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Rydia scared me just now. What happened?

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Gilraen

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I don't know what just happened with her. I was using my microwave to cook dinner(a tv dinner sort by morning star farms first time I've gotten one of them and I'd just started to be able to smell the food, I was supposed to cook it for 6 minutes total and she started acting like this, maybe 4 minutes into the second round? I turned it off completely with about 1:30 left?) I put it on for the normal amount of time that it told me to and it was still icy, so I put it on for the same amount of time again. As far as I know it is just the normal plastic tray with food in it. Rydia acted like something startled her, she made her alarm squawk and took off from the top of her play gym where she was sitting and made. . . . 2-3 laps around my room before she landed on my curtain rod. I picked her up and held her while I scritched her and told her she was okay and put her on my desk. When I put her down on my desk she was holding one of her wings up like it was hurt, so I kinda got nervous and tried to see if I could see anything wrong, I didn't think she'd hit anything, but I tried to get her to stand still. She started holding her other wing up and stretched them a few times before she rushed to the top of her gym and started wobbling on it like she was about to fall off of it, still with her wings extended.

I grabbed her carrier and a shirt and ran outside with her thinking I may need to take her to the local emergency vet's office, I know they do dogs and cats only, but figured if there was something massively wrong we could get someone on the line who would know what to do. Within a couple of minutes of being in my truck letting it warm up she was asking to come out so I let her onto my shoulder and a couple of minutes later she was acting fine. We came back in and I opened the windows and turned on the vents in the house in case it was something in the air(something I can't have on for much longer, it's only 17* outside), but even now she's sitting on my shoulder preening and grumbling to me, I've gotten her to bob/dance for me and while we were in my truck she was making kissie noises at me and she pooped once and it looks normal as far as I can tell. I've still got my black work pants on so I couldn't see how much urine was in it, but it was definitely loopy and not diarrhoea, and it was a normal colour for her and had white urates on it.

What could cause something like this? I don't know of anything else I've done differently in here lately besides the new tv dinner, and she's back to normal now, sitting on my head and bright eyed and puffing up for scritches. Is there something else I should watch for with her? Or anything I can do to make sure she's okay? It's almost bed-time and she's up late so I could eat dinner with her, but should I do anything different overnight for her? Or tomorrow while I'm at work?
 

JLcribber

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It could have been something as simple as a shadow that caught her off guard and caused her to "panic". (Not saying that's what it was but something as simple as that. If she perceived it, that's all it takes). Once they have panicked for any reason they will be on "high alert" for a period of time after that and it takes time for them to "come down".

She's going to be fine.
 

Gilraen

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Alright. Thank you. She does seem fine now, but I just freaked because even when she's gotten startled before and flown around the room a time or two he hasn't ever seemed tipsy after. I guess I'll just keep watching her for a bit to make sure she is alright and then both of us will go to bed.
 

allison

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She might have just been tired from the flying. Was she panting when she looked wobbly?
 

Gilraen

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She was a bit, that's why I thought it may be something in the food(and why I had the vents on for 5 minutes or so to try to get any fumes that may have been in the air out.). I'd read before that things like teflon cause breathing problems, but not what kind of breathing problems and neurological symptoms. I figured hyperventilating could be one of them. She is breathing normally now, and hasn't had any problems since, though.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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Sometimes it is downright impossible to determine why a bird panics. They do, afterall, have different senses than we do; they see infra-red, their hearing is more acute and they seem to feel air currents around them cutely. I had a bird react in panic one time I was heating a meal in the microwave; it turned out the escaping steam must have been making a noise I couldn't hear. They are wonderfully mysterious creatures. Isn't that one of the reasons why we keep them?
 

birdlvr466

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Danae you were very proactive in reacting so kudos to you. Maybe something did startle her and that is all it was, just out of breath. However, plastic in microwaves to me is not safe. Even if the mfg. says its ok. I would only microwave in glass.
 

ParrotsforKeeps

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Some startling her is a good guess.

Remember, though, that toxic inhalation pneumonia does not have to kill, and occasionally the symptoms are as minor as just being quieter than usual and not talking, so the only way to diagnose is with an x-ray, etc. I would not be willing to risk the chance she is a more sensitive bird, and that it was something in the plastic. I do not know what toxic inhalation pneumonia feels like, but I do have asthma, and it can cause you to panic in odd ways the first time it happens.

Again, I don't know that the plastic had even released fumes (although I think it unlikely it hadn't just whether it was enough to bother her), but I might avoid that in the future- that small chance is still too high a risk for me! Every bird is different, and some are more sensitive to chemicals than others, just like with people.
 
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