a prescription tablet (don't ask me how the tablet had just been laying around on the kitchen counterā€¦ I still don't know). Luckily, being the hypervigilant owner that I am, I heard the sound she makes when she tastes something she doesn't like and I grabbed her quickly, cleaned her beak and mouth, called the bird hospital and took her to the emergency.
It was a nerve pain/antidepressant medication so the doctor said that anywhere between 6 to 8 hours she may have a seizure. They put her on antiseizure medication, antivomiting medication, she was very sedated and stayed at the hospital being watched by the doctor for two days. The third day she returned home to me, obviously exhausted and having gone through a lot of trauma. The really good thing is she never had a seizure and nothing really strange happened while she was at the hospital, except green urine, which the doctor was expecting, so she ran some blood tests ā€“ which I don't have the results of yet but I should tomorrow.
So yesterday evening (at around 5 PM) when she got home, it seemed to me that she was totally fine, of course a little tired and stressed out, but she was eating well and was really happy to be home. Then this morning at around 11 AM, I noticed she was getting a little too sleepy. All day today she has been quite groggy, which I guess is probably normal after being so strongly medicated and going through all this trauma, but the one thing I don't understand is why she keeps one foot up most of the time ā€“ not only when she's resting, but also when she's eating ā€“ most of the time when she is eating, not all the time. She can fly and land normally. There doesn't seem to be any pain in the foot, but I am worried why she is only keeping this foot up and never the other one. Most of the day after about 11 AM she has been quite lethargic and sleepy. I think, although I am not 100% sure, that her gaze is normal (she doesn't look like she's always staring in the distance but at times I feel like her vision is not perfect either). She is holding her posture fine as far as I can tell ā€“ meaning her wings are not slouched down. She is eating fine and droppings look pretty good to me. Normally she is not a super hyper bird and sometimes she is quite calm, but of course today it's not a normal calm day. She just seems a little too sleepy ā€“ but maybe that is normal ā€“ I just don't know. I called the bird hospital again but the doctor was not in today. I didn't want to take her in and cause her more stress because I was thinking that maybe she is just over exhausted and maybe her behaviour is normal. It's REALLY hard to know sometimes because I know how well parrots hide their symptoms. Unfortunately the doctor never told me what to expect after such an experience that a bird goes through.
I know this forum is filled with so many wonderful brains with so much experience, so I'm hoping someone has had some experience like this or something similar or know something about it, maybe it can help me rest my head tonight until tomorrow morning when I speak with the doctor.
Thank you so much in advance for all your guidance.
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 ā€“ August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
They could have drawn blood from the medial metatarsal vein (the leg) and/or clipped the toe nail on that foot and she could just be sore from it.
Smart thinking! I didn't even think about that. Yes they did draw blood, so that could be. Thank you.
 

HeatherG

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2020
3,893
6,966
They could have drawn blood from the medial metatarsal vein (the leg) and/or clipped the toe nail on that foot and she could just be sore from it.
Thatā€™s what Iā€™m wondering about. Sounds like maybe that foot or leg is sore. If this doesnā€™t change have a look at (the bottom of) her feet to makes sure there are no sores.

I am so glad you caught her in time! If she did ingest some medication itā€™s going to take a while to leave her body. Think of the human side effects from that particular med and then imagine this tiny bird took a lot!

I hope you are both ok. This is one of the reasons I donā€™t let my birds fly around loose. I am a clutz and am afraid if I dropped something they would eat it. Willow thinks medication must be really special since I donā€™t share it!
 
OP
Farnoosh

Farnoosh

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2020
115
455
Vancouver, BC
Parrots
Paisley, pineapple green cheek born February 12, 2021, and
Daisy the most beautiful Pineapple green cheek, currently flying in paradise RIP February 2, 2020 ā€“ August 14, 2021
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
Thatā€™s what Iā€™m wondering about. Sounds like maybe that foot or leg is sore. If this doesnā€™t change have a look at (the bottom of) her feet to makes sure there are no sores.

I am so glad you caught her in time! If she did ingest some medication itā€™s going to take a while to leave her body. Think of the human side effects from that particular med and then imagine this tiny bird took a lot!

I hope you are both ok. This is one of the reasons I donā€™t let my birds fly around loose. I am a clutz and am afraid if I dropped something they would eat it. Willow thinks medication must be really special since I donā€™t share it!
Thank you so much for your message and thank you for caring. Yes we are both okay now, she has completely recovered and yes it was the pain she felt from her toe when they drew blood from it. It helps so much to be in this forum šŸŒ·
 

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