Sparks & Doll are doing great;
Willow is recovering
& my Charlie girl has died
Sparks
Sparks, the dog-bit pij, is doing really, really well. He's finishing out his course of antibiotics and I'm still putting cream on his sutured wounds (much to his disliking) but for all intents and purposes, he's fine. He's out of the hospital cage and in with the pigeon gang and doing fine. I'm amazed. He's one I didn't think would make it.
Doll


Charlie




Sparks, the dog-bit pij, is doing really, really well. He's finishing out his course of antibiotics and I'm still putting cream on his sutured wounds (much to his disliking) but for all intents and purposes, he's fine. He's out of the hospital cage and in with the pigeon gang and doing fine. I'm amazed. He's one I didn't think would make it.
Doll
And beautiful Doll is also out of the hated hospital tank and doing great. Her beak is healing and she's doing her funny, flying tricks once again. I drove the quail and Brother Chukar to a Mickaboo volunteer in San Jose who drove them to a volunteer in Livermore who drove them to their new homes outside Sacramento and it's nice to be back to just pigeons in the pigeon room.
Willow
Willow, the next to most recent foster arrival after Sparks, was originally treated for symptoms of infection and a closed left eye. Her eye got better and she seemed to improve but, after about a week of being out of the hospital cage and in the general population, it became clear that something was still wrong. She stayed off by herself, napped a lot and, when on Saturday morning at 9 am I found her in the exact same place as she was at 7 pm the previous evening, I took her back to the vet to get lab work done.
Willow, the next to most recent foster arrival after Sparks, was originally treated for symptoms of infection and a closed left eye. Her eye got better and she seemed to improve but, after about a week of being out of the hospital cage and in the general population, it became clear that something was still wrong. She stayed off by herself, napped a lot and, when on Saturday morning at 9 am I found her in the exact same place as she was at 7 pm the previous evening, I took her back to the vet to get lab work done.
There were tiny but visible traces of blood in her urates and lab tests showed her kidneys to be under functioning. Normal uric acid level is 10 and hers was 17. Her phosphorous levels were still normal though so it meant that she wasn't yet in kidney failure and, as such, had a shot. My WONDERFUL avian vet, Dr. Fern Van Sant, prescribed heat (good for ill or injured birds), aspirin for inflammation, Cipro for infection, flax seed oil for the beta carotene, syringe feeding and lots and lots of fluids to help support and flush out the kidneys. Based on what little we know, it would be impossible to guess the cause as so many things can lead to kidney problems including infection and even dehydration (which a king pigeon on the streets would be very vulnerable to- they don't know how to find food and water like wild pigeons).


I syringe fed/watered her every couple of hours over the weekend and I brought her to work with me on Monday to keep it up. Despite all the care, Willow was not looking good until Tuesday afternoon when she finally began to show improvement. Last night she began eating and, while she is still on her meds and getting supportive care (especially fluids), I think she has turned a positive corner and I'm hopeful that she will recover.
Charlie

My beloved pet parrot, Charlie, died unexpectedly Monday night. She was a five year old, blue headed pionus hen. She was a survivor of aspergillosis (4 years recurring & recovering) and was very prone to respiratory infections. We were never able to identify an environmental cause for the infections and my other parrot, Tookie, lives right beside her and never has any problems.

Charlie had had a great winter with mostly good health. A month ago, she got another respiratory infection and, our vet, Dr. Fern Van Sant, prescribed Clavamox. It began working immediately and she was great in a couple of days. She was really feeling good, full of energy and enthusiasm. About a week after finishing the Clavamox, she got sick again. It started up slowly on a Tuesday. We tried the Clavamox again and I started her medicine last Friday. Saturday was a little worse, Sunday a little more so and Monday morning I called For the Birds and, even though Dr. Van Sant was scheduled to be off that day, she said to bring her in. I did and we put her in an incubator with oxygen and she was doing better. She got Baytril and sub cu fluids. When I called to check on her at 4:30, she was eating and making a hell of a mess dunking her pellets in her water dish. Before 8 am the next morning, Dr. Van Sant called to tell me that she had died in the night.

I miss her terribly and will write more about my Charlie girl sometime soon. She was a really good friend of mine.



Labels: aspergillosis, Charlie, Doll, Dr. Fern Van Sant, For the Birds, Sparks, Willow
1 Comments:
Oh Elizabeth, I'm so sorry to hear about your Charlie! She was adorable. I am not a bird pet person, but I have friends who are Pionus keepers and they are great companions.
I have never heard of pigeon rescues, so I expect to learn a lot from your blog - thanks for the link.
aimee (from leapfrog)
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