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My little baby girl and best friend has passed, I need advice on how to help my other baby through it.

Summzz

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I honestly thought I would never be posting this/ asking about this soon. I lost my 12-year-old baby girl on the 7th and I'm super distraught. I had gotten sick at the beginning of February and sadly wasn't able to take care of my babies for three days. My mom was looking after them (she knows how to care for them) but sadly never checked their weight in those days (I forgot to ask as well). In those days she had dropped to 61 grams (normally around 67 grams) and started looking raggedy. She then started to be less active and have "coordination issues" like falling and missing landings while flying. By the time we got her to the vet, she was not herself. They thought it was some bacteria issue and the game plan was some antibiotics, medicam for the pain, and high-calorie food. We hadn't gotten a blood test as she was so tiny and worried she wouldn't do well with it, we were only going to get it if she wasn't better in a few days. By the time we got back home, she was so tired, her wings dropped, and sneezing. I called the vet as soon as I saw but within a few minutes she seem to have stopped breathing, fallen, and sadly passed. It was honestly one of the hardest and traumatic things for me to see and I'm still really struggling with that. The vet assumes that maybe she had a genetic issue that finally just took its toll and thinks she at least went fast. But I still feel so much guilt (which I assume we all do about these sorts of things) and haven't been able to function. She was the type to be snuggling with me almost all the time. She loved to dance, play and snuggle all day. I miss her so much and sadly don't know how to function without her.



Sadly my other baby seems to be going through the same thing. While they weren't always the best of friends, he enjoyed being around her, always wanted to snuggle with her, and wanted to do everything she was doing. He is quite a scared bird (being a rescue) and sadly is still very afraid of things like hands and most people. I have worked enough with him to get him used to stepping up, very rarely snuggling with me, and just being happier being around people. We are still not at a point where we are close and where he is not afraid to be handled all the time. Sadly a lot of things I got him used to is because he saw her doing it. He would try new things by just seeing her do the same thing. Every time she flew over to sit on me, he would be right behind her. If he wasn't with her, he was spending his day ripping apart toys and eating. With her gone, he seems lost. He wakes up in the morning and stares at her home. I haven't been able to even think about moving her cage, it's just something I can't do yet. He's not eating as much as he used to as it was another thing they did together. When he was out playing today he climb around her cage just looking for her. I thought maybe he wanted to go in there but when I tried to offer it to him he ran out of the doorway so fast. I don't know how to help him. I try eating with him, playing with him, and being with him ( I work from home so I was always with them a ton anyways). It just doesn't seem to be working and now I am really worried about him being depressed and getting sick.



I never thought we would lose her so soon and I know we are both just lost. I feel guilty not being as close with him as I was her but I was honestly trying to let him take his time since he was so scared. But now I just wish he was more bonded with me as I feel it would be easier for him. The vet said it was alright to give him the higher calorie pellets mixed with his normal pellet dinner so I've started that to try and help with his weight as he has lost a little over the past two days. Has anyone else gone through something similar? Is there any way I can ease or make him feel better? Sorry for the long story and rambling, I just knew if anywhere was going to understand, it would be here. We both lost our best friend and were not sure what to do.
 

Sparkles99

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:sorrow: I’m very sorry to hear this.
 

Shezbug

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I am sorry to hear of your loss :(
 

Kiwi's Dad

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I'm so sorry for your loss :sadhug2:
 

Pixiebeak

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:sorrow: im sorry...

Is there any chance of Teflon or different cleaning agent's?

Can you check the food for discoloration or powder mold? I had a batch if seeds go bad once...it caused some weirdness like this in my gcc. Plus once some accidently burned plastic caused wooziness...
 

Tiel Feathers

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I’m so very sorry for your loss, and I hope your other bird will be okay and just needs time to grieve.
:sadhug2:
 

expressmailtome

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I am sorry for your loss.
 

Summzz

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Thank you everyone for the kind words, it means a lot <3

:sorrow: im sorry...

Is there any chance of Teflon or different cleaning agent's?

Can you check the food for discoloration or powder mold? I had a batch if seeds go bad once...it caused some weirdness like this in my gcc. Plus once some accidently burned plastic caused wooziness...
All our cooking wear is for sure Teflon free and I mainly use vinegar for cleaning and when I do use something like bleach it's aired out in the house. Haven't used anything like that in month though. As for food I never really thought about that. From what I can / could tell all the food seemed fine. It was a fresh bag of pellets they had (they looks good) and fresh treats (that also looked good). Is it something that would also make my other conure sick? Or can those sort of things harm one but not the other?
I’m so very sorry for your loss, and I hope your other bird will be okay and just needs time to grieve.
:sadhug2:
Thank you and I really hope that is all he need. The last time we lost a bird, my girl who just passed away was the one who was missing a friend at the time. Although not only was she really bonded to me but we also got Mango (current baby left) not that long after so she seemed to do okay with it. He seems to be having a harder time so I just hope we are doing everything right to help him.
 

Pixiebeak

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Im just trying out ideas that might fit.

If you have any concerns at all with your remaining baby id get quickly checked out by your Avian veterinarian. especially if he is dropping weight

Weight loss of 6 grams can definitely be related to a health issue. But I just don't think this was a starvation/ light feeding issue.

How long has it been since you added the new burd?
Whst do his poops look like?
When I had chlamydia introduced into my flock...the first symptoms for most were weight loss.
Chlamydia almost always seems to cause bright green urine ( has a fancy name but I cant get spellchecker to accept ) . Not looking at first morning poop as it is normal after fasting to have the green. And nit old poops that have bern sitting as colors naturally leak out. Fresh poop is what you evaluate
 
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Fergus Mom

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Oh that is heartbreaking, and I'm so very sorry. I think all you can do is do what you're already doing, by giving your baby more attention and play, and I will bet he will also begin to bond with you more, hopefully. :sad6::sadhug2:
 

Summzz

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Im just trying out ideas that might fit.

If you have any concerns at all with your remaining baby id get quickly checked out by your Avian veterinarian. especially if he is dropping weight

Weight loss of 6 grams can definitely be related to a health issue. But I just don't think this was a starvation/ light feeding issue.

How long has it been since you added the new burd?
Whst do his poops look like?
When I had chlamydia introduced into my flock...the first symptoms for most were weight loss.
Chlamydia almost always seems to cause bright green urine ( has a fancy name but I cant get spellchecker to accept ) . Not looking at first morning poop as it is normal after fasting to have the green. And nit old poops that have bern sitting as colors naturally leak out. Fresh poop is what you evaluate
I appreciate all the ideas, I have been racking my brain. I will 100% get him checked as well if his weight goes down even further. I know the vet said he could go down a bit from stress but yes it shouldn't be a ton.

My baby who passed (Claire) always seems to have some health issues. Years back she had lost almost all her feathers (all her underfluffies were still there) and we had no clue why. The vet even wasn't sure and thought maybe a bacterial issue but she seemed to get better after some meds. Fast forward to when she was 9, she started having egg-binding issues. Thankfully we slowed her hormones with some simple changes and she stopped with the eggs. At the same time, her poops changed from normal to runny and not formed. Was told it was the eggs until it continued way after egg laying which then we were told: "must be her new normal". A few years after that she started doing this weird regurgitating/vomiting thing. Shaking her head and bring what looked like small grains of rice with a horrible sour smell (I actually think I shared it here seeing if anyone knew what it was). She maybe did it one more time the next month. The vet told me once again they had no clue what was wrong and that it was probably just normal regurgitating. I figured it wasn't but just trusted their answer. About a year after that her bottom beak started to overgrow. No matter what she chewed it would not go down. We just started getting it trimmed, our new vet said sometimes it just starts for no reason. It had been a few years since she did the "vomiting " thing when she did it once again. This time I was able to get a sample and take it to a vet that works 5 minutes from us. He is not an avian vet (horses) but we work with him a lot and he had the stuff to do a test. He found some bacteria in it again but didn't no much else not being an avian vet. I took it up with the new avian vet and she said to try some probiotics. She was on them for a bit till we come up to the beginning of February. We could rarely go off her poops as they were always on and off, normal to runny and bad.

Claire and Mango (the remaining baby) had been together for about ten years since Mango was about 1. He always had normal poop and nothing wrong other than being a little hormonal (he likes to regurgitate and "feed the babies" as we say). I've been told there was nothing I could have done more but it's hard to feel that way.
 

Tara81

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You did everything you could. Sounds like your baby Claire had some health issues for awhile. If a bird has bacteria, it needs antiboitics, not just probiotics, at least in my experience. If something like this happens again, ask for a broad spectrum antibotic for your bird. I had a budgie who got sick once a year or so in his last 4 years of his life. Each time he was saved with antiboitics and syringe feeding when he wouldn't eat, the exotic vet didn't want to do any blood tests and just assumed it was bacterial. She assumed right, as the first time he got sick, antiboitics helped him, then as soon as I stopped the antiboitics, he started getting sick again, and she put him on another dose of antiboitics. He survived for 4 years afterwards, but got sick 4 or 5 times total in that time span. Every other time, antibotics made him better within a week. Except for when he passed. He probably was just too old to fight it then, at the age of 11. I think overgrown beak can be a sign of liver failure. Runny poops is usually a sign of eating a lot of wet vegetables or not eating enough( most likely due to illness ).
 

Icey

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Such a sad story. Sorry for your loss of Claire, and I hope you and your other one can start bonding more now to ease the pain from your loss. :(
 
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