Pep1

I am so happy to tell everyone that my Nicholas is on the mend! After 5 days on the chelation medicine he started showing signs of improvement, he has started eating his pellets again, is starting to gain his weight back (his average daily weight before his illness was 500g, during his illness he went down as low as 389g, he is now around 450g) the vet took blood to re-test his zinc levels on Tues. of this week, she called yesterday afternoon with the good results! She told me normal levels should be between 1 and 3 (I think there should be a point before these numbers) when he was first tested it was a 7 and classified as toxic, he is now back down to a 1. Still not absolutely sure what caused all of this but I have thown out the new moisturizer I was using and have removed his almond nut rings. Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and comments, I will continue to keep all of you updated on his progress.

and yes he did have an xray taken last Friday and nothing showed..that is when she decided to take more blood and send it out for the zinc testing.

thank you all for your kind words! I have to run into the vets office to pick up some Calcium EDTA to administer to him orally, she said she could also give it to him as a shot but with the reactions he has had with the antibiotic shots I am afraid to go that route with him. I will keep all of you informed, hopefully within the next couple of days I will have very good news to report.

My baby boy Nicholas has been sick for about a month now, going back & forth to the vets for meds and feedings. He has lost his appetite for his pellets and will only eat baby oatmeal, which is good because this is what I have been hiding his meds in it. At first the dr. thought he had a yeast infection and a bacterial infection & started a series of antibiotic shots, once a week for 3 wks., the day after the 1st show he got very sick and started vomiting, just the one day, so the dr. took some more blood and did an xray, found nothing on the xray so decided to do the 2nd shot a week and a half after the 1st shot, the next day the same thing happened, he vomited so we decided the shots were not agreeing with him, then she sent out a sample of blood to check his zinc levels, well she called me at home today to tell me she got the results and they came back Toxic! I go in tomorrow to pick up meds for him to combat this, I just hope we haven't waited too long to treat this, can't figure out where it is coming from since he is not a chewer of metal parts, the only thing new I can think of that he has been recently exposed to would be a new tinted moisturizer I started using on my face, he likes to cuddle under my neck when he sits on my shoulder. Has anyone out there ever had a problem with zinc poisioning? I am just sick with worry, have spent over $1,300 in the past 3 wks. and he is still not any better. I am sorry this post is so long but I am looking for any input..Thank you

Hi Sheila...thanks for your response to my post, I am also hoping it is just a mood thing, but I have had him a little over two years and this is a first. The vet also told me that they are very moody birds. Oh another thing, he has always liked apples but now he LOVES them..all of a sudden.

I don't think this has anything to do with losing Chaz, he died on April 1st and Nicholas has been fine till now, I did recently put new curtains up in his room but took them down when he started acting weird, that is the only physical change in his environment. No I did not have a necropsy done on Chaz, I was so and still am so broken-hearted I just couldn't do it, I kept him for 3 weeks before I could bring myself to bury him, in hindsight now I wish I had one done, you see Chaz got sick the end of January, spent a week in intensive care, was on antibiotics for all of Feb. and part of March, 2 weeks before he died I had his bloodwork checked again and everything was good, the doctor said she thought his illness was fungal, I felt terrible I thought it was something I was doing wrong, but you see I inherited Nicholas and Chaz and the conditions they came from left a lot to be desired, the vet thought it could have been something he was carrying for a while. Today Nicholas did whistle for me when I came home from work but he is still not his usual chatty self. He is not eating as well as he was so the vet told me to just monitor him closely. I am going to a parrot event in Burlington New Jersey this weekend, Dr. Irene Pepperberg is going to be there and another person who specializes in parrot behavior, they will be holding seminars so I hope I can get some useful information..sorry to babble on but I am just lost, I can't lose him..

It's has been about a week that my Nicholas has stopped talking and whistling, he has been eating OK and has not lost any weight but I am still very concerned for him. I took him to the Dr.s on Monday 10/13, he had a full exam and bloodwork done, by the way this is the 3rd time this year, I had concerns in July and had his bloodwork done, everything came back fine and he returned to normal. The bloodwork I had done on Monday also came back without any concerns, also had stool checked, nothing, the vet seems to think it may be related to breeding season and told me to continue to monitor his weight, one more thing, he is not eating as well as he was. Any suggestions? Comments? Ideas? I am sorry this is so long but I am worrying myself sick, you see earlier this year I lost his brother Chaz, he was 7, Nicholas will be 9 in January.

I am also having a problem getting my Nicholas into his new cage, I have had the new cage next to his old one for about 2 weeks, he will occasionally sit on the door but will not go in, I keep adding toys to it but I still have not put food in there, I think that will be my next step...

I just wanted to send a quick note to thank everyone for their kind words, I am still so devastated I don't know what to do, I am also mourning the loss of one of my beloved cats 3 weeks before I lost my Chaz. Stormie cat had cancer but unfortunately this wasn't discovered till after he had surgery, I had to put him down. Needless to say it has been very hard for me to function lately, this is the first time I have turned on my computer all week. But once again Thank you to all.

Hi Everyone, I signed on the end of March and told everyone about my 2 greys I inherited when my brother passed away, on Tuesday 4/1 I lost Chaz, in my initial note I told everyone he had been sick and I was still concerned about him, I had him to the vet 3 wks. ago, she re-did all of his blood work and said he was fine, I told her I had concerns because he continued to fall from his perch in the early morning hours, she told me to lower his perch which I did, well Tuesday morning I heard him fall once again I ran into their room and he was struggling to get up, I wrapped him in a towel and within 20min. he was gone, I am devasted I can't even function but I need to stay strong for my remaining grey Nicholas, he is sitting on my shoulder as I write this, he has been looking for Chaz all week, he has been whistling for him, it is breaking my heart. I have been trying to spend as much time as possible with Nicholas but I am so worried about him, I had him checked while Chaz was sick and he is doing very well. Well I am so sorry to ramble on like this but I just wanted to share my sorrow with other people who would understand what I am going through. Pep1

Hi Everyone, I am totally new at this, I have never chatted on line before, but here I am to introduce myself. I inherited two Greys about 2 years ago when my brother passed away, their names are Nicholas and Chaz, they are both 7 yrs old, they came from the same parents but are approx. 8 months apart in age. I almost lost Chaz the end of January, he crashed on me and required a week of hospitalization, two days on oxygen, the conclusion was he had a bacterial infection which was treated with antibiotics, he is on the mend but still not quite right, 2 weeks ago we had his bloodwork redone and the Dr. assures me everything looks good but I still constantly worry about him. Well ok I have babbled on enough, just wanted to say HI.