- Joined
- 12/16/13
- Messages
- 4
- Real Name
- Kaitlyn
Hi there,
My 11 year old cockatiel Nugget has fallen ill. He was fine and then all of the sudden became significantly lethargic and lost weight. We rushed him to the animal hospital where he stayed in the ICU for 2 nights getting supportive care. They weren't able to do much for him other than broad spectrum antibiotics, oxygen and syringe feeds. He remained "static" for those 2 days - not any better but not much worse. They suspect it's atherosclerosis and the little guy just ran out of the ability to compensate (he is a runt so is especially small). I made the decision to bring him home and set up a little home bird ICU. I hand raised birds and am an ICU nurse so I figured he could be at home where he's comfortable and we'll do our best to get him back. IF he was headed to the end of his journey, I didn't want his last days to be in a scary hospital. He's my baby and has never been away from me longer than a few days so here we are.
I have a heated tank (90 degrees per the vet), oxygen concentrator (24/7 for respiratory support at 3L/min), 4 different meds (3 antibiotics and 1 med for the heart that are every 12 hours) and baby food being administered with the 1cc syringe. I've been trying to do feeds of 1.5 mL every 4 hours during the day to try to support him but he's so weak and so small. He's lost so much weight that I'm just trying to stabilize him at this point. I offer him fresh food and water but he doesn't have any interest.
He HATES the syringe feeds and I'm worried about him aspirating. Im syringe feeding from his left side and pointing towards the right towards the crop. Anyone have any advice for me? Especially with feeds. He was never this hard to feed as a chick and I just don't want him exhausting himself every time. He's just so skinny and pale and lethargic that my heart is absolutely breaking for him.
SOS. Bird mom trying everything for her feather baby over here. Anything else I can do?
My 11 year old cockatiel Nugget has fallen ill. He was fine and then all of the sudden became significantly lethargic and lost weight. We rushed him to the animal hospital where he stayed in the ICU for 2 nights getting supportive care. They weren't able to do much for him other than broad spectrum antibiotics, oxygen and syringe feeds. He remained "static" for those 2 days - not any better but not much worse. They suspect it's atherosclerosis and the little guy just ran out of the ability to compensate (he is a runt so is especially small). I made the decision to bring him home and set up a little home bird ICU. I hand raised birds and am an ICU nurse so I figured he could be at home where he's comfortable and we'll do our best to get him back. IF he was headed to the end of his journey, I didn't want his last days to be in a scary hospital. He's my baby and has never been away from me longer than a few days so here we are.
I have a heated tank (90 degrees per the vet), oxygen concentrator (24/7 for respiratory support at 3L/min), 4 different meds (3 antibiotics and 1 med for the heart that are every 12 hours) and baby food being administered with the 1cc syringe. I've been trying to do feeds of 1.5 mL every 4 hours during the day to try to support him but he's so weak and so small. He's lost so much weight that I'm just trying to stabilize him at this point. I offer him fresh food and water but he doesn't have any interest.
He HATES the syringe feeds and I'm worried about him aspirating. Im syringe feeding from his left side and pointing towards the right towards the crop. Anyone have any advice for me? Especially with feeds. He was never this hard to feed as a chick and I just don't want him exhausting himself every time. He's just so skinny and pale and lethargic that my heart is absolutely breaking for him.
SOS. Bird mom trying everything for her feather baby over here. Anything else I can do?
