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Advice- 3 month (15 week) old Macaw **Sad Update**
- Thread starter ArcticFox
- Start date
ArcticFox
Strolling the yard
Not sure as to what type of tests- my husband doesn't speak 'medical mumbo jumbo' like me but I have been too emotional to take the call. I know yesterday the mentioned wanting to do blood work once her hydration was up enough to take some blood but as to the exact type of tests- I can't say at this point. Expecting another update around 10-11 after they talk to the shop- who hopefully will continue to man up on this situation.
In the meantime, they are trying to do as many tests as they can while they for sure still have authorization to charge the shop in order to save us some money in the short-run in case they don't continue to own up to the problem that was largely their own making.
In the meantime, they are trying to do as many tests as they can while they for sure still have authorization to charge the shop in order to save us some money in the short-run in case they don't continue to own up to the problem that was largely their own making.
Macawnutz
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You want a cbc and Chem panel for bloodwork. You also want a fecal gram stain done. That should be a pretty good start to know what the next moves are.
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If nothing else the store could probably be talked into covering ALL medical cost for public relations purposes. They would look past "angry parent" but not past their reputation and future sales. Ask to speak to not just the manager but someone higher up.
ArcticFox
Strolling the yard
That is my goal. They are not dealing with someone with no experience. While I don't know a lot about babies I do have the background in adult rescue. Based on the weight or lack of weight really, we believe she was underweight before leaving the breeder. Vet is working on tracking down the breeder through bullying the store and some of her connections, with the goal of shutting this breeder down.
The store appears to have given authorization for the next few day's of treatment. The vet said we wouldn't hear from them until early afternoon unless they couldn't get authorization as other payment arrangements would have to be made. Smart shop- it's in their best interest to do everything in their power to bring Koko to health as they sold a sick and underweight baby.
Koko's still alive, and seems to be out of the worst of it but still in the woods. Priority now is to figure out why she's not keeping much food down and work on gaining strength back. Unless she takes a turn for some reason, she will be okay.
In the meantime I have taken advantage of not having sensitive bird lungs around to do a deep cleaning of my house and am currently airing it out. Cleaned and sanitized everything I could that she will be in contact with as I'm sure her system is going to be weak.
In an effort to stay busy we will be out and about with the guests.
I'll update when we have more information.
Thank you all for your advice, support and positive thoughts. This is not what I expected us to be doing within the first week of having Koko with us. We were excited to have a baby, not a rescue for a change. Turns out we found the rescue that needed us most and we wouldn't pass her up if we could go back and do it again. I firmly believe that she ran a very high risk of death if she did not leave that shop when she did.
rocky'smom
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part of the reason that Koko is regruging is the fact that she has grow without proper food. and her crop getting stretch slowly to accommodate the amount that of food in her crop. you may have to slowly add a cc here and there to get her so she keeps her food down.
still praying for her.
still praying for her.
ArcticFox
Strolling the yard
That's what I was thinking. she'said not in our care yet and we haven't gotten a detailed update yet from the vet however. she will stay a few days probably.
Macawnutz
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If they run the fecal you are probably going to see a bacterial infection. Babies are very prone to getting them and with her poor condition I'm sure she has little immune system to fight the world around her. That, among other things will cause regurgitating.
ArcticFox
Strolling the yard
Update-
Keeping her tonight too but she's officially out of the woods. thank the heavens.
Vet is prying information out about the breeder with the goal of shutting them dowm.
I don't have the specifics yet but her labs look better. they are sending her home with some medicine - something extra to keep her blood sugars up and possibly antibiotics. again- my husband speaks no medical.
She's up, walking and being the cuddle bird we know. smaller feedings seem to have solved the regurgitation but it could also be antibiotics.
More info tomorrow after we meet with the vet.
Keeping her tonight too but she's officially out of the woods. thank the heavens.
Vet is prying information out about the breeder with the goal of shutting them dowm.
I don't have the specifics yet but her labs look better. they are sending her home with some medicine - something extra to keep her blood sugars up and possibly antibiotics. again- my husband speaks no medical.
She's up, walking and being the cuddle bird we know. smaller feedings seem to have solved the regurgitation but it could also be antibiotics.
More info tomorrow after we meet with the vet.
that's wonderful news. I'm so happy to read this.
rocky'smom
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yay Koko is coming home.
WendyN
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Good news!
ArcticFox
Strolling the yard
Update:
So I got the phone call this time so I have some more detailed (ish- its early, forgive me.) information.
First, the most important part- she is up and walking, holding her head up pretty much all the time now, with the exception of her 'snuggle my biiig scary beak and ruffle my head feathers for me' time, that absolutely nobody has the heart reject the request for. So that is great news! She would be going home tonight, however they were able to weasel another night out of the pet store.
While I miss her, I also would rather her stay as long as she can in professional care while she gains strength and some weight.
The labwork they have been checking was just basic bloodcounts, sugar levels and white cell numbers that were critically necessary when she came in. The store just now authorized (finally) more in depth blood work. It appears they were attempting to save some money but are starting to really see that their business as a whole is in danger (though again, overall I place my blame with the breeder as their other birds are older and healthy).
They started antibiotic injections last night as she is still regurgitating some though they haven't been able to test positive for infection yet. As infection status is still unknown and a possible other cause for the regurgitation is also likely (small crop, body relearning how to digest food) the antibiotics are largely preventative as it will take her immune system time to recover.
While I don't typically approve of such use of antibiotics I feel in this case it is appropriate as they are so late getting approval for the needed tests and infection is reasonably likely. She had one dose last night, and will have two more today and the course will be ended with one or two tomorrow depending on what time she goes home (assuming the pet store stops the money fountain after tonight). If tests come back showing no infection, then she is to just have one dose each day to keep it that way, as last night's dose could have largely cleared up any weak infection and stopping too soon after would allow it to come back likely stronger.
I did not get numbers on how her weight was doing, I was more worried about the above information and it slipped my mind. Vet's goals today are to continue feedings and watching sugar levels, though sugar has been stable and they are weaning her off the added sugar in the formula slowly. They are going to begin doing some more standard tests (I don't recall the names- I'm sorry) to get an overall picture of her health and to check for any defects as no one has faith in the breeder she came from.
While 'we did everything right' it was likely the stress of coming home and such a great change that triggered this. Stress caused her to burn more energy then at the pet store and thus, she spiraled so suddenly and so quickly. If she had remained in the pet store it likely would have happened over night but a bit slower, rather than Monday afternoon they likely would have come in Tuesday or Wednesday morning to find her gone in the night.
According to the vet, the extra feedings while in our care are likely the reason they were able to bring her back at all, let alone so quickly. Again, for that, I owe you all, who were kind enough to tell me I wasn't out of my mind in feeling like one wasn't enough. When we pick her up, I'll see if we can get a copy of her records and the bill so we can see what all exactly she was tested for, those results and for giggles, the cost of this adventure.
Vet is still going after the breeder. She has a name but is choosing not to disclose it to me, wanting us to focus on our baby and leave the vet to her. She has contacted the authorities and I have released Koko's records for them to use in going after the breeder. Sadly, best case is that they find birds in poor health, in horrible conditions, the breeder gets fined and their birds taken away. If they find the birds in somewhat decent conditions and not obviously in horrible health the breeder may not receive anything but a scare.
Koko is 16 weeks old tomorrow. She has been in our care for about 12 hours under a week. She was in the pet store's care for a week and a half total prior. Our neighbor had her for half a week. In total, she has been away from the breeder for 3 weeks. According to the vet, she would venture to say that Koko has been critically underfed for 4-5 weeks. In her opinion, this appears to be the case of a breeder attempting to force wean a chick starting at 10 weeks of age, if not a bit earlier.
We'll probably have another update tonight around 5.
So I got the phone call this time so I have some more detailed (ish- its early, forgive me.) information.
First, the most important part- she is up and walking, holding her head up pretty much all the time now, with the exception of her 'snuggle my biiig scary beak and ruffle my head feathers for me' time, that absolutely nobody has the heart reject the request for. So that is great news! She would be going home tonight, however they were able to weasel another night out of the pet store.
While I miss her, I also would rather her stay as long as she can in professional care while she gains strength and some weight.
The labwork they have been checking was just basic bloodcounts, sugar levels and white cell numbers that were critically necessary when she came in. The store just now authorized (finally) more in depth blood work. It appears they were attempting to save some money but are starting to really see that their business as a whole is in danger (though again, overall I place my blame with the breeder as their other birds are older and healthy).
They started antibiotic injections last night as she is still regurgitating some though they haven't been able to test positive for infection yet. As infection status is still unknown and a possible other cause for the regurgitation is also likely (small crop, body relearning how to digest food) the antibiotics are largely preventative as it will take her immune system time to recover.
While I don't typically approve of such use of antibiotics I feel in this case it is appropriate as they are so late getting approval for the needed tests and infection is reasonably likely. She had one dose last night, and will have two more today and the course will be ended with one or two tomorrow depending on what time she goes home (assuming the pet store stops the money fountain after tonight). If tests come back showing no infection, then she is to just have one dose each day to keep it that way, as last night's dose could have largely cleared up any weak infection and stopping too soon after would allow it to come back likely stronger.
I did not get numbers on how her weight was doing, I was more worried about the above information and it slipped my mind. Vet's goals today are to continue feedings and watching sugar levels, though sugar has been stable and they are weaning her off the added sugar in the formula slowly. They are going to begin doing some more standard tests (I don't recall the names- I'm sorry) to get an overall picture of her health and to check for any defects as no one has faith in the breeder she came from.
While 'we did everything right' it was likely the stress of coming home and such a great change that triggered this. Stress caused her to burn more energy then at the pet store and thus, she spiraled so suddenly and so quickly. If she had remained in the pet store it likely would have happened over night but a bit slower, rather than Monday afternoon they likely would have come in Tuesday or Wednesday morning to find her gone in the night.
According to the vet, the extra feedings while in our care are likely the reason they were able to bring her back at all, let alone so quickly. Again, for that, I owe you all, who were kind enough to tell me I wasn't out of my mind in feeling like one wasn't enough. When we pick her up, I'll see if we can get a copy of her records and the bill so we can see what all exactly she was tested for, those results and for giggles, the cost of this adventure.
Vet is still going after the breeder. She has a name but is choosing not to disclose it to me, wanting us to focus on our baby and leave the vet to her. She has contacted the authorities and I have released Koko's records for them to use in going after the breeder. Sadly, best case is that they find birds in poor health, in horrible conditions, the breeder gets fined and their birds taken away. If they find the birds in somewhat decent conditions and not obviously in horrible health the breeder may not receive anything but a scare.
Koko is 16 weeks old tomorrow. She has been in our care for about 12 hours under a week. She was in the pet store's care for a week and a half total prior. Our neighbor had her for half a week. In total, she has been away from the breeder for 3 weeks. According to the vet, she would venture to say that Koko has been critically underfed for 4-5 weeks. In her opinion, this appears to be the case of a breeder attempting to force wean a chick starting at 10 weeks of age, if not a bit earlier.
We'll probably have another update tonight around 5.
rocky'smom
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good on the vet for going after the breeder. the breeder needs a Butt kicking, HARD.
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I' m happy to hear the baby is doing much better. Even though the breeder can be held responsible for a lot of this, I still think the pet store shares a huge part of it. First off they accepted the bird from the breeder without thinking of the health of the bird, secondly, a pet store (management and employees they enlist and train) should be responsible for having enough knowledge to manage the birds (or anything else) that transfers to their care. After accepting the bird it falls to the store and if the store has issues with the breeder its between those two to haggle out who pays for any medical bills you have.
