Little Bird

[magdalena]

I woke up yesterday at 8am to find Little Bird, my 2 and a half year old CAG, on the floor of her sleep cage lifeless. I've been crying on and off for the past 26 hours I think. She seemed absolutely healthy the night before. I called my avian vets first, one was out of town until Monday the other couldn't see her until Friday and told me that even if I brought her in ASAP she'd probably not be able to find anything conclusive in a necropsy due to tissue damage. I had arranged, tearfully, a ride for the 4 hour commute to either vet first thing after, in complete shock, putting her in ziploc bags and into the fridge like you are supposed to do.

In hindsight she did have an accident on Friday night when her sleep cage fell off the new table I had put it on in the sleep room (a one foot drop but something could have happened then). In hindsight what I took as really strange and ferocious aggression towards me could have been a cry for help or being in pain in the following 3 days. In hindsight she was flying differently and much more often, everything spooked her and when she wasn't flying AT me she was flying at the windows even though there are perches everywhere for her to land on (and she's been trained where to land in all the bird areas of the house). I clipped her wings finally and she acted fine after that and had been eating and drinking, nothing abnormal looking in her stool, just happy Little Bird. She didn't fall off anything with her clipped wings and I wonder if she just had internal injuries and there was something I could have done sooner.

The vet I talked to did a full checklist with me and gave me a gold star for doing everything right in her life, like that mattered. :( Maybe it was something congenital she said. I feel horrible, how can some birds live to be 50 in tiny cages eating nothing but seed and LB had less than 3 happy years?

I put her to bed at 9pm, she gave me kisses and said night night, I checked on her at midnight before I went to bed and she peeped at me like she usually does and then I woke up to the horror. I really wish I could have done a necropsy and am confused since I thought it was possible to have one done up to a week later but both vets I talked to said this wasn't the case. I couldn't get a ride to the next closest vet (4 hours away) though you bet I tried. I am taking Puffletoo (my U2) in on Monday to make sure he doesn't have anything or received anything communicable (they wouldn't see him before since they don't see birds when it is snowing or too cold) but I'm really not worried about him so much, he came from a breeder that doesn't bring in new birds and tests yearly for everything. The budgie was quarantined immediately when we got him and seems fine too.

I had been actively looking for a lory for the past two months and finally decided on a black one that was to be shipped here next week but now I wish I had waited, it's too soon for a new bird now though of course (once Puffletoo's results come back negative) I will pick him up and love him to death. I mega sterilized the whole house, all the cages and toys, the ceilings walls and floors. Is there anything else I can do? We are going to have a little funeral for LB on Saturday for closure, my boyfriend is as heartbroken as I am and it seemed that in the end she had chosen him to be her person so perhaps more as I was going to give her to him and see if it might work out even with him working.

I just wonder if there is something else I could have done differently. Fly free Little Bird I will miss you with all of my heart.

[Alyx]

magdalena my heart breaks for you and your boyfriend and of course Little Bird. I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Mango27]

Magdalena I am so sorry for your loss. Sometimes these things happen and we may never know why. I think you have done all the right things and I am praying that your other birds will be fine and live a long happy healthy life. Again I am so sorry for your loss.

[chirpy]

Oh I'm so sorry for your loss, fly free Little Bird x

[magdalena]

Thanks everyone, I thought that would have been really hard to write but it was actually very cathartic and I feel a little better. I know these things happen but you never think they'll happen to you.

[Lori~D]

OMG! Im so sorry. I am so sorry. from what you described it almost sounds like she hit her head and wasnt able to "see" clearly? her lack of good vision would cause aggressive behavior and frantic flight and hitting things.

[becca623]

I'm very sorry! Such a terrible loss!

[NoLimitssjca]

I am sorry for your loss. He had a great life with you.

[MandaJP2005]

I'm sorry about your loss! He was a great bird and he'll be with you in spirit. I think my Princess still roams around me when I need the comfort and she wants to make sure Mama is doing okay.

[kellywess]

I am so sorry for your loss. Fly Free Little Bird!