Humphrey Bogart African Grey Congo

[bogebrd]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I have an imported African Grey Parrot I believe is approximately 27 years old. I bought him from a personal party in 1989 who bought him from a pet store the day he arrived 7 months prior to my ownership. He never had any health issues until 2011 when he started having seizures. I took him to the University of Wisconsin Teaching Veterinary hospital in Madison. He did not respond to anti seizure medication so it was discontinued and the seizures have persisted approximately two weeks apart and those are the ones I have witnessed. May 8, 2014 he experienced weakness, loss of strong speech and whistle and tucked his head under his wing with his eyes closed. He was off balance and quiet. Again I took him to Dr. Mans at the UW veterinary hospital in Madison, WI where he spent 6 days under Dr. Mans care. Testing revealed hypertension and his heart wasn't functioning properly. Dr. Mans treated him with Enalapril oral suspension and Amlodipine oral suspension in the hospital. He improved for a couple of days then regressed but not to a worse state than what he had arrived at. On the sixth day I went to pick him up and when ask if he wanted to go home he said yeahhhhh. I had never heard him say that before. He simply did not answer the doctor when he ask him if he wanted to stay. He steadily improved for almost a week then had a poor day. Quiet, not much of an appetite. Droppings are normal. He seems to have good days and somewhat quieter ones. He came home on Pimobenday in fixed oil suspension 0.25 ml twice daily and Isoxsuprine 20mg 1/4 tab crushed in water and the other two meds are on hold until further notice. He doesn't appear to have his complete balance and is less strong to play as he had before. Has anyone experienced this before and what is the oldest African Grey Parrot anyone has owned or known?

How do I follow this forum. I am afraid once I log out I won't find my way back to see anyone's responses. Would someone please email me just in case I am lost? Signed forum challenged in Marion, WI Kim Anderson

[Pajarita]

I read of a wild-caught bought at Harrows, London which lived with the same family (passed from one generation to another) for 86 years. It was a female and she laid for the first time at 44 years of age. They say she could make the sounds of the bombs dropped in London during WWII but all this is anecdotal evidence as there were no records to support it. I also read a few months ago of a 56 year old grey that died in England (also a wild-caught -they are much, much healthier than captive bred). 27 is actually very young for a parrot that size...

The Isoxsuprine gives them nausea (lack of appetite) and makes them dizzy (lack of energy). Your vet must be using it to reduce the high blood pressure... It was used on horses, mostly, but it has fallen into disuse because most vets say it's ineffective. The pimobendan is Vetmedin, a very common medicine given to dogs for congestive heart problems but they always take a diuretic with it because it tends to make them accumulate fluid in the lungs, only you can't give a bird a diuretic. There was a lady who posted that her amazon had been prescribed this medicine and he had died 2 months after from fluid in the lungs. She was quite upset with the vet...

Was he given an ionized calcium test when he first came down with the seizures? Did his blood work (CBC, chem panel, bile acids) came back normal?

I'll be honest with you, if I had a parrot with a heart condition and high blood pressure, I would treat with alternative medicine and supplements and not the traditional.

I don't know how to direct you to do anything with the forum because I am quasi technology impaired but there is a little box you can check at the bottom that says: notify me when there is a reply and, if you check it, you will get an email with a link.

[bogebrd]

thank you I appreciate your info and it would be nice to keep in touch. Kim

[Wolf]

are you using Microsoft Explorer to get on the internet?

Edit : I just looked and got your PM so disregard my question because you already have the information I was going to write.

[Harpmaker]

Poor bird! Amlodipine is one of the meds I take for hypertension. I didn't know they give it to birds!

[Lesley Krol]

All things being even and what with the world the way it is and possibly being slightly naïve, I think your Humphrey is lucky to have found you