Oboe's in the hospital

[Zoom]

My cat, Duncan, finally caught my lovebird, Oboe. Oboe's been taunting Duncan for a year and a half, and I knew his luck would run out eventually. It ran out on Wednesday. Duncan only had him for about 15 or 20 seconds before I got him away from him, but Oboe was pretty damaged. No blood, though. His respiration was hard, even after he'd had time to calm down, and one wing wasn't working. And he was obviously in distress.

 

I took him to the avian vet. They said there were internal crackling noises, and his wing might be broken. They admitted him, gave him injectible antibiotics and painkillers, and put him in a warm hospital cage. Basically they said they were just buying him time so that Mother Nature could work some magic on him. He wasn't interested in food so they had to tube feed him.

 

I've visited him each day, and he's happy to see me. He climbs up my arm and sits on my shoulder. But he gets sleepy very quickly, and his breathing is still laboured. The vet says she's more concerned now about his breathing than about his wing. She's hoping whatever is causing the hard breathing (possibly a punctured air sac) will resolve on its own. She likes that he's holding his wing tight to his body. She thinks it might heal on its own too.

 

Anyway, he's coming home tonight. I'll be hand-feeding him until he's willing to eat on his own. And I'll be giving him oral antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories for the pain. I'll need to keep him warm.

 

I'm so relieved he's coming home. The vet bills are over $1200 so far, and they haven't even really done anything yet, other than medicate and feed him. That's a lot of money for me.

 

My biggest worry is that they said they don't want him to lose more than 10% of his body weight. He weighed 55 grams when he was admitted and he weighed 50.5 grams yesterday morning. So he lost 4.5 grams in the hospital in a day and a half. Somehow I have to keep him from losing any more weight. Any suggestions?

[Shelly Yokum]

That is just horrible. Glad he's going to be ok thou. Gosh, I am just lost for words. Hopefully once he is back home he will want to eat and all will be OK.

[birdhouse]

Very, very sorry to hear that Oboe got himself in such trouble. Poor little guy!!

 

I'd be surprised if the vet didn't send you home w/food. Maybe hand rearing formula. But I've been giving out my recovery recipe a lot lately. I just make a smoothie out of everything. I've been feeding this to sick birds for the past 20 yrs or so. Everyone has liked it & done well w/it. So, this might be an alternative, or supplement if you want & your vet doesn't object.

 

Syringe feeding didn't go at all well w/Phenix. It just added to the stress of being sick. I found out he loved this stuff as long as I'd let him take it off the spoon. I'd just let him gorge whenever his crop started to empty.

 

Plain active culture yogurt

Gerber baby beef

Broccoli

Cantaloupe

*PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS - Gerber baby rice cereal

 

Unless the vet says otherwise, you might set Oboe up a small cage w/a single, low dowel to discourage much activity at first. Less chance of aggravating any injury. Under the circumstances, it may be stressful if he can see the cat, too. He may even start to thrash around. So might cover the hospital cage & keep Duncan out of the same room for now.

 

I'm sure you'll worry until every shiny feather is in place & Oboe's back in troublemaker mode. But try to remember that as fragile as they seem, they're tough little beggars. They can recover surprisingly quickly & I really hope he starts looking better in the next day or so. Please keep us posted.

 

* EDIT Please do not use the Gerber Baby Rice Cereals as I've just found out that they are adding a great deal of iron, as well as zinc, now.

Possible substitutes: Quinoa or Nabisco Cream of Rice Hot Cereal

Edited January 18, 2012 by birdhouse

[Zoom]

Thank you!

[Life is Greyt]

So sorry to hear this happened and best of luck nursing Oboe back to health. Keep us posted.

[Ray P]

Our thoughts are with Oboe for a speedy recovery and you take care of your self to.

[Zoom]

He's home! He's very quiet and subdued, but he immediately climbed to the highest place in his cage and settled in for the night.

 

I really love this little bird.

[DawL]

So sorry to hear about the scuffle between Oboe, and Duncan. I remember reading a post of yours not long ago about how Oboe would tempt fate, so to speak. I so hope he won't so this anymore. Also, sorry to hear about him losing weight, I know how worried that can make you. What has the vet said to feed him for now? Will you be feeding him formula? I would imagine it would help hi to gain weight, as it is so calorie dense. I was feeding Barnaby 4x a day, and he has gained wonderfully.

 

I wish Oboe a quick recovery. We are all here is you need any support, I know how hard it can be for someone you love so much to be sick or hurt

[danmcq]

What a horrible incident. It is great to hear Oboe is home and back in comfortable surroundings.

[Zoom]

I'm handfeeding him KT baby bird formula, but so far he hasn't been very cooperative about eating it. It's just been one feeding so far...maybe by lunchtime he'll be hungry. I used to handfeed him when he was a baby, and it was much easier then because he was hungry. I'm also giving him antibiotics and anti-inflammatories by mouth.

 

I was sitting on the couch with him this morning, just cuddling him, and Simon the Grey flew over to say hi. They kissed each other and then Simon put his head down, which is his way of inviting Oboe to groom him. It was so sweet. Oboe was too tired to groom Simon, but he laid his head against Simon's head for a few moments.

[judygram]

Poor little Oboe, he has been thru a lot with this incident with Duncan but lets hope that is all behind him now and he is on the road to mending his injuries, hopefully this will put an end to his taunting of the cat but time will tell. I hope Oboe will be back to grooming Simon in no time, keep us informed.

[katana600]

I am so sorry you all have been going through this. Being home with you will be Oboe's best medicine. Glad he is stabilizing. He is such a tiny little thing. Bless you all for the love and care you are giving him.

[Zoom]

He's been home since Saturday night - three days now. He's still pretty rough. He's breathing hard and he can't fly. Also, I'm still having to force feed him...although I sometimes find him eating a few sunflower seeds or nibbling on an almond. And he did seem a bit stronger today.

 

Meanwhile, Duncan the cat got called away on a business trip. He's mousing at my boyfriend's house. (He caught one this morning.)

 

If anybody has any thoughts about the heavy breathing, I'd like to hear them. It's been almost a week now since the incident. The vet suggested it might be a punctured air sac, and it might resolve on its own, but I'm not really seeing any improvement.

 

Also, after I feed and medicate him, he's oddly frantic about wiping his beak repeatedly on many surfaces. I put him in his cage because he's so stressed then, and he runs around wiping his beak on the floor, the cardboard box, the perch, everything. Why do you think he's doing that?

 

His weight has dropped from 55 grams to 46 grams in the past six days. He lost four grams in the hospital, and five grams since he got home.

 

I've taken the last two days off work to look after him, but I have to go back tomorrow because the vet bills are formidable. I'm going to leave three hours early, though, so I can get home and feed Oboe a late lunch.

[Malikah]

Sending prayers for Oboe's full recovery.

[birdhouse]

I am sorry. I really do try to keep up, but things just keep changing. I'm trying to edit my recovery recipe wherever posted because I hadn't looked at the ingredients in Gerber Baby Rice Cereals in a while. It's just rice, right??

 

I would not recommend including Gerber Baby Rice Cereals in anything being fed to fids in the future. Apparently they're adding more/different vitamins & minerals. It didn't used to have added zinc or anywhere near the amount of iron it has now.

 

Zinc, as most of us know, is toxic for fids. They do need iron in their diet. But under some conditions, too much can lead to iron overload problems, particularly in certain breeds. From now on I think I'd add Nabisco Cream of Rice Hot Cereal instead of baby cereal. Possibly Quinoa or oatmeal, but rice is supposed to be very easily digested.

 

I wouldn't have realized there were any changes to Gerber's recipe if Katana600 hadn't emailed to ask about the iron. So, thank you for giving me a reason to research this, Dee.

 

If anyone else finds any other questionable nutritional facts, please, please post or email.

Edited January 18, 2012 by birdhouse

[aerial.2000]

Hoping Oboe is improving! Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers your way!

[MarcusCAG]

Oh, poor little Oboe. I'm so sorry about this incident... I can't offer any advice about the beak-rubbing, maybe someone like Dave007 or one of the other mods would be able to reply with any certainty? It's probably something that would be very obvious if we could think like Oboe--maybe the meds just feel particularly messy on his beak, and he at least has the energy to keep himself 'clean' if not groom anyone else. Ah, I just hope he starts breathing more easily soon!

 

And birdhouse, about the Gerber: I had a total cow (and posted in near-hysterics here) the one time I made birdie cookies by a recipe in a book and bought the Gerber cereal, and realized in retrospect how much iron was in my birdie cookies. I believe there are other baby food products out there now with a similar consistency but not the same supplementation, that could be substituted. Personally, I just haven't used the baby cereals in my birdie cookies since, since I'm a bit paranoid now. But I check out even the little jars of pureed food to make sure that all the ingredients okay, because sometimes things get slipped in and they aren't even labeled very obviously on the boxes and such.

[katana600]

I wonder if Oboe is wiping his beak to rid the taste of his meds. When I had to medicate my kids, dogs and parrots, I have something nice right at hand, give the meds, then quickly give the treat or better tasting stuff. Works with husbands too. LOL. I think you are seeing signs of Oboe getting stronger too, when they have enough energy to complain about the food or service, that is a good sign. He is in my thoughts and prayers as well as you for the pressure it puts on you. While you are at work, he will probably be sleeping all day, so don't worry too much about him. When I go visit my daughter, I take pictures of her cat and dog sleeping so she knows they aren't just staring at the door awaiting her return. Come to think about it, a nap while my hubby is at work is kind of nice for me too, hope nobody is in the house taking pictures to send to him though.