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How much hope is there for birds with heart disease?

Kassiani

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I’m pretty frustrated. We saw the vet today and they did a fecal test without asking and found out Widget has giardia. He’s had it the whole time we’ve had him and from everything I’ve researched (and also what I’ve heard from other vets) it’s basically incurable. Because of how much birds poop, you can treat it regularly to keep it controlled but never 100% get rid of it. But apparently Dr. Driggers couldn’t find the notes from past vet visits where we’ve treated him for it. Not sure if they just got deleted. But now he wants to focus on treating the giardia and thinks that’s the reason for Widget’s worsening symptoms.

I don’t doubt Dr. Driggers skills, but he’s not with Widget all day everyday so he only knows what the tests and exam tell him. Widget has had giardia for the whole time I’ve had him (3.5 years, possibly even before I got him) and it’s never caused lethargy. Actually it barely even causes diarrhea unless I let it go on for too long. He seems to be relatively asymptomatic. Also I treated him two months ago while he was dealing with the atherosclerosis already and it didn’t improve the lethargy at all. So I think while the giardia is definitely not helping anything, the symptoms I am seeing are due to the atherosclerosis.

So now he wants to focus on the giardia rather than the atherosclerosis. Widget is getting worse fast. Dr. Driggers wants me to treat for the giardia again then recheck in 2 weeks. But I don’t even know if Widget has that long without switching medications or doing something. And it’s not going to change anything because the giardia always comes back. They wouldn’t even do blood work or cut his nails today.
I'm really sorry to hear this. If it were me, I would absolutely make an appointment to talk to your vet ASAP. Explain everything you've said here. Ask why he thinks that Giardia is what needs to be primarily treated right now considering it has been a constant presence. Ask him to explain/justify this change.
 

AGS

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I did explain everything to him on the phone but he seems pretty convinced. I hate to say anything bad because I know he’s a good vet. He’s just going based off what the tests tell him, but I‘m with Widget all day and see the symptoms. The giardia doesn’t cause lethargy in his case. I’m pretty sure it’s not helping things but it also probably isn’t affecting things as bad as the atherosclerosis is. Also this is the third time he’s gone downhill due to the heart issues and it’s the same progression of symptoms every time.
 

AGS

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Well I did a virtual visit with Dr. Lamb for a second opinion and she wants to try him on the sildenafil. She also said depending on how he does on that he could also be put on a medication to replace the isoxsuprine as well, which changes the blood so that it can flow better through narrowed blood rather than relying just on widening the vessels.

I also posted another thread that he’s having some other issues. So he will get a recheck soon and get blood work. It might be nothing but butter safe than sorry. Currently it’s scheduled for the 15th but if his leg improves by then I’ll probably reschedule it for two weeks from now because he needs to be checked on the new medicine as well in two weeks and I’d hate to bring him in twice if it’s unnecessary.
 

Kassiani

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Was your visit virtual so Widget didn’t need to be stressed?
 

AGS

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Yes it was. I have no idea why but he loves seeing people on video chat lol. He somehow knows the difference between just a normal video of a person and a video chat because he doesn’t get as excited for a normal video.
 

AGS

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He started the sildenafil today and seems to be doing fine. He’s only on .02 ml for now and then we’ll see how he’s doing in 2 weeks to decide whether to increase it or not. He seems to have a good amount of energy today but he was also doing better for the past two days so I don’t know if its because of the sildenafil or not.
 

Kassiani

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Im so glad he’s had some good days! I hope it continues :)
 

camelotshadow

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Hoping he continues to improve.
 

AGS

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He’s having a problem with his leg. Earlier this year he sprained his other leg and was limping and it took about 1.5-2 weeks to heal. This time he isn’t limping but just has problems standing on the leg when his other leg is in the air (so he has problems scratching his face with his other foot because he can’t balance well). It’s been like that since the 10th. I thought it might be another minor sprain but now I’m worried because I would think since it’s much less serious than last time he sprained his leg that it would have healed faster but it’s taking just as long. I know it can also be a symptom of any kind of internal lump whether that’s a tumor or enlarged organ so I’m really concerned. He’s seeing the vet again on the 29th but I can make it sooner if necessary.
 

AGS

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Well now he has a white spot on his tongue and everywhere online says that’s a yeast infection. I guess I’ll just mention it at the vet. It is possible though it’s just something there. That’s the side we give him his medicine on and two of the medications are white. He also sometimes gets poop on his beak so it’s possible it’s urates. He tends to poop then immediately step in it so if I’m unable to remove it right away he gets it off his foot with his beak.
 

Kassiani

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Does he like to bathe? Maybe offer him a bath and a nice warm spot to dry and see how his tongue looks afterward. My boys will drink the bath water before bathing. I’m sorry Widget is having problems with his leg. I hope you can talk to the vet about it prior to your appointment.
 

AGS

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He doesn’t but later when I gave him his medicine it wasn’t there anymore.
 

Kassiani

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That’s a relief! Happy Holidays to you, your family, and Widget :)
 

AGS

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Well it seems his leg is mostly better. It actually seemed to be healing but then he flew and landed pretty hard on the top of his cage so it seems he reinjured it because the next day it was bothering him again. This is the second time he’s sprained his leg this year so I will be glad to finally have his nails cut tomorrow. The first two times he went I forgot to ask because I was more focused on his health issues and last time I asked but they didn’t cut them.

He has declined again but his new medicine still has time to work and also is a very low dose. I also had to decrease his other medications before starting the new one since we didn’t check his blood pressure so we had to make sure it wouldn’t cause any side effects. So all of his medications can actually be increased.
 

Kassiani

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Let us know how his latest vet visit went when you have some time :)
 

AGS

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It went well. She didn’t notice anything wrong on the physical exam. We are increasing the sildenafil to .04 ml and if he doesn’t show improvement within 2 weeks there is one more medication we can try. They cut his nails and also did blood work so we should probably have those results either tomorrow or the next day.
 
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