What happened to Salvador has taught all of us a lot, and fortunately, she didn't have to die for the lessons to be learned. Those of us who have female birds must consider the possibility of egg binding even when it doesn't seem obvious or even possible. Even though I lost a budgie to egg binding, I wouldn't have thought of it. Sometimes, unless confirmed by DNA testing, even birds we think are males are actually females- and could be egg bound. I knew that egg binding can cause profound lameness from pressure on the nerves and vessels to the legs, but I just read that a retained egg can cause respiratory problems from pressure on the airways and air sacs. Perhaps it depends of where the egg is positioned in the oviduct. We should try to familiarize ourselves better with the internal anatomy and physiology of our birds.
Regarding insurance, egg binding may not be a covered benefit, especially when repeated. Breeding issues (breeding on purpose) are excluded. You need to look closely at your policy exclusions. Insurance policies have a pretty long list of exclusions. Some policies don't cover parrots younger than 12 weeks or over 25 years old, which would exclude a lot of mature Macaws, Amazons and Greys, but some policies don't have an upper age limit. Behavioral problems including feather plucking MAY be excluded. Nationwide bird insurance appears to cover both egg binding and feather plucking.
