murfchck Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It has been a while since i have been able to write and update. Since Oliver has been my main concern, i am moving my updates here. We adopted him a little over 2 weeks ago. He has been pretty sick, but it looks like we may be getting better now. He has been taken off all his antibiotics because they seemed to make him worse. His original issue was sinus. On his last visit to the dr, they put him under and tried cleaning out his nose best they could and also did a exam. He does have a frozen wing, and they do not know about his sores he developed or his limp. Crud does come out of his nose when he sneezes so thats good. His sores we are keeping clean and the seem to be healing up. Last night was his first night being vocal, very vocal for about an hour, and boy can he dance! Not that we want to encourage those screams, we were so excited just to hear him we kept responding to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eshana Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Poor boy! He's such a cutie, though! You're awesome for taking him in and caring for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 He is definitely in need of some TLC but he has a beautiful face and those eyes seem all-knowing. I am also grateful that you are the person who will step up and bring them both home to have a fresh start and a new outlook. This is definitely a thread to watch as Oliver settles in and makes himself at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Oh thank God, Oliver has found you and has a new and loving home. I look forward to watching Oliver heal and grow strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life is Greyt Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Poor Oliver. Bless you for taking that sweet guy in. I'm sure he'll turn a corner now that he's with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 So glad you took Oliver into your home and your heart and I hope he heals quickly. Poor fella needs some tender loving care and I know he will get it, looking forward to hearing updates on his progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malikah Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 OMG! Wishing you all the best with both of them. Please keep us updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well Oliver came out of his house yesterday to what i thought would be a nice walk. Instead it was more like a run, right back to his home. Lol Daddy got home and we tried again, this time went better and the little guy said "hello" to him. The last few days his eating has greatly improved, i made him corn on the cob yesterday and we barely made it to the bowl before he grabbed it and started in on it. We are lucky, he likes his zupreem and roudybush over seed so all we have ahead of us ( food wise ) is finding out his likes and dislikes with vegs and fruit. So far, he has sampled everything i have offered and i can only rule out okra and i can count on grapes and oranges. We have some pin feathers coming in on our neck now and 2 new starters on his side! Fingers crossed it really was the female he was housed with who picked him bald. I guess we will know soon. I took this picture last night after his feast, his gullet has never been that big! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblivion Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Considering he couldn't pluck the top of his own head, I'd say he DEFINITELY had help. I hope he can grow back most of his feathers - he's got to be chilly! Good on you for taking this poor dude in. Wishing you all nothing but the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 You are an AMAZING person to take in Oliver. I bet, once he is healthy, and grows his feathers back, and is feeling better...you will reap the rewards with your patience and love. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malikah Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I love seeing that full crop. He looks like he is feeling so much better already. I'm keeping my fingers crossed there wasn't permanent folicle damage, but he's still beautiful even if only some of his feathers come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 The world is a better place because of the people like you! Thanks God that Oliver is with you now! Wish you all the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 It was 70 outside yesterday with full sun, so my neighbor came over to help me take the fids out for some play time. She sat and i placed Stewart on her arm then i went in for Oliver! He sat in my lap dancing away for about 5 minutes then decided he was done and wanted down. With his lack of feathers and frozen wing i felt semi safe letting him explore so i set him down. He made a bee line to the door, past my niece who was standing in the doorway, thru the hall and to his perch in the living room. He could still see me outside and if i could read his look, he was saying, " what the heck was that lady? " I am also going to guess that after his shock was over, he loved it. Starting at about 7pm, he started screaming for me. I tried to ignor this to not teach him that his screams will work, but after 30 minutes of solid screams and me now full blown with heartache, i caved and went in his room. With his one foot in the air before i even got to his home, i picked him up for some "love time". I am so glad i did, with each i love you i told him he placed his beak to my lips giving me his kisses! One time he even lowered his head for me to kiss his little bald spot! 30 solid minutes of good loving. My husband should be home soon so i really needed to get his dinner ready so i put him back on his house and i went to the kitchen and guess what, one more scream and he calmed down until...hubby came home and he heard his voice. Let the screams begin! I am now doubled over laughing because after his 16 hour work day, he is greeted by the most blood curdling screams ever belted out by Oliver, yet he is smiling and cooing Oliver with " daddys home boy, i will be right there " and went directly to him, no hello to me. Neither of us had dinner last night! Lol Found a feather starting under his wing but closer to his breast! Help!!! Now, how can i get him to eat some good vit. A veggies? I have cooked, steamed and offered raw. I haven't given up, offered a new one each night multipule times but its like getting slapped in the face with veggies! Yes, he throws them at me! Found out yesterday he likes snap peas! But nothing else green. I make eggs (for the yolk), scrambled, nope. Boiled, yes but he picks out the yolk and eats the white. Vet gave him a vit. A shot last visit and we are STILL waiting for the bloodwork to come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWIX Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Very kind of you to take him in and give him some love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Quick update... Oliver is going to see a new avian vet at 2:30 today. I asked them to get his records and the bloodwork results from other place since i was getting no where with them! Hopefully we will start getting some results. Let you all know what i find out later on! Thank you all for your support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 It's wonderful to hear that Oliver is doing so well in your care. My gang love snap peas and slivers of cheddar cheese. I love these updates. Keep on sharing Oliver's progress with us, it is so good to hear when a sweet parrot gets a break in life. Fingers crossed with the new vet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 I love, love, love this new vet! He got the blood results and gave Oliver his gold star, all in the normal ranges! Sigh of relief! Now for the respitory issue. He did almost the entire exam with Oliver on my arm, keeping him at ease. Taking his temp kinda required him to be in a towel, even though he tried without it. Was able to listen to his lungs and everywhere else and concluded that it is all in the upper nasal area for which we have started a new antibiotic for fungal infection instead of bacterial. He really wanted to do an xray to confirm his thought but after lasts weeks expenses we just could not afford another $200.00 and he understood. I had to promise i would get it done as soon as we could, which i will, but him not with holding treatment because of our lack of funds meant the world to us! This poor guy had been on two weeks of antibiotics that were doing nothing, one making him worse and now this new vet says with the new stuff, we should notice a change within 72 hours!! Now for the not so good news, if this fungal med works then we know Stewart may catch it. Although they are not in contact with each other, fungal makes spores that "float" around so now we hold our breath for him! And of course Stewart now sneezes, because he has learned that from Oliver. For those who don't know, Stewart is our grey who we rescued a week prior to Oliver. He too is making progress. He was untouchable as was caged for his whole life of 5 years. He would step up but not without showing us how much he hated it. Heaven forbid if he saw your other hand. The step up changed really quickly for him but the second hand issue still scares him some. Yesterday however we reached a milestone! He let both my husband and myself tickle his head! Just a few strokes but you would have thought we hit the lottery from our excitement! Thanks for that link to the list. I have actually tried almost every item listed that was good for him. Last night we tried some pasta with spaggette sauce, collard greens with carrots and his fav grapes to entice him to the salad. He loved the spaggetti, the rest however made its way to the floor! Thinking positive though, maybe some of the nuitrients soak into his tongue as he holds it in his mouth to get into position for the perfect toss! Nah... Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chezron Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Good luck with Oliver. Do they make birdie sweaters? Please let us know how he is progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Wingy, thank you for those suggestions. I and going to try the peeler trick today! I have tried the puree thing, he seems to like things raw or whole. Maybe it is the antibiotics he on causing him to snub almost everything but grapes. Apples and banannas are even tricky now, if i hand him those, he will eat them but if they are in the bowl, nope. I am going to try out a new bowl also and see if something new might entice him! It seems to me that his breathing is sounding better, it still sounds stuffed up in his nose but going in to wake them up this morning, i couldn't hear it until i was right at his cage. Usually i could hear it walking down the hallway to his room. He has started making a weird noise too, well it is weird to us, maybe normal to macaws. This is going to sound silly, i am making this noise in my head trying to figure out how to describe it and i can't. Its a cross between a growl of my grey and purr of a cat..???? I could not even say if he was happy, content or telling me to get out of their room and let him go to sleep. He only did this on his exhales, like he was groaning in a way? Yeah, that seems like a better way to descibe it. Lol I got a great picture of him too, i am waiting for them to upload and i will put them on here! You can actually see his little bitty feather starting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malikah Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 When my grey Kito had aspergillosis the antifungal medication really decreased her appetite. She would still eat handfeeding formula out of a syringe so that's how I dosed her and then she would eat a tablespoon or two of the formula. I think that helped save her life because she was not eating very much of anything else. Maybe he would eat some nice warm formula or oatmeal with chopped fruits and veggies like a mash. Or maybe even sprinkle formula on his veggies while they are damp if he likes the taste of it. I'm looking forward to more pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Oh he is a stubborn one! He is eating some, if i hand it to him. Oatmeal with walnuts, that went over badly. Lol He ate some pot roast tonight as a treat, but the carrots, potatoes went to the floor, snap peas he opened then they went to the floor. I also noticed 2 spots of blood, one on his wing and one right above his tail feathers on his back, looks like he was trying to pull out feathers but since he doesn't have any feathers in thoses places i don't know what he was doing... Here are the pictures i got last night, looks like he has a bad headache! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malikah Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Oh for cute! I suppose with all those new feathers trying to come in he's feeling awfully itchy. Walmart has gallons of aloe vera juice in the pharmacy area by the antacids for about $7. That's the cheapest I've found it. When I had a permanently naked fid I even put some in her drinking water to try to keep her skin from getting so dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Off to the vet again. I may have loved, loved, loved this vet, but first he is not any better then he was and now his nostral is inflamed and red. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that he has been sticking his finger in his nose alot! ( as you can see from those pictures lol ). But secondly because i had refered my neighbor to him ( the one who took the female that was with Oliver) and i get a text tonight from her that he is a quack. Her experience was nothing like mine. She said he had her crying because he told her that she was abusing this bird and should send it to a sanctury, that she (the bird) was mental, should be on prozac. This bird is fine and loves where she is now. Putting on weight and running through the house playing chase with them. She talks and has even learned new words. That scared me that a person, let alone a vet, would say these things to them. He also got frustrated that she wouldnt perch on the scale and towled her and rolled her up into the towel where she couldn't move and set her on it. I know this bird and that was not necessary. I started wondering about Olivers care from them and got out our paperwork from our visits. First thing i noticed was his weight. 400 g. on his first visit, with antibiotics for that weight. Second visit 800 g. also antibiotic, third was 895 g. with antibiotics. Really? They don't seem to be adding the perch weight. It is always on zero when i set him on there, what does he really weigh and is this why he is not getting better or seems to get worse, like on his second round of antibiotics? If they can not even weigh a bird, i am at the wrong place. I had heard alot about a vet that is further away before our last visit, but i was already knee deep and broke from all the money spent at this other place and at the time, still waiting on results from blood test. I had called them, they kindly called the dr who was not in that day and he was willing to come in to see him, but we just couldn't afford it. They would need to either do all the tests again or wait to be able to get his complete paperwork before treating him so we waited. But after hearing of my neighbors experience, i made the call to the other vet, in tears talking with the vet tech and explaining to her all his issues, after a short 45 minute conversation she has me bringing him in Wednesday and gave me good tips to help him out, she even got me laughing. Yes, i am sure we will be double paying for alot but it will be worth it for the best care he can get! The new vet is dr. Moore, in southlake, tx. Wow, sorry for the long venting post i just did but, thanks for having a place for me here! I am sure that without this outlet, i would be in a corner crying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chezron Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I am so sorry you guys are having all these problems. i will keep you in my thoughts, and wish for a speedy recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malikah Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 So sorry to hear of your vet troubles. {{{murfchck}}} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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