Fever

Not long ago, I posted that Perry had a ‘scary turn‘. Unfortunately, this happened again (almost 4 weeks later).

On the evening of Monday, June 15th, at around 9:20pm, Perry had another series of ‘turns’, similar to before. He seemingly lost control of his body & was hurling himself around the cage. At one point he made a strange, tinny, sound. When the worst of it was over, he settled on the perch. However, around midnight, when the lights were dim & their cover was over, he once again fell off the perch & when I turned the light up & investigated, the same thing was happening. This time, there was less falling (or propelling himself) off the perch but he was twitching, mostly with his head going to one side. I could see his body wanted to follow the direction his head was taking.

I dimmed the lights again & put the cover down (halfway) in hope that the darkness would be less stimulating & more calming for him. He was restless until around 2am, when he appeared to settle. Nevertheless, I slept overnight in the same room to make sure he was okay. Lennie, understandably, was stressed by his friend’s behaviour & sat on the swing to keep out the way. We made it through the night without further incident.

You will not be surprised to hear that the vet visited the following day (Tuesday).

She asked many questions about the form Perry’s ‘turns’ took. I will note the questions below, because at a time when you feel helpless, you could actually observe something that will be key to diagnosing the problem. When the vet examined Perry, the first thing she noticed was his very high temperature. It was critical to bring this down within the next 48 hours. She gave him an injection (Meloxidyl) & also left me with medication (Loxicom) to give orally twice a day for two days. In case the temperature was caused by an infection, she also put him on a course of antibiotics (Baytril). She arranged to visit the next day to check his temperature. His weight, similar to last time, was 54g.

(Whilst she was here, I asked her to look at Lennie’s wing feathers but I will leave that for another post.)

After the visit & into the next day, they were both very, very quiet & not going to the seed pots to eat (Lennie was stressed), so I offered millet & seeded grass at regular intervals, which they ate.

Thankfully, when the vet took Perry’s temperature about 24 hours later, it was normal! This was such a relief! I was to continue with the Loxicom as a precaution, & he still had antibiotics in the water. The vet said that it may take him a few days to recover as the high temperature had put a strain on his body.

It is possible the temperature had nothing to do with Perry’s ‘turns’, but it obviously needed to be taken care of. A possibility is that his lump pushes on a nerve that triggers the ‘turn’. At best, the ‘turns’ are caused by an infection in the kidney that is pumping out toxins, in which case the antibiotics will sort it out.

It is now a few days since the vet came & I have not witnessed any more incidents. Perry & Lennie are eating by themselves again & gradually getting back to normal.

~~~~~

Questions to bear in mind when your bird is having a seizure:

Was he/she aware of his/her surroundings during the seizure/s.
Did his/her head turn in a circle or to one side? If to the side, which side? Was it always the same side?
Did he/she make a sound during the seizure & if so, what kind of sound?
Did he/she poop or vomit during the seizure?