Symptoms of Air Way Blockage?

[BoomBoom]

Sorry for the morbid topic. If a smaller bird were to choke on something, say a piece of food, causing a full blockage to his air ways, how would the symptom manifest? Will they sneeze, thrash around in panic as they suffocate or is it a more instant death?

PS. It's in reference to an adult budgie of mine who unexpectedly passed away a few days ago. He died without any struggle, it was just instant for a reason I could not identify. I was in the room when it occurred.

 

[TiredOldMan]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Scott]

I do not know the answer, perhaps an avian vet well versed in bird physiology could answer.

 

[BoomBoom]

TiresOldMan, Scott, thank you. I'm visiting my avian vet tomorrow. This is one of the questions I mean to ask. I'll share what he says.

 

[SailBoat]

Not an easy question to answer since much of it revolves around that wonderful term: It depends!

The additional feature of a crop places birds in a very serious position if their structure was like a Humans. As a result (as I understand it) their airway connects below the crop. This allows them to physically rearrange what is in their crop without effecting breathing. Blockage below that point, is deadly, but uncommon.

It is one of the reasons that our Forum's Breeders (and rightfully so) become upset when individuals with little to no knowledge attempt to tube feed chicks.

I have never seen the procedure, but would guess that is requires specialized lighting and magnification equipment and have the proper sized tool to remove the blockage.

Please let us know what your Avian Vet says as it has been a very long time since I investigated this topic.

 

[BoomBoom]

Thanks, Sailboat. This inquiry is in reference to my 3 year old budgie, Kiki, who suddenly died last Saturday evening. Very active, no history or current symptoms of ever being sick. After he had dinner, I saw him perched normally. 10 minutes later, he dropped to the grate floor with no struggle or thrashing. It was as if he was dead the instant he fell.

I thought heart attack at first but now I wonder if he choked on bits of boiled white rice I sometimes top their seed / pellet mix with. It was a stickier brand than what I normally use. I should have done a necropsy but I was not thinking right.

I'll be sure to update the thread after I speak with my A-Vet.

 

[SailBoat]

I am not fond of boiled white rice or rice in general as it can continue to expand in size as it pulls in more moisture. Not saying that this caused the death of your beloved Parrot, only that 'I' do not feed it.

 

[BoomBoom]

I understand. Boiled rice absorbs tons of moisture during the cooking process (at least in mine since I use lots of water) so it would have already expanded to its maximum size. When exposed to air for over 30 minutes, it would instead shrink and get dry / brittle. When exposed to water, it gets mushy and it's edges will start to disintegrate. Of course various types of rice like jasmine, calrose, long grain would hold it's cooked shape in varying degrees, but it would not expand much more than it's current cooked state. If it were uncooked then I'd be concerned about it growing in size once inside the bird. Although I have read articles disputing this as well so who knows.

What I wonder was whether it's stickiness (which is a byproduct of having been cooked) caused my bird to choke on it. This brand clumped together because the individual grains are a quarter in length shorter than my usual brand. It's a weird theory but it's worth exploring. Knowing how birds behave when their air ways are fully blocked through the natural eating process (not tube fed) would shed some light on this. It may very well have been a heart attack as I first assumed.

 

[BoomBoom]

I saw my A-Vet yesterday, very experienced older gentleman. He said that the symptom of full air way blockage in adult birds, through normal feeding, is certainly violent thrashing as they loose access to air. They will not just be fine one second and then dead the next during the course of the suffocation like in what happened to Kiki. It is highly unlikely that Kiki choked on the piece of boiled rice which was my alternate theory for his passing. My A-Vet believes it was a heart attack.

Congenital heart failure is highly possible because Kiki showed zero signs of illness in the past or in the days / minutes leading up to the event. Air, water or food safety are not questioned because both Pewpew and Boomer are perfectly fine. He said it is okay to continue to add bits of boiled white rice to food but I will cut it out anyway from my Pew's diet. He doesn't need it, I was just adding it to 'spice up' his dry food.

Necropsy of course would have provided the definitive answer. For now I am satisfied learning what the symptoms are of air way blockage in birds, especially since I was not finding the answer in my online research. I hope this helps another person with a similar situation in the future.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Reading this I am sorry for the loss of Kiki, fly free little one.

Concerning the reason for Kiki's demise we all are at the mercy of the breeder that bred our bird(s), if their breeding stock is poor then they will produce poor offspring. Unfortunately there is no way to tell this.

If you are feeding rice then why not switch to brown rice after soaking, cooking and rinsing well and never ever keep rice for another time, fresh cook and serve.