I talked to Dr. Driggers since they received the records from the other vet and he does still want to do the CT scan and blood pressure. I’m just hesitant to have him sedated when he’s so weak. I know it’s already potentially deadly even on a relatively healthy bird. So we are going to start the Benazepril for now and if he’s doing better then we’ll bring him in to have that done. I just have personal experience with losing a bird to sedation so it terrifies me, and I know it’s not the first time it’s happened either.
One thing he mentioned was that he can’t actually see the atherosclerosis on the x-rays because he can only confirm it if he actually sees mineralization. On the x-rays the arteries that you can see are a grey-ish color but not bright white. He said it could just be either something else or motion blur since they didn’t sedate him for the x-rays. But he does think it’s some sort of heart/heart related issues just due to the cyanosis.
He said it might actually be some sort of primary heart issue rather than atherosclerosis, or both. Which would explain why the isoxsuprine helped a bit but not much. The thing that confused me is he said the Benazepril could potentially be deadly if he has a heart condition rather than atherosclerosis. But as far as I’ve researched it seems like it is used to treat all sorts of heart problems (birth defects, CHF, etc.). But he said the isoxsuprine could also have the same issue and obviously that hasn’t happened so far.
Just seems to be risky either way. Doing nothing would mean he will die. He’s already doing worse again after only being on the medication for a month. Sedating him for the CT scan could kill him. And trying the medications without doing those tests could kill him. So we are starting on a very low dose of the medication to start. I definitely want to have those tests done but I’d rather him not be so weak when he has it done.