NEED ADVICE: Kidney Disease and Infection (Sad update post #13)

[Mason and Kiwi]

Note: There is a TLDR at the bottom if you wish to skim or not read everything, but the details are important.

Hello everyone. I am sad to say that Kiwi is not doing so great. I noticed on Sunday that she was not as active and as fluffed up as she normally would be. Birds really do act fine until the last moment because on Saturday she was happy and playful, eating her treats, talking and running around.

We took her to the emergency vet immediately. On our way there she began vomiting, not regurgitating, and having diarrhea. The vomit was basically just clear liquid, at first it was some chunks of her almond from the previous day, but now whenever she vomits it's just like pure water.

They gave her fluids and testing and basically said her white blood cell count was very high and she was fighting some infection. They also mentioned something about underdeveloped white blood cells. Aside from that, her uric acid was so high that the machine could not read it. She has no abnormalities or parasites in her poop. No blockages, however they noticed there was inflammation in her GI tract as well as inflammation/enlargment of her kidneys. The prognosis isn't good and the vet was frustratingly vague.

There's no known cause to this, nothing from the blood says it was caused by toxicity. Could be viral, bacterial, genetic, etc.

We have her on 4 medications. 3 started last night and one will start tomorrow. The ones started are 2 for fighting infection, 1 for reducing stomach acid. The one I'm picking up tomorrow will help uric acid. I am also setting up appointments so she can be given fluids every 2-3 days as this was dehydrating.

She made it home fine, throughout the night I could see she was still vomiting but it was just clear liquid. She is holding down her solid food (Zupreem Natural Pellets). This morning she was tired, still eating and drinking, had some semi-solid poops and vomited once. Yet again just clear liquid.

We gave her the meds well over an hour ago and she has been taking a nap on my shoulder the whole time.

I've read things about kidneys bouncing back, the doctor says this may need lifetime treatment of fluids, but there's no way of saying. It basically all depends on how well she responds to meds and fluids. Whether or not she will recover fully, recover only partially, or if I have to look into euthanasia due to poor quality of life.

I'm still worried due to the vomiting and diarrhea, and it's especially difficult to get solid answers on Memorial Day Weekend.

So basically I would appreciate any advice as this is my first time caring for a sick parrot. She is almost 5 years old and has not ever had any issues other than occasional hormone issues and low calcium that was corrected quickly.

My plan is to keep her room warm, around 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Continuously replace her water bowl, replace the newspaper at the bottom to keep track of her diarrhea and vomiting, and let her stay sleeping in her cage. Checking on her every 30 min to an hour. I read that keeping their sleep cycle is still important so I'll be covering her cage at 7PM tonight, even though she is basically sleeping all day.

She is still able to perch and hasn't been falling, she has flown away because she was scared of the liquid medicine, but we were able to get her before she wore herself out.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Prayers from whoever you believe in is appreciated as I'm going to do everything in my power to help Kiwi recover from this and prevent it from ever happening again, even though the cause was unknown.

TL;DR: Advice on how to help a sick parrot recovering kidney disease/infection, what I should do about the vomiting/diarrhea and if it's normal for it to continue until the medicine begins working, and potentially what you end up feeding your parrots that have kidney issues. As once she gets better we are definitely going to change her vegetables and are considering changing pellets.

If anyone has any questions about the medicine she's taking or anything else about her diagnosis, let me know and I'll try to answer as best as possible.

Thank you all so much for reading and I appreciate any and all messages, even if it's just support for her recovery.

 

[April]

Ooh bless her little heart. I'm sorry that your both going through this.
Hopefully once the meds get in her system longer they will help her to feel better and settle her stomach. Sq fluids will definitely help her out a lot with all the liquids she's lost with the vomiting and diarrhea.
I'd try giving her lots of really easy to eat and digest foods let me tag @Pixiebeak @Milo And @Macawnutz for you.
Again so sorry two of you are going through this I'll be thinking all the good thoughts for her.

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

Ooh bless her little heart. I'm sorry that your both going through this.
Hopefully once the meds get in her system longer they will help her to feel better and settle her stomach. Sq fluids will definitely help her out a lot with all the liquids she's lost with the vomiting and diarrhea.
I'd try giving her lots of really easy to eat and digest foods let me tag @Pixiebeak @Milo And @Macawnutz for you.
Again so sorry two of you are going through this I'll be thinking all the good thoughts for her.

Thank you so much. I just feel so bad because all she's doing is sleeping all day. At least it's on a perch and not the floor... But still. Feeling helpless is the worst. But thank you again for wishing her a good recovery!

 

[April]

Thank you so much. I just feel so bad because all she's doing is sleeping all day. At least it's on a perch and not the floor... But still. Feeling helpless is the worst. But thank you again for wishing her a good recovery!

Definitely encouraging that she's strong enough to perch. I know that feeling all to well when my heart dog had heart disease and then went into rental failure because of her heart meds.

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

Definitely encouraging that she's strong enough to perch. I know that feeling all to well when my heart dog had heart disease and then went into rental failure because of her heart meds.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Wish that none of our feathered babies or fur kids had to deal with any of this.

 

[April]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Wish that none of our feathered babies or fur kids had to deal with any of this.

Thank you,it's been 10 years and I still miss her every day. She fought so darn hard but had so much against her.

 

[Macawnutz]

You may need more diagnostic tests to have a larger picture. Keep pushing your vet to save the life and seek second opinions if they have exhausted options. Your vet can collaborate with other vets

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

You may need more diagnostic tests to have a larger picture. Keep pushing your vet to save the life and seek second opinions if they have exhausted options. Your vet can collaborate with other vets

Unfortunately most of the vets were closed today. The best bet is for me to call tomorrow morning right when a lot of them open and get her in for SQ fluids.

She hasn't eaten or drank anything since 2pm today, it's 6pm for me now. All she's been doing is staying on her perch, sleeping, she won't open her eyes. If I try to gently pet her head she kind of peeps at me to leave her alone. I've been checking on her every hour. No more vomiting but she's pooped only 2 times.

My hands are tied as the only emergency vet is the one an hour and a half away, and we already went there. That's where I got the medication. I definitely want a second opinion because they were pretty rude at times and were correcting me saying that she's regurgitating and that birds don't vomit... There is a big difference. So whatever. Hopefully she can hold on until tomorrow for fluids and the uric acid lowering medicine.

 

[Pixiebeak]

I'm sorry your baby is sick .
With uric acid so high, it makes all creatures nauseous.
With WBC high and bands it is most likely bacterial. I don't have an excellent article I once read in how common hidden chronic kidney infection is in in birds. Not that hers is hidden anymore.....but it was surprisingly high number in the articles, and often was liked up on x-ray when a bird was general sick but without specific symptoms.

Yes they can recover, so we are going to to pray yours does!!

I highly suggest getting a radiant heat label called the sweeter Heater as found in Amazon. The smallest size is more than enough. Keeping room warmer is great. But the benefits of a radiant heat panel are better. As advised temps for sick birds is 85-90 ish

I like baby bird formula for sick birds. Made thicker like Greek yogurt thickness. Nice and warm can offer from fingers. I use kaytee brand. If you use a syringe you don't out it in their mouth. You just offer at beak tip a few thick drops at a time. I have them stand with my left hand on their back with thumb and firdt finger on their shoulder. Head free. And offer with my right hand at beak tip. Use a very small syringe a 1 cc ( or tuberculin syringe) or a 3 cc syringe nothing larger for your size bird. For first offer I put one drop on top of beak and wait for them to taste it. Often they like it. Then they might open their beak and I give a a drop I do not force anything in their mouth ever. I do not ever put syringe in mouth. I go slow , I give them 0.1 to 0.2 ml st s time and ket them swallow and ask for more. 1 cc and up to 3 cc in a feeding is enough to support a bird your size who is still eating once to twice a day. Make thick so less chance of choke. Talk to your vet watch videos. Or just offer from fingers or fish if will take on own. Or try mix with her pellets and see if will take.

Your bird might develop secondary yeast infection from antibiotics. Ask vet about probiotics or if needed Nystatin ( antifungal) it's more gentle and would inky be a few drops sbd you could mix in baby bird formula if she takes that.

 

[Pixiebeak]

Keep her eating, baked sweet potato served warm and mashed up is liked by many . A little scrambled egg or boiled egg. She might like her pellets softened in a lit warm water . But keep everything she already eats on offer and then in addition offer the other stuff.
My vet wants such ones eating, even if that's seeds . But follow your vets recommendation. Suck birds burn a lot of calories, up to 5 times their normal calories. So often even eating they loose weights. Offering the burd formula can help with extra calories and is easy to digest sbd full nutrition. So if you can mix it in something that she eats that would be good.

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

I'm sorry your baby is sick .
With uric acid so high, it makes all creatures nauseous.
With WBC high and bands it is most likely bacterial. I don't have an excellent article I once read in how common hidden chronic kidney infection is in in birds. Not that hers is hidden anymore.....but it was surprisingly high number in the articles, and often was liked up on x-ray when a bird was general sick but without specific symptoms.

Yes they can recover, so we are going to to pray yours does!!

I highly suggest getting a radiant heat label called the sweeter Heater as found in Amazon. The smallest size is more than enough. Keeping room warmer is great. But the benefits of a radiant heat panel are better. As advised temps for sick birds is 85-90 ish

I like baby bird formula for sick birds. Made thicker like Greek yogurt thickness. Nice and warm can offer from fingers. I use kaytee brand. If you use a syringe you don't out it in their mouth. You just offer at beak tip a few thick drops at a time. I have them stand with my left hand on their back with thumb and firdt finger on their shoulder. Head free. And offer with my right hand at beak tip. Use a very small syringe a 1 cc ( or tuberculin syringe) or a 3 cc syringe nothing larger for your size bird. For first offer I put one drop on top of beak and wait for them to taste it. Often they like it. Then they might open their beak and I give a a drop I do not force anything in their mouth ever. I do not ever put syringe in mouth. I go slow , I give them 0.1 to 0.2 ml st s time and ket them swallow and ask for more. 1 cc and up to 3 cc in a feeding is enough to support a bird your size who is still eating once to twice a day. Make thick so less chance of choke. Talk to your vet watch videos. Or just offer from fingers or fish if will take on own. Or try mix with her pellets and see if will take.

Your bird might develop secondary yeast infection from antibiotics. Ask vet about probiotics or if needed Nystatin ( antifungal) it's more gentle and would inky be a few drops sbd you could mix in baby bird formula if she takes that.

Thank you so much. It's horrible that this is so common in parrots, it's slightly comforting if anything for me. I really do hope she recovers.

We actually have an oil based heater for her that works insanely well. It was set at 80 but I bumped it up to 85 for her just now as it's her bedtime. We just gave her a second dose of one medication. It almost seems like she's getting worse but better? No vomit all day, she is pooping, but she's not moving at all and has her eyes closed most of the time. Still holding herself up on the perch but not moving around, and only if we set her on it.

We are buying some baby bird food now and it'll arrive tomorrow with everything else. We will definitely try feeding her that because while she did try to eat this morning, she's getting weaker and we will probably have to try and feed her.

I'll bring that up to the vet I speak to tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all this advice, it's especially helpful now that it doesn't seem like she wants to eat on her own and she isn't even fighting the liquid meds anymore.

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

Keep her eating, baked sweet potato served warm and mashed up is liked by many . A little scrambled egg or boiled egg. She might like her pellets softened in a lit warm water . But keep everything she already eats on offer and then in addition offer the other stuff.
My vet wants such ones eating, even if that's seeds . But follow your vets recommendation. Suck birds burn a lot of calories, up to 5 times their normal calories. So often even eating they loose weights. Offering the burd formula can help with extra calories and is easy to digest sbd full nutrition. So if you can mix it in something that she eats that would be good.

I replied to your other post as well. Maybe once she feels a little better we can try more solid foods that she can eat on her own. Like the sweet potato. Right now we will probably have to resort to feeding her the baby food like you reccomended.

 

[Mason and Kiwi]

Hello everyone. I'm so sad to be making this post but Kiwi did not make it. After one of our hourly checks, she was on the bottom of her cage. At 9pm. We held her and she had multiple seizures until she passed away at 9:50pm. Thank you all for your support. I may not check back on here for a while as me and my partner are grieving.

This was all so sudden and I wish there was more I could have done, but it was too far and out of my hands.

Rest in peace my baby Kiwi. I take comfort in knowing you are in a better place now and no longer suffering.

 

[Shezbug]

Oh no, I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[Zara]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[April]

Oh no! Oh gosh I'm so very sorry to hear this you did everything you could for her and she knew how much you loved her. Fly high and free sweet Kiwi.

 

[macawpower58]

I'm so sorry for your loss, I was following along and praying she'd pull through.
You tried so hard.

 

[Tyrion]

So sorry for your loss

 

[zoo mom]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[sunnysmom]

I am very sorry for your loss.