Pictures Titan Won!

[riddick07]

I have officially won the war of who has the best macaw between my Titan & mothers Max. My mothers (@Jenphilly) bird Max had his needed surgery & Titan went in as blood donor for precautionary measures. Turns out Max needed all the blood donated by Titan to survive the surgery. Officially Titan saved Max’s life & I have the best macaw


Here he is kidnapped for his blood.

In jail for the night since his mother wouldn’t drive to Philly just to pick him up He did spend the whole next day hanging out with everyone in the office & showing off

Hanging out last week!

 

[Kassiani]

I’m glad Max’s surgery went well, and I’m happy to hear that Titan was such a good, brave boy!

 

[April]

So happy to hear the surgery went well! I was wondering if I had missed an update somewhere. Good boy Titan donating all that much needed blood!

 

[Nikomania]

Such great news!

 

[SumitaSinh]

That's really great!! Please enlighten me, how the blood donation process occurs in birds? I mean, what are the blood groups and compatibility? Is it species specific or is there any other criteria?

 

[riddick07]

That's really great!! Please enlighten me, how the blood donation process occurs in birds? I mean, what are the blood groups and compatibility? Is it species specific or is there any other criteria?

From what I understand is that there isn’t blood groups like in people. Any avian blood would work but the farther from the species the less effective it is & harder on the bird. So any macaw would have worked well but both being blue & gold macaw is the most effective. However, something like chicken blood would work once too. Which is what she would have had on hand if no donor was found. The amount of blood Max needed & the fact he was still in critical blood loss even after getting all of Titans donation I’m not sure how effective another species would have been for him. He hemorrhaged a crap ton because of what she found wrong once he was open & blood vessel being attached to what she had to remove. From my understanding other species only work once too but I’m not sure how long between they could go or if it is just once in a lifetime. I didn’t ask all the questions about specifics like that one.

The testing that had to be done was just to make sure Titan was healthy enough to donate & that there weren’t any health issues that could cause problems thru the blood to Max.

 

[Jenphilly]

Total bullcrap.... the best bird will be written about in avian medical journals and presented at symposiums.... that 100% sounds like Miracle Max!!!

I will write up an update, just told Sarah I needed to share the crazy outcome
!!

 

[SumitaSinh]

Both Max and Titan are miracle birds

 

[Shezbug]

Oh thank goodness for this update!
I’ve been worried sick about how Max was doing after surgery, I am so happy to hear both birds are ok.
Titan is a wonder bird!!

 

[SumitaSinh]

How is Max doing? Hope both of them are ok

 

[Tyrion]

So glad things went well

 

[Sparkles99]

So glad they both pulled through!

This is fascinating. By a different species once, does that mean that it could be a different species of macaw one time, then a chicken, then a duck, etc.? Or can they just accept a different species once & it doesn’t matter which one?

 

[Jenphilly]

So glad they both pulled through!

This is fascinating. By a different species once, does that mean that it could be a different species of macaw one time, then a chicken, then a duck, etc.? Or can they just accept a different species once & it doesn’t matter which one?

I'll share what my brain retained from the chat with Dr Tyson presurgery ... this might be generalized a bit, but the essential info should be accurate! I can't promise my brain is firing on all cylinders, I'm friggin exhausted!

Dr Tyson usually has chicken blood on hand for parrot surgeries. Parrots can have blood from a 'foreign' species such as chicken once - and my understanding is that's a once in lifetime transfusion. Similar species is safe, such as any macaw or closely related parrot species. But matching genotype blood such as B&G to B&G is the most effective and best received. So say Max needs another blood transfusion in 6 months, he can receive chicken blood once. But he can receive macaw blood as often as needed (he won't, just hypothetical scenario).

Dr Tyson is the Avian Specialist for the raptor preserve, Hawk Mountain, here in PA. Same thing across all avian species, they've used chicken blood for owls, vultures and hawks! It's really quite fascinating, I couldn't help but compare to a human receiving blood from an ape, which was interesting to read about!

 

[SumitaSinh]

Absolutely right. If you transfuse blood from another species, it'll work once only because the body will develop antibody against those blood cells. So, in case of another out of species transfusion, the blood cells will be destroyed by those antibodies. But in case of same species, the chance of this incompatibility is much less.

 

[BrianB]

One of the green wings at the store donated blood to save the life of another green wing. I call him the bird red chicken, and even with all of his attitude, he's an amazing bird.