petit.perroquet
New member
- Dec 9, 2020
- 12
- 5
- Parrots
- Dill, a cockatiel
Petey, a budgie
Scout, a budgie
Boo, Rest In Peace, sweet angel
Hi everyone,
Iām a new member here. Iāve joined to learn as much as I can about giving my birds the best life possible, and to find some solace in the midst of the unexpected passing of my youngest bird.
This will most likely be long, so I apologize in advance. I had purchased a beautiful male cockatiel about three months ago. He looked like a little ghost, was very shy, and we called him Boo. The word that would best describe him was āgentle.ā Everything about him was soft- his feathers, his personality, his voice, his hisses, and even his little warning nibbles. He was extremely afraid of hands, but we had just gotten to a point where he was comfortable enough to be near my face; taking cues from my other birds, he would sometimes come up to preen my hair and eyelashes, and I was so excited about this development. My budgie Scout was his best friend. Scout followed him everywhere, and Boo would often bow his head to allow Scout to preen him. Scout would even regurgitate food for Boo. I loved to watch them together, and I was thrilled that my little budgie had a friend to focus his affections toward- my two other birds are more independent.
The day that Boo passed was an ordinary day- the flock woke up early that morning, my boyfriend and I let them out to play, and we went about our day as usual. Around midnight, we both heard a bird fall to the bottom of the cage. We immediately went to check on them, and Boo was on the ground with his wings spread, panting rapidly. I tried to comfort him, but because of his fear of hands, he tried to get away from me. It was clear something was terribly wrong because he stumbled and fell lopsided, with one foot through the bars. My sweet Scout immediately came down to the bottom of the cage to comfort him, preening him and regurgitating food. Iāll never forget that. Boo did not eat, and I knew that this was serious. I was able to lift him out of the cage, and I took him to another room to try to comfort him while my boyfriend searched online about what to do. I stroked his head while he continued to pant, but I had no idea what could be causing this reaction. I thought he had had a panic or had injured himself. I tried to transfer him to a shoe box with soft material inside for him to lay on, but right as I went to place him there, he laid his head down and stopped breathing. I was devastated. How did this sweet bird, who just hours earlier had been completely fine, pass away so suddenly?
We had a necropsy done- Boo had passed from pulmonary failure. The doctor discovered many different things: a small kidney lesion (which he explained was too minor to be the cause of death) and lung lesions, congestion and edema in the lung. In addition to this, he said the bird had a low body weight, muscle atrophy, and hardly any fat stores. This was all extremely shocking because we saw Boo eat regularly, and we had owned birds for several years and were very careful about our cookware, cleaning supplies, etc. However, the doctor said that the results strongly point to Teflon toxicosis. After discovering this, I immediately double checked the cookware used in the household. It turns out that a pan my roommate had used that day said ānonstick coatingā on the label. They saw that it was made of steel, didnāt see any Teflon/PTFE/PFOA warnings, and thought it was safe. I knew this person would never intentionally harm the birds and is usually very vigilant about checking for dangers. I trusted them. I am absolutely heartbroken. Needless to say, we threw out those pans, but I canāt help but feel mortified that this happened to our baby. Iām still baffled by some of the other results of the necropsy, but this seems to be the strongest clue as to what could have caused this. I am devastated that he died needlessly. I feel like I failed him. I was supposed to protect him. His final moments replay in my mind, I mourn for him and for his friendship with my sweet Scout, and I am overwhelmed with anxiety about all potential dangers to my other birds now. One of my other budgies also went to the hospital later that night, after vomiting and showing heightened respiratory rate, and I wonder now if she, too, was affected by the fumes.. She has since come home, taking an antibiotic, and she seems to be doing fine. Itās been a rough time. I am finding some relief in being able to read the informative threads here, and thank you all for your time and passion for birds. I apologize again for how long this is, but I am devastated and just needed to get my thoughts out to people who I know will understand. Thank you <3
Iām a new member here. Iāve joined to learn as much as I can about giving my birds the best life possible, and to find some solace in the midst of the unexpected passing of my youngest bird.
This will most likely be long, so I apologize in advance. I had purchased a beautiful male cockatiel about three months ago. He looked like a little ghost, was very shy, and we called him Boo. The word that would best describe him was āgentle.ā Everything about him was soft- his feathers, his personality, his voice, his hisses, and even his little warning nibbles. He was extremely afraid of hands, but we had just gotten to a point where he was comfortable enough to be near my face; taking cues from my other birds, he would sometimes come up to preen my hair and eyelashes, and I was so excited about this development. My budgie Scout was his best friend. Scout followed him everywhere, and Boo would often bow his head to allow Scout to preen him. Scout would even regurgitate food for Boo. I loved to watch them together, and I was thrilled that my little budgie had a friend to focus his affections toward- my two other birds are more independent. The day that Boo passed was an ordinary day- the flock woke up early that morning, my boyfriend and I let them out to play, and we went about our day as usual. Around midnight, we both heard a bird fall to the bottom of the cage. We immediately went to check on them, and Boo was on the ground with his wings spread, panting rapidly. I tried to comfort him, but because of his fear of hands, he tried to get away from me. It was clear something was terribly wrong because he stumbled and fell lopsided, with one foot through the bars. My sweet Scout immediately came down to the bottom of the cage to comfort him, preening him and regurgitating food. Iāll never forget that. Boo did not eat, and I knew that this was serious. I was able to lift him out of the cage, and I took him to another room to try to comfort him while my boyfriend searched online about what to do. I stroked his head while he continued to pant, but I had no idea what could be causing this reaction. I thought he had had a panic or had injured himself. I tried to transfer him to a shoe box with soft material inside for him to lay on, but right as I went to place him there, he laid his head down and stopped breathing. I was devastated. How did this sweet bird, who just hours earlier had been completely fine, pass away so suddenly?
We had a necropsy done- Boo had passed from pulmonary failure. The doctor discovered many different things: a small kidney lesion (which he explained was too minor to be the cause of death) and lung lesions, congestion and edema in the lung. In addition to this, he said the bird had a low body weight, muscle atrophy, and hardly any fat stores. This was all extremely shocking because we saw Boo eat regularly, and we had owned birds for several years and were very careful about our cookware, cleaning supplies, etc. However, the doctor said that the results strongly point to Teflon toxicosis. After discovering this, I immediately double checked the cookware used in the household. It turns out that a pan my roommate had used that day said ānonstick coatingā on the label. They saw that it was made of steel, didnāt see any Teflon/PTFE/PFOA warnings, and thought it was safe. I knew this person would never intentionally harm the birds and is usually very vigilant about checking for dangers. I trusted them. I am absolutely heartbroken. Needless to say, we threw out those pans, but I canāt help but feel mortified that this happened to our baby. Iām still baffled by some of the other results of the necropsy, but this seems to be the strongest clue as to what could have caused this. I am devastated that he died needlessly. I feel like I failed him. I was supposed to protect him. His final moments replay in my mind, I mourn for him and for his friendship with my sweet Scout, and I am overwhelmed with anxiety about all potential dangers to my other birds now. One of my other budgies also went to the hospital later that night, after vomiting and showing heightened respiratory rate, and I wonder now if she, too, was affected by the fumes.. She has since come home, taking an antibiotic, and she seems to be doing fine. Itās been a rough time. I am finding some relief in being able to read the informative threads here, and thank you all for your time and passion for birds. I apologize again for how long this is, but I am devastated and just needed to get my thoughts out to people who I know will understand. Thank you <3
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