New - Any Suggestions - Stroke?

[SallyChristie]

Hello and Well Met..

I am a member of a tortoise forum and I enrolled there before I needed help, but not so, here...

We have had our Eclectus Female for 18 years.

This has happened before but is happening more often, now.

Molly is a red sided. With us since six months old.

She has been eating what I call bad bad food, blaming my DH. People food. A diet has been advised because she is obese. We keep falling off the diet for two reasons...

Darling Husband likes to feed her whatever he is eating and she knows someone will leave something out and if we aren't looking she can help herself to it.

Bad Humans.

At her last grooming, beak and toes, we were advised to make her search for and work for her food and that food should be Harrisons only until she lost some excess tonnage.

The issue, yes, I want to let you know the diet because I suspect it is the problem.

She has had episodes where one foot and wing didn't work. She has fallen from her perches. But regained use soon after.

These are happening more frequently. To look at her now you might never know she woke up unable to move one side of her body and screached blue murder as she fluttered around on the floor this morning. I think she was frightened.

Now, she is fine.

I suspect these are little strokes.

My daughter has had a lot of experience with critters and came over to do a layperson's exam.

We ground up a baby aspirin in water. We have also spent 48 dollars on a new bag of Harrisons food and my DH is forbidden to give her any people food.

She is a consistent egg layer. She looks good except for the plucked down feathers from a recent egg laying expedition. We wait till the second egg is laid, then remove them.

Has anyone had this experience? Anything you'd like to say after the food lecture I am sure you have on hand?

I am sorry to have joined in distress. I will hang around and be a fairly active member, really.

Sally

[marie83]

Really I would suggest getting her to an avian vet asap. None of this sounds normal at all. It may not be a stroke it may be a nutritional deficiency or something else, theres no point in even guessing about it as her quality of life will just decline even further.

As for her diet I don't know alot about ekkies but I think I read somewhere that they need a more specialised diet (not sure in which way), so giving harrisons may actually be the opposite thing to do, I don't know. I think you need to look into the dietry issue alot deeper tbh. Btw, I do rate Harrisons as one of the better brands of food, I'm just not sure its suited to your species.

[friend2parrots]

welcome to the forum

from what you've written, it does sound like your parrot has suffered a stroke. please take her to the vet immediately.

the constant egg laying may also have medical causes - need to check that out as well immed.

good luck, and i hope all goes well with your birdie let us know how it goes

[SallyChristie]

I am posting from my cell. She is now restricted to Harrisons food. You might never guess she is having these episodes. Today she is climbing and flapping and pulling out all the stops to try to get people food.

I will keep you up to date.
Thanks..
Sally.

[birdvet]

Hi

Please do not give your bird anymore aspirin...it could kill her!

Start a journal where you monitor the frequency of the episodes and be as descriptive as you can about each episode. I would highly recommend getting her to an avian vet reasonably soon so a full workup can be performed. At the very least I would recommend a blood test (biochemistry and CBC) to assess how her internal organs are going and whether there is an infectious process going on which could be causing the neurological signs.

[pionus]

Get her to a certified avian vet ASAP.

ok, here comes that food lecture you expected.

the eclectus needs more fiber, fruits, and vegetables than other birds, and they often have vitamin A deficiencies, so you should offer her dark leafy greens as well as orange foods(ex. sweet potatoes, carrots, apricots, red/orange peppers) also you could try feeding her sprouts.

i am not quite sure on what pellet is the best for an eclectus, but Dr. Harvey's bird food mixes has been recommended for this species. just make sure that the pellet you choose to feed is not colored AT ALL.

the dietary needs of the eclectus MUST BE MET, so make sure you feed her lots and lots of veggies and fruits, especially the ones containing vit. A.

also, do try to stop feeding her human food (the unhealthy kind like junk food and such) because the diet of an eclectus should only consist of 6% fat, 12% for younger more active birds.

I hope this helps, and that your birdie feels better. all the best.

[SallyChristie]

Thanks.

This does help.

It is more difficult for my husband than the bird when it comes to people food.

She has consistently been declared obese at vet visits. My husband and his family think that all creatures need a good ol fat pad.

The bird, Molly, still has these passing episodes but recovers quickly. By the time we warm the car and coat up she is back to normal.

I will work to get the fruits and veggies back into her diet but I will have to sneak them in as it would be seen as an invitation to give her ramen noodles, pizza and hamburger buns...

I am greatly annoyed by her begging squawks that she saves for my DH and if anything ever happens to her I am sure I'd become the primary person of interest. My favorite threat involves taking her blood pressure with my human sized cuff. Come, on, it is just a little hug.

Please understand that I would never squeeze her to death, it is only a threat and if she understood English I would never say it.

Sally "I've come to take your blood pressure reading."

[Grey_Moon]

Hi,

Just a thought, but the nutritionist I'm seeing about Jacko (who has some heart issues) does a lot of work with Ekkies and sick ones at that.

Her name is Machelle Pacion
http://thebestbirdfood.com

She also has two facebook groups.