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Lovebird has been egg bound 3 times...What are my options?

Amber2018

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Amber
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.
 

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Aviana

Strolling the yard
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This was my great fear for 16 years, though I was fortunate. I assume since you move toys and withhold shreddable stuff, that you also do not let her play in boxes, right? I did not have to face this, so I will hope someone experienced comes on.

I also hold out hope for you. I am thinking of you both and wishing you well.
 

Amber2018

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Thank you <3
Right, no boxes or cavernous spots. I recently put in a swinging rope perch and a hanging toy with cardboard that COULD be shreddy, but she hasn’t been shredding it or trying to nest
 

Amber2018

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Honestly, I’m tempted to try and push out whatever is in there just to give her relief. But I know that would be extremely risky and I take a great chance of harming her more. It just looks so red and swollen :(
 

saroj12

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an implant is no more expensive than a lupron shot. i had to get them every five months for my Emily cockatiel.
 

saroj12

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What does the implant do?
Stops the egg cycle. Technically it should last longer than five months but she was such a prolific layer, she would start up again in five. Vet put her under for a few seconds to slip it under the skin. I don’t know if they do implants for smaller birds. Check with the vet.
 

Amber2018

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Petey is doing worse today...I took her to the vet this morning, and the vet did the same thing he did last time - lubricate inside her cloaca and try to manually push out whatever is stuck in there. It was a lot more stressful for her this time. A bit of blood came out and her respiratory situation got worse and she started making gurgling sounds. Because of her distress levels, we were not able to expel everything she has in her uterus. It’s smaller, so we’re hoping she will be able to expel it in her own, but I don’t think she will :( she’s still breathing heavily and when I pick her up to check her vent she makes those gurgling sounds again and bites REALLY hard. She doesn’t want to eat. She’s resting. She needs a lot of rest. Petey was also given fluids, calcium, antibiotics and a shot of Lupron to stop her from making any more of these soft eggs. I’m just watching her and hoping her breathing will get better and she will poop out anything :( I really want to try and push it out for her but the biting and gurgling makes it difficult and worrisome. There could be something else going on that needs to be taken care of with time. I hope the antibiotics will kick in fast. If she gets any weaker to the point where she can’t even bite then out of desperation I might see if she’s still gurgling and try to push out the rest of the yolk stuff. It needs to be out so she can heal.
 

Feathered up

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Jamie
I just lost a poultry hen to egg binding. There is no easy answer to a chronic layer. I have my fingers crossed for you guys.
 
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