Extremely Worried About Olive - Injury

[Giannine]

Thank you all for your concern...I need to drive to Eastern Washington tomorrow for one day and night and decided to take Olive rather than leave her here with my older boys. She has become so attached to me that she gets stressed out when I am not holding her wrapped up in a blanket. If I left her, I would worry about her constantly and feel really bad.

 

I am now concerned the Metacam has possibly caused kidney damage as I see her drink water far more frequently than ever before. I read about several accounts of this occurring with other people's birds but am not sure. I just figure I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

I hope to get her back in to the vet within the next week or so and have blood tests and whatever other tests they recommend done because there is something definitely going on more than the puncture wound. All she wants to do is sleep in the blanket with me all day and she hangs on the side or from the top of her cage when she is in it which is not normal.

 

Starting yesterday, she began shaking her head vigorously from side-to-side very frequently...sometimes just a couple of seconds apart. Going through this with her has made me realize how significant a part of our family she really is. Poppy is the sweet quiet one and Olive was the life of the house with her constant talking and calling the kids by their names and greeting my 18-year-old with "Hey Buddy! Whatcha doin'?" when he walked in the door from school. She hasn't spoken a word in over two weeks now. I have been praying every night that she will pull through whatever it is she is going through.

 

Thank you again for checking in to see how our little Ollie is doing. Have a wonderful weekend and God bless~Giannine

[neoow]

I'm afraid I have no advice to offer- but just wanted to say I hope Olive makes a speedy recovery.

[kittykittykitty]

What to say, except prayers for healing and love for all of you.

[Giannine]

We are at the vet's office now. Olive has self-mutilated and the vet said it's one of the worst cases she's seen. She advised me to consider euthanasia which I am not willing to do at this point. They tested for fungal and bacterial infections and found bacterial but no fungal. They will be growing a culture to determine resistance to antibiotics to better determine which course of meds will be most effective. She was fitted with a cone and I was told she may need to wear one for the rest of her life. Not feeling super optimistic at this point and would really appreciate prayers for a full recovery. Olive has become very attached to me and I to her during this process and just typing this, I am fighting back tears.

She will be started on an additional antibiotic in the meantime and be put back on the Metacam.

I will update again after I get Olive home. They have to wait for her to calm down from having the cone put on her before they release her to me.

[Acappella]

Sweetie, you're both in my thoughts. I keep checking in hoping for good news. Internet hugs to you ((( )))

[neoow]

Ah geez. Poor Olive. And poor you. I'm really sorry to hear that.

[Timbersmom]

Knowing what you are dealing with is often the major part of the battle. Prayers for you and Olive.

[JeffNOK]

I will definitely be praying for a full recovery for little Olive. Bless you and hang in there!

[Talon]

Prayers for you both...so sad

[Greywings]

So sorry she is so uncomfortable and you are in stress. Hoping for healing, they sure grab our hearts.

[Giannine]

Sorry I didn't get around to updating the other night. We didn't even have dinner until 10:30 that night. This thing they put around her neck really was a learning curve for her. She had to learn to stand and balance and then move around without falling on her face. That took about 24 hours. She has been sleeping wrapped up in a blanket in a box next to my bed and spends little time in her cage. Really just enough time to eat and drink several times a day and then I take pity on her when she's finished and has her head down and against the bars of her cage. I ordered a cozy sling-style small dog carrier to hopefully use for her so I am not holding her all day bundled up in a blanket. She will hopefully be content bundled in the sling and I can have my hands free.

 

She is now on two antibiotics and two pain killer/anti-inflammatory medications. At least she isn't able to pull anymore feathers out or further self mutilate. I assume all the bacterias on her skin they found were the cause of her behavior. I feel a bit better knowing an avian vet is on staff at the clinic I took Olive to. It is a birds and exotic animals clinic and Dr. Strunk came into the room to introduce herself to me even though she wasn't the Dr. seeing Olive. She still seems to oversee all the birds brought in.

 

Olive seems to be doing fine overall. I'll be taking her back in in two weeks. I truly hope she doesn't have to wear this thing around her neck for the rest of her life:( The second photo shows the self mutilation she did just in the day and night I was gone.

Have any of you ever dealt with anything at all like this?

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[Talon]

The attachements didn't seem to work. If you have photo bucket, that usually works..

 

Glad to hear shes she's doing Better! Thanks for the Update!

[Kya]

It sounds like you're seeing some improvement. I am happy to hear that. So do they think the original puncture wound was self mutilation, or is this a new area? I am so sorry that both of you are going through this.

 

I have seen several advertisements on fb for these cloth cones people are making and selling. Not sure how well they would work with a bird that was determined to get to the area, but later on, once she shows more improvement, it might be something worth trying. They are really quite cute and look like those multi layered things you used to see on court jesters in movies. Just not sure how functional they are...

 

I hope things continue to look up. You have to be exhausted.

[kittykittykitty]

Please try the rescue remedy to help calm her. Prayers continue.

[Giannine]

I am happy to report that Olive is doing so much better. She has had to get used to the foam around her neck but is now getting around nearly as well as she used to. She has even reverted back to some of her old behaviors such as trying to get to my 12-year-old when she is by her cage so she can bite her:D and she climbed down off of her cage to walk around the living room floor just like she used to before her injury.

 

She is far less needy and doesn't need to sleep wrapped up in a blanket anymore, nor does she sleep all day as she was doing before. Her limp is also gone. I believe she was in pain from her skin injury on that side and that is why she was limping.

 

Now that she can't reach her skin to bite it and pull out her feathers, she is healing very well and her scabs are falling off. She will be on 3 of her meds until the 26th and one until the 20th. She still has not resumed talking but I am hoping that will happen soon. I have decided to take her to another vet for her follow up appointment after seeing some scary reviews for the vet I was taking her to. They have a board certified avian vet, yes, and to their credit, several of the reviews of animals dying in their care were about a vet who is no longer there, but the vet we saw telling me to consider euthanization before even presenting me with treatment options really upset me and rubbed me the wrong way. I found another avian and exotic animals vet who has excellent reviews.

 

I feel bad for Poppy...after this happened with Olive and me having to devote so much of my time and energy to her, my oldest child's father went into cardiac arrest at only 42-years-old and was dead for 15 minutes until they brought him back...I have been at the hospital with him every day for the past 8 days. I am looking forward to my life getting back to normal!

[Timbersmom]

What a great report on Olive! So happy to hear she is so much better. Cardiac arrest at 42 is shocking. I hope he makes a full recovery.

[Greywings]

When it rains it pours for sure, very nice to hear Olive is on the road to good health. Hope your X improves soon.

[Giannine]

Olive started speaking again yesterday!!! First time in...I don't know...a couple of months? Maybe it hasn't been that long but it sure is glad to have her back!!! She said "Ollie Ollie", "Anthony" and "'night night" when we were covering her cage just as she used to:D

[Timbersmom]

Music to your ears I'm sure!

[Greywings]

Joy!!! That was a close call.

[Kasperhm]

suggest you let the vet, how well he is doing and that he is alive and talking .... !

[Acappella]

I'm so happy to check in and see good news here. So glad all your hard work and sleepless nights are paying off. Give her a kiss from me.

[judygram]

So glad to hear Olive is doing so much better, good medicine and a little faith go a long way, I predict she will make a complete recovery.

[kittykittykitty]

Such gd news about Olive! Is rhere good news about you x also?

[Giannine]

Olive had another follow up with the vet about two weeks ago and her collar was taken off to give her the opportunity to preen and also to see if she would pull her feathers out, given the chance to. She started plucking out her little feathers as soon as the vet went out of the room so it went straight back on. She did shorten the collar a bit, though, because it was rubbing on her neck and making her bleed.

 

Since the collar was shortened, she has become much more like her old self. She is jabbering and saying a lot more and is pretty much back to her old self. We really missed her a lot. The house just wasn't the same without her funny interjections and timely greetings when the kids get home from school, etc.

I just realized she calls me by my 18-year-old's name, "Anthony":rolleyes: You would think the one name in the house (Mommy) that is used more than any other name would be picked up on after a year but no...she says, "Giovanna", "Anthony", "Mercedez", and "Mia" (dog). Oh well.

 

I am still a bit irritated that the vet and the avian vet both upheld the decision to suggest euthanization to me before even giving her a chance at treatment. Their reasoning was, if she has to wear the collar for the rest of her life, her quality of life isn't going to be as good. I understand that, but she can and does still have a good life. I am aware that some vets' own birds have to wear collars long term due to plucking—some even in that office (the certified avian vet) so that reasoning doesn't make sense to me since she didn't euthanize hers. It just shouldn't have been presented as an option, in my opinion. She deserves more of a chance at life than that.

 

The vet does want to give her scarring a chance to thicken up and then we will see how she does without the collar on. She is still on pain meds twice a day and will be for several months, I believe, until this happens.