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Possible mass on lovebird’s lower abdomen?

Amber2018

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09520B94-88BC-426F-BEDB-D87C05663DED.jpeg Hi! I’m new to forums, so I’m not sure if I’m doing this right, but I’m concerned about my female lovebird...I can post a picture, but it was very hard to get a good one. Her abdomen seems to be slightly enlarged...it looks like she has a lump above her cloaca...

A few months ago, I took her to the vet because she was weak and I thought she might be egg bound or something related. She has no mate, so her eggs are infertile. The vet felt her abdomen and thought she had an egg. He recommended Lupron to prevent her from laying any eggs. It helped, however she was still nesting constantly at the bottom of her cage. She stopped nesting now since I moved her to another room and keep her in the dark for longer hours. I’ve had her for 9 years, since she was a baby, and egg laying has never been a problem. I think her poops are kind of smaller than normal and I’ve got her regurgitating at times. There were a few times where I thought she was struggling to poop, but then I noticed fresh ones so thought she was fine. Otherwise she’s behaving completely normal. She just stopped the Lupron. I wish there was a way for me to tell if this possible lump is related to her nesting/egg laying or something else. I’ve spent so much money on my birds in the past couple months, more than I have in the entire time I’ve had them. Things just keep popping up, and I haven’t changed anything. Sometimes it’s nothing the money I spent only offered me peace of mind. It doesn’t help that I worry all the time.
Anyway, even though I’m worried about my Lovebird, Petey, I also don’t want to jump to worst case scenario. Maybe she’s still nesting? She preens herself often when I come near the cage. Does tricks for me (perch flips, head bobbing). Her nesting is extra intense this year compared to others years, where it was no problem. Has anyone here had any similar experiences?
 

nu2birds

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Was the vet you took her to an Avian vet? It just sounds to me like she needs another opinion and maybe an x-ray since the lump is still there and you still feel there are issues with defecating. I have two boys so I don't have any experience with females and egg issues.
 

Amber2018

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He is an avian vet. I took her back to him, he ended up doing an X-ray and determined she is definitely egg bound. He was able to manually push out some of the decalcified egg using KY jelly applied in her cloaca, but stopped at some point over risk of harming her further. But I think he pushed it enough that it was lower down her abdomen, closer to the cloaca opening and easier for her to push out. When I got home today, I noticed a large poop on the floor of her cage and a white, chalky substance (the egg). If she was still not able to push it out, a surgical procedure would be the only other option, since being egg bound can be fatal. Fortunately, I don’t think she will need any further intervention. I also read online that the most common cause for eggs becoming bound is lack of vitamins and calcium, so I purchased a vitamin supplement to put in her water and will increase the amount of pellets in her food. Hopefully this won’t happen again
 

sunnysmom

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I hope she will be okay.
 

Birdbabe

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Hope shes ok, get some liquid calcium from your vet and add it to her water, also cuttlebone .
 

iamwhoiam

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Great that you got her to the vet and he was able to push out some of the egg and that the rest came out on its own.
Hope it doesn't happen again.
 
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