Holiday Emergency

Normally, at the beginning of a new year, I like to do a review of the previous year. However, the last few weeks have been a little torturous & we are still in uncharted waters, so instead of a review, I will bring you up-to-date with Perry’s health.

I had previously reported (click here) that on the 15th of December, part of Perry’s lump had shrivelled & fallen off. All was relatively stable until the 26th December, when there was some overnight blood loss.

There was no sign of blood on either Perry or Lennie. In fact, they both looked fine. But where did it come from? There was no sign of a blood feather. The blood looked like it dripped rather than sprayed. I wondered if perhaps Perry had been picking at his lump (it was going black again). There was some evidence of blood on a small feather under his tail so perhaps it was linked to a feather? But Perry has a lot of white feathers & there was no sign of blood anywhere else on him. Nothing on perches or cage bars either. He was a bit quiet but was eating & drinking.

Three days later, the 30th December, was a bad day. Perry bled three times. The first time I noticed his foot & leg, the side of the lump, were bloody & there was blood on a perch, but nothing on the floor. I assumed he had picked at the lump. I had to go out & on my return there was more blood. A lot. There was a big clump on the perch & a large patch below it. Perry was all bloody near his lump & it looked like blood had congealed on his feathers & formed clumps. Again, he was quiet but had a drink, some fennel & a little seed. Later on, I noticed what was the third & final bleed that day.

I had agonised over whether to take him to a vet but felt any major upheaval (transferring him to the travel cage & the journey to the vet etc.) could have a fatal outcome, so decided against that. I recognised that no action could also have a similar outcome, but I thought we would ride out the night together.

Perry survived the night. He seemed relatively stable & had not bled any more. I decided to take him to the vet that morning, the 31st December.

The vet visit was wrapped up in mad rules which caused further (unnecessary) distress, but we got through it & I was relieved to get Perry back home again. The vet seemed to suggest that the lump was actually an abscess (on reflection, it is possible she could have said ‘cyst’ but I struggle to understand when people are wearing a mask). She cleaned the area as much as possible – a proper clean would mean putting him under anaesthetic. She said there was still some dead tissue left in a crater/hole but she did not want to stress him or cause him any pain by removing that part. She plucked the feathers, so there was a round, pink area.

Perry was understandably traumatised after the ordeal but I kept him quiet & covered in his own cage (Lennie was fortunately temporarily in Dalai’s cage). It took Perry some time to feel like eating & drinking. I checked on him overnight & was hopeful he was stable, however the following day, the 1st January, he had another bleed. This time the blood loss happened as I was looking at him, so I immediately grabbed him & smothered his ‘lump’ with cornflour (I had all the emergency items handy). I put him in a small carrier for a few minutes then checked him again. I saw an area of fresh blood so put more cornflour on. Whilst doing this, I noticed a round black area that must have been the dead tissue the vet mentioned – it was above where the bleeding was. As I already had F10 disinfectant lined up, I swabbed it.

The cornflour stopped the bleeding & at the time of writing he has had no further bleeding. We are hoping to see our usual vet as soon as she is available, but until then, we continue to do our best. During all this trauma I have discovered that when Perry did not feel up to eating seed, he could usually manage some fennel. It is always handy to know what food/vegetable your pet favours when they are not well.

We have had an unpleasant start to the New Year & there is still huge uncertainty around Perry’s condition. However, against all odds (significant blood loss & severely limited veterinary services due to holidays etc.), Perry continues to eat & drink & I am eternally grateful we have got this far.