Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
Truman had been taking metacam for the five days since I brought him home. While he did not seem heeled by any means, he was in better spirits and a bit more active. He has been limping and his leg barely improved in a week's course. He gained a little bit of strength back in the leg but no improvement beyond that. In a midweek follow up the nurse said that this was about the progress excepted in this amount of time.
Friday was the last day I gave the medication to Truman. Over the weekend his state began a steady decline. On Saturday he seemed pretty neutral but by Sunday was slowly losing weight. I could still tell that he was eating but yet he was putting out less than he was taking in. By Monday morning his weight was very low and I began contemplating taking him to the vet. However, he did eat a little bit of pellets which was encouraging but not nearly the amount he would eat in a normal meal. I began to suspect that the quick withdrawal of the medication was making Truman feel bad again and not eat.
Thus I called the vets office to find out if this is expected upon termination of the medication. As we were talking about extending Truman's medication, there appeared to be some confusion about dosages. I was being told about lowering Truman's dosage from .1 to .05mL but I had been giving Truman 0.5mL throughout the week. At first it seemed as though I had been measuring the wrong dosage but upon further examination of the medication label, I was able to validate that in fact I was giving him the amount that was recommended to me. It turned out that the medication dosage was wrong and that Truman had been overdosing on metacam for an entire week!
The vet offered a courtesy visit to bring Truman in to check his condition. I was already contemplating whether to bring him to the vet or not so I obliged. The overdose was confirmed so they wanted to run some blood work on him to make sure it was not endangering the kidneys. Luckily it was not. Furthermore the tests showed that he was getting sufficient calcium from his diet for his fracture to heel although no significant progress has been made with that.
I am happy that the office is thoroughly working with Truman but not at all thrilled about this dosage mix up. And it's not even so much the fact that he got a larger dose, because it appears that it did not harm him (and actually he probably didn't overdose as badly as it seems cause he'd spit half the medication out and shake it all over, some landing on the floor and the rest on me), but rather that this ended up costing me big time. So while they didn't charge me for the visit, I still had to shell out a good $250 for this time alone.
The blood work to check that the overdose did not harm his systems ended up costing $112 and would not have happened if someone didn't screw up the dosage recommendations in the first place. Furthermore I had to buy a $45 medication that is supposed to help suppress the effects of the overdose. So while the other stuff I paid for might have been incurred either way, I ended up paying nearly twice as much as a vet visit just to get the whole overdose situation cleared up. While I can forgive the dosage mistake as it had not done any damage, I'm not happy to be paying an extensive bill for amending that mistake.
After the blood work, Truman needed to have a fluids injection as he hadn't been eating sufficiently. After bringing him back from the fluids injection, I took Truman out of his carrier to see how he was doing. He was bleeding profusely from the leg they did the injection to. I had to call a nurse back in to help. They don't use quick stop or anything else to stop this sort of bleeding except wiping it down and applying pressure. She applied a lot of peroxide and worked on stopping the bleeding. She told me that Truman is more sensitive and bleeds more than other birds for these kinds of procedures. Eventually the bleeding was stopped but his leg remained bruised.
On the subway ride back home, I took a peak into Truman's carrier (which I was keeping covered with a towel) and my heart nearly stopped when I saw him laying down on the bottom of the carrier with his eyes shut. He appeared dead! But then I saw an eye open and then the other. Regardless it seemed like he was on his last breath and no longer to hold up the weight of his head. I was having a panic attack and wondering if I should get off the train and catch another one back to the vet's office. I decided that I had just been there and they had given him any injections they'd give him and that they wouldn't be able to do much anyway. I figured the best thing would be to get him home to rest. As the train neared home, I spotted Truman standing up and holding his head higher. As time passed he stood better and better. I have a feeling he was just woozy from the blood loss and injections and resting his head down was the easiest way for him to balance during the turbulent train ride.
After getting him home, I immediately put Truman back in his tub and offered him pellets. He actually ate some which was a tremendous relief to me. I offered him water to drink and then even more pellets. After consuming an almond and some more water, Truman had brought his weight back up to at least his normal low weight so I was much relieved. He has had a difficult and exhausting day so I covered him to go to sleep a little earlier than usual. I just hope this new series of medications makes him better soon.
On Wednesday morning (August 4th, 2010), Truman and I had a bit of a disagreement. I took him out of his cage for his customary morning poop. For ten minutes he sat around on his perch and didn't do anything. Then he suddenly flew off and landed on my windows shades and released an all nighter. This was much similar to a previous episode of this. Thus I ended up spending all morning cleaning poop out of my blinds again and by the time I finished I was in a rush to get to work. Every time I went to try to get Truman he'd fly off and things turned into a nasty chase. The more he flew away, the more effort I exhibited to get him which in turn made him flee reflexively.
The chase terminated in a exhaustion and a crash. Truman no longer tried to get away. I picked him up, comforted him briefly and put him away in his cage. For the remainder of the day Truman appeared lethargic and was closing one eye much of the time. He did not eat a thing in the morning nor in the evening. I began to worry that he became sick either from too much stress getting chased in the morning or possibly from my bird store visit several days prior. I decided to let him sleep on it and see if he improves over night. By the following morning when he did not touch his food, I decided immediately to take him to the vet.
Instead of going to my local vet, I took him to a specialized avian vet in Manhattan and over an hour away. They had a nurse take a look at him almost immediately to determine that he is in stable enough condition to allow the doctor to finish a previous animal before examining Truman. After a brief wait we entered and I explained the scenario. I told about how I suspected his drastic behavior change to be either illness from bird store, stress from chase, or possibly injury. Truman stood the entire exam on a single foot and limped when trying to move around. The previous day he did not exhibit so much difficulty in the foot so I was not as concerned that it was injury. However, by this time it was much more apparent. The vet determined that Truman had hurt his leg and that if anything, the pain was coming from higher up.
I was in a difficult position with a wedding I had to attend over the weekend and no ability to provide him special care and attention. So I decided to have Truman taken care of by the office until Sunday. I came back to visit Truman Thursday night, Friday morning, Saturday morning, and then picked him up on Sunday night. After an xray it turned out that Truman had a fractured pelvic bone on his left leg. The vet explained that there is really nothing they can do about it but that the good news is that it should heal on its own. The first day they fed Truman soft food and injected him with liquids but by the next day he was already eating pellets on his own. I had brought a bag of his normal pellets with me when I dropped him off and left those so he'd have a familiar food.
On the second day of Truman's stay, I came to visit bringing an almond for him to munch on. He devoured it right down and was looking much more alive than he was the previous days. He was finally a bit more alert looking and making some of his customary sounds. I continued visiting him and noting small signs of improvement. Today I picked him up and brought him home. The office provided me with medication to give to Truman for the next 5 days. It is an anti inflammatory and pain killer which should aid the healing process.
I had to set up a special living area for Truman for the next few weeks. Truman can't go back into his cage for a while because he needs to avoid climbing in order that his hip can heal. So I set up a large plastic bin with a low perch and steep sides. This way he cannot climb up the sides and has little room to walk around. Truman needs a good few weeks of rest so that he can improve. I also made a special lid with a wire mesh for the top. It is as much my fear of Kili getting into Truman's tub as it is for Truman to get out. There is no way Kili/Truman can climb in but they are both flighted and I won't be taking any chances. I leave his tub uncovered when I am home but will cover it when I am not.
So five days and $600+ since Truman's injury, things are starting to return to normal. Truman won't be able to fly around or do tricks for a few weeks but I am glad that his injury should be recoverable. I will be feeding him calcium rich foods like spinach, broccoli, almonds, and yogurt if he accepts in addition to his pellets. If not, he can have lots of almonds. He normally has one a day as it is and the extra fat shouldn't be an issue considering he's under weight now as it is. Surprisingly I've learned that almonds are a great non-dairy source of calcium.
I have learned a few lessons in this whole process. Obviously I learned that you can't take things too far with a bird and it's important to keep a low stress environment so they can think with their head rather than get out of control in an enclosed space. It is my fault for pushing Truman too far and assuming he was as tame as Kili. However, I also learned that good vet care is available (albeit at some distance and expensive cost) and should be used when necessary. I am really happy with the Center for Avian & Exotic Medicine in all regards including their level of expertise, specialization, quality facilities, and friendly staff.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
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