Petri's Singing Roxanne

Or...The Dragon's exhausted from stress

What do these things have to do with each other? Petri's breathing had an unacceptable "click" sound to it this morning. He panted at me and I heard the "click" once or twice. My vet probably didn't realize she was on speed dial...

So my poor little sun conure had to endure a trip to the vet where we learned that he has a small broken bone. At some point yesterday, he must have fallen off his perch or flown into something when I wasn't in the room...something happened and he broke his keel. I am beyond distressed! The poor little thing! I can't imagine what went through his little bird mind when it happened. And I can't imagine what pain his little bird body was in. I feel so sorry for him.

Luckily, this is all the vet found wrong. His breathing is actually fine. So she gave me an antibiotic (to be sure nothing "sets in" around the break or with any of the air sacs in the area) with a pain reliever mixed into it. I dropped the appropriate dose in a tiny cap of blue Gatorade (Petri LOVES blue Gatorade) and he drank it up like manna from Heaven. Thank goodness! So he's already had his first dose.

He's also settling in quite nicely under a heat lamp, which is the reference to the "red light" in Roxanne. When I first put the regular heat lamp on him this afternoon, it was just a normal heat lamp from one of the reptile cages. (Sorry, Josh.) But I be-bopped out to the pet store this evening and got this nice little night lamp for Petri. He seems to have accepted it with no worries. He's such a well-adjusted little sweetie. I really feel sorry for him and I'm mortified that I didn't notice he'd fallen anywhere hard enough to break a bone.

(The blue thing in the middle of his cage is his cozy hut. The yellow thing next to it is one of his toys. You can't see them all, but he's currently got four toys in there for tonight. I'll add a couple more to encourage him to spend more time resting/napping in his cozy tomorrow. He's supposed to be calm and quiet the next couple of weeks.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: sun conure, companion parrot, avian vet

Companion Bird Health Question

Or...The Dragon goes off topic with important parrot health question for a moment

I've blogged about my darling 9-year-old sun conure Petri before. One day, he became lethargic and quiet. So I whisked him off to the vet because wild birds -- and companion parrots also do this -- become quiet when there's something wrong (makes it easier to hide from predators) and they mask all symptoms of sickness (makes it easier to hide from predators) until the sickness has taken a firm hold.

The vet has taken blood samples and the lab is slow in giving us results. In the meantime, the vet suspects either early kidney problems, which she says are treatable, or heavy metal toxicity, which she says is also treatable. As you can imagine, I've freaked out and researched these things like mad on the internet.

While we wait on definitive results from the lab, the vet has prescribed 0.2 CC Baytril (exotic) by mouth twice daily and a quarter pump of AllerG-3 Omega Fa liquid on his food once daily.

My question: Does the Baytril normally make parrots "woozy" or "dizzy"? Has anyone heard of them having allergic reactions? It seems to affect Petri for several minutes after he takes it. He's a fabulous little bird...a true joy. I want to be sure I'm not causing him harm.

Thank you to any and all bird afficionados who check in!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: companion bird, companion parrot, sun conure, mask, parrots, Baytril, bird health

Cool Pet Birds
Or...share a short essay on your favorite pet

Okay, Writers! It occurred to me, while watching my pet bird lean against his cozy hut to watch a movie, that we could have a writing exercise about everybody's favorite thing about which to wax poetic...our pets. So click on the comment link below and share a bit about your fave companion!

Petri gets the spotlight at The Dragon today, even though I have a couple other pets that I think are fabulous and great. Petri is a sun conure, which is a type of parrot, but he doesn't talk much. He can say "goodnight" and "hi, Petri" and "thank you." He taught himself to wave "goodbye," which impresses the daylights out of me each time he does it.

About nine years ago, when I went to get a sun conure from a breeder in Kansas City, he selected me before any of his siblings did so he's been my companion ever since. Lovely little bird. Yes, as bird enthusiasts will tell you, suns can screech pretty loudly, but only when I can't figure out what he's asking for. He has a specific squeak that means "bring me a bath" and a specific squeak that means "let me sample what you're eating," etc. You get the idea.

He's pretty great.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: sun conure, pet, pet bird, companion, parrot