Necropsy Results Back In

[WikiWaz]

Thank you all for your condolences.

The necropsy results came back - the diagnosis was end-stage kidney disease with gout around his heart, so there wasn't much we could do. What's worse - there was some miscommunication between our vet and the lab so he was group-cremated, meaning we will not get his ashes. I'm devastated, and my significant other is furious.

We were told by his former family when we adopted him back in April 2020 that he was a 1.5 year old cockatiel, however the pathologist seems to think Bowie was a much older cockatiel than what we were told because a cockatiel that young wound not exhibit such advanced kidney disease.

My question to you is, do you think with end stage kidney disease he was suffering for a long time? He acted different around 3 to 4 days before he passed, with the last day he was living he did act ill. Other than that, he seemed happy.

 

[reetybird]

Thank you all for your condolences.

The necropsy results came back - the diagnosis was end-stage kidney disease with gout around his heart, so there wasn't much we could do. What's worse - there was some miscommunication between our vet and the lab so he was group-cremated, meaning we will not get his ashes. I'm devastated, and my significant other is furious.

We were told by his former family when we adopted him back in April 2020 that he was a 1.5 year old cockatiel, however the pathologist seems to think Bowie was a much older cockatiel than what we were told because a cockatiel that young wound not exhibit such advanced kidney disease.

My question to you is, do you think with end stage kidney disease he was suffering for a long time? He acted different around 3 to 4 days before he passed, with the last day he was living he did act ill. Other than that, he seemed happy.

I am so, so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine the pain you are experiencing and I hope you and your fiancé take the time you need to heal.
I’m absolutely sure your baby wasn’t in pain, if he was still exhibiting happy behaviors than that’s just amazing that he spent his last few days with you. I’m sure he is so proud of you and wanting you to heal. Birds are surely best friends and reading this makes me want to give you a big hug.
Always here if you need to talk.

 

[camelotshadow]

I tend to think he was living a happy life almost to the end. Lucky or unlucky as there was no way to have caught it earlier.
No idea how kidney disease or gout around heart presents & advances.

Did he have any labs ever done when you got him? They are the best way to see if there is some problem.

Don't know what to say about his age. Its really hard to tell age by looking at a bird. I imagine depending upon what care he got before you got him his illness could have advanced beyond his years. I guess all you can do is take the vets opinion. Nothing you can do now
if the people who had him lied or were mistaken or misinformed.

Sorry they messed up his ashes. That is unfortunate & hopefully they are more careful with live birds then the deceased.

Least you know there was nothing that could be done & he lived a happy life with you & passed where he felt safe in his home.

 

[WikiWaz]

I tend to think he was living a happy life almost to the end. Lucky or unlucky as there was no way to have caught it earlier.
No idea how kidney disease or gout around heart presents & advances.

Did he have any labs ever done when you got him? They are the best way to see if there is some problem.

Don't know what to say about his age. Its really hard to tell age by looking at a bird. I imagine depending upon what care he got before you got him his illness could have advanced beyond his years. I guess all you can do is take the vets opinion. Nothing you can do now
if the people who had him lied or were mistaken or misinformed.

Sorry they messed up his ashes. That is unfortunate & hopefully they are more careful with live birds then the deceased.

Least you know there was nothing that could be done & he lived a happy life with you & passed where he felt safe in his home.

Thanks @camelotshadow. I like to think he did have a happy life with us. He was out of the cage and spending time with us 2 to 4 hours daily, with the occasional 1 hour a day if we were gone for most of the day, but those days were rare.

It's funny...we wanted ALL of the labs when we first got Bowie and specifically requested whatever tests needed to be done so we could get off to a good start, especially being new to bird ownership. But our exotic vet did not feel comfortable drawing blood on Bowie, being such a small bird so we never got any labs. I think we are going to look for a different exotic vet (no avian vets in our area) not only because of this situation, but mostly because of another situation with Rayleigh, our rescued budgie. When we noticed Rayleigh wouldn't put weight on one of her feet, so we took her in to this vet right away. The vet prescribed Meloxidyl but never told us that she felt a tumor. Two weeks later, we took Rayleigh to the ER, and the ER vet said the tumor was so large they could not tell if it was kidney or reproductive. So did the tumor really get THAT big in 2 weeks that the ER vet could palpate it but our own vet could not? Or did our vet not palpate for a tumor? It definitely raised some flags for me.

I really don't know what to think about the age thing either. I think I may be on the side of the pathologist, but who knows? Maybe his care was poor with his former family and it rapidly deteriorated his health. I'll probably never know and have to accept it.

As far as the ashes, we are going to make some kind of shadow box and use feathers we had saved. My significant other is photoshopping a picture of Bowie for the project.

It is good to know that he did indeed live a happy life with us. We did everything we could to ensure he had a good life with caring for him and providing him a life full of enrichment.

 

[WikiWaz]

I am so, so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine the pain you are experiencing and I hope you and your fiancé take the time you need to heal.
I’m absolutely sure your baby wasn’t in pain, if he was still exhibiting happy behaviors than that’s just amazing that he spent his last few days with you. I’m sure he is so proud of you and wanting you to heal. Birds are surely best friends and reading this makes me want to give you a big hug.
Always here if you need to talk.

Thank you @reetybird . When he passed it felt like losing we lost our child and best friend all at once. He always seemed happy except for the last day of his life. We are just grateful Bowie was in our lives for 1.5 years.

 

[sunnysmom]

I am so sorry. My guess is he was older too. I don't think a young bird would have that extent of problems. Just my opinion. It sounds like he was a happy bird. I don't think he was suffering. And I am so sorry about his ashes. I understand how you feel. When my tiel Sunny died, I asked them to save me his leg band. When I went to get it, the new vet tech couldn't find it. I cried the whole way home. Fortunately, the next day the regular vet tech who wasn't there the day before, called me and said she had it. Perhaps have a picture painted of him in memory instead. Or do you have any of his feathers? I know a woman that does lovely portraits on feathers.

 

[WikiWaz]

I am so sorry. My guess is he was older too. I don't think a young bird would have that extent of problems. Just my opinion. It sounds like he was a happy bird. I don't think he was suffering. And I am so sorry about his ashes. I understand how you feel. When my tiel Sunny died, I asked them to save me his leg band. When I went to get it, the new vet tech couldn't find it. I cried the whole way home. Fortunately, the next day the regular vet tech who wasn't there the day before, called me and said she had it. Perhaps have a picture painted of him in memory instead. Or do you have any of his feathers? I know a woman that does lovely portraits on feathers.

Thanks @sunnysmom

We have an idea for a memorial using a shadow box, but a beautiful portrait on a feather is a wonderful idea. I also thought about asking a jeweler to dip a feather in gold, kind of like how people dip roses gold. Can I get in touch with you if we decide on the pet portrait on a feather?

 

[sunnysmom]

Thanks @sunnysmom

We have an idea for a memorial using a shadow box, but a beautiful portrait on a feather is a wonderful idea. I also thought about asking a jeweler to dip a feather in gold, kind of like how people dip roses gold. Can I get in touch with you if we decide on the pet portrait on a feather?

Yes, of course. Your shadow box and feather ideas are really nice too.

 

[fashionfobie]

I think it was a good idea to get a necropsy at least you know.

I am so sorry you lost Bowie too soon. you gave him the best.

 

[WikiWaz]

I think it was a good idea to get a necropsy at least you know.

I am so sorry you lost Bowie too soon. you gave him the best.

Thanks @fashionfobie

 

[Lady Jane]

Without drawing a blood sample specifically looking for Creatinine level one would not accurately know about avian kidney disease. In humans that is true also. Very few symptoms are noticeable. I only have 43% function of my kidneys, diagnosed by GFR and Creatinine levels only. There is very little one can do for human or animal except diet changes which may slow down the process but not the failing kidneys. I am so sorry this happened to your sweet cockatiel.

 

[WikiWaz]

Without drawing a blood sample specifically looking for Creatinine level one would not accurately know about avian kidney disease. In humans that is true also. Very few symptoms are noticeable. I only have 43% function of my kidneys, diagnosed by GFR and Creatinine levels only. There is very little one can do for human or animal except diet changes which may slow down the process but not the failing kidneys. I am so sorry this happened to your sweet cockatiel.

Thank you @Lady Jane. We are looking for a new vet for our recused budgies. Actually, about an hour ago I emailed an exotic vet asking if she was comfortable drawing blood on budgerigars if the need necessitates it. Since our old vet was uncomfortable with draws, we need to find a new vet that is competent in draws.

 

[fashionfobie]

Actually, about an hour ago I emailed an exotic vet asking if she was comfortable drawing blood on budgerigars if the need necessitates it. Since our old vet was uncomfortable with draws, we need to find a new vet that is competent in draws.

It is hard to draw from small birds. Something to know, is bird blood cells are not like ours. They contain nuclei, which causes the samples to change very rapidly compared to humans or other mammals. The vets need to be comfortable, not only drawing tiny amounts of blood from small birds, but also having a system and facility near by to ensure the sample remains viable. Otherwise they draw blood and risk seriously harming the little bird for no reason.

so ask your vets not only if they are comfortable with small birds but if they have a system for testing either onsite or nearby. A larger veterinary hospital or veterinary school are probably more likely to have the equipment on site.

hope this helps.

 

[Lady Jane]

Budgies easily get stressed when at a vet. Good reason to only see an avian vet who is skilled with blood draws in small birds. I watch a vet one time draw blood from a cockatiel and she did it so quickly from the neck area I don't think the bird ever knew what happened.

 

[camelotshadow]

I agree its a good time to look for a good avian vet before you need one.

Penny could have another lab workup next time we can safely get her in as last was about 3 years ago. The vet did not say anything was really off with the labs or reason for concern but there were a few things off normal range.

Still any blood draw or procedure can have complications & I don't know if its worth it to do it beyond a baseline & then a monitor.
Every year seems a bit much unless there is something to watch for.

Creatine & Uric acid levels were normal but bile acids were on the low side & AST was slightly low (perhaps reason to monitor liver)

Elevated bile acids & AST is not good but Pennys were lower so not sure what slightly lower levels could indicate.


Creatine Kinase 282 (Normal range 116 to 408 U/L)

Uric Acid 8.1 (Normal range 2- 12 mg/dl)

*Bile Acids Preprandial Rand 9.2 (Normal range 15 - 92 umol/L)

*AST 123 (Normal range 135 - 358 U/L)

*Cholesterol 172 (Normal range 176- 258 mg/dL) Just very slightly low

WBC was normal
monocyte was high? 2% (Normal 0 to 1 %) DrScott McDnald says 0 to 3% is normal
lymphocytes 28% (normal 20 to 50%)
heterophil 70% (normal 40 to 75%)
(Cockatiels and Amazons have more lymphocytes than heterophils.)

Interpretation of Avian Biochemistry - General Guidelines - Gribbles Veterinary

Guidelines on how to intrepret Avian Biochemistry results as they differ from mammalian chemistry results.

www.gribblesvets.com.au

http://www.scottemcdonald.com/pdfs/CBC.pdf

 

[WikiWaz]

Or do you have any of his feathers? I know a woman that does lovely portraits on feathers.

Getting back to you from a long time ago, this is the memorial we made.

 

[sunnysmom]

Getting back to you from a long time ago, this is the memorial we made.

It's beautiful. Such a lovely tribute.

 

[WikiWaz]

It's beautiful. Such a lovely tribute.

Thank you!