Cockatiel Stroke Aftercare

[Stephstorm]

So my cockatiel seemed to have a mini stroke this morning. We took him to the vet and based on his xray his doctor thinks he has atherosclerosis. He has had heart problems for a long time and is now 14. He’s okay now but I was told there’s not much they can do for him other than blood pressure meds and to not get him too excited.

He seems fine other than his right leg is really weak. He was having trouble getting that foot caught in his cage bars so we put some newspaper down so he had something consistent to walk on. He then proceeded to eat the paper so that wont work We then put him on the counter with some millet and it was much easier for him to move around.

My question is is there anything different I should do for a bird who suffered a mini stroke? I plan to have him sleep in his smaller cage tonight in case he falls. He sleeps pretty steady on one foot though.

Also interested in other people who’s birds have had strokes. It’s scary and I can’t find tons of information about it.

 

[Clueless]

I'm going to tag someone that might know where to look for that info @sunnysmom

 

[Stephstorm]

I'm going to tag someone that might know where to look for that info @sunnysmom

Thank you!

 

[Birdbabe]

@Hankmacaw ? I think she had a bird with atherosclerosis?

 

[taxidermynerd]

@enigma731

 

[Fuzzy]

Stephanie. So sorry about your Cockatiel. I have an elderly Amazon, Chico who had a stroke two years ago. It has left him with his head permanently tilted to one side. The vet told me to try to get him to exercise to strengthen the muscles in his neck.

I give Chico DMG which is good for the circulation and immune system and an alcohol free milk thistle tincture to help his liver. What is your cockatiel's diet like? It is never too late to improve diet.

Chico was already disabled through bad arthritis, so I raised the bottom of his cage and padded it out so that when he falls he won't hurt himself. You might want to experiment with rope perches as they are easier to grip (make sure there are no loose fibres that could catch claws) or wrap other perches in vet wrap. Chico however kept pulling the vet wrap apart, but I have rope perches for him. You could also provide platforms.

 

[Hankmacaw]

My Jasper has severe atherosclerosis resulting from heart disease as a young bird and a horrible fat diet. Actually, that's backwards - she had a horrible high fat diet for the first six years of her life that developed into congestive heart failure , which then caused the atherosclerosis. She's still alive after 21 years of the disease and many other illnesses that go along with chronic illnesses such as these.

Your bird needs to be on a very lean diet - no millet, no seeds - very high in veggies especially leafy green veggies and very high in protein. No fats and very little carbohydrates. If your bird need some fat and he does then just give him a little Olive oil or canola oil. Neither has many saturated fats that end up as plaques on the walls of your birds arteries.

One other thing - your bird needs to fly for the benefits to his circulation. Don't overdo it but make sure he flys every day.

This diet and routine has kept Jasper alive for 21 years - she was supposed to die within 5 years of when she was diagnosed.

 

[Stephstorm]

Stephanie. So sorry about your Cockatiel. I have an elderly Amazon, Chico who had a stroke two years ago. It has left him with his head permanently tilted to one side. The vet told me to try to get him to exercise to strengthen the muscles in his neck.

I give Chico DMG which is good for the circulation and immune system and an alcohol free milk thistle tincture to help his liver. What is your cockatiel's diet like? It is never too late to improve diet.

Chico was already disabled through bad arthritis, so I raised the bottom of his cage and padded it out so that when he falls he won't hurt himself. You might want to experiment with rope perches as they are easier to grip (make sure there are no loose fibres that could catch claws) or wrap other perches in vet wrap. Chico however kept pulling the vet wrap apart, but I have rope perches for him. You could also provide platforms.

He’s a seed eater. We never successfuly got him to pellets and he’s scared of most other foods we try to give him :/

 

[Hankmacaw]

Now it's a case of him converting to a different diet or him losing his life.

 

[Stephstorm]

Now it's a case of him converting to a different diet or him losing his life.

We have a hard time keeping his weight up as it is (he’s super light compared to other cockatiels I’ve held).

I’m going to order some pellets to start and will look into what veggies would be good for him. Someone on facebook mentioned sprouting his seed as well.

 

[Monaco]

We have a hard time keeping his weight up as it is (he’s super light compared to other cockatiels I’ve held).

I’m going to order some pellets to start and will look into what veggies would be good for him. Someone on facebook mentioned sprouting his seed as well.

Hari makes a tiny pellet that might help. I've added their tropimix to help Monaco (ekkie) ease off of her seeds a little bit. It's got tiny papaya in it too, and mostly barley and other grass type seeds. Worth a shot?

 

[Hankmacaw]

Sprouting is good, although I've never done it. I'm terrified of fungus and molds - both of my birds had aspergillosis.

No peas, corn or other starchy vegetables - starch (carbohydrates) metabolize directly to fat. Broccoli, green beans, spinach. kale, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce and numerous others are good.

For protein for him to gain weight (you don't want him gaining with fats) feed him tofu, egg whites, tiny pieces of chicken. Most beans are very high in protein.

Get some Prozyme. Which predigest their food and they get more nutrition out of every bite. Amazon.com : Prozyme Original Formula 85 grams by PRN : Pet Digestive Remedies : Pet Supplies. Start giving him probiotic twice a week - it has been found that older birds sometimes cannot keep their gut flora/fauna up on their own.

 

[sunnysmom]

Sorry to hear about your tiel. My cockatiel Sunny (who has since passed away) had a stroke when he was about 17. My vet too told me there's really not much to be done for a stroke. That's the bad news. The good news is they seem to recovery from the stroke symptoms pretty quickly (per my vet). My tiel's wing drooped for about 2 days and returned to normal after that. Our situation is different in that my vet didn't think Sunny had heart disease but I did make dietary changes that I think gave him a few years of extra time. I gave my tiel senior nutriberries which often tiels will eat easier that regular pellets but @Hankmacaw is that not good in this case because the also have seeds in them? I also eliminated foods with vitamin K as it thickens the blood which is bad for birds with a history of strokes. (Mainly broccoli- which was a fav of my tiel). Hankmacaw definitely knows more about heart disease than I do. Sunny was also small and I had to work on keeping his weight up. One thing that we found also was that he had trouble maintaining his good bacteria level and had to be put on probiotics. Not sure if your vet did a gram stain or not but that might be something to check on also. I think it's pretty common in older tiels to have trouble maintaining a good bacteria level.

 

[sunnysmom]

Sprouting is good, although I've never done it. I'm terrified of fungus and molds - both of my birds had aspergillosis.

No peas, corn or other starchy vegetables - starch (carbohydrates) metabolize directly to fat. Broccoli, green beans, spinach. kale, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce and numerous others are good.

For protein for him to gain weight (you don't want him gaining with fats) feed him tofu, egg whites, tiny pieces of chicken. Most beans are very high in protein.

Get some Prozyme. Which predigest their food and they get more nutrition out of every bite. Amazon.com : Prozyme Original Formula 85 grams by PRN : Pet Digestive Remedies : Pet Supplies. Start giving him probiotic twice a week - it has been found that older birds sometimes cannot keep their gut flora/fauna up on their own.

Just saw that you suggested probiotics too.

 

[Fuzzy]

it has been found that older birds sometimes cannot keep their gut flora/fauna up on their own.

@Hankmacaw - please could you tell me what the consequences of this are... getting more GI infections? Chico who is over 50 years old has currently got another infection.

 

[Hankmacaw]

You know that is a good observation. Without the gut flora the food is not digested as quickly and it hangs around giving the bad microbes a chance to develop. With Chico, who has had so many issue, I would suspect that his immune system is suppressed as well. Did you say that he is getting DMG and prozyme?

 

[sunnysmom]

@Hankmacaw - please could you tell me what the consequences of this are... getting more GI infections? Chico who is over 50 years old has currently got another infection.

My vet said not having enough good bacteria is like a plot of dirt- if you don't plant flowers, you get weeds. Meaning if the bird doesn't have enough good bacteria it makes him susceptible to bad bacteria. Sunny, my tiel, couldn't maintain his good bacteria level. My vet thought it was due to his age. He was very prone to bacterial infections. Despite my fanatical cleaning, he would get one every few months. He'd get an infection- get antibiotics and probiotics for 30 days and then a few months later, get one again. Eventually, my vet and I decided to keep him on daily probiotics. It made a big difference. He went from 4-5 infections a year to one maybe every 2 years.

 

[Fuzzy]

This is an eye opener both @Hankmacaw and @sunnysmom. It makes sense. Like you, Michelle, I am fanatical about cleaning so I was at a loss why Chico keeps getting these infections. Mary Lynn, Chico is getting DMG but not prozyme (Ollie is getting the prozyme) - I will start sprinkling it on Chico's food too. Thanks to both of you!

 

[sunnysmom]

This is an eye opener both @Hankmacaw and @sunnysmom. It makes sense. Like you, Michelle, I am fanatical about cleaning so I was at a loss why Chico keeps getting these infections. Mary Lynn, Chico is getting DMG but not prozyme (Ollie is getting the prozyme) - I will start sprinkling it on Chico's food too. Thanks to both of you!

My vet also just did a gram stain on Rosie and found his good bacterial level low too. Luckily, he hasn't gotten sick but we started him on probiotics too. Scooter is going to the vet soon too and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get put on them also. My vet said just like with people, birds' immune systems tend to weaken as they get older.

 

[Stephstorm]

Sorry to hear about your tiel. My cockatiel Sunny (who has since passed away) had a stroke when he was about 17. My vet too told me there's really not much to be done for a stroke. That's the bad news. The good news is they seem to recovery from the stroke symptoms pretty quickly (per my vet). My tiel's wing drooped for about 2 days and returned to normal after that. Our situation is different in that my vet didn't think Sunny had heart disease but I did make dietary changes that I think gave him a few years of extra time. I gave my tiel senior nutriberries which often tiels will eat easier that regular pellets but @Hankmacaw is that not good in this case because the also have seeds in them? I also eliminated foods with vitamin K as it thickens the blood which is bad for birds with a history of strokes. (Mainly broccoli- which was a fav of my tiel). Hankmacaw definitely knows more about heart disease than I do. Sunny was also small and I had to work on keeping his weight up. One thing that we found also was that he had trouble maintaining his good bacteria level and had to be put on probiotics. Not sure if your vet did a gram stain or not but that might be something to check on also. I think it's pretty common in older tiels to have trouble maintaining a good bacteria level.

In regards to the stroke he is doing MUCH better. He gets a bit unsteady sometimes but is able to get around almost normally which I’m so happy about.

I got him “Kaytee Exact Natural Bird Food For Cockatiels” and he actually seems to like it (yaaaay!) so I’ve been mixing it in with his seed. Next time we grocery shop I’ll get some veggies and proteins for him to try.

I actually got him some nutriberries to try but not the senior kind. Is there a difference? He likes them but only if I’m holding it, haha.

He seems much more content on the new meds the vet gave him so he was probably not feeling good for awhile. He’s a little fighter though