TextsFromParrots
Biking along the boulevard
Okay fellow conure owners, I'm seeing if anyone has ever had anything like this happen or have any input.
TL
R- Green cheek conure has had a squinty itchy eye on and off for the last 3.5 months, good blood work, clean tests, exams and still not found a root cause.
So I've been battling an eye issue with my green cheek Puck for the last three and a half months and want to see if anyone has ever had something like this happen. First, yes, he is seeing our vet, but they seem just as baffled as I am by what's going on so we're going to a different avian vet next weekend to see if they have any idea.
Puck has been having a squinty eye on and off. There is no swelling, redness, leaking or discharge. His blood work doesn't show any problem, psittacosis test negative, fecal fine. He first went to the vet in Feb. and they ran the blood tests, fecal, psitticosis test and put him on eye drops for a possible infection. He seemed to get better, and then about six days in got squinty again, the vet had me continue them a bit longer. Things went back to normal.
In March he had another bout of squinting his eye and we were back at the vet, this time they did a dye stain to see if there was any injury, there wasn't. They put him back on the eye drops and said that the next move would be oral meds, but they were a bit baffled by it and didn't want to rush to antibiotics.
April seemed to be pretty normal, he seemed to occasionally squint, but only when he was stuffing his head in his food or relaxed. I monitored and tried to see if there was something that could be causing it. He has been super nest and is constantly stuffing himself in random places, so I restricted his time out of the cage so that it was ONLY when I was in the room. He had two flare ups, but each one resolved itself either the next day or within a day or two before we could get him to the vet.
May- He squinted his eye and didn't want to hold it open, so we were back at the vet the next day. And he was fine, holding it open and acting normal, the vet said to use the eye drops if it started up again, but said that he was in good health and a close examination didn't show anything wrong with the eye. No swelling, no redness, no injury, no wateriness, just no reason he would be squinting it. He suggested that it could be allergies, but we have an air purifier, nothing has changed in his diet or environment. He went back to normal.
I narrowed things down even closer and felt like an overcontrolling parent, and it quasi continued. He would have days where he'd occasionally squint that eye, nothing that was even alarming because it would be a little while he was eating or right after he scratched his head a bit. I began to keep a bit of a journal to try and trace what happened to see if there was any common factor. He continued to eat, play, poop, bathe, etch just like normal.
Now it's June, and he had another flare up, so we've booked him in with the new avian vet at the practice we use, we'll see her tomorrow. I'm hoping she will have new insights since the last vet said that she had never seen anything like what Puck is doing. This time I'm at least armed with video displaying his behaviors.
I'm so frustrated I nearly want to cry, because it seems to have no source we can find. I've had two vets already examine him, and sometimes I wonder if they think I'm crazy. They can't find any cause and half the times I've rushed him to the vet, his eye is 100% fine and he's normal. This time I've been obsessively videoing him so I can show the vet in the hopes we can figure out SOMETHING. Has anyone had anything like this happen?? We've discussed allergies, but nothing has changed in his environment and we have an air purifier.
Attached is a picture of Puck with his eye while squinty, so many questions, and too few answers!
TL
R- Green cheek conure has had a squinty itchy eye on and off for the last 3.5 months, good blood work, clean tests, exams and still not found a root cause.So I've been battling an eye issue with my green cheek Puck for the last three and a half months and want to see if anyone has ever had something like this happen. First, yes, he is seeing our vet, but they seem just as baffled as I am by what's going on so we're going to a different avian vet next weekend to see if they have any idea.
Puck has been having a squinty eye on and off. There is no swelling, redness, leaking or discharge. His blood work doesn't show any problem, psittacosis test negative, fecal fine. He first went to the vet in Feb. and they ran the blood tests, fecal, psitticosis test and put him on eye drops for a possible infection. He seemed to get better, and then about six days in got squinty again, the vet had me continue them a bit longer. Things went back to normal.
In March he had another bout of squinting his eye and we were back at the vet, this time they did a dye stain to see if there was any injury, there wasn't. They put him back on the eye drops and said that the next move would be oral meds, but they were a bit baffled by it and didn't want to rush to antibiotics.
April seemed to be pretty normal, he seemed to occasionally squint, but only when he was stuffing his head in his food or relaxed. I monitored and tried to see if there was something that could be causing it. He has been super nest and is constantly stuffing himself in random places, so I restricted his time out of the cage so that it was ONLY when I was in the room. He had two flare ups, but each one resolved itself either the next day or within a day or two before we could get him to the vet.
May- He squinted his eye and didn't want to hold it open, so we were back at the vet the next day. And he was fine, holding it open and acting normal, the vet said to use the eye drops if it started up again, but said that he was in good health and a close examination didn't show anything wrong with the eye. No swelling, no redness, no injury, no wateriness, just no reason he would be squinting it. He suggested that it could be allergies, but we have an air purifier, nothing has changed in his diet or environment. He went back to normal.
I narrowed things down even closer and felt like an overcontrolling parent, and it quasi continued. He would have days where he'd occasionally squint that eye, nothing that was even alarming because it would be a little while he was eating or right after he scratched his head a bit. I began to keep a bit of a journal to try and trace what happened to see if there was any common factor. He continued to eat, play, poop, bathe, etch just like normal.
Now it's June, and he had another flare up, so we've booked him in with the new avian vet at the practice we use, we'll see her tomorrow. I'm hoping she will have new insights since the last vet said that she had never seen anything like what Puck is doing. This time I'm at least armed with video displaying his behaviors.
I'm so frustrated I nearly want to cry, because it seems to have no source we can find. I've had two vets already examine him, and sometimes I wonder if they think I'm crazy. They can't find any cause and half the times I've rushed him to the vet, his eye is 100% fine and he's normal. This time I've been obsessively videoing him so I can show the vet in the hopes we can figure out SOMETHING. Has anyone had anything like this happen?? We've discussed allergies, but nothing has changed in his environment and we have an air purifier.
Attached is a picture of Puck with his eye while squinty, so many questions, and too few answers!
