Emmi got injured :(

[KimberlyAnn]

Omg what a night. We were out late because mother's day. We got home around 10pm and so Emmi was in her big cage. I went to transfer her to her sleep cage. Then she heard my husband open the fridge door...

I know what she was thinking...apples.

She took off and I called my normal warning, "here comes Emmi," and my husband goes, "What?"

She had landed on the fridge door, hanging on with her beak. She was pinched between the small space between the fridge door and the freezer door. She let out a very very small chirp and flew to her cage. We both went to her and could see right away that the very tip of her beak was missing, but no blood. Then I saw between her nostrils, a pink mark and two small feathers that were bent forward.

I will take pictures tomorrow because that was the last thought in my mind and she's sleeping.

She flew to me a few times, she was very frantic with us trying to look at her, but she flew to me and attached herself to my shirt and wiggled into my hand to hide. I felt so bad. She wanted nothing to do with my husband and hid from him in my hand.

Initially, she was perched with closed eyes, licking her beak. I thought...omg...ohno...please let her head be ok. So I started dailing the phone to all the emergency vets that have a bird vet on staff. I got turned away from FIVE! I could not believe it! They told me that they could not see her because they don't do any exotic animals unless their exotic or avian vets were on call.

While this is happening, my husband starts feeding Emmi seeds. I was like...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! But she took one and opened it...then took another. She no longer had closed eyes. She was still licking the tip of her beak.

Then I got a call back from my own vet. She lives an hour away and comes to her office in my area three days a week. I told her what happened and she thought that I could wait until tomorrow since Emmi at this point was flying, landing perfectly, would preform tricks, talk, eat, and was not bleeding. She gave me the number for another vet office that was 24 hours that I had not tried yet, just in case...and gave me the signs to look for. She also warned me about stress and maybe we should not stress her out anymore tonight.

But this was not good enough for me. I'm sorry, I didn't know what was happening INSIDE of Emmi and I didn't want to take any chances. If she was in pain...I wanted to do something about it, not suffer through the night. Maybe this was wrong, maybe this was right...but I'm glad I went in.

The good news is...it cost me NOTHING to get Emmi seen. The BEST news is...she's fine! They took her back to see if they even needed to treat her. They looked inside her mouth and looked thoroughly at her face. The doctor also checked her wings and legs and whole body. They concluded that nothing needed to be done...no xrays, no antibiotics since there was no open wound and her little pink spot on her nose showed very little trama. We had the option of seeing the doctor and getting pain meds, but they said they advised against it. She was asking for scratches on her nose and around her beak (normal for her) and so they concluded that she was not in any pain if she wanted her beak rubbed so much and so hard. And they let us go home...for free. Amazing. I still can't believe they took no money from us! I was ready to pay. But I am so grateful.

When we got home, she was normal, but tired. She still wanted scratches and tried to grind down the broken part of her beak on my hand...ouch. She begged for seeds and treats. She flew to the lamp and hung from her beak, dangling her legs for a min or two...this is also normal for her. So I put her to bed. I will be taking her in to see her normal vet tomorrow, but I think we are ok. I just want a second opinion.

I feel so bad for my husband too. He is so upset with himself. I told him things happen and we were both tired. He's so careful normally and he needs to remember that. Emmi will forgive him tomorrow. She just needs time. She still flew to me for safety when we got home, when he asked her to step up. It won't be forever. She does love and trust him.

So be careful of those doors everyone! You can't be too careful!

[Pajarita]

Phew, close call but thankfully, no harm done. And no, you can never be too careful. But even when you are super careful, things happen. And that's how you learn what works and what doesn't. Now you know about the fridge.

I suggest that, next time you go out at night, you leave her ready for the night, that's what I do on the few occasions I am not going to be here for their usual dinner and nite-nite time. They are always a bit 'off' when it's night and you wake them up. Not disoriented or anything like that but just a bit 'off' in their reactions and/or calculations of distance... the tiniest bit clumsy, if you will. It doesn't last but still, I much rather give them dinner early.

[KimberlyAnn]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. We had left at 3 so it was still light. Too light for bed. Maybe next time I will just leave her in her big cage for the night.

Sorry the picture is so bad, but I got it edited enough that you can see the pink spot. It's not very visible when you look at her. And she's doing really good this morning! Eating and everything else.


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[Wolf]

I read your post early this morning, about 4 am, but am never at my best when I first wake up. Still a bit groggy, so I didn't reply at the time. But I am happy that she seems to be fine. Are you still going to take her back to the vet or what?
That is surprising that they didn't charge you for the visit this morning, but with the prices of things I am sure that it was very appreciated. I could see the pink spot on her, but could not see anything about her beak. Still, if you take her in let me know what the vet has to say.
Thanks for sharing with us.

[cml]

So glad Emmi is okay KimberlyAnn!
I cant see the beak either, but seeing Emmi is acting okay I hope and think everything is fine long term!

[Harpmaker]

I'm glad Emmi seems to be OK, too. I always enjoy your stories about her. She's a ray of sunshine to more people than you know.

[KimberlyAnn]

Ok guys, now remember...this was super serious!







Ok I admit, she didn't lose a lot of the tip of her beak. But I did find dried blood this morning! I'm positive you have all seen worse lol

I could also tell she was a little bit sore and would not eat hard food anymore. No big surprise there. You always hurt more the next day! I had to wait until 9 my time for the doctor to call me back. I could not get an apt until 4 so I took an hour off work to take her then. The vet removed some chipped pieces of her beak, did a full exam and sent me home with metacam. She's getting .05cc every 12 hours. She's even more into eating now since she had the pain meds and she is currently preening in the setting sun. But she is very healthy. I'm so glad.

And yes! Can you believe that?! We got her seen for FREE last night! It was like...we can't do anything for you, but you can stay and pay if you'd like. Lol Although I wish I had got the meds even if it would have cost me a lot. Seeing her in pain this morning was a learning experience. At least she was not in a LOT of pain and she feels good now.

[KimberlyAnn]

Also...Emmi got these get well cards from the schoolaged children that go to afterschool care at the preschool I teach at.



What a nice surprise when I got back from the vet today!

[Wolf]

I am glad that all is having a happy ending and that she is fine. Thanks for sharing with us.

[KimberlyAnn]

Me too! My husband came home just before I put her to bed and she eyed him like he was going to kill her. He went to her perch and asked her to step up and she leaned waaaay far the other way. Then he went to get a blueberry and skinned it for her...then just like that, best friends again. I let her stay up an extra half hour to be with him. I guess he's forgiven! Now he just needs to forgive himself. That will come.

In a way, I'm kinda thankful for the lessons learned. I have a list of vets to call in case of an emergency and a general direction (towards most of them) to drive while calling those numbers, just in case we have a life threatening emergency. It was so hard finding a vet that would actually see her. And thinking back, the emergency vet I went to, I don't think they truly understood how birds mask how they are feeling and I got talked out of my worries because of that...even when I brought it up. I will definitely pay to take the pain meds with me next time. Just in case.

Also, Emmi's pain meds go bad in 2015. If she does not take all of them, is it something we can keep on hand? I'm nervous about this because I don't want to introduce bacteria into it when I'm opening and closing the bottle. It's a see through bottle too. How stable is metacam?

Also, another thing I learned is that I'm thankful I took the advice here and got Emmi used to eating out of a medicine dropper. She took her meds willingly without a fight. Same with toweling her. I got her used to toweling so we had no problems while at the vet. I was able to towel her and hand her over. All good things to train your bird before an accident happens.