(no subject)

[pacificpikachu]

My female parrotlet Cally is sick, too. ;____; Whatever it is, it's probably why Zephyr died. I'm so worried! Her symptoms are so vague, too, it's hard to know what to do. She's thin and somewhat weak, and shivering sometimes slightly, but her crop is full so she's been eating... I brought her over to mom's house and I have her in my hospital box, which is a box with a heating pad in it. I hope she can pull through this, it's going to be really sad if I lose her, too. Assuming she pulls through the night, tomorrow I might start her on Clavamox and call my friend who has had a lot of success using homeopathics on wild birds. I might try a vet, too, though we don't have any avian specialists in the area. I'll also probably feed her scrambled egg, which is easy for birds to digest, along with some vitamins and minerals.

I'm accustomed to sick poultry, but this is the first time that I can think of offhand in eighteen years that my tropical birds have gotten sick. I've had injuries and accidents, but little or no illness. I feel terrible because a few days ago, I noticed that the parrotlets' eyes didn't look very bright, but I couldn't catch them easily to check them out, and they seemed fine otherwise (plus, it was their bedtime and they were active as ever). I'm trying to be gentle on myself for this, because hindsight is 20/20, right? Though, now of course I wish I had followed my intuition. I don't see them every day because they live at my dad's house, though.

No matter what happens, I have to try not to beat myself up. I can only do the best I can, with any of my animals. I really hope that Cally can make it through and recover, though.

My dad and mom are both somewhat sick, too, and I feel just a bit off. :/ Well, at least I should have my package to look forward to tomorrow. It seems trivial compared to my sadness about my birds, but you have to take the joy you can find no matter what's happening, right? So, I will have lots of fun opening my package.

Comments

[kyogres.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that so many of your birds are having health problems. Poor Cally. Hopefully she'll pull through. :(

I hear you on hindsight being 20/20. We went through something similar when McKitzey got sick. Maybe we could have saved her had we noticed the signs sooner. Some animals are really good at hiding their illnesses until it's too late. Try not to be too hard on yourself.

You can feed tropical birds scrambled eggs? Huh... I never knew.

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting and offering solace so often. I want you to know that it means a lot to me. ♥ I don't know if Cally's going to pull through... She's really weak, and parrotlets are such tiny birds that being this weak is not a good sign at all. But, I have to accept that, if she doesn't make it, that's just how it goes... It's not my fault, and 'm trying to help her as best as I can.

Yeah, it's so frustrating realizing in hindsight that you noticed something, but we have to remember that at the time we didn't have the context, so it's hard to do much when just noticing some vague possible symptom. Birds are extremely, extremely good at hiding their illnesses (cats, too). I've had wild birds who literally fought and tried to act normal until their very last breath.

Yes, you can. It's easy for them to digest because it's similar to the egg yolk they would have had in their own eggs. When I was watching a cockatoo, he'd get a fried egg every day. He started to love me because I'd make him his fried egg, haha. :D