Hey guys!
This is a really serious post. I'm an incredibly bird-loving veterinary technician, veterinary student, and overly-emotional person, at times.
I am owned by my Scarlet Macaw, Rex, as well as my parent's congo african grey, and my sisters greenwing macaw. I'm in college. I've been working in the veterinary field for over 8 years.
I've always been told death from the stress of an exam can happen. It can happen to any experienced veterinarian, and everyone in the field has a story about a tragic death. The bird may not be acutely ill, and it may pass away. It stresses the importance of a yearly (or biyearly for seniors) physical exam, and lab work. It also means the bird had an underlying illness, or in the case of small birds, was not used to being handled and could be stressed out enough to have a heart attack just from the physical exam.
In all of the hospitals, I've worked in, a tech has had a story. One of my great friends, excellent with birds, was working with an excellent veterinarian who basically said that she was trimming a 60 y/o wild caught greenwing, when it just died in front of the owner. What did I do? I comforted her, and told her the bird had an underlying issues that would be diagnosed on necropsy, though we're all sad for the loss of this dear bird.
That was maybe, uh, 6 years ago.
3 years ago, I watched a tech torture herself for days, crying hysterically after she lost a bird that was also not ACUTELY ill during a general physical exam and beak trim. I told her the same thing. You can't beat yourself up over it, it happens, the bird was already sick.
Well, 2 days ago, this wonderful new-client couple came in with a timneh african grey, and a conure. They were awesome bird owners- You could just tell. The grey was rolling around in the woman's lap. They were cuddling. We elected to do his PE, trim, and beak trim first. He'd been doing well, except grey's are prone to artherosclerosis, and he was massively overweight... 500 grams. MASSIVELY. We warned the owner. The other problem- The previous vet had been doing NO EXAMS, NO BLOODWORK, and NO MENTION that this bird was the equivalent of a 400 lb human being... We cautioned the owner about the bird's weight before the exam. The exam was uneventful... Talked about upping pellets and green veggies, and decreasing fruit/nuts. The owner didn't know these would cause her bird to be overweight.
At the end of the exam, I was just about to put the bird down, and he died. Just like that. He died in my arms. I was sobbing as we tried to resuscitate him. Man, that is my worst nightmare. I couldn't even imagine being those people. I was SOBBING. I was absolutely hysterical. We went in, told the owner her bird had passed away and we were unable to do anything about it. Necropsy so far has revealed obesity, an enlarged heart, and a massive liver. 14 y/o African Grey.
So, I haven't been able to get out of bed for 2 days. I tried to take an exam yesterday at school, but I was balling all day. It was less than 24 hours later. I told my professor it was my bird that had died. Heck, it certainly felt like it. The owner, I know was absolutely beside herself, said some awful things to me about what a horrible person I am. I don't blame her- Grief is sadness. Grief is anger. It's ok. It's emotional, but I don't think she realizes we don't just walk out and shrug our shoulders.
I went to therapy yesterday over it. I've trimmed probably 3000 birds by now. A lot of them. Nothing like that. I know it had something underlying, and it wasn't my fault, but I can't get over it.
So now the only thing I can do is educate people about my experience:
Guys, artherosclerosis is REAL. Please don't feed a lot of nuts and seeds. Feed a high quality pellet and lots of high quality greens.
To lessen the exam stress, bring your bird in to visit the vet. Learn Barbara Heidenreich's restraint free exam techniques. Teach them to get used to being toweled and handled. File their nails. Be sure you're doing yearly physicals, and bloodwork as the finances allow.
This bird had been seeing a vet for trimming, but had never had a physical exam in 10 years. 10 YEARS!
This is a really serious post. I'm an incredibly bird-loving veterinary technician, veterinary student, and overly-emotional person, at times.
I am owned by my Scarlet Macaw, Rex, as well as my parent's congo african grey, and my sisters greenwing macaw. I'm in college. I've been working in the veterinary field for over 8 years.
I've always been told death from the stress of an exam can happen. It can happen to any experienced veterinarian, and everyone in the field has a story about a tragic death. The bird may not be acutely ill, and it may pass away. It stresses the importance of a yearly (or biyearly for seniors) physical exam, and lab work. It also means the bird had an underlying illness, or in the case of small birds, was not used to being handled and could be stressed out enough to have a heart attack just from the physical exam.
In all of the hospitals, I've worked in, a tech has had a story. One of my great friends, excellent with birds, was working with an excellent veterinarian who basically said that she was trimming a 60 y/o wild caught greenwing, when it just died in front of the owner. What did I do? I comforted her, and told her the bird had an underlying issues that would be diagnosed on necropsy, though we're all sad for the loss of this dear bird.
That was maybe, uh, 6 years ago.
3 years ago, I watched a tech torture herself for days, crying hysterically after she lost a bird that was also not ACUTELY ill during a general physical exam and beak trim. I told her the same thing. You can't beat yourself up over it, it happens, the bird was already sick.
Well, 2 days ago, this wonderful new-client couple came in with a timneh african grey, and a conure. They were awesome bird owners- You could just tell. The grey was rolling around in the woman's lap. They were cuddling. We elected to do his PE, trim, and beak trim first. He'd been doing well, except grey's are prone to artherosclerosis, and he was massively overweight... 500 grams. MASSIVELY. We warned the owner. The other problem- The previous vet had been doing NO EXAMS, NO BLOODWORK, and NO MENTION that this bird was the equivalent of a 400 lb human being... We cautioned the owner about the bird's weight before the exam. The exam was uneventful... Talked about upping pellets and green veggies, and decreasing fruit/nuts. The owner didn't know these would cause her bird to be overweight.
At the end of the exam, I was just about to put the bird down, and he died. Just like that. He died in my arms. I was sobbing as we tried to resuscitate him. Man, that is my worst nightmare. I couldn't even imagine being those people. I was SOBBING. I was absolutely hysterical. We went in, told the owner her bird had passed away and we were unable to do anything about it. Necropsy so far has revealed obesity, an enlarged heart, and a massive liver. 14 y/o African Grey.
So, I haven't been able to get out of bed for 2 days. I tried to take an exam yesterday at school, but I was balling all day. It was less than 24 hours later. I told my professor it was my bird that had died. Heck, it certainly felt like it. The owner, I know was absolutely beside herself, said some awful things to me about what a horrible person I am. I don't blame her- Grief is sadness. Grief is anger. It's ok. It's emotional, but I don't think she realizes we don't just walk out and shrug our shoulders.
I went to therapy yesterday over it. I've trimmed probably 3000 birds by now. A lot of them. Nothing like that. I know it had something underlying, and it wasn't my fault, but I can't get over it.
So now the only thing I can do is educate people about my experience:
Guys, artherosclerosis is REAL. Please don't feed a lot of nuts and seeds. Feed a high quality pellet and lots of high quality greens.
To lessen the exam stress, bring your bird in to visit the vet. Learn Barbara Heidenreich's restraint free exam techniques. Teach them to get used to being toweled and handled. File their nails. Be sure you're doing yearly physicals, and bloodwork as the finances allow.
This bird had been seeing a vet for trimming, but had never had a physical exam in 10 years. 10 YEARS!
