Hello from San Francisco!

[Teri]

Hi! I'm Teri and I'm new to the board. I live with my blue fronted amazon, Percy (male) and Knucklehead (female), the blue and gold macaw as well as two cats and one husband.
I've had my little Percy for 20 years (I got him when he was 6 mos. old) and he's currently getting over a nearly fatal case of fatty liver. We jokingly refer to him as the million dollar bird (well, half jokingly). Knucklehead is just that, but very healthy. She's 10 and I've also had her since she was 6 mos.
I'm glad to find this place and hope to get to know you all soon.

[Chariclo]

Hi Teri! Welcome to BB! Glad you found us!
Just curious how you are handling that liver situation - care to share?
I have an old zon too - 36 yr old Salvin's Red Lored, but I only recently acquired him. Can't wait to hear more about your 20 years with yours.

[Spinnergirl]

Glad to see you landed here at Birdboard. You certainly will find it interesting here, lots of posts and pictures and there is a lot of people with BIG birds on this board also.

You're a keeper as they say...having owned the same birds that long is admirable to me. Send some pictures so we can see the BIG guys.

Again welcome...........

[Monica]

Home of the wild flock of parrots at Telegraph Hill! Welcome to Bird Board! You'll enjoy it here, I'm sure as we are a lively bunch of people!

[Regina U.]

Welcome Teri!

Glad you joined us. Sorry to hear about your recent troubles. I too would be interested in hearing how you handled it, if that is ok with you?


Regina

[kensbuns]

Welcome Terri
I would love to hear more about the Fatty Liver and the treatment. I have a 22 year old male overweight amazon.

[Teri]

Here's my tale of woe. Last year, around April, I was playing with Percy like normal, turned him upside down and he started breathing funny. I immediately called the vet and scheduled him for his annual (he was due anyway). All she did was turn him over and feel his abdomen and you should have seen her face. His liver was so big it was obstructing his air sacs. She said that she had never seen a bird with that advanced a case pull through, but she wanted to try. I cried all the way home.
Percy weighed in at 595 grams and had a cholesterol of 1725. Normal is around 225. He was also hyperthyridic. First, NOTHING BUT PELLETS AND FRUITS AND VEGGIES. No more dairy (which meant no more of the beloved pizza), no nuts - not even his nutriberry treats, no carbs - pasta, white bread, etc. NOTHING. I switched him from Lafaber's to Harrisons pellets which was really not trouble, but I can tell you - as any owner of a food motivated amazon knows - he was none too happy about that diet. He also had to excercise (I made him follow me down the hall into the kitchen - that was easy!)
Honestly, we've tried so many things with him over the last year, all I really remember are the things that worked, so here's the deal:
She put him on hyper thyroid medicine first, and after several months, we got that dose right. His weight was now down to 510 - he had lost 2 parakeets! We were in for blood tests about every 3 weeks, but his bile acids were still too high. Did an ultrasound with a specialist flown in from Chicago (don't ask how much THAT cost me) and couldn't really tell what was happening. The last resort was a liver biopsy, which we did about 3 months ago. He still has fatty liver, and has a lot of scar tissue, but still has over 50% viable liver, so it's not fatal. He is now on hyper thyroid medicine (Soloxine) 3 times a week, and a gout medication twice a day and is right now finishing up a series of vybramiacin shots to see if that helps. two more shots and more blood work before we know the outcome of that. His cholesterol is down to 500 - still high, but not over a thousand points high! His bile acids are the lowest they've ever been and he has maintained his svelte figure for months. (Maybe I should start eating Harrison's!) Oh, and in the middle of all this he developed a heart murmer, which I am now giving him flax seed oil for once a day and the doctor says she doesn't even hear it anymore!
All I can say is, I was killing him with kindness. He had a good 19 year run where he pretty much ate whatever he wanted. It's been a year now, and he has finally resigned himself to the dreaded diet. I can eat in front of him now and not worry about him stroking out while trying to get to my plate! He does get the OCCASIONAL treat (Jeez, I'm only human) but I do mean occasional. Mostly he gets fruits, veggies, some legumes, and the occasional whole wheat cracker - ABSOLUTELY NO TRANS FATS.
I do think he had a little stroke about a month ago. He fell off his perch twice for no reason, and his grip on my shoulder isn't as strong as it used to be. The doctor says there's not way to tell if that happened, but she said she wouldn't be surprised with the state he was in. I'll keep you all posted on the next round of blood work. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
PUT YOUR AMAZONS ON DIETS! No one should have to go through the emotional and financial stress I've been through - especially when you can avoid it relatively easily.

[peeker]

Teri, Welcome to the board! Big hugs to you and Percy! Who's your vet? I'm just north of you in Ukiah. :) I use Dr Galvin in Novato, but have also spent lots of $$ with Dr. Blumberg in Santa Rosa. I have battled the fatty liver dragon as well. Mojo is a male Red-sided Eclectus and will be 6 in August. He came here a couple years back horribly sick with liver disease. Cholestrol was over 1300! He originally weighed in at 573 grams. I just weighed the big birds yesterday and he was in at 443. His grip strength is pretty sloppy and he's lost his vision. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!

[Teri]

I now go to Dr. Lynn Dustin at the Bay Area Bird Hospital in SF. I went to Dr. Galvin for years, but - I hate to say it - he missed the liver problem. Percy had it for a good year under Dr. Galvin's care. I still take my cats to him, but the birds don't go anywhere but Dr. Dustin. The main reason I changed doctors is because Percy stopped breathing under the anesthesia during a check up with Dr. Galvin, so the next check up I made with Dr. Dustin becauses she doesn't use anesthesia (actually, she was appalled when I told her he did that). If that hadn't happened, I never would have made the appointment with Dr. Dustin and I probably wouldn't have my precious Percy right now. I really like Dr. Galvin, but....

[yehudasf]

BS"D

Teri:

I now go to Dr. Lynn Dustin at the Bay Area Bird Hospital in SF

Hello Teri, Dr. Dustin has been providing care for my flock for >20 years. I wonder, did you find birdboard from the cards I left at the reception bar in the acrylic holder? Looking forward to seeing you post more soon!
YehudaSF