advice needed for injured cockatiel

mm · Guest

On Monday our beloved cockatiel got up on top of a door when I was
closing it. I am not sure whether he just got whacked or whether his
head actually got pinched by the door, but he fell on the floor upside
down, wings flapping.

We scooped him up and took him to the (avian) vet. The vet gave him a
shot of pednisone (anti-inflamatory steroid), wrapped him rather
tightly in a paper towel (to keep him from trying to flap his wings)
and put him in an incubator for about 24 hours, with ocasional fluids
and kaytee exact in a syringe.

The next day, they told us that that they couldn't do anything for him
that we couldn't do so we got him set up at home in a small fishtank
with towels, a fishtank airexchanger and humidifier and a heating pad.
(We have a thermostat/hydrogymeter inside that reads between 75-80 F
and between 35-40% humidity. We have him in that, with the same paper
towel wrap and the vet gave us some prednisone in liquid form which we
give him twice a day.

He has no apparent broken bones. His feet, legs and wings are all
working. His balance is off though, pretty seriously. He seems ok if
he is laid on his left side in the fishtank or while being held, which
seems to relax him. His chewing instinct is still good as he works on
the papertowel and we've put some straw toys in there for him to chew
on. He also has a bit of a shiner on his right eye which got puffier
today. The eyes seem to be functioning all right, they track with
eachother (as much as they ever did) and he blinks normally.

Feeding him is a bit of a struggle as he doesn't like the syringe.
We've been trying to get him to eat 2ccs of exact 3 times a day. Also
he'll take a little bit of petamine and millet from the hand. When
presented with food, he sometimes reacts enthusiastically but then
doesn't seem to actually eat that much.

Another problem we have is the "birdie burrito." He doesn't like being
wrapped up in a paper towel and tries (and often succeeds) in wiggling
out. Not only is he not restrained, which is bad, but he spends his
limited energies on getting out and sometimes ends up on his back or in
some other uncomfortable position, exhausted.

I know there are wildlife rehabbers and people who've had experience
nursing sick birds on this list. If any of you can share your
experience/knowlege, I'd be much obliged.

mm · Guest

Thanks for the suggestion. I posted in the expert forum.
Steven L Umbach wrote:

toucanldy@aol.com · Guest

toucanldy@aol.com · Guest

Guest

"Steven L Umbach" <n9rou@n0-spam-for-me-comcast.net.NOSPLAM> wrote:

mm · Guest

Thanks for all your help. I'm sorry to report that our little buddy
died yesterday. I think one of the reasons he seemed better at first
was because he was in such good health but as time wore on, he wasn't
able to breath properly or eat, despite our best efforts to make him
comfortable. I think he had a spinal or neck injury, that was too
severe. He didn't seem to be in pain, just debilitated. Hopefully this
thread will help someone else.