My lovebird, Petey, is 9 years old. She has never had chronic egg laying problems. She has layed infertile eggs in the past, but never more than 3 per year that I can recall. This year, she layed 1 or 2 normal eggs before she became egg bound the first time. When that happened she went on Lupron for a couple months and it prevented her from laying eggs, but as soon as she went off it she became egg bound again. The vet and I managed to get the soft egg (I don’t even know if it was even formed. Just clear, slimy egg yolk came out and a bit of poop and white stuff) out. Then, exactly 2 weeks later, it’s happening again the vet doesn’t think it’s related to low calcium or any other nutrient deficiencies, but we don’t know for sure since we have not done any tests for that. He is an experienced avian vet, and thinks it may be a reproductive issue. I have tried doing things at home to discourage egg laying, such as moving her egg to another room, rearranging her toys, getting rid of really shreddy toys...but I have struggled to get her on a strict light therapy schedule because my work hours are unstable. But it hasn’t seemed to work.
As of now, Petey is preening A LOT and picking at her feet and nails. Her vent area looks bald and obviously distended. She is kind of sleepy, her breathing is a bit laboured, she’s eating and drinking fine. She took a bath earlier and did her funny little tricks to get my attention. She did not preen this much previously, so I wonder if this new excessive behaviour is stress related from being egg bound again...tomorrow morning will be the only time I can bring her to a qualified avian vet.
The vet tech told me that birds in her position often do not recover well Im anxious to know what my options are. Tomorrow they will do what they can to remove the soft egg before considering my options as far as preventative measures go...but I’m sad to think that I may not have any good options left...I’m under the impression that my options will either be too expensive for me to afford or that there won’t be anything else we can do for Petey...but I was hoping that maybe someone in here may have experienced a similar situation and made it through with many more years for their little birdy. I’ve had Petey since she was a baby. I’m really hoping to gain a little more hope and motivation that things might turn out ok.
As of now, Petey is preening A LOT and picking at her feet and nails. Her vent area looks bald and obviously distended. She is kind of sleepy, her breathing is a bit laboured, she’s eating and drinking fine. She took a bath earlier and did her funny little tricks to get my attention. She did not preen this much previously, so I wonder if this new excessive behaviour is stress related from being egg bound again...tomorrow morning will be the only time I can bring her to a qualified avian vet.
The vet tech told me that birds in her position often do not recover well Im anxious to know what my options are. Tomorrow they will do what they can to remove the soft egg before considering my options as far as preventative measures go...but I’m sad to think that I may not have any good options left...I’m under the impression that my options will either be too expensive for me to afford or that there won’t be anything else we can do for Petey...but I was hoping that maybe someone in here may have experienced a similar situation and made it through with many more years for their little birdy. I’ve had Petey since she was a baby. I’m really hoping to gain a little more hope and motivation that things might turn out ok.
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