Trust your instincts
Just wanted to report out here a little scare I had with Kappa right before Thanksgiving.
Tuesdays I work from home, so the Tues before T-day I was at home as usual. I uncovered her first thing as usual, and she didn't take her usual morning "nuclear poop." I shrugged and prepped her food - one bowl for water, one for pellets, one for veggie mix - and she didn't immediately begin bingeing as usual, but instead remained on my shoulder. She was quiet and sedate on my shoulder, instead of her usual non-stop motion, preening my hair, pulling my zipper, flying back and forth to her playstand. She snuggled up into my neck and hair and might have even shivered a little bit. I weighed her and she was 94g as opposed to her usual 104g. None of these things on their own would have bothered me much. But every single one was unusual and put all together was worrisome.
Wednesday I had to go to work. When I went through my morning routine, the exact same things happened: no big poop, no morning binge, quiet and sedate, possible shivers, still slightly low weight. I called the vet and since I had to go to work I scheduled her a 7:30pm appointment. My boyfriend was staying home from work that day, so he watched her all day long, and reported that her symptoms continued.
That evening my partner and I together took her to the vet. (VCA South Hadley, Dr. Benner, I *highly* recommend him for anyone in MA.) Did I mention that this was at 7:30pm on the night before Thanksgiving, when I'm sure the vet and all the techs had families to go home to? Kappa weighed normal on their scale (I think 102g compared to her usual 106g), but between the descriptions from myself and my partner (who is usually less observant of Kappa's behavior than myself) Dr. Benner decided that Kappa was sick. Since most illnesses in birds are bacterial, he prescribed antibiotics, to begin immediately. (A single Baytril pill mashed up and dissolved in a liquid to be delivered orally by syringe once a day.) He also took a throat culture which (a few days later) revealed that yes, it was bacteria.
Kappa responded well to the antibiotics, and was pretty much recovered in 11 days, with the full course being 14 days. She's shown no further signs of illness since then. I brought a loaf of banana bread to the vet's office for the techs and the doctor(s). Total bill was around $250, which I told the tech ringing me up was cheap, and she was surprised I said so. If my vet hadn't been open then, things might've gotten bad for Kappa, and at best I would've been paying $200 to walk in the door of an emergency vet on Thanksgiving, plus another grand for treatment.
Moral of the story though: trust your instincts. If something seems off for 24 hours, bring your bird to a vet. It's better to risk paying a bill that you might not have to pay, than to risk a larger bill later AND risk your bird's life.
BTW, for anyone living in MA please be aware that the Tufts Foster Hospital for Small Animals no longer has an avian vet on staff. If you need an emergency vet and you live in MA, your options are currently Angell in Boston and the Bolton CT Veterinary Hospital.
Tuesdays I work from home, so the Tues before T-day I was at home as usual. I uncovered her first thing as usual, and she didn't take her usual morning "nuclear poop." I shrugged and prepped her food - one bowl for water, one for pellets, one for veggie mix - and she didn't immediately begin bingeing as usual, but instead remained on my shoulder. She was quiet and sedate on my shoulder, instead of her usual non-stop motion, preening my hair, pulling my zipper, flying back and forth to her playstand. She snuggled up into my neck and hair and might have even shivered a little bit. I weighed her and she was 94g as opposed to her usual 104g. None of these things on their own would have bothered me much. But every single one was unusual and put all together was worrisome.
Wednesday I had to go to work. When I went through my morning routine, the exact same things happened: no big poop, no morning binge, quiet and sedate, possible shivers, still slightly low weight. I called the vet and since I had to go to work I scheduled her a 7:30pm appointment. My boyfriend was staying home from work that day, so he watched her all day long, and reported that her symptoms continued.
That evening my partner and I together took her to the vet. (VCA South Hadley, Dr. Benner, I *highly* recommend him for anyone in MA.) Did I mention that this was at 7:30pm on the night before Thanksgiving, when I'm sure the vet and all the techs had families to go home to? Kappa weighed normal on their scale (I think 102g compared to her usual 106g), but between the descriptions from myself and my partner (who is usually less observant of Kappa's behavior than myself) Dr. Benner decided that Kappa was sick. Since most illnesses in birds are bacterial, he prescribed antibiotics, to begin immediately. (A single Baytril pill mashed up and dissolved in a liquid to be delivered orally by syringe once a day.) He also took a throat culture which (a few days later) revealed that yes, it was bacteria.
Kappa responded well to the antibiotics, and was pretty much recovered in 11 days, with the full course being 14 days. She's shown no further signs of illness since then. I brought a loaf of banana bread to the vet's office for the techs and the doctor(s). Total bill was around $250, which I told the tech ringing me up was cheap, and she was surprised I said so. If my vet hadn't been open then, things might've gotten bad for Kappa, and at best I would've been paying $200 to walk in the door of an emergency vet on Thanksgiving, plus another grand for treatment.
Moral of the story though: trust your instincts. If something seems off for 24 hours, bring your bird to a vet. It's better to risk paying a bill that you might not have to pay, than to risk a larger bill later AND risk your bird's life.
BTW, for anyone living in MA please be aware that the Tufts Foster Hospital for Small Animals no longer has an avian vet on staff. If you need an emergency vet and you live in MA, your options are currently Angell in Boston and the Bolton CT Veterinary Hospital.