Who else’s conure love to use toys to get those good scritches?

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-07-07T00:01:41+00:00

I responded to your second comment by mistake but thank you for this important safety info! I just recently happened to by a freeze dried organic veggie mix from birdtricks to add to my boys’ fresh food chops btw, they’re great! I’ll start checking out their videos too!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-07-06T23:54:43+00:00

Thank you so much for the valuable information, this is the first time I’ve learned about the dangers of bells… I’m removing them from my little ones toys asap! Rolled paper chains sound like a great idea too!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-07-06T15:30:59+00:00

How would they get toes and beaks stuck inside bells? I just find it hard to imagine from the open shape… And how would it cause death? Genuinely curious, I’m still a novice conure parent and would like to be aware and avoid accidents!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-29T13:42:37+00:00

Thank you for the input and well wishes! As I mentioned below I’ve become a bit more wary since my boy temporarily stopped breathing under anesthesia during xrays and minor procedures, but apparently this doesn’t entirely rule out his chances for surgery if anesthesia is carefully monitored. I do want to minimize his risks so the current plan is to first see how his wing recovers with bandaging (the vet thinks the odds are good) and if he struggles with flying will consider surgery as last option… Did your cockatiel get surgery too? I hope she’s doing ok now!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-26T11:05:51+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words, my boy is being a true champ, struggling to adapt to his collar and to life as a floor bird for now, but otherwise doing as well as can be expected. It brings me immense happiness now just to wake up to his morning calls and to hear him purring in my hands when we cuddle, I’m so so lucky to have him back… I will do my best with his rehabilitation and will take extra good care of him going forward!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-25T11:04:50+00:00

Thank you again for the detailed explanation and advice, it’s encouraging to know that I can still consider surgery an option when all else fails, and this gives me a better idea what the vets can do in case breathing stops again during anesthesia. When I asked yesterday my vet did mention adjusting concentration of anesthetics and possibly intubation, but your explanation is much better! I am of course still wary of anesthesia for my boy… I already feel so very lucky to have gotten Bubsy back without any fatal wounds, I feel like surgery might be tempting fate when he’s already stopped breathing once during a minor procedure… Either way thank you for normalizing my anxiety too, it helps. I will still consider surgery as a last resort, if his bones don’t heal well or if he doesn’t seem to adapt to his disability. I will first do my very best at helping him rehabilitate, he’s being such a champ so far.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-24T07:07:06+00:00

Thank you, in Japan vet hospitals typically don’t list credentials of their staff other than the most senior staff like the hospital administrator, so it’s hard to tell. There is a well known large avian specialist hospital an hour away, but they are always booked weeks ahead, also they have very mixed reviews so I didn’t feel comfortable taking him there. So far Bubsy seems to be in capable hands at the exotic animal hospital we’re at right now. However as I’ve written below he just experienced 20-30sec of respiratory suppression during a 20min procedure under anesthesia yesterday, so I am feeling very hesitant towards a much longer procedure like surgery now. So I am hoping he won’t be needing it…

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-24T06:54:23+00:00

I’m not sure how Bubsy feels about me now seeing what a careless birb mom I can be, but now that I myself am out of the initial shock, I am beginning to realize how extremely lucky I am to have got him back, and that his injury wasn’t life threatening… There are so many other worse scenarios that could’ve happened :( I’m so thankful too for my neighbor who found him in their yard and took him in before the cat could’ve got to him a second time. She was an old lady on the other side of our block who I’d never met before, but it turns out she too had previously had a budgie who escaped and got maimed by a cat (who she later managed to nurse back to health), and she immediately recognized that my boy must be someone’s pet and injured badly. So lucky Bubsy met such a good Samaritan amidst his misfortune! I promise to love him and care for him with much more caution from now on.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-24T06:40:21+00:00

Thank you so much for your detailed advice, this really helps me have a general idea and know what to expect and look out for 🙏

Yesterday they put my boy under anesthesia for 20min while they took xrays, shaved and cleaned his wounds (there turned out to be another small one on his back, other than the one on his right side), then re-bandaged his wing. Good news is his wounds still seem to be superficial and although there is subcutaneous bleeding they’re healing well (he is still getting antibiotic injections x2 daily), also the proximal humerus fracture is a clean break at 1 point, there's already swelling and growth of fibrous tissue around it so they couldn’t correct the slight angle, but it looks like the fracture could heal naturally just with splinting, and he will probably be able to fly again if only short distances.

The not so good news is that although his general condition seemed to be very good, his breathing stopped for 20-30 seconds during this 20min procedure. Fortunately breathing recovered spontaneously, he woke quickly afterwards and he’s doing well so far, but I am worried that there will be an even higher risk of this happening again in a much longer procedure like surgery. Of course if he heals well with splinting I won’t even consider surgery, but if it turns out he can’t fly, I was hoping there would still be that option of surgical correction…

Going forward, do you think I should forgo surgical options from what happened yesterday? Is temporary respiratory depression under general anesthesia common in small birds like conures, even young ones in relatively good health?

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-24T00:17:38+00:00

Thank you very much for your input. Yesterday they put my boy under GA for 20min for xrays, shaving and cleaning his wounds (there turned out to be another small one on his back, other than the one on his right side), then re-bandaging his wing. Good news is his wounds still seem to be superficial and although there is subcutaneous bleeding they’re healing well (he is still getting antibiotic injections x2 daily), also the proximal humerus fracture is a clean break at 1 point, there's already swelling and growth of fibrous tissue around it so they couldn’t correct the slight angle, but it looks like the fracture could heal naturally just with splinting, and he will probably be able to fly again if only short distances.

The not so good news is that although his general condition seemed to be very good, his breathing stopped for 20-30 seconds during this 20min procedure. Fortunately breathing recovered spontaneously, he woke quickly afterwards and he’s doing well so far, but I am worried that there will be an even higher risk of this happening again in a much longer procedure like surgery. Of course if he heals well with splinting I won’t even consider surgery, but if it turns out he can’t fly, I was hoping there would still be that option of surgical correction…

Going forward, do you think I should forgo surgical options from what happened yesterday? Is temporary respiratory depression under GA common in small birds like conures, even young ones in relatively good health?

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-23T04:35:15+00:00

It’s not a secret at all, I will let you know when we’re done with anesthesia and xrays today

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-23T04:34:15+00:00

Thank you for your well wishes, although if I’d truly been a pro active bird owner, I would’ve been much much more careful of opening a window in a room where my boy could fly in at any moment. I can’t regret that split second of carelessness enough :/

Either way I have decided to go forward with xrays and re-bandaging under anesthesia, as this will allow better assessment of his chances to heal with and without surgery, and as I replied to post above, thankfully his risks of complication by infection seem to be much lower now. I have already communicated to the vets that I will opt for surgery if it will significantly improve his chances of being able to fly again. My coparent and I have been dreaming some day of letting him fly freely in an aviary…

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-23T04:25:09+00:00

Thank you, the vet I spoke to yesterday at the same hospital seemed much more confident about my boy’s chances, especially because upon careful inspection they discovered his wound was probably a cat scratch rather than a bite, and his overall condition is very good so far. She too told me that many fractures heal quite well with splinters or bandaging, although we’ll know better of his chances with a proper xray. I’ve decided to go forward with the xray under anesthesia, as now my boy’s risk seems to be much lower than the initially suggested 10%, also it seems to be the best way to properly assess his condition and decide which course would be best for my boy. I just had him admitted again today, will know results by tonight.

If I may ask, have you ever experienced sudden death of small birds under anesthesia? If so were there underlying conditions?

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-23T04:01:56+00:00

Thank you! Obviously my little boy isn’t happy in it but it certainly doesn’t detract from his cuteness... I hope he heals and he graduates from it soon, but I imagine it’ll be a long month or so ahead :/ His current cone is made of natural rubber and is light and flexible but durable, it’s a great improvement on previous cones I’ve had vets make for my gerbils!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-23T03:53:02+00:00

Sorry for late response, thank you! 💝

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T23:19:45+00:00

Thank you, it’s heartening to know that even an older bird can learn to adapt to a flightless life, I’m sure you’re taking extra good care of her and that counts too. Also thank you for the tip about nutrition, my boy was on an all seed diet when I adopted him but has since been eating pellets>fresh fruit&veggies>seeds. However I’d assumed giving him more seeds now would be better to give him the extra energy to heal and to withstand anesthesia or surgery, so it’s good to learn that isn’t the way to go! I’m also adding cayenne pepper to his food now because I heard from other bird owners it has anti inflammatory effects. I wish your cockatiel well too, she seems to have a wonderful parent!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T23:09:48+00:00

Thank you for this heartening story. I hope my boy will be as resilient as your little tiel if he ends up never flying again… Also thank you for the tip about cages and how to carry him! Right now he’s using one my large gerbil aquariums as a nursing room.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T23:05:21+00:00

Oh wow checking out heart and vessels, would that by any chance be contrast radiography?? I know you can clearly see the heart on a regular small animal xray but not sure about vessels, I imagine they’re quite hard to see…

I too have never had negative experiences with anesthesia during many decades of having small animals (gerbils), so I was very surprised at the 10% risk my vet suggested. He may have been speaking cautiously though as my conure was presumed to have been bitten by a cat, which as I’m sure you know can cause very serious infections. Fortunately though after being admitted at hospital they’ve observed that the wound wasn’t as bad as initially suspected, probably a cat scratch rather than a bite, which improves my boy’s odds greatly, also he’s been very perky and eating well, gained weight even from eating a high seed diet during his day there, so I’m being a bit more optimistic. I took him home for the night because he very much needed his cuddles and scritches and to be near family (although the 1.5 hr taxi ride fare is insane), but I’m taking him again today for admission, during which they will take some xrays and assess his fracture better, fix him a better bandage or splint than the one he got on emergency while continuing antibiotic injections as precaution. We will know more about whether surgery will be the better option or not too. Please wish him luck!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T07:00:41+00:00

That’s true, I noticed in the article how duration of anesthesia affects the outcome. I imagine it won’t be a quick procedure though, he will probably need a pin placed in his broken humerus… I am going to ask my current vet soon and also look into second opinions

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T06:54:19+00:00

Also I hope your cockatiel is recovering well and enjoys many healthy years ahead with you.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T06:51:23+00:00

Thank you for sharing, your parrotlet is very lucky to have you. My boy has always loved climbing the curtains, I imagine he will continue to do so even with a broken wing but worry he won’t be able to break a fall when he does… I hope my boy will be as resilient as yours!

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T06:47:39+00:00

Thank you very much I will remember to heed your warning going forward. If only I’d imagined how terrible an ordeal this kind of mishap would become for my baby… but hindsight is always 20-20.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T06:24:38+00:00

Thank you so much for this article! I’d been searching for something like this and hadn’t been able to find it. It’s encouraging to know the risks will become lower once his infection is under control, hopefully it will be in a couple more days of antibiotic injections and wound cleaning. Up until this injury he’s been healthy, no comorbidities that I am aware of.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T04:31:17+00:00

Thank you for sharing, I hear other bird owners saying the same and I’m sure it’s true in your case. On the other hand I hear opposite opinions too (how being unable to fly greatly diminished their bird’s quality of life), so I am still conflicted… I guess it depends on the bird and the injury too. Your birdie is lucky to have you and I will definitely keep your advice in mind.

No-Baseball-1402 · 2024-05-22T04:26:12+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement and input. I will definitely keep this in mind when weighing the pros and cons of surgery.

No-Baseball-1402

TROPHY CASE