Sudden Death?

[Laura Lee]

Hi, I'm new here! My family has a bit of experience with birds, especially my mom... she is a wild bird rehabilitator. But we also have parakeets, cockatiels, and a cockatoo.

We got a lovebird several years ago. We adopted her from a family who had found her several years before that flying around a parking lot! They kept her for a couple years but eventually didn't like her and and tried to keep her cage in a closet because they didn't like her chirping! So they finally gave her away.

I don't know anything about her history, how old she was, or how well she was taken care of (though it doesn't seem like very well from that story). Anyway we took really good care of her, as far as I know, and followed all the resource guides on lovebird care. She became very friendly, though we could never get her to stop biting so we'd always handle her with gloves... but she still loved to sit on our laps and chirp at us and everything.

My mom provided her with a cardboard box she could hide in and she loved it, she'd always tear up newspaper, stuff it under her wings, and build a nest in there. One time she did lay an egg, so we replaced it with fake wooden eggs so she wouldn't lay anymore. She basically spent all her time caring for her "nest"... a great mommy.

Anyway, several months ago she suddenly died. My mom was cleaning the cockatoo's cage and she heard some strange sounds from Pita (the lovebird). She looked over and Pita was stumbling around and gurgling. Then she suddenly just fell over and died. My mom quickly pulled her out and tried to do CPR but she was already gone. I thought it might have been involving an egg that had gotten stuck... but she hadn't layed anymore eggs since we provided her with the fake ones, so I don't know.

We never found out what was wrong with her and why this happened. I was just wondering if anyone else has had an experience like this before or knows what might have occurred? I know no one can say for certain, but any similar experiences could shed some light onto this...

I'm thinking of adopting a new lovebird soon, and I'm just worried the same thing could happen. I hope it wasn't something involving the way we cared for her... Maybe she was just old or maybe her old diet with the other family caused some sort of health problem? We don't know what they fed her... they pretty much just dropped her off at our house one day and we never heard from them again.

Anyway, thanks for any insight into this.

[Taylor]

That's so sad, i'm sorry for her, the poor thing it souds like she was badly mistreated by her previous owner(s).
When my budgie died it was one morning, he was just on my shoulder and he started bleeding from his beak so we rushed him to the vet and sadly he died there. The vet said it was probably some kind of tumor that erupted, but it was her time.
I'm no professinal but i don't see anything wrong with what you did, I wouldn't worry about geting another love bird, but you're int he right place to double check.

[CrazyBirdLady]

Sorry to hear about Pita. It's close to impossible to tell what might have happened; however a necropsy would have told you exactly that. As she was adopted and you had no idea about age, she could have had a medical condition you didn't know about or indeed, age could have been a factor.

[1cutebird]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Unless you got a necropsy it's hard to tell what happened. The only thing I would do is get different toys and may be cage if you're worried about whatever it was that took your lovie from you. If you don't want to get rid of the cage, I suggest scrubbing it like crazy and putting it ouside for a couple of days before you get your new bird. I'd definately get new toys and perches though.
Good luck with it all.