PlantLover
off topic, all about my cockatiel
Sep 27, 2010
Well I'll be 12 months out in a day or two. I haven't been losing much this month, probably going to come in at 5lbs down. I got laid off my job and am having some issues with one of my birds. The rest of this is about my 'tiel..
Parsifal is probably legal to drink all over the USA and Canada. She's lived with me for 18 years now.. She's a 'normal' (hah) gray cockatiel who is very shy with new people, but sweet and cuddly. She won't eat pellets. I've tried multiple times over the years to convert her over.. managed to get my other bird (Mr I have Such an Attitude) eventually, but not her. Probably as a result of her seedy diet she developed a fatty tumour at the end of one wing about 5 years ago. She wound up having half that wing amputated at the local vet collage. (I am very lucky to live near a vet college! They were wonderful, and I suspect they wrote off 3/4 of the bill) She had a terrible time recovering from that surgery, it was a good year before she was back to herself. I call her my three-quarter 'tiel. (So rude) Anyway the tumour has been coming back at the end of her short wing.. 2 months ago I noticed it was getting really large, and she started losing the feathers around/over it. In August she bumped it somehow (tiels tend to freak out at night, that might've been it), and lost a lot of blood. Since then she just can't get a break..her weight's plummeted, she keeps having a bad bleed, starting to recover, then bleeding more.. she's just going downhill fast. I'm trying to feed her really well, lots of veg, but she is probably really vitamin deficient and dehydrated from the (*& bleeding. I put vitamins in her food and water and they've done nothing. She's spending more time sleeping and I worry that she's in pain, though she doesn't seem to be showing it. Still wants to come out of her cage and snuggle, and get her head scritched. She seems to have her usual range of motion, though her balance is terrible.
I know at this point the only real treatment is to amputate the rest of her wing. But..I don't think I want to put her through it. Amputations in birds are dangerous. They would have to go right up at her shoulder which is really dangerous. She's really old and reacts badly to anaesthetic, more danger. She barely made it through the first amputation which was done when she was in much, much better health. She's not in good shape, she's underweight and there's something going on with her digestion, she's not pooping as much as she should be. I'm even worried that the trip to the vet will start her bleeding again, any little bump might do it.
Today I will bring her back to the vet college for a palliative consult. I'm so scared of what they'll tell me. On the one hand I really want her to live-she's my bird buddy!-but on the other is it fair to put her through something like that for unknown gain? She could die during surgery or only live a few months extra. Would she be in pain? She's at the top end of the tiel lifespan already. Best case scenario, she lives a few more years with no pain, great quality of life. Worst case she dies in surgery or lives through it but has a crappy quality of life. It just sucks.
Will update after the appointment
