What happened to my little boy?

[Jon_in_Brasil]

I lost my little boy a couple of days ago now. I'm distraught to be honest and although also making efforts to feel better (my wife and I watched some funny videos of him last night and we wrote a list of all the things we want to remember about him which we will read every now and again) I really need to know what happened. I posted elsewhere and didn't want to ask everywhere, but in searching for an answer, google kept leading me to you. I won't have him cut open or anything though. He's at rest now under a tree.

The events leading to his passing, as I understand them, are these:
He (he's a white-eyed Conure) was perfectly fine the day before he passed. I mean, I'm not an expert but I always check his poop and his behaviour and his temperature. He was playing, climbing on us, talking and eating all totally normally. He goes to bed at around 5.30pm and sleeps by around 6pm. He sleeps in an area with a roof but with an opening at it's edge that gives him sun and air. This time of year, I cover his little house (we don't call it a cage) as it's getting colder now (although bear in mind we live in Brasil and his kind were in our town before humans) and I uncover him either when I hear him the next morning or at around 9.30am. He's usually awake before that but I leave him just in case he needs the extra rest. At around 11pm I heard what sounded like the result of a night fright and went outside to comfort him. I actually ended up bringing him into a spare bedroom as he's been overly tired once before and was a danger to himself. I comforted him for around an hour and he seemed calm and rested enough to be returned. He called (not loudly) as I left, but that's normal. I had moved him further into the room so he would have no distractions the next morning and could rest longer and this also meant I could listen out for him if I went back to the spare room, which I did. I heard no noises ad so I went back to bed.

In the morning, I heard him at around 11am and went to take him. He had slept on his usual perch but was lethergic when he came to greet me. In fact, it seemed a massive effort for him to come down from the lowest perch to the floor, something that is usually easy for him. I opened the door and instead of just coming to me, he flew round the room and hit himself on a pole. He made just a little blood above his nostril area and was only slightly dazed. His big problem was the weakness. To be honest, I still saw this all as tiredness and took him to the spare room with me to rest some more with the shutters closed. Actually, I should point out that he never usually flies, which is important since before we settled in the room I left him on the bed so I could get him some water and a piece of banana. I wanted to make sure he had eaten. He flew after me to the kitchen as if he didn't just wait for me. He was tired from his flying and took 3 sips of water and a small bite of banana. these were the last things he ate. He then tried to sleep, which he did first on me as usual, but then just by me. Every now and again he would become restless and move. Sometimes away from me and sometimes back to me. By 1pm, and after I could coax him to eat no more food and began to notice first a clicking and then a wheeze as he breathed and then a loss of balance as he moved, I was very worried and called the vet. Now, you have to understand here that I live in a very small town in Brasil. We have one vet and birds are not his speciality. He wasn't free until 4pm, and this was our best option.

In the meantime, I searched the internet for a solution while still comforting Taca (his name). He was pooping but this got wetter during the day and eventually turned tar-like. I was told at one point that this was a sign of an air sac problem, but I've since learned that it could just have been a result of not eating. He was very light and so possibly the banana was all he'd eaten since 6pm the day before. He passed just after the vet came. In fact, he seemed to use his last strength to move from the vet to me so i could be the one to hold him for the last time. He died on my chest with my hands covering him, as he liked.

I do take comfort in the fact that he passed somewhat peacefully and also that he spent the whole of his last day with his dad. From is point of view, he didn't know he should live longer. All he knew was he didn't feel well that day and daddy comforted him as always. From my point of view though, it's killing me not knowing what happened. I mean, I know birds hide things well, but this all happened in the space of about 17 hours. What could it be?

 

[Featheredfuffs]

Im so sorry...

 

[XstatyK]

Sorry to hear of your loss, it has to be hard not only knowing he's gone, but also the fact that you don't know why.
You mentioned he was a danger to himself from getting over tired so sounds like him being tired and needing extra rest was a regular thing which could possibly mean some other hidden ailment, but with him being tired and lazy and flying into a pole do you think that possibly that the injury to the head caused a damaging blow that led to his demise?

It's just a guess obviously as I don't think anyone would be able to know for sure unless you had him examined but flying into a pole and bleeding from his nostril definitely sounds serious. I think their skull is very thin so I don't know if he can fly into something and crack it or damage it, but it sounds like it could be a possibility. When my little buddy was flying recklessly I clipped his wings (now grown out) more to protect him from himself. He has been flying all around the house now and hasn't had any more accidents, maybe he learned about the items he flew into now. But it scared me knowing he was flying recklessly so to me, clipping him that time was the best thing. I felt more comfortable and he's as fine as ever now. Accidents can happen.

Again, sorry about your loss.

 

[sunnysmom]

I am so sorry. It's hard to know what happened without a neucropsy. How old was he?

 

[Hankmacaw]

From what you have described he may have had a respiratory problem. Aspergillosis and pneumonia can both kill quickly if not addressed and it sounds like he had been ill for at least a couple of days.

You will never know for sure without a necropsy.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am very sorry for your loss.

 

[Jon_in_Brasil]

Thanks everybody. Your kind and wise words are much appreciated.

sunnysmom - he was just 2 and a half unfortunately. Far too young but he created so much happiness in those short years.

Hankmacaw - I'm leaning towards those. He was literally climbing on my wife at about 4pm one day and gone 25 hours later. I guess that's still enough time for it to hit? Would it have been something I did wrong. Be honest. I'm guessing I'm at fault somewhere, even if I thought I was doing the best for him. Or do these things just sometimes happen, no matter what you do? The only thing, with the respiratory idea, is that although he was wheezing he never had his mouth wide open like he was breathing through it instead of his nose. He did have his feathers puffed to keep warm though, but only if he wasn't resting on me.

XstatyK - He was just overly tired once before, but that was about a year ago and he got very clumsy, but just that once:

"I actually ended up bringing him into a spare bedroom as he's been overly tired once before and was a danger to himself."

Also, needing extra rest wasn't a regular thing. In fact, he's only been covered for a few weeks as we live in Brazil and usually it's too hot to cover him. I just cover him in the colder months to protect him from temperature drops. I did the same last year with exactly the same things. He never puffs his feathers or anything and his feet always seem to be at a good temperature.

"This time of year, I cover his little house (we don't call it a cage) as it's getting colder now (although bear in mind we live in Brasil and his kind were in our town before humans) and I uncover him either when I hear him the next morning or at around 9.30am. He's usually awake before that but I leave him just in case he needs the extra rest."

He also wasn't bleeding from his nostril. He was bleeding from just above it. From the area where the smaller feathers start. It was so little, however, that I dabbed it up using just one cotton bud. He honestly didn't hit it hard. He was aiming for the netting next to it and just got his bearings a little wrong. He didn't fall to the ground or anything as he found the net. He was well enough just a couple of minutes later to fly twice as far and with much better accuracy:

"it seemed a massive effort for him to come down from the lowest perch to the floor, something that is usually easy for him. I opened the door and instead of just coming to me, he flew round the room and hit himself on a pole. He made just a little blood above his nostril area and was only slightly dazed." "He flew after me to the kitchen as if he didn't just wait for me. "

In a way, I wish it had been a combination of those things XstatyK. But he'd been very, very lively just the evening before and although he could have died because he hit his head on the pole, I think it's possibly more likely that he did that in the night and perhaps had a night fright that led to all this. Thanks for taking the time to reply, btw. We used to clip Taca's wings for his own safety too, but until that day he hadn't wanted to fly for ages. He was very calm. So we just let them grow.

 

[Cat The Great]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[iamwhoiam]

So very sorry for your loss.

 

[rocky'smom]

I am so sorry for your loss

 

[Hankmacaw]

I don't know that you did anything wrong. If this was your first bird, you may not have had experience with watching the bird for illness. It really takes a lot of experience and you can't ignore symptoms. They hide their illnesses very well.

I wish you had found this forum sooner.

I'm so so sorry you lost your little guy - remember the good times.

 

[Just-passn-thru]

So very sorry , maybe he had a heart condition, could have been a tumor that ruptured, you mentioned that he had dark tarry stools , indicating it could be some kind of internal hemorrhaging/ bleeding. So many possibilities, how old was your bird.

 

[Jon_in_Brasil]

Thanks again everybody.

Just-passn-thru - he was just 2 and a half years old. I think Hank is probably right on the cause of death. If so, it gives me closure but makes me feel so awful.

Hankmacaw - He was my first bird and I wish I had found this or any forum sooner too. There are people in our home town that smoke around their Maritacas and give them coke and all sorts. They're not being cruel, they just don't know any different regarding the smoking and think that the coke is fine so long as the bird likes it. Ironically, I tried to do better. I looked up all the food that he couldn't eat and we were careful with our kisses and I checked his body temperature every morning when it was a little colder (although, as said before, we live in his most natural environment here). We always said he was a posh bird and that while some people say a bird in a cage is not free anymore, he wanted for nothing and he didn't need to hunt or hide from predators or keep himself warm. We did all that for him and we adored him. I think that I did one thing that possibly led to this, but I had always done it and maybe was just lucky before. He loved to take a shower so we got him a little bath. If I had thought, I would have either not used it at all or cleaned his tray beneath his cage beforehand. Instead I used to let him take a bath and then wait until the dampness went before cleaning up. He had about 4 refills every bath time so it got very wet. I used to remove any fruit I gave him every day and I even raised the height of the floor with string so he could never reach anything below. I found out about spores only yesterday and am absolutely devastated that I effectively killed him. Of course, like I said in the first post, he will never know that and he passed not knowing he deserved longer and after such a short illness and peacefully with the one he loved most. Unfortunately, I know/think that my ignorance probably killed him. that said, I took his bath out about a month ago now when the weather got colder, but maybe the slight drop in temperature, even with his cover, made his susceptible to harm from the spores he'd already inhaled? Does this just happen sometimes no matter how much people know? I mean, could I have done everything I could and still lost him to aspers or pneumonia?

 

[Jon_in_Brasil]

There was one last thing. I just realised that I never said that his beak was discoloured on that last day. It was quite dark really. I don't know if that confirms what you think Hankmacaw?

 

[Loralie]

I am so very sorry for your loss. It is obvious that you loved your little guy very much...

 

[Birdbabe]

I'm so sorry

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I'm so terribly sorry for your loss. Could he have hurt himself during the night fright? Did he have night frights often? Maybe some sort of seizure? It sounds like he was well loved, and you did all you could. I'm sure he knew how much you loved him.

 

[schnitzle]

You sound like such a wonderful bird dad, I'm sorry you only had a short 2 years with Taca

 

[Just-passn-thru]

Thanks again everybody.

Just-passn-thru - he was just 2 and a half years old. I think Hank is probably right on the cause of death. If so, it gives me closure but makes me feel so awful.

Hankmacaw - He was my first bird and I wish I had found this or any forum sooner too. There are people in our home town that smoke around their Maritacas and give them coke and all sorts. They're not being cruel, they just don't know any different regarding the smoking and think that the coke is fine so long as the bird likes it. Ironically, I tried to do better. I looked up all the food that he couldn't eat and we were careful with our kisses and I checked his body temperature every morning when it was a little colder (although, as said before, we live in his most natural environment here). We always said he was a posh bird and that while some people say a bird in a cage is not free anymore, he wanted for nothing and he didn't need to hunt or hide from predators or keep himself warm. We did all that for him and we adored him. I think that I did one thing that possibly led to this, but I had always done it and maybe was just lucky before. He loved to take a shower so we got him a little bath. If I had thought, I would have either not used it at all or cleaned his tray beneath his cage beforehand. Instead I used to let him take a bath and then wait until the dampness went before cleaning up. He had about 4 refills every bath time so it got very wet. I used to remove any fruit I gave him every day and I even raised the height of the floor with string so he could never reach anything below. I found out about spores only yesterday and am absolutely devastated that I effectively killed him. Of course, like I said in the first post, he will never know that and he passed not knowing he deserved longer and after such a short illness and peacefully with the one he loved most. Unfortunately, I know/think that my ignorance probably killed him. that said, I took his bath out about a month ago now when the weather got colder, but maybe the slight drop in temperature, even with his cover, made his susceptible to harm from the spores he'd already inhaled? Does this just happen sometimes no matter how much people know? I mean, could I have done everything I could and still lost him to aspers or pneumonia?

Your intentions were genuine , you must realize that we are not god, we do the best we can, sometimes even a veterinarian can not make it better...all things must pass. Embrace the times you shared together, and try to forgive yourself for thinking somehow you may have failed your beloved bird.

 

[Jon_in_Brasil]

Thank you for all your kind and supportive words.

Just-passn-thru - I'm really trying to do all that. It wasn't a bad way for him to go, I just wish it was 20 years down the line.

schnitzle - assuming that is your little one in your photo, then he looked a lot like that

Tiel Feathers - He could definitely have hurt himself in the night. Again though, that would have been my fault. I put on a light that I don't usually and even with the shutters closed it would have made a shadow under his covers. That is round about when he started to make noise, but I've dismissed it as a cause since the other signs seem to point to respiratory failure and there was only tar-like poop from the middle of the next day, but after he hadn't eaten for so long. The damage would have had to be internal and enough to cause his to deteriorate like that. Is that possible?