How much hope is there for birds with heart disease?

[Kassiani]

I'm glad the physical exam was good. Hopefully that nail trim will help him with the tender leg on landings! I'll hope for good results from the blood work!!

 

[AGS]

The blood work came back good! Actually better than before since we have treated the giardia (white blood cell count has lowered and his protein is back up).

 

[AGS]

I worry the sildenafil won’t help him. We still have about a week left for it to work since increasing it but he’s not really improving. He pretty much sleeps all day still and hasn’t whistled. His benazepril can still be increased though and there’s one more medication we can try, called pentoxifylline. That would replace the isoxsuprine and apparently it can work better for birds that don’t respond that well to the isoxsuprine.

 

[AGS]

I miss these days. He looked so much healthier. And had all the energy in the world to play as much as he wanted.



I also bought him this perch from @JLcribber

 

[Kassiani]

He’s such a cutie!! How has Widget been today? I don’t know anything about the heart medications but hope he will get some relief soon!

 

[AGS]

He has been playing today but honestly I’m not sure how much better he feels. He’s still pretty low energy when he’s not playing but I think he is just determined to play. He keeps trying to whistle but just doesn’t have the energy.

 

[AGS]

He has shown some improvement. We also started him on the pentoxifylline.

Does anyone know about omega 3 fatty acids? The vet mentioned that those could help him. But she mentioned fish oil, is that the best one? I know some people on here use red palm oil but I wasn’t sure if that was the same thing or different than fish oil.

 

[Shezbug]

@Mizzely @Hankmacaw

 

[Hankmacaw]

Red Palm oil is an excellent source of Omega 3 oil. It also contains a lot of Vitamin A.

SUNSHINE FACTOR – Here are the facts | Harrison's Bird Foods

www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com

 

[MommyBird]

Does anyone know about omega 3 fatty acids? The vet mentioned that those could help him. But she mentioned fish oil, is that the best one? I know some people on here use red palm oil but I wasn’t sure if that was the same thing or different than fish oil.

Flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds have omega 3
Walnuts have some omega 3
interesting table for nuts:
The Omega 3 to 6 Fat Ratio of Common Nuts [Data] | VegFAQs

 

[AGS]

Okay, thank you. I just ordered some red palm oil. Does anyone know the dosage? I can ask the vet if necessary but for the fish oil I was told .02ml since he is about 80 grams so I’m not sure if the red palm oil is the same. And is it daily/twice daily/etc.?

 

[MommyBird]

Okay, thank you. I just ordered some red palm oil. Does anyone know the dosage? I can ask the vet if necessary but for the fish oil I was told .02ml since he is about 80 grams so I’m not sure if the red palm oil is the same. And is it daily/twice daily/etc.?

The answer is not exact, it's "just a little bit"
My birds like it still firm from the fridge on a small piece of tortillia. I buy Nutiva brand.
This RPO product has a suggested avian dosage here:
For young or sick birds, feed 1 or 2 drops per 3 ounces of body weight. Feather-Glo
another suggests:
Directions: Mix 1/4 teaspoon per 350 gm of body weight into your pet's diet. UnRuffledRx Red Palm Oil for Parrots | Sustainable, Organic, 8 oz.

 

[AGS]

@Hankmacaw or anyone who may know. Can aspirating medicine cause an infection with no/mild symptoms? I always thought it would cause pneumonia which is known for being pretty severe. Widget breathed in his medicine somewhere around the 8th of this month (can’t remember the exact date).

He doesn’t really have any symptoms besides vague things that might be unrelated (he’s had some drainage from his eyes once in a while but that’s happened for years, not just recently, and he breathes pretty heavy but I always only notice it when he’s been exercising and that could also be the heart disease).

Basically I’m just worried because he seemed to be improving on the sildenafil but then after only a few days of improvement he got worse again and hasn’t improved after that. He just had a check up on the 29th with blood work so I really can’t think of anything else that could be wrong besides that since nothing else has changed besides him breathing in the medicine. Unless the medicine just didn’t work that well and it is still just the heart issue. I just hate to keep taking him to the vet if it’s unnecessary since it’s so stressful for him. But I also probably will call the vet tomorrow to see if they think I should bring him in.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Aspirations come in all severities. Jasper had to take six syringes of meds in the morning and 5 at night for 21 years. Over that period of time one is almost sure to get at least one aspiration. In fact, when Dr. Driggers looked at one of her many xrays, he said it looks like she is resolving an aspiration in her lung. I saw it and it was resolving. When a bird dies from aspiration, it was a major event or it has become infected and not treated.

 

[AGS]

Thank you. I did email the vet and she said after that long he most likely would be showing some other symptoms. I’m going to schedule an appointment because she said after this long it would be good to do x-rays again especially since his condition seems to progress pretty rapidly. It’s been almost 6 months since his last x-ray.

I posted another thread asking for tips on avoiding aspiration if you have any advice. I used to give him the medicine with help from my brother but now I have to give it to him on my own which I’ve never done before.

 

[AGS]

So far no improvement with the pentoxifylline. But it has about 1-2 weeks left to work since it can take 3-4 weeks total.

 

[Kassiani]

Has Widget been in for another x-ray yet, or does that come after the 4th week of the new med?

 

[AGS]

He had an x-ray last week and nothing has changed (no heart enlargement, fluid build up, etc.). Unfortunately it’s impossible to see improvements on the x-ray but we can see if anything gets worse.

He had aspirated his medicine (I thought he did before because he made some weird sounds but this time it was very obvious he aspirated). So he got the x-ray to check for pneumonia as well as check his heart. He didn’t have pneumonia but his breathing did sound louder than usual so he was put on Clavamox for 10 days (until the 4th) since it’s very likely it would have developed.

 

[Kassiani]

Poor little man! Has his appetite changed in the last few weeks with the medicine changes and the aspiration event? I'm sure that knocked his energy level down a bit, too.

It's great news to hear that the x-rays showed no deterioration in his current condition! Give your sweet boy a scratch on the head from his AA fans!

 

[AGS]

He tends to eat more when he’s feeling bad, I guess because he needs the energy. So with the heart disease combined with the antibiotic upsetting his stomach he is eating a lot of food. But the aspiration did make him feel pretty bad, and it also takes him a couple of days to recover from the stress of going to the vet, especially with the drop off visits. Breaks my heart when he’s screaming as they carry him away from me. He definitely will get lots of scritches tomorrow.