HELP something wrong with my lovebird!!!!!

[maya_margarita]

Her feet were curled up, she wouldn't respond when I touched them, she was alert and blinking but can't move at all. She tried to get up when I took her out and her body went straight and stiff and she started shaking, I thought she was dying but I quickly wrapped her in a towel and her body relaxed. Now she's laying on my shirt, all of a sudden as I'm writing this she stretched out her wings and her eyes are closed but her head is shaking quickly back and forth. What could have happened??? She's about a month old and a peach faced lovebird. She's a little wild in her cage, always moving about so I thought maybe she could gave fallen and maybe it's something with her spine.
There are no emergency clinics that will take birds anywhere in my area or close. Help PLEASE I can't lose another bird that's so close to my heart

[linda040899]

You say she's about a month old. Is she weaned or supposed to be weaned? Without more information, it sounds like this is an unweaned baby that's starving to death. Based on that, you need to get some formula and hand feed her.

Do you have any photos you can share with us?

[StormyMom]

Wait shes only a month old? Has she been eating? Sounds like she could be starving??? Try getting some formula in her, and keep her WARM!! Are they even supposed to be in a cage at a month?? Mine are a month and they dont even have all their feathers yet! Theyre still in brooder :omg:

[maya_margarita]

I'm sorry... I must have misheard... She's older than a month, the store weaned her and gave her to me... I've had her home for about 4 days, she was perfectly fine, I even taught her to fly to me. She just passed away. I called an emergency clinic in a different state because there is no emergency avian vet anywhere near where I live.. He told me to give her some Gatorade and keep her warm, i did so and she drank some of it but ended up having a seizure and passed....I don't understand at all what happened. This morning, I had her out all day with me, watching tv and while I got ready for work she was with me the whole time, I really don't get it.

[maya_margarita]

She was eating fine, too. I changed her water more than once daily because shed get her food all in the bowl. I cleaned everything well before putting her in her cage when I first brought her home

[maya_margarita]

And no, I don't have any photos except for the ones I took this morning, when she was fine. Everything was so fast, I had to run to the store to get the Gatorade and brought her wrapped up in the towel to keep an eye, and she seemed to be doing better at that time, until I got back home and she had that last seizure...

[linda040899]

From your description of what just happened, I think she was younger than you thought or were told and, while she appeared to be eating, it probably wasn't enough to keep her alive. Piecing together what you wrote, she died from starvation because she was sold too quickly after she was weaned. 4 days is about the right time frame, too.

[maya_margarita]

That makes sense.... I was up at the store daily during the time they were weaning her and the lady knew how excited I was... she did tell me she was weaned and pretty much two days later I had her home

I wish I would have known:( thank you for your help

[linda040899]

I absolutely hate it when pet shops do things like this. It's not as uncommon as you might think. Bottom line concern is money, not the welfare of the baby. The quicker the baby is sold, the better the profit.

I would call the pet shop and let them know what happened. 4 days is a very short period of time and they may offer you another lovebird for your loss. If that happens, ask how old the bird is and if it's a baby, how long it's been eating on its own. Less than 2 weeks and the same thing could happen again unless you are prepared to supplement hand feed.

I'm very sorry for your loss. Wish you had posted something sooner.

[CompassionAk]

I hate to ask this ,but is there any chance you used a non stick pan to cook anything and it overheated? I'm curious if it might be something environmental?

[StormyMom]

I would definitely bring the body back to the petstore. 4 days is just not right. I agree with Linda, it sounds to me like he starved to death. Poor baby =( Im so sorry for ur loss

[shadnamber]

oh NO! stinking dishonest petstore...:very_sad: what a terrible thing to happen.

[Leahzebelle]

The same thing happened to my first lovey, i rushed him to the vet and he ended up not making it. I had him for barely 3 days. You should never handle them or take them places unnecessarily when they're ill like that, their little bodies shut down even more. Straight to the avian vet and that's all!

[linda040899]

This is actually a lot more common than many of would like to believe! It distresses me because by the time the question gets asked here, the baby is in crisis and many don't make it. Shame on pet shops and breeders who sell babies this quickly after they have been weaned. Stress from a major change in their lives can cause them to revert to needing to be hand fed and if that need isn't recognized, the baby usually dies from starvation.

[personatus]

That's sad, sorry for your loss.

I personally feel a few things could be overlooked here whilst the petstore is getting the blame for selling an unweaned bird. Without a doubt it could be because the bird was too young, but it could of been many other things aswell?

The bird was apparently eating and drinking and even flying to her. Would a bird on the brink of starvation have the energy to fly around? I can't imagine a starving bird would appear fine and active, then suddenly break into seizures and die just like that?

Maybe the bird did break it's spine or neck, or maybe a stroke/heartattack or something? Could of been toxicity poisoning from something that was overlooked, pans...fumes...metals...etc? The OP also said he/she "can't lose another bird...." giving the impression another bird has also died. Might be totally unrelated but maybe it isn't, and it's an environmental factor that needs addressing.

I think you need to look into this more, incase the same thing happens again, should you get another bird.

[DallyTsuka]

im so sorry to hear of your loss :(


the fumes is a particularly important question to answer... non stick pans will kill birds. for future reference if you dont know, chuck the non stick and get stainless steel (if you dont know whats non stick, if its a BLACK pan, or COLOURED painted pan, chuck it.)

personatus is right, i think something else is going on. the seizure is suspicious.

[linda040899]

The bird was apparently eating and drinking and even flying to her. Would a bird on the brink of starvation have the energy to fly around? I can't imagine a starving bird would appear fine and active, then suddenly break into seizures and die just like that?
From the OP's original description, she had the lovebird for 4 days and it seemed fine until day 4. While the baby may have appeared to be eating and drinking, question becomes was it enough to keep it alive? For roughly 48-72 hrs, yes, even starving birds have energy to fly around, although that ability becomes diminished after about 48 hrs. As they die, many birds will have one final seizure as the body shuts down.

I'm not saying that starvation is the final cause but it sure seems to be the most likely one. Weaned babies that revert back to wanting to be hand fed usually last about 4 days with diminished food intake. There could be other causes but we will never know without a necropsy.

[Jally]

Unfortunately, it does sound like the baby starved. I see this all the time with my local bird lady/breeder/store/drop-off-place :( I had just lost a lovebird that had a lot of serious medical issues and went to this store for something, I forget what now, and there were adorable babies in a tank. Who can resist baby lovies? Not me!!!! She had an orange faced that I fell in love with but was only 4 weeks old and I was not confident enough to feed him. But, the next time I visited the baby, he was mysteriously weaned! At 4 weeks?! However, she gave me a crash course in handfeeding and gave me the baby to take home that day. She said that he might require a night time feeding. He required a lot more than just a night time feeding!!

After being home for about 2 weeks, he started vomitting and had a fever. I took him down to the breeder, my avian vet was out for a conference, and she thought maybe he had a yeast infection so we started him on nyastatin and antibiotics.

In hindsight, since she was all about getting that $100 for that baby, I should have paid her the full amount, but insisted that she keep the baby with her until he was completely weaned, for real. And visited with him as much as possible.

The baby is just fine now. He is a little holy terror at 11 months old! :omg: :rotfl

[bird-brain]

Oh wow, so sad to hear this. I wish the OP had weighed the baby postmortem. That may not have made starvation a definitive answer but could possibly have ruled it out. I know that many pet stores DO sell birds too early. But I also know that lead and zinc hide in strange places too. And the whole month old thing has me baffled. I am just very sorry for the loss of this little one. Fly high!