Post by: latrine on May 19, 2011, 01:56:55 PM
I got a call this morning, Tyler has a cloacal prolapse which basically means his intestine is coming out through his vent (butt).. which also means he might be a she, as it usually happens to females. Tyler is also fluffed up and lethargic and he is usually a very noisy talkative bird with an opinion about everything. When birds start to show signs like this that usually means the problem has been going on for awhile as they are prey animals and will hide their illness as long as possible, or, with something like this I guess it could just happen and be very painful and feeling that poorly would, well.. make him feel and look like crap.. my poor little guy.
The problem usually requires surgery to correct and almost always keeps coming back. they do have a major surgery they can do to correct it but it doesn't always work, is very invasive and the birds don't always live through it, I won't put him through that. So we are very worried that we may have to put him to sleep.
I located an appropriate vet, they will take my credit card info over the phone in case they can't come and get me before they go (we are hoping they can go as soon as possible) but if it's made for later on then they might get me and I can go and make a hospital cage for him and keep his injured area moist and help him feel better until it's time to go, then I can either go with my sister in law or stay with the kids if no one else is around to watch them.
I'll talk to you guys later, Please send out some good thoughts for Tyler, he's a really good boy.
- Sarah
Post by: Talon on May 19, 2011, 02:27:54 PM
Talon
Post by: latrine on May 19, 2011, 02:49:18 PM
I'm just sitting here waiting for a phone call to see whether or not I'm going over there... I got everything set up over the phone. The avian vet isn't in but he will be tomorrow and they can stabilize him and they said if it is what I think it is the vet can do surgery tomorrow.. I'm not sure if that will be what happens as I don't know if I want to put him through that.. it supposedly keeps coming back and they keep needing surgery. I know what that's like. I dunno what to do, really.. :(
Well they are waiting for a call back for when to take him to the vet and then they are just going to take him, so I won't be going down today anyway. I'm glad, since that means less driving for them in this stormy weather and Tyler will be able to get to the vet sooner that way, but I was also hoping to get down there to see him, just in case. Well, she will call me and let me know what happens. . :(
- Sarah
Post by: RedwoodsMama on May 19, 2011, 03:29:30 PM
I do hope you have a great vet and little Tyler will be strong enough to go through this, animals are excellent at hiding their illnesses, like you said, it is how they hide from predators in the wild. how they survive. I will be thinking postitve thoughts for Tyler, I hope he will go through it with soaring and flying colors. Take care and hang in there Latrine. :) :hhug: :kiss:
RedwoodsMama
Post by: latrine on May 19, 2011, 03:58:26 PM
Tyler knows some of his shapes and colors too :) He is 34 and I'd had him for about 16 years.. he's had the best care and food for all of that time.. well and the year with my brother during which the good care and food was the same but he probably had more fun because of all the kids singing and reading to him. He really is a cool bird, curses up a storm but that's my fault.. they tend to pick up words they hear used with the most emotion and he was in my room while I was playing video games.. lol. He can make all the different sounds of machine guns and other guns and grenades and things from the Halo games for xbox and the sounds of the character getting killed. If he got mad at us he would simply make gun noises at us to let us know.. that or call us a bad name. His potty mouth has calmed down since living with my brother, the kids scold him and tell him to say something nice when he curses..:)
I'm sorry about your rabbit, they make excellent companion animals..
- Sarah
Post by: Crewella on May 19, 2011, 04:50:08 PM
I think that if one of the factors had been brighter - if she'd been younger, or if they could have operated straightaway, I would have tried the treatment, but as it was I'm still sure I made the right decision for her. Only you can know what's right for Tyler - you've obviously done him proud so far. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.
Sorry - I don't mean to take over your thread with my own story - I just thought it might help to hear? :hhug:
Post by: kat on May 19, 2011, 05:42:16 PM
Post by: bhobbes on May 19, 2011, 06:10:47 PM
Post by: Talon on May 19, 2011, 06:47:22 PM
Talon
Post by: InmemoryofRomeo on May 19, 2011, 08:13:40 PM
Post by: bhobbes on May 19, 2011, 08:22:53 PM
You know, I did too. I saw this extensive documentary on him some years ago and thought it the most amazing thing I've ever seen. His manager or whatever she was- Irine Pepperbird if I remember correctly- asked him how many keys she was showing him. He answered correctly that she was showing him five. Then, she asked him what color they were. He said they were all yellow. When the excersize was all over- and this was the best part for me- he asked her, "Want a nut?" It made me giggle. I've never owned a bird of any kind. I'm afraid I'd end up with this obnoctious screaming deamon who flings poop and seeds and bites off fingers or something.
Talon
I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure Alex was one of the reasons why they started to believe that parrots (african greys at least) do more than just mimic and actually associate the word with the object etc. And can even express preference (I wish I had a citation for you but I know I read in a book about african greys that they was some experience with an african grey being able to choose between a banana and an orange and when handed the opposite would refuse etc.).
One day I hope to be able to own a african grey (congo) but I don't know when I'll ever have the schedule proper for such a pet. Unfortunately, I'll never have a true 9-5 routine job, and they do not do well with sudden shifts in schedules (or potentially don't). Considering my flock could keep him company, that could possibly be less of a risk, but I don't want to chance it. (No parrot is truly "easy" or "low" maintenance but compared to the larger/more demanding parrots, cockatiels are a walk in the park)
My first encounter with a parrot (or bird of any sort really) was an african grey when I was 8 years old and ever since then I have loved parrots period! So I'm quite sympathetic to the species (and parrots and pets period). Plus, like all pet people, you really do understand the bond you create with your animal.
Post by: saratogaspringer on May 20, 2011, 03:00:41 AM
Post by: Lina on May 20, 2011, 10:40:52 AM
Pls keep us updated. I hope your parrot gets better.
Post by: latrine on May 20, 2011, 11:33:40 AM
My sister in law called me beforehand to make sure it was ok to do the procedure because of cost and everything, they thought at the time it would be $4-500 which was WONDERFUL as I was expecting a WAY higher bill so I said of course of course do it!!!
And I was just so happy that they thought they could help him and that she brought him so late in the storm and my little nephew came along because he didn't want his mom to be out by herself and was worried (so cute!!) and then of course I started in on worrying again because of the sedation and luckily my bf conveniently arrived home from his trip about 10 minutes later so I was able to cry all over him and our other dog whom he had brought with him, instead of just myself and my dog. (I must have looked like an weird sort of large eyed lizard yesterday from crying like.. the entire day, lol.)
My sister in law is just wonderful, she stayed in the room with him while they knocked him out with a little birdy gas mask and she said they simply pushed it back up inside of him and stitched the area, just two stitches. Then they took blood and x-rays. Then they put one of those little cone collars around his neck so he wouldn't hurt himself and when he woke up he was apparently VERY angry at that cone and made it very clear to everyone within a ten mile radius..
So he also has an infection but I am not sure if that's what caused it or not..I am waiting for a tech to call me back to let me know exactly what happened.
The x-rays looked fine & clear, thank god, as they wanted to make sure he wasn't egg bound (had an egg stuck inside) since he has never been sexed and we don't really know for sure that he is a he. (most parrots look identical and you cannot tell the sex without blood work or if something obvious happens like it lays an egg, I can only think of cockatoos and the eclectus parrot, for birds that you can tell the sex of without blood work)
He got to go home right away, once the sedation wore off enough and my bf and I will be bringing him in next week for the stitches to be removed. My sister in law didn't remember everything as yesterday was quite a blur for her with a sick child and all the phone calls and running to the doctor and then a very far away vet, but she told me some of the stuff the vet said it could be a calcium problem or a protein problem but I don't have the blood work until they call me.. and then I'll be able to see whats off.
So, unfortunately, when the stitches come out, it could prolapse again.. or it could prolapse a month from now, or a year from now, or never. That's what the vet told her and what I've read. There is a very invasive procedure where they secure it inside the bird but I would not even consider that for a minute as it's very dangerous and many birds don't make it through. If he has to have it again we'll deal with that when it happens and we will hope it doesn't turn to anything bad.
So I am very very happy today, even though for some reason I'm still crying, lol..
Crewella, I am very very sorry about your cat, I understand exactly what you mean and have been faced with similar situations before and sometimes that's the decision you have to make.. I was really scared that's what was going to happen here and I'm so glad that, so far, he is ok :)
Alex always amazed me too.. Tyler does as well as he seems to understand many of the words he says, even the bad ones, lol..
Thanks everybody :)
Phew.. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :pizza:
- Sarah
Post by: Crewella on May 20, 2011, 03:22:01 PM
Post by: aibo7m3 on May 20, 2011, 04:54:09 PM
Post by: LuckyPleo on May 20, 2011, 05:22:05 PM
Post by: kat on May 20, 2011, 06:29:38 PM
Post by: latrine on May 20, 2011, 07:17:09 PM
LuckyPleo, I would definitely never even consider that surgery, it sounds awful. I am very glad that he's ok so far and I am certainly willing to jump through hoops to help him get better, I just meant that sometimes it's a condition that does not go away and that major surgery becomes a last resort because they don't want to keep doing the littler ones over and over. Plus, I know what it's like to be sick all the time and have surgerys all the time, I've had 10 in the past 5 years and may be looking at number 11 sometime in the coming months so I don't want to subject him to that... I am just hoping he will do well and not need anything else.
Thanks so much, everyone for all the support, when I see Tyler in the next few days I'll be sure to tell him you all said hello and to get well soon :)
Here are a few pictures of Tyler, s you can see, he is very handsome but very usually very camera shy so I don't have any videos.. :)
Here he is popping his head of of his favorite wooden box
Here he is standing next to the crab tank that was right next to his cage when we lived with my parents. He loved to hang off the side of his cage and watch the crabs, he called them his puppies. I imagine he got that from hearing us call the dogs our puppies. He would scold them and tell them bad puppies when they fell down off their rocks or tell them they were good puppies.. he'd say goodnight to the 'puppies' when it was time to turn their light off.. I never called them puppies until after he'd been doing it for awhile, so it was all on his own.. they really are very smart :)
The only reason he's next to a can of soda is the forum I was on was comparing sizes of bird species and we decided to measure against a can of soda... it's the only picture I have of his entire body, the little turd!
And this is Tyler's extreme closeup, right before he bit the camera and called me a, er, 'poophead' :o
I am going to HAVE to get a picture of him with that cone on, if it doesn't upset him too much.. :D
- Sarah
Post by: LuckyPleo on May 21, 2011, 05:27:06 AM
Post by: Crewella on May 21, 2011, 06:09:35 AM
Post by: kat on May 21, 2011, 07:06:14 AM
Post by: Talon on May 21, 2011, 11:10:40 AM
Talon
Post by: latrine on May 22, 2011, 01:12:24 PM
I of course went into full panic mode, if it happened again this fast it's never going to stop..etc.. so I calmed myself down as quickly as I could (thank you Valium) (prescribed!!)
and we called the vet and then rushed down to my brothers house, picked Tyler up and brought him to the vet. I felt so bad for him, it was obviously painful and he was being such a trooper..
Luckily it was the same Doctor and he was very nice, explained everything.. I got to be in there while they performed the procedure.. They knocked him out, cleaned the area, pushed the prolapse back in, and this time the doctor put in more sutures to make the vent area smaller.
He hadn't wanted to make it too small originally because he wanted to make sure there was enough room for stool to get out but since it popped out again so quickly there was no choice but to make it smaller.
So he is going to be staying with us for the time being, in a hospital cage-like setup, heating pad underneath, and he will be fed more watered down foods to help him go to the bathroom more easily.. also it will be easier for me to give the medicine and he can stay nice and calm here. Once he is doing better and the sutures and collar have been off for a little while without any problems, he can go back home to my brothers house and be happy with the kids again :)
We got home at like 3am.. I finally got done setting him up comfortably around 5:30 am, after making sure he'd had some liquids and was warm enough and calm, since he was very upset at first.. and he was just so exhausted too. So am I.. I sat next to him for the rest of the 'night' and got no sleep, again.. one of these days I really need to get some sleep.
For now my little boy can rest easy at home and be super spoiled.. I can't wait till he's feeling a little better and I can show him Loki the Aibo and all the Pleos.. he will go bonkers over the sounds they make!! But for now we are staying quiet and calm.. Thank god he is ok...
- Sarah
Post by: kat on May 22, 2011, 05:26:14 PM
Post by: Crewella on May 22, 2011, 08:05:55 PM
Post by: latrine on May 22, 2011, 08:08:24 PM
We got his cage today so we'll set that up and when he's feeling better and is ready to be out of the warmer cage I have set up for him now, he can move back into his normal cage :) I'm also ordering his favorite toy online right now, since he broke it... it'll be a nice surprise for him.. :)
This morning he still had his great appetite.. watched some TV and then took a nap.. the poor little area under the collar is so bare now, he's ripped tons of feathers feathers out but he can't reach the surgery area so it's ok.
I thought you guys might want to see what the collar looks like.. I had assumed it was a little cone like they use on dogs, before I saw it, but this is specially made for this sized bird and it's great because they can still bring their foot up to their mouths, which is how they usually hold things and feed themselves, and it prevents them from picking at things too far below it... but he's still grabbing whatever he can reach .. %) The feathers will grow back..
I know it looks tight but they have very skinny little necks and it fits just fine.. it's just very very annoying for him. If you can see in the picture, there is a little screw and bolt on each side of it.. he already unscrewed one of them and took the bolt off once, and that was RIGHT after they put him back in his carrier when the anesthesia was just wearing off.. lol.. so he is a smart little stinker even when stoned. ;D Luckily they fixed it and he hasn't messed with it since then (knock, knock, knock, on wood)
Here it's easy to see the collar and the screws.. I can't imagine HOW he got that thing undone..
You can really see the damage he's done to himself in the second picture although it was hard to get him to stop moving, he doesn't like cameras.. I wanted to take a few pictures so I'd be able to gauge how much plucking he's actually doing..
- Sarah
Post by: kat on May 23, 2011, 05:50:27 PM
Kat
Post by: latrine on May 23, 2011, 09:06:53 PM
I wish I could take the stupid neck thing off but I know it's important that it stay on.. I'm sure he'd be a lot less upset without it. Then again he'd be more upset if he ripped out his stitches... >:(
- Sarah
Post by: Talon on May 23, 2011, 09:26:26 PM
Talon
Post by: Crewella on May 24, 2011, 02:29:17 AM
Post by: latrine on May 24, 2011, 01:45:51 PM
He seems to feel much more secure and is happily watching us kill people in video games.. hopefully soon he'll start making machine gun noises and the like.. and then we'll know he's really feeling better. :)
- Sarah
Post by: Talon on May 24, 2011, 03:21:46 PM
Talon
Post by: kat on May 24, 2011, 05:24:36 PM
Post by: latrine on May 25, 2011, 09:34:59 AM
He should be able to get it off on Tuesday or Wednesday... depending on when they can get us in.. and I'm sure we'll be going home with it, just in case he picks at himself... but the stitches will be coming out at the same time too so hopefully it will be ok.. worries me though as stitches coming out will make it sore.. I'll have to keep him very engaged that first day.. I just turned loki on a half hour ago and he is just watching him, amazed.. lol.. he's more interested in him that the video games or even his favorite alien movies!! :)
- Sarah
Post by: kat on May 25, 2011, 05:42:18 PM
Post by: latrine on June 04, 2011, 12:42:56 PM
"hi"
"hello"
"HELLO"
"HELL-LLLOOOOO"
"BAD DOG"
"HELLO!!"
"HELLO HELLO HI HELLO!!"
To which Loki finally responded too (after I muted the tv) with "Ok, station dance.. " which wasn't exactly what Tyler was asking for (he loves for Loki to say hello back and to respond to good boy) but made him happy anyways because he loves to see Loki dance too.. lol
He is eating well, no more plucking feathers.. he is watching movies with us with great interest.. he actually picked out our movie last night on the xbox with Zune, we were watching Previews and he laughed so much at certain parts from the movie "drive angry" that we ended up renting that one.. (was ridiculous but funny) and he laughed through the entire thing at every ridiculous car explosion and limb amputation.. most of the time laughing even before we did, and half the time we were laughing because he was laughing..
So he is totally 100% back to his normal personality... He's also scolding the dogs, telling the other parrot to shutup anytime he makes a peep and demanding better food. (he is banned from extra protein atm and wants steak and pork)
Hopefully he'll be ready to go back home soon as I know he misses the kids (he keeps calling for one of my nephews by name..lol) and they all miss him badly.. and even though I'll miss him I know he'll be happier there and.. I really hate 'High school Musical' so.. it's all good. (One of Tyler's favorite movies... his all time favorite is Aliens)
He is still on antibiotics as his white cell count was still a bit off but that will be done this coming tuesday and he'll be good to go.. thank god.. my crazy little 34 year old bird will hopefully outlive us all :)
- Sarah
Post by: RedwoodsMama on June 04, 2011, 12:45:45 PM
RWM
Post by: Crewella on June 04, 2011, 03:38:06 PM
Post by: kat on June 04, 2011, 04:16:01 PM
Post by: Talon on June 04, 2011, 04:40:34 PM
Talon
Post by: fancyfont on June 04, 2011, 05:28:53 PM
Post by: PWOKristy on June 05, 2011, 02:51:01 AM
Post by: saratogaspringer on June 05, 2011, 04:22:45 AM
Post by: hannahg on June 06, 2011, 04:22:54 PM
i love AF and TAG and my heart goes out to you BIG TIME! someday i hope to have the chance to have one of these amazing birds, and i wish you and yours and tyler the best, poor gal!
hannah
Post by: latrine on June 09, 2011, 09:05:27 PM
Post by: kat on June 09, 2011, 10:11:57 PM