Hi everyone!
I wondering if anyone has some personal experience or thoughts on Hormone Therapy for A Cinnamon Green Cheek. I know it's not recommenced for just overly hormonal birds but Claire has been laying eggs for about a year now and not only has a 3-4 per batch but she also always has a few that get stuck/ take a ton of extra time to come out. When she went to the vet ages ago we were told she had a very small pelvis (the vet actually said she thought Claire was a HE at the time as, "it would be a hard time getting an egg out of that"). She was a late bloomer and started laying eggs around 10. We were shocked but were lucky the first one didn't get stuck as we had no clue. The second one however, got stuck and had to be removed by our vet. Our vet told us after that one of her tubes were also really tiny and if she had even a slightly bigger egg (which the second one was) it would most likely get stuck.
Fast forward to today going back and forth whether to take her to the vet (our normal vet is on medical leave so we would have to travel three hours to the closest Avian Vet) or wait till over night (as she was still within her normal egg laying times of 60-70 hours but getting close to she needs help state). We gave her a bunch of steam showers and rest and she finally had it late tonight
. This has been a consist with her and every time we worry it's going to be another stuck one. Especially when removal by a vet can also be dangerous.
I was doing some research and found a couple options. First I came across hormone injections (more specially Lupron / Depot Provera) which all seemed great until I started seeing how bad the side effects can be. I really don't like the idea but also don't want her to die from egg binding. I also came across a Deslorelin implant that someone said was much easier, safer and had no side effects (and if there was a problem they could just remove the implant). However, I couldn't find much else on it. Lastly I saw someone suggesting to simply expose the bird to 72 hours of constant light. This also seemed like it would be hard on the bird and could effect her in a negative way (now I'm not sure of this and wondering if anyone has ever done this method before). She is also in the same room with my Sun Conure so I would be concerned about messing him up as well.
They are both going to the vet very soon for check ups but thought I would ask my question here first to get opinions before I asked my vet all the options I had. I'm going to quote what I found just in case I wasn't 100% clear on what was said. My overall concern is that Claire ( and my Sun Conure, Mango) are happy, healthy, not going to change their behavior for the worse while still wanting to slow down or stop her egg laying.
"You need to sit down and discuss her overall-health after the exam and the Blood-Work, and then you need to listen to the CAV as they explain ALL of the options with you, and counsel you about behavioral, environmental, dietary, and schedule changes that you will also need to make even if you do decide to start hormone-therapy. There are a ton of different reasons why female birds in-particular become constantly/continually hormonal, and often there are behavioral and environmental changes you can make that will also help, and sometimes that you have to do in order for the hormone therapy to even work, because if there is an environmental/behavioral/dietary/light-schedule issue going on and it isn't changed, then the hormone therapy won't fully work either..."
"Yes, hormone therapy is a "real thing", in both birds and people, lol...Lupron Depot is an injection that they give either every 3 months or every 6 months, depending on the dosage they choose, and it is essentially "Chemical Castration". It completely shuts-down the birds Reproductive System by shutting-down all Ovarian activity...However, Lupron Depot and other "Depot" injections typically are not at all the most effective or successful hormone-therapies for birds."
"Instead of a Depot injection every 3 or 6 months, what works so much more effectively, works for a longer time, has less side-effects, and is much more convenient is having a Deslorelin implant injected...It's a little tiny implant the size of a tiny seed (that's actually what it looks like, a little tiny seed). It's an easy procedure that is very much the same as having a microchip implanted...They usually either put the Deslorelin implants right under the skin of their backs (in between their shoulder blades) or of their chest/breast area. They first give the bird an injection of usually Lidocaine to completely numb the area so that bird feels nothing, then they make a tiny little incision/nick with either a scalpel or with a special syringe/needle that makes a little hole right under the skin. Then they use another syringe to "inject" the Deslorelin implant right underneath the skin in the little "hole" the made, and then they will typically put a tiny dab of skin-glue over the implant, and the skin grows right back overtop of it and it's like it never happened. And usually the Deslorelin implants are good for 6 months, those seem to be the most effective implants. There are ones that last a year (just a higher dosage of the medication to be secreted over-time), but they tend to not be as effective as the 6-month ones. And if the Deslorelin implant works for your bird and you want to do another implant at 6 months, they don't even have to remove the old implant, they will simply inject a new implant into the same place they put the first one, and they are absorbed by the body. Easy, safe, painless, and can usually be done with either no sedation at all, or they simply use very short-acting Isoflurene Gas that is safe and wears-off in a matter of minutes and the bird is totally fine."
"The Deslorelin implants have been WAY MORE EFFECTIVE than injections of Lupron, Depot Provera, etc. They are also safer and have almost no side-effects, as opposed to the Lupron, Depot Provera, etc. (I speak from experience on this topic, and the side-effects from the Depot injections suck the big one; my spine actually started to hurt about a week after getting the first injection, literally my spine hurt, like the bones hurt all day and all night. For 3 months. That's the issue, you can't reverse the injection if it causes you horrible side effects, you're stuck with it until it wears off 3 or 6 months later; with the Deslorelin implants, if there happens to be a problem, which is very rare with them anyway, they can remove the implant and stop the treatment)... "
Leuprorelin, also known as leuprolide, is a manufactured version of a hormone used to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and early puberty. It is given by injection into a muscle or under the skin.
Common side effects include hot flashes, unstable mood, trouble sleeping, headaches and pain at the site of injection. Other side effects may include high blood sugar, allergic reactions, and problems with the pituitary gland
I wondering if anyone has some personal experience or thoughts on Hormone Therapy for A Cinnamon Green Cheek. I know it's not recommenced for just overly hormonal birds but Claire has been laying eggs for about a year now and not only has a 3-4 per batch but she also always has a few that get stuck/ take a ton of extra time to come out. When she went to the vet ages ago we were told she had a very small pelvis (the vet actually said she thought Claire was a HE at the time as, "it would be a hard time getting an egg out of that"). She was a late bloomer and started laying eggs around 10. We were shocked but were lucky the first one didn't get stuck as we had no clue. The second one however, got stuck and had to be removed by our vet. Our vet told us after that one of her tubes were also really tiny and if she had even a slightly bigger egg (which the second one was) it would most likely get stuck.
Fast forward to today going back and forth whether to take her to the vet (our normal vet is on medical leave so we would have to travel three hours to the closest Avian Vet) or wait till over night (as she was still within her normal egg laying times of 60-70 hours but getting close to she needs help state). We gave her a bunch of steam showers and rest and she finally had it late tonight
. This has been a consist with her and every time we worry it's going to be another stuck one. Especially when removal by a vet can also be dangerous.I was doing some research and found a couple options. First I came across hormone injections (more specially Lupron / Depot Provera) which all seemed great until I started seeing how bad the side effects can be. I really don't like the idea but also don't want her to die from egg binding. I also came across a Deslorelin implant that someone said was much easier, safer and had no side effects (and if there was a problem they could just remove the implant). However, I couldn't find much else on it. Lastly I saw someone suggesting to simply expose the bird to 72 hours of constant light. This also seemed like it would be hard on the bird and could effect her in a negative way (now I'm not sure of this and wondering if anyone has ever done this method before). She is also in the same room with my Sun Conure so I would be concerned about messing him up as well.
They are both going to the vet very soon for check ups but thought I would ask my question here first to get opinions before I asked my vet all the options I had. I'm going to quote what I found just in case I wasn't 100% clear on what was said. My overall concern is that Claire ( and my Sun Conure, Mango) are happy, healthy, not going to change their behavior for the worse while still wanting to slow down or stop her egg laying.
"You need to sit down and discuss her overall-health after the exam and the Blood-Work, and then you need to listen to the CAV as they explain ALL of the options with you, and counsel you about behavioral, environmental, dietary, and schedule changes that you will also need to make even if you do decide to start hormone-therapy. There are a ton of different reasons why female birds in-particular become constantly/continually hormonal, and often there are behavioral and environmental changes you can make that will also help, and sometimes that you have to do in order for the hormone therapy to even work, because if there is an environmental/behavioral/dietary/light-schedule issue going on and it isn't changed, then the hormone therapy won't fully work either..."
"Yes, hormone therapy is a "real thing", in both birds and people, lol...Lupron Depot is an injection that they give either every 3 months or every 6 months, depending on the dosage they choose, and it is essentially "Chemical Castration". It completely shuts-down the birds Reproductive System by shutting-down all Ovarian activity...However, Lupron Depot and other "Depot" injections typically are not at all the most effective or successful hormone-therapies for birds."
"Instead of a Depot injection every 3 or 6 months, what works so much more effectively, works for a longer time, has less side-effects, and is much more convenient is having a Deslorelin implant injected...It's a little tiny implant the size of a tiny seed (that's actually what it looks like, a little tiny seed). It's an easy procedure that is very much the same as having a microchip implanted...They usually either put the Deslorelin implants right under the skin of their backs (in between their shoulder blades) or of their chest/breast area. They first give the bird an injection of usually Lidocaine to completely numb the area so that bird feels nothing, then they make a tiny little incision/nick with either a scalpel or with a special syringe/needle that makes a little hole right under the skin. Then they use another syringe to "inject" the Deslorelin implant right underneath the skin in the little "hole" the made, and then they will typically put a tiny dab of skin-glue over the implant, and the skin grows right back overtop of it and it's like it never happened. And usually the Deslorelin implants are good for 6 months, those seem to be the most effective implants. There are ones that last a year (just a higher dosage of the medication to be secreted over-time), but they tend to not be as effective as the 6-month ones. And if the Deslorelin implant works for your bird and you want to do another implant at 6 months, they don't even have to remove the old implant, they will simply inject a new implant into the same place they put the first one, and they are absorbed by the body. Easy, safe, painless, and can usually be done with either no sedation at all, or they simply use very short-acting Isoflurene Gas that is safe and wears-off in a matter of minutes and the bird is totally fine."
"The Deslorelin implants have been WAY MORE EFFECTIVE than injections of Lupron, Depot Provera, etc. They are also safer and have almost no side-effects, as opposed to the Lupron, Depot Provera, etc. (I speak from experience on this topic, and the side-effects from the Depot injections suck the big one; my spine actually started to hurt about a week after getting the first injection, literally my spine hurt, like the bones hurt all day and all night. For 3 months. That's the issue, you can't reverse the injection if it causes you horrible side effects, you're stuck with it until it wears off 3 or 6 months later; with the Deslorelin implants, if there happens to be a problem, which is very rare with them anyway, they can remove the implant and stop the treatment)... "
Leuprorelin, also known as leuprolide, is a manufactured version of a hormone used to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and early puberty. It is given by injection into a muscle or under the skin.
Common side effects include hot flashes, unstable mood, trouble sleeping, headaches and pain at the site of injection. Other side effects may include high blood sugar, allergic reactions, and problems with the pituitary gland
