Severe Head Trauma - what would you do?

charmedbyekkie

New member
May 24, 2018
1,148
82
US/SG
Parrots
Cairo the Ekkie!
That's really great to see!! It looks like he's perking up slowly but surely :) He's one lucky little guy to have you two!
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Fantastic progress! Nice to see the images, he looks so much better. Without a doubt you made a huge difference!
 

Kalel

New member
Jan 2, 2015
473
8
Canada
Parrots
Sun conure named Lemon (nickname Moonie) hatched August 28, 2014, BFA Professor Green hatched August 22, 2014, Macaw Flash hatched Sept 15, 2007
This is so nice to hear! Best wishes to you and Loki. Hoping he keeps getting better and better:)
 

clark_conure

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2017
3,923
Media
21
2,223
Minnesota
Parrots
A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
Sorry, not sure why the pictures rotated the way they did. I'm still new to this.

When you move the pictures from your phone to your laptop they don't really know the correct orientation even though it may look fine on your computer screen.

What I do is open up edit, and crop out like 1 pixel or 1mm from any part of the pic and click "save a copy" then when you upload the copy it's always oriented the right way when you post on here. (when I remember to do it).

:gcc: Conure strong!
 
Last edited:

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Thank you for the pictures :)
 
OP
K4rest

K4rest

New member
Jun 30, 2013
12
5
Parrots
Loki - Yellowside Green Cheek
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #47
Re: Severe Head Trauma - what would you do? - LOKI UPDATE

Posting an update on Loki. Sorry it's been a while, but, you know, life and all, lol.





Loki continues to make amazing progress. my husband had started hearing vocalizations long before i did, but Loki finally "spoke" to me on March 1st! Needless to say i cried, lol.


We slowly added a second row of perches, took the height limit off his cage and put his "big" water bowl back in for him to use. On 3/3/19 Loki took a bath on his own for the first time. We still needed to help him clean, but this was the first time he showed interest in water to bath.


A week later, he was stepping up onto our hands, but he is still week in the feet and legs.


He's attempted to make a few flights on his own, usually startling us and himself in the process. Since his flight feathers were clipped to prevent him from hurting himself, he really had to work to maintain flight, but it was very controlled for a bird that was just a month ago at death's door. He still couldn't use his feet well, so landings were often disastrous.


Over the next couple of weeks he continued to make slow and steady progress.



in an attempt to try and get him to exercise his feet and legs, we've been allowing him to climb out of his cage, up the side and crawl around the top of the cage. The first few days he did this, you could really see the struggle he had with his feet. Often when taking steps you'd see his foot go through the bars and he'd get frustrated until he could get his toes open and wrapped around the bars to support him again.


But this has seemed to be good therapy for him. i have noticed an increase in the coordination of his feet. and he's standing stronger and steadier.


By 3/15, Loki is more active in trying to groom himself, but it seems as if he has more trouble reaching to one side than the other. I commented to my husband that it reminded me of someone who'd had a stroke and was recovering, but was weak on one side.


As of March 28th, 51 days since the accident, Loki is still recovering but has made a huge amount of improvement:
- Loki is still maintaining his weight and eating fully on his own.
- Loki is often making short controlled flights (and on 3/28 grabbed onto the side of the cage he flew to for the first time)
- over the last 3 days, Loki has starting using his foot to hold on to pieces of food to eat (this is a first since the accident)
- Loki still wobbles a bit when walking on flat surfaces
- Loki has been vocalizing more and regaining small snippets of the "words" he used before the accident (good boy, boy, mom, good morning)
- Loki remembers simple commands from before the accident (give kisses, step up, step down, give rubby-ies)


All in all, i am overwhelmed at how much progress Loki has made. Like i mentioned before, i wanted to document his recovery in case anyone else ever had to go through this.


Thank you again to everyone rooting for us. Your kindness has been a HUGE help for us.



If you're reading this because this happened to you, don't give up! It's a very slow process, but recovery is possible and does happen!


Hugs and love to you all!
Love,
Kelly
:41::rainbow1::41:
 

HEEDLESS

Supporting Member
Nov 9, 2018
347
Media
18
171
US
Parrots
Eclectus: SI. Vosmaeri
"KISE" She was born in Jan, 2018.
"Akashi" He hatched 07/13/2021.
This is WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!



I am so happy for you and your baby birdie!!!
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Wonderful update, Kelly! Loki has an amazing constitution, so heartening to see steady and meaningful progress!!
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Thank you for that update and well done Loki! :)

Glad to hear he is the lucky one and fought (and is fighting) his way out of this.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
Kelly that's awesome! He's a lucky boy all-around, including that he got you and his daddy too, because not too many couples would do this much for their birds (minus any members on THIS forum, of course!)...I honestly can't believe he's doing as much as he is only a couple of months after that type of head trauma; flying AT ALL is a miracle, and the fact that he is actually saying words that he did before the head trauma is probably the best sign that he actually really has the ability to make a 100% recovery over time...Usually with head trauma the memory and linguistic ability are two of the things you either only get back partially, or you don't get it back at all, so that's incredible...Great CAV, great parronts!

***I love that you're doing physical-therapy with him!!! It sounds like strength and control in his legs and feet/toes is ihis biggest issue and the one he might have long-term problems getting fully-recovered, but doing the crawling up and down the side of his cage, giving him things to try to/practice holding hin his feet like treats (people food and his favorite treats will give him motivation to want to make his feet work), all of this is going to get the strength back in his toes and feet much quicker than just waiting will...Does he have any Foot-Toys? My Green Cheek, Bowie, absolutley LOVES laying on his back and playing with his Foot-Toys, so does my Quaker (the other freak out on their backs, lol)...I am constantly looking for little toys and bird-safe little trinkets that they can use as Foot-Toys. Just trying to get Loki to curl his toes around things as much as possible will help a lot with landings, crawling, walking, etc. When you think about it their toes are incredibly long compared to the length of their feet, and they also curl-up and around almost the whole way around, so it's really their toes that are the important body part to do pretty much everything, not their feet...Their feet are tiny little platforms that support weight and that's about it...As I'm typing this Bowie is walking around with his plastic Barbell in his beak, lol...That's supposed to be a Foot-Toy, lol..

As far as Physical-Therapy goes, just a little each day makes all the difference in his strength in each part growing due to his muscles being moved more and more, control in each part due to his nerves being sent signals while his muscles are moving, and then also his brain's control over everything, that connection between his brain and his body, gets better with literally each movement he does at all, so it's important to try to get him or help him to do the same exercises/motions with his problem areas like his toes over and over and over again, because the more often his toes make that curling motion, the more signals to do it are being sent to the brain, and then from the brain in the toes to execute it. And every time those signals are sent back and forth between his Parasympathetic Nervous System and his Sympathetic Nervous System it makes their connection stronger, faster, and most importantly more automatic and not something he has to think about trying to do anymore...And that goes for movements/motions/exercise he does on his own AND any and all Passive-Motion of his muscles by you guys moving them for him, which also will increase the blood-flow too, which is very important when a body part isn't being used/moved normally or as often as it used to be. So everything that you are doing as far as moving his legs through their range of motion and especially moving his toes if possible through their range of motion and bending them at their joints (or rather that he'll LET YOU DO, lol) is helping Loki to recover so much more quickly than he would on his own, and probably helping him to recover in ways that he WOULD NEVER do on his own!

I used to have a neigbor who lived right across the street from me for about 5 or 6 years, and who was a Certified Physical Therapy Assistant...She had a male Basset-Hound name Gus who was just a sweetheart! One day he ran out in front of a car and got hit very badly. I heard him moaning and crying and ran outside to find he had been thrown into my front yard, either from the impact of the car or by the person who hit him because it was a hit-and-run...I heard their car-door open and slam shut and the car take off while I was putting my shoes on inside my house, but just as I opened my back door I heard the door shut again and the car taking-off, and he was out of sight by the time I got to the front yard...Poor Gus was ripped-up, and he also weighed a good 80-100, more than I did at the time, lol...This was before cell phones, so I ran across the street but his mom wasn't home from work yet (neither was mine), so I tried to get Gus inside my house, but it was quite obvious that he couldn't move his back legs at all, so I did a little pinch-test on both of them and both feet, and nothing. I ran inside and yes, I CALLED 911!!! I got so much crap for doing that, from both the Dispatcher who answered the call and the Cop who showed-up at my house about 45 or more minutes later...That's how long it took a Cop to show-up for this poor dog who was in horrible pain, in a town of less than 4,000 people...Jerk. Anyway, I called the local hospital that Gus's mom worked at and left a message about Gus being hit by a car and taken to which Vet by the Police because she was in a meeting or something, so I wrote a quick note, stuck it to her door, and rode with Gus to the Vet's office...poor guy was shaking and trembling and crying in agony...

Long story short, the coward who hit Gus with his car and took-off had broken his Spine...His mom didn't even blink when the Vet said "at least a couple thousand dollars" to try to surgically relieve the pressure on his Spinal-Cord and save his life (of course the Vet first suggested Euthanizing him even though he had no other serious injuries, and even though dog's can live very full and happy lives with only 2 legs)...Gus had his surgery right then and there, at least the Vet was willing to do it on the spot to try to save the use of his legs...Gus came home only a day or two later, and was acting like himself except he couldn't move his leg, and he also had lost any control of his Bowels and his Bladder, so he had to wear a diaper 24/7...His mom paid someone to custom-build a wooden cart for him, it was an amazing little cart with 2 huge back wheels and really knobby bike-tires!!! It had a little had-stiched mattress in it so his legs and belly were comfy, and within a week or two Gus was running all over the neighborhood every single day, all day long, just like he had every single day before his accident!!! Gus didn't slow-down one little bit, and those huge wheels and big, knobby tires allowed him to run his cart up and down the trails through the woods, through the soccer and baseball fields, and even across the little streams. You wouldn't know anything had happened to him if not for the diaper and the cart! And because his mom was a Physical Therapy Assistant, she did therapy with Gus every single day from the time she got home from work until she went to bed! She really wanted him to regain the use of his legs, which he never did, however he did regain total control of his Bowels!!! For some reason he had spotty-control of his Bladder, sometimes he could control it and sometimes he couldn't, so he still had to wear a diaper, but at least he could poop without it on...She would walk him through the woods, down the trail (about 2.5 miles) to the dam/lake and did Water-Therapy with him! It was amazing...And Gus was a young Basset-Hound at the time of his accident, he was only 4..And he lived a normal lifespan for a Basset Hound, he was still running around with cart when I went away to college!
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
This makes me so happy. I know you took a giant leap of faith in bringing him home etc (Especially when many people--vets included-- probably would have said that there was little hope and that you should "put the bird out of its misery"). I am so glad that you posted after the accident and I am very happy that, at this point, it looks like Loki will be able to lead an almost-normal life ---it is awesome that you have been there helping him every step of the way and that you didn't give up! It is truly a great story and it speaks for the resilience of birds and people! Love it!!! I am so very glad that you guys decided to try, because his progress has exceeded everyone's expectations and I imagine that it will continue to do so!
 
Last edited:

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
This thread will remain an inspiration to all confronted with difficult choices. I hope Loki's story will prompt others to make wise choices and rehabilitate otherwise unfortunate birds.
 

LaManuka

Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Aug 29, 2018
25,548
Media
26
Albums
1
33,181
Queensland, Australia
Parrots
Fang ({ab}normal grey cockatiel), Valentino (budgie), Jem (cinnamon cockatiel), Lovejoy(varied lorikeet), Peach (princess parrot)
Thanks for the great update, it’s wonderful to hear that Loki is responding so well, doubtless due to your devotion:)
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
I'm so very glad you didn't give up on him! It sounds like even if he doesn't make an inch more of improvement ,( but I think jhe will make miles more!) that he has real quality of life ;) :) :) thank you so much for this update!!! Job well done!
 
OP
K4rest

K4rest

New member
Jun 30, 2013
12
5
Parrots
Loki - Yellowside Green Cheek
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #57
Thank you all for your kind words. It really means a lot to us.


We have been keeping a journal on Loki since the day he came home and we have decided to continue keeping it for as long as necessary to document this whole recovery process. It's been very therapeutic for us to be able to look at back and the first few days and see exactly how far along Loki has come. And it helps us to look back and see when the "milestones" in his recovery occurred in relation to any changes we made.


I am nervous, Loki has only 1 more dose of his anti-inflammatory medicine which he will take tomorrow. The vet told us to keep a close eye on him in the days and weeks that follow that last does to make sure he doesn't have any regression. While i am nervous at the thought, i am no where nearly as worried about it as i was when the vet said those words weeks ago.


If you're reading this because you're going through this, I highly recommend that you keep a journal as well. It may seem silly to write down things like "he ate 3 pomegranate seeds" or " he stretched his wing and kept his balance" but in the long run, documenting these little milestones in recovery can really give you a more visual reference of how well your bird is coming than looking at him (or her) every day.



EllenD - thank you as always for your information and your inspiration. I was so glad to read about Gus and the wonderful work his momma did with him, but seriously, you are as much the hero in that story because if you hadn't gotten him to the vet he may not have made it at all.



We do have various foot toys for Loki (balls, rings, little plastic toys, small wooden spools, etc), although he has never liked laying on his back and freaks out every time, lol. We are going to go purchase a few new perches for Loki today in a couple of different diameters to give him a little more variety in his cage. we do have a several different size perches now, but i'd like to get a few smaller diameter ones to give his toes a chance to wrap around a bit further. im not sure how open Loki will be to letting us touch his toes, but we will certainly try. :14:


Thank you to the creator of this Forum and to the admins who work tirelessly to keep it going. I can honestly say that i have found more information, support and guidance from the people in this forum than from any other sources out there.


Hope you all are having a great weekend and Happy Spring to your and your feathered friends!


Love Always,
Kelly (and Loki!)
:rainbow1:
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Thanks so much, Kelly. Your saga with Loki is a wonderful motivator and highlights the very best standard of care. We all hope Loki continues to improve and know you will help provide the very best quality of life.

We deeply appreciate your updates and feedback. We often read of dire situations, followed by scant follow-up and clear understanding of outcome.
 

e483116

New member
Oct 16, 2021
3
11
Parrots
Pineapple Green Cheek- Penelope
Pineapple Green Cheek - Henry
This thread is so encouraging. I’m now going through this situation and am on day 2. Been praying like there’s no tomorrow. 😔
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
This thread is so encouraging. I’m now going through this situation and am on day 2. Been praying like there’s no tomorrow. 😔
Wishing your bird a swift and full recovery. You are welcome to create a unique thread, or a moderator can move your post and create one for you. Please reach out to any of us in purple if helpful.
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top