When I last posted on Perry’s health (click here) I said that we were waiting to see our usual vet. She visited on the 14th January. After a thorough examination, the conclusion was ‘wait & see‘.
She said the following:
The ball of dead tissue that fell off (15th December) left a crater, which has a lining of dead tissue. (The dead tissue is where there is an absence of blood vessels which can happen as a lump grows). This can be surgically removed but it is unknown how deep it is etc. It is normal for the dead tissue to expand & is not necessarily a bad thing. The tissue around it looks healthy which suggests it may be healthy underneath too. The best case scenario is that when ready, it will just fall away.
The lower wound appears to show that bleeding from the abscess/cyst/blood blister was from two areas. There is a ‘cavern’ between them that looks like a scab. As with the upper wound, it is hoped his body will push out the remaining blood clot when appropriate.
The lower part of the lump is hard & still intact & brushing against his leg, hence his mobility issues.
It is still unknown what is happening inside/below the lump so there could still be unforeseen complications.
There was no obvious reason why he would bleed again, especially given his last bleed was on the 1st January.
It could take Perry up to 3 weeks to recover from the significant blood loss.
There was a lot of information so my interpretation is probably not spot on, but I think I got the gist of it!
One thing I am sure of is that the vet weighed him & he was a huge 65g! That may be all the extra millet I have been giving him. As he is still stable & appears in good spirits, I have already begun to cut back on the millet!
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.
Blood loss 26/12
Blood loss 26/12
1st blood loss 30/12
2nd blood loss 30/12
2nd blood loss 30/12
3rd blood loss 30/12
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.
Perry’s return from vet 31/12
Perry’s wound 03/01
Perry’s wound 07/01
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.
Four weeks ago, on the 7th of March, I woke to find a disturbing crime scene.
Blood everywhere.
But fortunately two birds looking fine & strangely innocent.
The more I looked, the more blood I found. It was all over the cage bottom, dripped & smeared. It had spattered & sprayed on the floor outside the cage, up to 26 inches away (night-time cover only goes part the way down the front). There was no sign of blood on their back cover & only a couple of drops on the inside of the top cover. One drop managed to land sideways in Dalai’s cage on his platform perch. Some drops were on the rope perches (lower to mid-level) but otherwise nothing on the perches. Some drops of blood were on a seed trough.
Blood on cover
Blood on floor
Blood on floor
Absence of significant blood on the perches ruled out a toe injury, plus there was no sign of bloody toes or feet.
Perry’s wing feathers were bloody but it is possible he had a (night) fright & may have fallen in the blood & smeared it, otherwise, there were no other visible signs of blood on Perry. When cleaning, I found one wing feather that had splatters of blood but had that dropped before or after the bloodbath? There were no visible signs of blood on Lennie.
Perry’s blood-smeared feathers
Blood-splattered feather
My instinct is that it was a burst blood feather, but there was no sign of the offending feather itself.
Perry & Lennie were fine that morning, if a little quiet. Millet helped.
Lennie & Perry preening
We were lucky – this could have easily had a bad outcome. Please all, be prepared for such an event. Check that your first aid kit is well equipped for an injury resulting in blood loss. There are lots of resources on the internet advising what to do in such a situation. If you have a trusted vet, then have a chat with them & see what their advice is.
Last Sunday (6th October), Perry seemed a bit quiet & not his usual self. The next morning he was no better, in fact he was worse. He was very quiet with not a peep out of him, not even when Dalai called to him (before I unlocked their cages). He sat in the same spot for some time, sleeping although not fluffed up. He did not go down to his seed pots either.
I let Lennie out so he & Dalai could play & Perry could continue to rest. Millet was gratefully received by Perry & he was able to eat quite a bit without having to fight Lennie for it. When he jumped to another perch he seemed to stumble a bit so I wondered if perhaps his lump was starting to impact on his leg. With these concerns, I rang the vet & booked an appointment for the following morning (Tuesday 8th October).
By about midday, Perry decided he wanted a change of scenery & wanted to come out. For the rest of the day he sat in with Dalai & Lennie, still very quiet. When the others were otherwise engaged, I would slip Perry some millet.
Although Perry had improved by the next morning (eating by himself & more vocal), I kept the vet appointment. The vet examined him & noticed bruising on his upper left leg, opposite to the lump. We assume this is why he was off-colour & also why he had improved. His lump is still growing & is currently growing outwards & downwards. The vet thinks it will affect his leg at some point & start causing mobility problems. Whilst he is coping fine now, I will gradually start to adapt his cage & hopefully they will accept the changes without any fuss!
Yesterday, Phineas was being his normal self, regurgitating, eating, regurgitating, preening, regurgitating & regurgitating. I went & sat at the other side of the room for a few minutes but when I returned to him he had a splash of red on his cheek. It looked like a beetroot stain but I knew it was not as they had not had beetroot (nothing can escape my powers of deduction!) I could only assume it was blood!
A panic set in as I tried to work out what had caused it. There was no fight as I was there the whole time & Bezukhov was in the manor whilst Phineas was in the Silver Villa. Did he catch it on something? If he did, there would be blood over something else. I looked over the cage but did not see any blood elsewhere. In the meantime, Phineas was being his normal self. It clearly was not bothering him at all.
I decided that a small blood feather on his cheek must have burst. Fortunately, there was no drama (Phinny missed a trick there!) & life has (thankfully) carried on as normal.
I am thinking of renaming this blog “The Veterinary Chronicles”…
Yes, you guessed it, we have visited the vet again. This time it was Cagney; he hurt his foot. The last time this happened was just before Christmas. On that occasion he recovered quickly from the bruising he had sustained.
Cagney in travel cage hanging by dodgy footCagney’s right foot not gripping properlyClose up of dodgy footCagney after vet visit
A few days ago I noticed Cagney limping. There seemed to be something wrong with his right leg. At one point, when he was on top of the Manor, I could see under his foot & it looked red. Later on that day I managed to grab him & attempted to smear some aloe vera on his foot. He was very wriggly (clearly he had been taking lessons from the Master of Wriggling, Bezukhov!) He also felt very little. Was this because I am used to holding Bezukhov who is now quite ‘solid’ or has he been losing weight? His right foot seemed odd too, though I could not work out why (the wriggling did not help). As the day wore on he struggled, so much so that I rang the vet to make an appointment.
The day before the vet visit, he appeared to improve though I did wonder if he had simply worked out ways to get around without putting stress on the dodgy leg. I decided to go ahead with the visit anyway, which was yesterday, the 21st.
Of course the visit was only to go ahead on the proviso that I could actually catch Cagney. I was fortunate that Cagney & Bezukhov thought I was ‘going in’ to catch Bezukhov for his every-other-day medication but I surprised them both by grabbing Cagney! I popped him in the travel cage ready for his jaunt. With the way he was climbing around the cage it was apparent something was still very wrong with his foot. His toes seemed floppy.
Ms Exotic Hospital Vet (EHV) gave him an examination. Other than his foot, all appeared well. He weighed a healthy 47 grams (surprised me – I thought he would be be a lot less). She trimmed his beak & his toenails. His toenails were long though not as long as they have been in the past. We assume he gets them caught, thereby pulling on his leg & causing an injury. Ms EHV confirmed that the two outer toes on his right foot were affected & the ‘floppiness’ was most probably caused by stretched or strained ligaments.
She gave him an anti-inflammatory injection & said that it could take many weeks for his foot to heal. It is also likely he will be left with some weakness in that area. She gave me some Metacam to give him (orally) once a day for the next few days. (I am not sure how administering of that will happen).
On our return, Cagney was welcomed with lots of shouting, although quite a lot of that was Phineas squawking as I had abandoned him before he could have his morning constitutional. I made some perch adjustments in the Manor so Cagney has a soft rope perch to roost on. Hopefully he will get a chance to rest his foot & his toes will return to full working order.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
Just for the record, here is a video of Cagney on the swinging perch the day before his visit to the vet. You can see his foot is not functioning properly, although it does not stop him playing with the beads.
Yesterday I noticed that he was holding his right foot up. He was limping too. This has happened before & I think it is because his long toenails get caught in something. I continued to observe him & was concerned enough to remove the swing from the Manor & put some padding on the bottom in case he should fall.
He seemed fine in himself & was getting about. He even sat in Phinny’s cage for a little while but as the day progressed he seemed to get a little worse. He had difficulty turning on the perch & could not be bothered to go all the way down to his seed pot. Naturally, I held the seed pot up to him. I decided that a vet visit was in order, if only to confirm it was a simple sprain & nothing sinister.
My blood drawnMy blood drawn (again)Phineas with injured toeClose up of Phinny’s toeThomas & his bloody eyeThomas & Phineas
Following on from my previous post on Fight Combinations, I have attempted to limit having only Phineas & Thomas out together. If Cagney is snoozing in the manor then all is relatively calm. However, when Cagney moves, both Phineas & Thomas want to be in prime position & this is when a fight can happen.
–
Most of the time Thomas flies away but he is not scared of standing up to Phinny & at times he proves this.
–
Other times, it appears that Phineas is flirting with Thomas & starts to get a bit excited & possibly a bit aggressive. Unfortunately, Thomas has no interest & this sometimes sparks another altercation.
–
Either way, I have to keep my eye on the two of them.
–
Though I have tried to limit their “fighting times” & also supervise them in the hope of averting a clash, there are times a full blown battle occurs. Under normal circumstances, Thomas would flee my hand but I know a fight is bad when he does not. In these instances I slip my hand between the two boys & usually get a hard bite (from Phineas) for my trouble.
–
I have spotted Phineas with a red blob on his toe which must have come from another scrap.
–
By far the worst outcome so far has been a scratch above Thomas’s eye. Blood poured down from it & initially it looked alarming. Fortunately, it was just a superficial wound. Despite him rubbing it a lot (most probably to get the blood out the way) it was clear his eye was not damaged & he was still flying & landing fine so vision was also not affected.
Yes, there has been another toe incident. Who was the victim? Phineas. Again.
Who was the perpetrator? The jury is still out on that one. All I can say is that Phinny runs around a lot on top of the ferplast & dangles his toes through the cage bars a lot. This must appear tempting to whoever is underneath. In this case, I suspect either Cagney or Thomas.
Though the wound looked quite red, Phinny recovered quickly & spent a little time afterwards cleaning it up himself.
As I alluded to in the previous post, there was a toe incident… henceforth known as Toegate.
I was in the kitchen when whatever happened actually happened, so I can only speculate, but blood was spilt. Phineas hurt his toe. 😦
I was alerted by Thomas flapping in his cage. Only Phineas was out, both lads were locked in. When I entered the crime scene lounge, Phineas was on the Manor. The first thing I noticed was that he had a wet belly. This suggested he had fallen in the (new) bath attached to Thomas’s cage. There were splashes of water up the side of it which confirmed this but alarmingly there was also blood. I also detected traces of blood on the bars of Thomas’s cage. On closer inspection, I could see that Phineas had blood on his toe.
Wet belly
Blood in the bath water
Traces of blood
Injured toe
Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, I imagine that Phineas was roaming around on top of Thomas’s cage when Thomas nipped Phinny’s toe. In his surprise, he most probably fell into the bath which probably set Thomas off on his flapping fit & Phinny back to the manor.
Fortunately, there is no lasting damage to Phinny’s toe. The bleeding stopped very quickly, leaving a little dried blood on his toenail.
It is possible I am doing a disservice to Thomas here, by stating he nipped Phinny’s toe. If this really is the case, I doubt it was done in malice but more out of curiosity.
Puddings & Toyboys 