I’ve been dealing with a sick parrot today. When I went to get her out of her cage, she was just laying there on the bottom. She’s been sitting down there a lot, ever since laying her first eggs a month or so ago. Today, though, she didn’t get up, and it became immediately clear that something is wrong with her legs—they are mostly paralyzed and one of them developed a swelling as the day went on.
I”m so worried about her. I don’t know if she’s egg bound or if something else is going on. But now I know why she was so unnaturally quiet earlier this week—she wasn’t feeling good! Poor thing. So I’ve been towelling her and cradling her a lot, and then also letting her sleep in a small cat carrier lined with blankets and heated with one of those bean neck thingies (we don’t have a hot water bottle or heating pad, later, I’ll need to heat that up for her again). Apparently, it’s very important to keep her warm as it takes so much energy to maintain body temperature. I had to move her into the carrier because even though I put cardboard and towels down for her on the bottom of her cage, she kept crawling off them and I found her laying there, both feet just dangling through the cage floor. At least now I can keep her upstairs in the bathroom and check on her frequently. Weird thing is, she seems fairly alert, and took food out of a dropper that I offered her a few different times. She even nibbled a bit of walnut, one of her favorite foods.
My vet wasn’t in today (the one that is good with birds), but we have an appointment for early tomorrow morning, so hopefully she’ll hold on until then.
Beezelbarb 