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Cockatiel regurgitating multiple times (sad update #37)

Tiel Feathers

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I feel that it would be highly unusual for the pellets to make him so sick, and Zupreem is very widely used so we would have heard if there was a bad batch. Have you checked your home and cage for all toxins? Have any cultures been taken? What tests has the vet done? I hope the vet can find what’s wrong with your little sweetie soon!
 

Shadark

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I was going to update tomorrow after calling the vet again but I guess I can be updating you for the moment:

We called the vet again after today's initial call cause we were left a bit worried about the vomit and treatment and wanted to have a bit of "closure", so to speak. We were able to get in contact with the vet directly (because before we talked with some other person in the clinic, vet is always busy sadly) and she explained to us that the vomit was just a small amount and was provoked probably when they grabbed him (that happened also to us one time at home). She told us also that Frodo was eating well after that, so it would seem that our concerns were a bit misplaced and that Frodo seems to be recovering well, in general. Fingers crossed!

I almost forgot to mention! The vet also told us that his yeast infection was almost gone and that he almost doesn't have any candida with him, so if that was the cause of the initial vomiting that's also a relief.

I feel that it would be highly unusual for the pellets to make him so sick, and Zupreem is very widely used so we would have heard if there was a bad batch. Have you checked your home and cage for all toxins? Have any cultures been taken? What tests has the vet done? I hope the vet can find what’s wrong with your little sweetie soon!
We thoroughly cleaned tables, cages and surfaces before getting Frodo, rest of the home shouldn't have any harmful to him, kitchen for example is off-limits completely and he just stays with us in the office and the living room.
About cultures, he got a poop culture (not sure if that's the correct term) in both vet stays, first showed the yeast infection and last one shows that it's almost gone!
For the rest of the tests, he got an x-ray done (and found his lungs were a bit... collapsed/not working properly? He got nebulizer treatment for that) and no more tests, I think. We were thinking about asking for a blood test.
 

Shadark

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Ah, I can't edit the post now, sadly, I just wanted to clarify that the theory about a possible contaminated pellet batch was explained to us very lightly and couldn't get the full details on that, I think the vet is more inclined to think that it could be just that it that brand of pellets doesn't sit too well with him.
 

Tiel Feathers

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It’s good that you were able to talk directly with the vet. It’s great he seems to be doing better, and hopefully he can come home soon!
 

Shadark

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Updating because I feel like it's still relevant to the post:

Yesterday: All apparently good, weight still stable around 85g. Vet said he was recovering a bit slower than the last hospitalization but we should call today and see how well Frodo was doing and maybe discuss when we could get him home.

Today: First my SO called and spoke with the receptionist instead of the vet. And, similarly to Tuesday when we also spoke to the receptionist, it wasn't really clear if Frodo was doing exactly alright or not. Also similarly to Tuesday, receptionist told us that Frodo has vomited a bit and the vet was going to try to change the meds a bit. We were left (obviously) a bit worried so we called again after a few hours to speak to the vet.

The vet told us that apparently, when she saw Frodo first hour in the morning, he hadn't emptied his crop (or at least not fully) and he vomited a bit when she got hold of him. She got worried about crop stasis so she increased the dose of anti-inflammatory meds and I think she also gave him some other meds (can't recall the name) and some vitamins. This was first hour in the morning, apparently during the morning he was doing seemingly fine, whistling, eating on his own and also his crop emptied a bit.

The vet is concerned (for what we can infer) about slow crop/crop stasis and PDD and that it could have neurological consequences, so she told us that tomorrow would be an important day to see if he's recovering well or not. We're trying to stay positive, but losing Frodo wasn't an outcome we were considering initially and also since we lost our last baby cockatiel at 4 months apparently because of PDD (he wouldn't empty his crop and lost a lot of weight and was too weak at the end) we're worried of having to suffer the same outcome. Since Frodo has been almost 2 weeks now in the vet clinic and we're sure that if there's some place where he can get healthy again, it should be there. Hopefully it isn't bornavirus/PDD and the slow crop/crop stasis issue is just temporal or just happened today.

Thanks for reading, as always. Any comment is welcome.
 

sunnysmom

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Sending good thoughts for a quick recovery.
 

Tiel Feathers

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I hope the next couple of days go well for Frodo, and he’ll be okay!
 

Zara

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Maybe these threads will help, there´s good articles linked;
 

Shadark

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Updates from saturday and today:

At Saturday we were somewhat worried because of what the vet told us the day before, if Frodo wasn't able to empty his crop it could mean that it was PDD or something similar...

Anyways, we called and everything was good news! Frodo emptied his crop perfectly fine during the night, continued eating by himself, didn't vomit anymore and even managed to gain a bit of weight! Also, the vet told us that he was more lively than the other days :angel3: I'm guessing the new meds helped!

Today, we called and everything is still fine, continues to not vomit and today they placed him into the incubator to avoid any possible relapses, so he should be more than taken care of.

We're not in a hurry to have him back, but obviously we miss him a lot. Hopefully he'll be back soon!
 

Zara

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Wonderful update! :)
 

Tiel Feathers

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Fantastic update!
 

Shadark

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Another update:

Frodo is still getting better, the vet told us that he just needs some more time to recover from having his crop a bit inflamed. Apparently due to the vomiting he got a bit of slow crop and they are waiting that to get fixed before releasing him, just to avoid us having to go to the vet again. He's still a bit fluffy so they're taking his recovery process slow but steady.

For the rest, he's doing pretty well, no more vomits, eating well, weights 2 more grams. He's also demanding scritches and to get released during most of the day!

Thanks for reading, and unless something different happens (for good or bad) I'll be leaving the constant stream of updates for other postst to get bumped up to the top, I'm pretty sure some other feathered friends will make more use of this forum right now!
 

Shadark

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Another small update, but I think it's relevant and maybe someone has some ideas:

Frodo was well enough past week, if I recall correctly he never vomited, was more awake, demanding pets and attention, eating alone (I think around thursday they removed his probe, I guess they put him on one for some fluid therapy maybe?) and, in the vet words, "looking like a cockatiel", so we were very relieved!

Friday we called again and they told us that he continued to be fine but the vet wanted to monitor him also the weekend, just to be sure, they want to return Frodo to us in his best condition so anything is ok for us (even if we miss him a lot!). Supposedly we would call today and arrange an hour to do the trip and get him.

However, we called again today and apparently he vomited just a bit yesterday, so the vet is gonna keep observing him a bit more. We're really not very worried, just a bit, and maybe a bit confused about the possible causes. If we understood correctly, even if the running hypothesis is that the pellets that we gave to him at home didn't sit too well with him, due to the vomiting and general "sickness", his crop tissue could be a bit impacted and the vet wanted to give him time to recover. So, we're guessing that he hasn't recovered completely still and maybe needs a bit more time under supervision. If anybody has some other alternative explanation, or some ideas about what more we could ask the vet, that'd be wonderful!

Hopefully this week will be the last one for Frodo at the vet, we're missing him a lot (and supposedly he has started to sing to the vet) but we also want him to be as much healthy as he can be, so we're not in a hurry!

Thanks again for reading.
 

Shadark

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Hello, long time since the last update. At least is a very good one!

Frodo is back home! We took him back last Saturday. Long story short: he still has some problems with his crop tissue and the vet is hoping he will recover with time even if it's a slow recovery. We're waiting for bornavirus tests, and the vest suggested that PDD (even without bornavirus) could be a possiblity, but at least it seems to be controlled.

Frodo is almost 100% fine. Since he still has some crop problems, his crop seems to be a bit slow but he's digesting fine and eating like there's no tomorrow, but we make sure to check that his crop is emptying (with the amount of bird poop we're getting, we're 100% sure that he's getting his nutrients). He's on a 100% pellet diet (with some harrison powder over to stimulate his flora) with some fruit (apple, papaya, orange, etc). He also managed to gain some weight during his vet stay, so that's good news also.

He's back with a lot of prescriptions: gastric protector, injectable antiemetic and meloxicam, and then gabapentin, amoxicilin and nystatin. Ah, and we're still keeping up the nebulizer medication too (azithromycin). We give him his meds 2 times each day + 15 min of nebulizer (and 45 min rest). The vet said she changed a lot of times his medications during this month and these were the ones that seemed to work best. I fully trust her judgement, she seems to be a very well established bird vet in our country and she always gives very detailed explanations about the treatments, prognosis, etc.

He's also confined to his cage and we put him with a blanket over the sides (we let him see us, of course) and an IR light to heat him up, vet said she preferred if Frodo was in a very comfy environment to ease up his recovery. We only take him out to give the meds ant some scritches when he's really asking for them.

Overall he seem to be doing well besides the crop issue, he's eating, chirping, biting his toys... as a normal bird should! Vet said to call her Friday and update her, so she can decide on the next course of action. Hopefully he won't have to stay "confined" for a long time or with so many meds! But, obviously, time is the essence and we'll wait for him to be the best he can be.

Thank all of you for reading, and hopefully this will be the last update! If this serves for someone in a similar position, my only advice would be (like most of the people in this community): better go early to the vet, you can never miss if you go early.

Have a photo of Frodo to enlighten up your day (even if he's a stinky and full bird :angel2: ):

photo_2021-10-19_12-50-13.jpg
 

Zara

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Great update! So glad to hear he´s doing ok and is on the mend. You are doing wonderful in taking care of him :)
 

Tiel Feathers

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Thanks for updating, and I hope he continues to improve. It’s not easy to give that many meds, so big hugs to you!
:hug8:
 

Shadark

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It is with a heavy heart that I wanted to inform you that Frodo passed away peacefully this Tuesday. :no:

Long story short, he was vomiting on and off for almost one month, we were giving him all his meds and giving him time to recover. One day that he was a bit weaker than others we took him to the vet and they said he had a candida infection. We then realized we were giving him the wrong dosage of the meds (nystatin, antibiotic, etc). We started giving him the correct dosage past Thursday and he seemed to be doing fine (Sunday was the best day that he ever had, he was eating all day, very happy and playful).

Monday morning he looked weak, not moving, not even wanting to take his meds, so we took him directly to the avian vet. He got hospitalized again, and he also had a bit of coccidiasis. He was put with IV meds, controlled temperature... basically everything they could give to him.

The vets stayed with him all night, taking turns caring for him (he was also very loved with them, since he took almost 1 month in there), but even if he seemed a bit more awake at dinnertime, his crop was very weak and he couldn't digest any food. We were told to go see him Tuesday morning and choose what we wanted to do, but as soon as we got there, he passed away. We never got to see him alive for the last time, but we could see him afterwards.

The vet reassured us that we did the best that we could, and that sometimes these little friends have a lot of problems (cockatiels even more) that we can't really plan for them. He would've been 6 months old next week, so he was still a bit of a baby and we know these times are difficult times for them.

We still need to mourn him properly (together with the fact that he is the second cockatiel that we lose very early) but we're trying to maintain our hopes up to have a healthy special friend someday.

in any case, thanks to all of you for the time spent here, and sorry to bring sad news here. Hopefully we'll meet Frodo someday, beyond the rainbow road.
 

April

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I'm so very sorry to hear that little Frodo lost his fight :sad10:. You took amazing care of him and did everything possible to get him the help he needed and I'm just sorry that it wasn't enough. I hope you'll always cherish the memories of your sweet boy and when your ready you'll get another Fid to love. Anybirdie would be so lucky to live with you We are all here for you :sadhug:
 

Tiel Feathers

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Oh, I’m so very sorry to hear he didn’t make it. :sorrow:
:sadhug2:
 

expressmailtome

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I am sorry for your loss.
 
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