URGENT- Pathology/post mortum

[marie83]

First off my heart is ripped to shreds. I lost my beloved Harlie this within the last 3 hours.
I got home to find her in a weakened state on her cage floor. She gave the teeniest hiss at me when I picked her up to rush her to the vets. I didn't think she would make the journey there but she did. My usual vet wasn't there so they rushed her into the back as soon as I arrived and put her on oxygen before calling me through. She was in such a weakened state we decided it was her time to fly free.

We don't know the cause of her death as there was nothing obvious bar weight loss. I hate to say but I usually weigh them daily or at least twice a week but have let that slide recently and the last update on the chart I keep was about 5 weeks ago so I just hadn't noticed :'(
Now I asked the vet we saw (I wasn't aware my avian vet was away as the phone call saying I was taking her in was basically that, "I'm bringing my cockatiel in as an emergency because she is really sick!") about tests because I have Ollie to consider. She said the my usual vet was away for another week and non of the other vets at the practice would be able to do anything other than a quick assessment.

Post death testing isn't something I have ever done before (its years since I last lost a feathered friend) and I haven't had a problem with any other birds I've kept when doing that. Neither of my two have been anywhere for a long time, nor have we had any new animals of any sort come in to our property. I can't make up my mind what to do, if our vet had been there I wouldn't be questioning myself and would just do the PM to try to get some answers. Do I try to find another vet who can do it- but I can't take her anywhere until Saturday morning or just lay her to rest asap whilst keeping a very close eye on Ollie like the vet suggested. I brought her home with me as it was such a sudden shock I didn't think things through properly. I haven't done anything with her body as yet- I understand freezing could much up the results if we do decide on tests?

Help please, its too late here to ring other vets for advice atm as its emergencies only .

[Wolf]

My book "Clinical Avian Medicine" Says that a necropsy should be performed as soon as possibly following death. If the necropsy can't be performed right away to wet the body with a mixture of liquid detergent and water and refrigerate it. This is good for three days.
If the necropsy can't be performed within three days then freeze the body realizing that the histopathology will be compromised.

I am so sorry to need to pass this type of information on to you. I am sorry for the loss of this member of your family, I wish there were something that I could do to make it easier for you.

[marie83]

Thank you Wolf. Your right there are no words that can help really. Last night she was sat with me cuddled against my neck. This morning she was running the length excitedly when I got up and got stuck into her meal with no hesitation. Her poop has been completely fine. How goes a life go from seemingly healthy to being at deaths door?

May I ask what you would do if it was one of yours in the situation with the vets mentioned above?

[Wolf]

To be honest with you, I don't honestly know. It is actually something that I have not given any thought to and, yet, it is something that I really need to decide on what to do about. It is so hard to think about even now when I am not faced with the need to know what to do in case of this type of event.
I do have several other birds that I have to consider, and I care about them very deeply, but it is not a matter of my wanting to know the cause of death, it is really a matter of protecting all of the rest of them. So In my case I think that I would have to have the necropsy done.
Like you, I don't take my birds any place that they would be exposed to other birds to pick up anything contagious. With that in mind, it is doubtful that it is anything that would be passed from bird to bird. Like Harlie my birds all came to me from abusive situations and there is no way of knowing how much that stress compromised and shortened their lives, although I know that this has occurred. This is me trying to say that I don't need to have the necropsy performed, but to be honest it isn't working, I still feel that good or bad that I would have to know.
I can't get around it, I would have to know, so I would have the necropsy done.

[marie83]

Thanks Wolf. I think having learned all I have over the past few years that I have always thought that I would have it done now. It's something I have thought of unless I was down to a single bird. For me as much as I would like to know why my pets have died it's never been something I've "needed" to know for myself. At the end of the day they have passed and no amount of knowing would bring them back all that said I've learned a lot since I lost my last one and I do have ollie to consider in all this.

The only reason I was unable to follow through my plans really is the unavailability of my vet and that threw me big time. The fact her loss was unexpected and it was kinder to end her suffering on the spot than attempt to treat her made it worse in a way.

Your replies have helped me organise my shredded mind and my plan is to ring round in the morning to see if someone is available to do it on Saturday morning. If not I shall just lay her to rest and pray for the best for Ollie. Of course I shall monitor him really carefully and restart my weighing schedule.

I feel an immense guilt about Harlie, I never used to weigh her because of her lack of tameness. As soon as she would step up reliably I started to weigh her regularly. I should have noticed her loss and would have if I had maintained that schedule but I took my eye off the ball and now I have to live with the fact that even if she could not have been saved I could have at least known she wasn't right and acted accordingly. I tried so hard for her since she came to me but let her down at the end

[FeatherKaeru]

I'm sorry to hear Harlie left you so soon.

[Wolf]

I don't think that you are being fair to your self in this matter. I don't weigh my birds all that often, in fact I have some that I can't weigh. you had no reason to believe that there was an issue and so although you may have missed something ,the weight loss could have been something that only took a day or two to happen. You are judging yourself today with todays knowledge not using yesterdays knowledge to judge yesterdays actions and when we do this we will always come up short. It is like playing Russian Roulette with the gun fully loaded instead of just one round in it.

[marie83]

I'm sorry to hear Harlie left you so soon.

Thank you. I had longer than expected with her really. She was in a real state when she came to me.

[marie83]

Thanks Wolf. I do get what your saying but it got to the stage where she was ok being weighed. There were times in the past where I would never have thought that possible but it was me who didn't make the time to do it for various reasons the past few weeks, not unwillingness on her part. Either way she is gone now and there is nothing I can do about it.

I've moved her cage this morning into the spare room. I haven't cleaned it yet though, I have to face that in a few hours. When I came home earlier there was silence. That was hard.... She used to chirp excitedly and run the length of her favourite perch- back and forth, back and forth, over and over until I went to say hello. The minute she heard the door she would start. She was noisier than most female tiels, noisier than any male I've known actually but sometimes I came in as quietly as I could so she didn't know I was home and she was silent mostly, perhaps the odd chirp but as soon as she could hear me she used to go crazy.
So today there was no greeting from my girl and an empty space between the corner walls and ollies cage. I can't describe it. I had almost forgotten how much it hurts when the loss is fresh.

I'm struggling so much at the moment, it seems worse than the others I have lost somehow. I don't know if it's because it took so much to form a bond with her, for her to trust me, because she gave me her everything over the past couple of years or if it was because it was so unexpected. I've no idea what I'm going to do with all the hours I put in to grow and maintain our relationship. I mean ollie will obviously get more from me now but he is an easy bird by comparison and pretty independent as GC conures go.

[liz]

You didn't see it coming and you can't say should have or would have. Morn your loss but know that she is flying free.