Our Turn

[birdhouse]

In hindsight...

 

Wednesday AM, Kura did a little sneezing over maybe an hour or so. Then she regurgitated clear liquid w/recognizable bits of lunch into her dish. Nothing else happened & I took it to mean she had something temporarily lodged in her pallet.

 

That was it. That was the only hint. Everything has been normal, normal until she didn't finish her meal this am. I wouldn't have given it a second thought if it had been one of the other birds. But with Kura, that was enough to know there was a problem even before I realized her crop looked full.

 

Begged our way into the vet this afternoon (TUVM!) & came home with 10 days of peanut butter flavored antibiotics for what appears to be a bacterial infection in her crop. Have to wait for the cultures. Best guess is that something was lodged, but didn't clear & became infected.

 

Even though the stoic little beast didn't show any signs she was having problems, we caught it before her white blood cells got very high. Which was good. She came home & tucked into an orange with some interested. Which was also good. But there was a small pool of juice in the bottom of the bowl a little while later. Not so good.

 

So, I'm sitting here worrying. I don't want to have to take her back out into the 20 degree world of ice, again. It's going to be the weekend, so I'd have to take her on a 4 hour round tripper if she doesn't get better in the next 24 hrs. And we're getting another storm this weekend which could certainly make bad matters worse.

 

I really know I should really tuck her in because she really needs her sleep. But I really hate to have her out of my sight. So I'm sitting here worrying & just hope it's ok that I really needed to vent.

Edited February 5, 2011 by birdhouse

[Malikah]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Morana]

I hope she will recover very soon. Best wishes. Take care you both!

[Birdnut]

I know it's so scary to have a sick bird. All best wishes and healing energy for poor Kura. Sounds like you caught it early on.

[Luvparrots]

Your quick actions to get Kura, to the vet will help with a quick and complete recovery of your little treasure. Will be watching the thread board to see your update. Prays coming your way sweet Kura!!!!!

[judygram]

I know you are worring Val but please hold good thoughts as I do that all will be fine for Kura and please let us know when you find out anything.

[birdhouse]

I think things are better. She's eating a little better. Made her oatmeal because Dave had suggested it was good for crop issues (thanks Dave). She flung it in my face initially. But I finally found the magic combination with cranberry & got her to eat some.

 

Hell to pay getting her medicated. She's big & strong enough to put up a fair fight. Peanut butter antibiotics are apparently as gross as they sound. It's very sad to see her shake when I look at her too closely now. I'm really off her favorite people list because of everything in the past day & a half (has it really only been that long??). The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to get her to trust me, again & that's really sad, too.

 

Her crop is less extended & that counts for a lot. But it's still too full. I was hoping it would be better than it is by now. Guess we're going to have to wait for the cultures to get the right meds.

 

Last night we had little black outs & I was really scared we were going to have a heat problem on top of everything. But we didn't & at least the storm's over. Just hope the soaked snow & winds don't cause any more problems.

 

So, I'm still sitting & worrying. But she's doing ok for now. She's not improved enough to suit me, but she has improved & I'm really grateful for that.

[danmcq]

I hope a speedy recovery takes hold.

 

Is her crop impacted or just super slow due to the infection? I ask due to your comment that her crop was extended, which you don't normally see in a bird after weaning.

[birdhouse]

When I called the vet, it was just too full. I thought I might be over reacting. In the 4 hrs until she was seen, it definitely became overly full & I hadn't seen her eat anything.

 

Her crop is larger than it s/b given the amount of food she's eating. It does increase & decrease in size but isn't really emptying.

 

The vet said she couldn't find any block & there was still room in the crop. The stain had unacceptable bacteria but not a huge amount of white blood cells. So she recommended the culture & Baytril until the results came back.

[judygram]

I sure do hope Kura is going to be just fine and you two get thru this quickly, it is keeping you on pins and needles worrying about her but this shall pass as she improves, like watching over a human child who is sick, I will keep you both in my thoughts and keep us informed Val.

[katana600]

Thoughts and prayers are with you for Kura's recovery and for your stress. It seems like with babies and pets, they get worse on the weekend, or maybe we just worry more being out of regular office hours. With ice and bad weather on top of that, you really need some strong shoulders to brace you up and we are all here standing beside you while you get her through this trial. I don't think she is losing trust in you so much as just wanting to avoid the medicine. Also if she isn't feeling too well, who could blame her for being a little grumpy? All my best and better sunny days ahead for you.

[Acappella]

Hope Kura is feeling better.

[JBeck]

Willow had a crop infection and was on an anti-fungal and antibiotic. She regressed back to formula and it has taken over a month to get her back to normal weight and eating habits. Sometimes the recovery does not seem speedy enough but a lot of patience, vigilance, and extra TLC will go a long way. I hope everything goes well and your Fid is back to good health very soon.

[birdhouse]

It's been a week so we're still in the patience & TLC stage. Her crop is still slow. Her sinuses are still irritated & she still sneezes & regurgitates some. Insists on eating anything she can get off the cage floor. Treating her has stressed her out badly enough that she feather barbered her entire front, again.

 

The cultures finally came back & she's not contagious. Still looks like we caught it early, but I doubt the little episode on Wednesday was the beginning. She was probably already incubating the infection & something irritated her. Thank goodness I didn't wait for more symptoms & gave in to my paranoid instincts when I did!!!

 

On the upside, her crop is better. Her appetite kicked in which allows her to get her meds in the dish. When she likes something, she's a very neat eater & doesn't fling things like most birds. I'm reasonably confident that she's getting a pretty accurate dose from mixing the meds with a little oatmeal. And it's far, far less stress on her.

 

Since most human foods have processed something, if only vitamins, she's been living on oatmeal mixed with a smoothie concoction of cantaloupe, broccoli, Stoney Field Organic active culture Greek yogurt & beef Gerber baby food. Over the next few days we're going to start to work back toward her normal diet (fingers & toes crossed!). I'll feel a lot better when she's finished her meds & can handle a normal diet.

 

Right now, I'm guardedly optimistic. Realistically it will be sometime next week before we hopefully, finally know we've got this thing beat.

Edited February 12, 2011 by birdhouse

[Morana]

Well, eating is always a good sign:-) I hope from this point on things can go just for better:-) Of course, fingers & toes crossed that she starts to work back toward her normal diet and that the next update will be even better!:-)

we are all here rooting for you both!!:-)

Please keep us updated and take care you both!:-)

[Malikah]

Thanks for the update! You are a good birdy mom and she's sure to recover. Thank God you caught it early. Even once they start to act better, it still seems like such a long process until they are totally normal. Kito is finally eating & pooping normally again, and hasn't chewed a single feather in 3 days (knock on wood!!!).