This may just be a way for me to grieve and come to terms with loss but I would appreciate anyone's insight if they've seen something similar before.
I adopted my first bird, an eclectus, in March 2025. I started becoming interested in birds about 5 years prior and had been researching, volunteering, and preparing to add a bird to the family since then. Kiwi was being rehomed at a local bird store. He was 16 years old, plucked, and had to be washed to remove cigarette smoke residue from his feathers. His previous home had him since he was a chick and rehomed him since their new dog kept knocking his cage over. Other than his tattered feathers, he seemed in decent health overall. He was shy but quickly become my best friend and just loved to hang out and talk.
A week goes by and Kiwi suddenly has an intense sneezing fit. Then there is blood everywhere. He is gagging on the blood. I rush him to an emergency vet hospital with an avian vet. The sneezing fit lasts less than 5 minutes and he is completely fine by the time he is seen by the vet. The vet runs a bunch of tests - swabs, gram stain, bloodwork, and x-rays. Conclusion was that it was a mixed bacterial/fungal rhinitis. Heart and lungs look good. Ventriculus enlarged but they considered it normal. Blunted choanal papillae consistent with chronic sinus issues. Kiwi was prescribed enrofloxacin, meloxicam, and ketoconazole.
Everything seems fine until 2 weeks later he has a similar sneezing/bloody mouth/nose attack. Back to the ER. Prescribed the same medication. Everything is fine for a few weeks. Then another attack. This time he is not have a bacterial or fungal infection. Vet believes this is from an underlying condition.
At this point, I do not feel like we are getting the answers we need. The vet at the ER is an avian vet but I decide to make an appointment with another avian vet at a predominantly avian practice. This vet runs new bloodwork, heavy metal toxicity test, and an anti-ganglioside assay. Bloodwork is surprisingly unremarkable - nothing out of range. Negative for heavy metal toxicity. AGA comes back positive at 240 (cut off for positive is 200). Barium study performed and a slightly enlarged proventricular noted but no GI symptoms. Kiwi is prescribed Celebrex for PDD.
I am shocked that he tested positive with his only symptom being recurring rhinitis. Kiwi continues to have these bloody sneezing fits once every few weeks/once a month. Other than these fits, he is alert, has a good appetite, and normal droppings. You would never think anything was wrong.
Then Kiwi falls from his cage and is stepped on by my dog. It happened so fast and I was standing right there. I rush him to the ER and he has a fractured left tibiotarsal. It's a clean break and they are able to put him in the splint. He goes back to his regular avian vet for a recheck weekly for 6 weeks. He is administered Onisor at each appointment instead of the oral Celebrex.
Last night, Kiwi had another sneezing/bloody nose attack like he has been having for 8 months now. He is more lethargic than normal and there was a lot of blood. I clean him up and put him to bed. I check on him periodically through the night. He is still in his hospital cage and has an appointment the next morning to get new x-rays and hopefully get the splint removed. I check in on him at 12am and he seemed listless. I pick him up and he is limp. I quickly get a heating pad and wrap him up. He is still breathing but not responsive. I held him for about 20 minutes until he died in my arms. I am beyond devastated and feeling immense guilt. I thought he was going to be okay like he has countless times in the past. I knew that he was dying when I picked him up at midnight and decided I would rather hold him and talk to him instead of driving to the vet and losing him on the way.
I brought him to the vet this morning to be cremated. It was supposed to be the day his splint came off. The vet said the leg had healed perfectly. I declined a necropsy. I spent thousands on testing already and knew he likely passed from blood loss. I have no other birds at home so the vet did not find it necessary. He was not confident that we would get a clear cut answer.
If anyone has any similar experiences with PDD or similar symptoms, I'd be interested in hearing your stories. I've read a lot on the forum about other PDD cases but they usually don't involve upper respiratory. I'm feeling immense guilt and grieving the loss of my friend. I really thought that we'd have more time together.
I adopted my first bird, an eclectus, in March 2025. I started becoming interested in birds about 5 years prior and had been researching, volunteering, and preparing to add a bird to the family since then. Kiwi was being rehomed at a local bird store. He was 16 years old, plucked, and had to be washed to remove cigarette smoke residue from his feathers. His previous home had him since he was a chick and rehomed him since their new dog kept knocking his cage over. Other than his tattered feathers, he seemed in decent health overall. He was shy but quickly become my best friend and just loved to hang out and talk.
A week goes by and Kiwi suddenly has an intense sneezing fit. Then there is blood everywhere. He is gagging on the blood. I rush him to an emergency vet hospital with an avian vet. The sneezing fit lasts less than 5 minutes and he is completely fine by the time he is seen by the vet. The vet runs a bunch of tests - swabs, gram stain, bloodwork, and x-rays. Conclusion was that it was a mixed bacterial/fungal rhinitis. Heart and lungs look good. Ventriculus enlarged but they considered it normal. Blunted choanal papillae consistent with chronic sinus issues. Kiwi was prescribed enrofloxacin, meloxicam, and ketoconazole.
Everything seems fine until 2 weeks later he has a similar sneezing/bloody mouth/nose attack. Back to the ER. Prescribed the same medication. Everything is fine for a few weeks. Then another attack. This time he is not have a bacterial or fungal infection. Vet believes this is from an underlying condition.
At this point, I do not feel like we are getting the answers we need. The vet at the ER is an avian vet but I decide to make an appointment with another avian vet at a predominantly avian practice. This vet runs new bloodwork, heavy metal toxicity test, and an anti-ganglioside assay. Bloodwork is surprisingly unremarkable - nothing out of range. Negative for heavy metal toxicity. AGA comes back positive at 240 (cut off for positive is 200). Barium study performed and a slightly enlarged proventricular noted but no GI symptoms. Kiwi is prescribed Celebrex for PDD.
I am shocked that he tested positive with his only symptom being recurring rhinitis. Kiwi continues to have these bloody sneezing fits once every few weeks/once a month. Other than these fits, he is alert, has a good appetite, and normal droppings. You would never think anything was wrong.
Then Kiwi falls from his cage and is stepped on by my dog. It happened so fast and I was standing right there. I rush him to the ER and he has a fractured left tibiotarsal. It's a clean break and they are able to put him in the splint. He goes back to his regular avian vet for a recheck weekly for 6 weeks. He is administered Onisor at each appointment instead of the oral Celebrex.
Last night, Kiwi had another sneezing/bloody nose attack like he has been having for 8 months now. He is more lethargic than normal and there was a lot of blood. I clean him up and put him to bed. I check on him periodically through the night. He is still in his hospital cage and has an appointment the next morning to get new x-rays and hopefully get the splint removed. I check in on him at 12am and he seemed listless. I pick him up and he is limp. I quickly get a heating pad and wrap him up. He is still breathing but not responsive. I held him for about 20 minutes until he died in my arms. I am beyond devastated and feeling immense guilt. I thought he was going to be okay like he has countless times in the past. I knew that he was dying when I picked him up at midnight and decided I would rather hold him and talk to him instead of driving to the vet and losing him on the way.
I brought him to the vet this morning to be cremated. It was supposed to be the day his splint came off. The vet said the leg had healed perfectly. I declined a necropsy. I spent thousands on testing already and knew he likely passed from blood loss. I have no other birds at home so the vet did not find it necessary. He was not confident that we would get a clear cut answer.
If anyone has any similar experiences with PDD or similar symptoms, I'd be interested in hearing your stories. I've read a lot on the forum about other PDD cases but they usually don't involve upper respiratory. I'm feeling immense guilt and grieving the loss of my friend. I really thought that we'd have more time together.
