Cancer in Parrots? RIP Pearl.

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Kara31191

Kara31191

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My cockatiel, Pearl, passed away very unexpectedly on the morning of December 2nd, 2007. 🙁 We found her when we woke up. Long before this, she had been plucking all her chest, legs, and under her wings. Most of it had grown back. We did a culture, bloodwork, and basically we spent hundreds trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

Well, I asked the vet, and now she thinks it may have been cancer, and it may have ended with a heart attack. We found her upside down holding onto the perch by one foot and upside down dead and cold.

So she's been on antibiotics (baytril), nystatin (we thought all that was left was local yeast), and meloxicam.

I can't find any information regarding cancer in parrots, so I was wondering what you all could tell me. Is something like liver cancer treatable in parrots at all? How could you detect it? I'm not at work today, but I'm going to ask the vet about it tomorrow. I'm just upset and I feel really bad... Like aweful. This tiel inspired my love for birds. She was technically my second bird, but the first one that I remember having. She was at least 9 but could have been MUCH older. We don't really know. We got her from an old pet store... in a mall. Needless to say, not the BEST* decision. But she was a lovely bird.

Thank you all!
-Kara
 
I'm sorry about Pearl.

Cancer is not uncommon in psittacines and includes cancer of the skin, mouth, sinuses, liver, kidney, reproductive organs, bones and brain, but fibromas and fibrosarcomas on the wing are probably the most common.

For resources, you could start with Altman, Clubb, Dorrestein and Quesenberry Avian Medicine and Surgery. Also a Pubmed search for specific tumors you're interested in might help. Your veterinarian should be able to address any specific questions about your bird.
 
Kara,

Let me say I am really sorry about Pearl. I don't have much to add from a medical standpoint, but I lost my beloved bird to a heart attack several years ago and it broke my heart. My thoughts are with you!
 
Thank you Pressmom! It's heartbreaking. I went to go play with her this morning! So sad. 🙁 She was the little one that helped me discover parrots. I took such "good care" of her when I was younger, my parents agreed to go see a blue and gold! It was great because my Mom who "hated birds" fell in love with a B&G and we ended up buying our Max and things spiraled from there.

Bill, I don't have access to any books here. Would they be available at the library? Maybe... I'm just curious and nothing came up online. Thank you!
 
Kara, the old edition of Avian Medicine: Principles and Applications is now online (it is going out of print). Have a look:

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/ambook.pdf

Most vets who have an interest in birds have a "library" of sorts with a variety of books that you may find interesting. Ask your vet.
 
Real Session......
with tUt.....
The sorrow seems deep right now, i know, my german sheppard MOocHie🙁 died. Some white guy shot him, but eventually life will go onm, as they say, time does eventually heal your wounds.

Be strong,
Peace to The World😉
 
KingTut said:
Real Session......
with tUt.....
The sorrow seems deep right now, i know, my german sheppard MOocHie🙁 died. Some white guy shot him, but eventually life will go onm, as they say, time does eventually heal your wounds.

Be strong,
Peace to The World😉
Click to expand...

nevermind.......I'm just not really sure what to say. 😕
 
JerseyisCutest said:
nevermind.......I'm just not really sure what to say. 😕
Click to expand...

Reply Session.....
with TuT....
Well " Jersey Is Cutest " you may not know what to say but I do, i dont believe im insulting the canine race and if you believe that i believe that im insulting the canine race than moochie(RIP)🙁 will be flipping in his grave right about now.....

Peace to The World....
Tut
 
KingTut said:
Reply Session.....
with TuT....
Well " Jersey Is Cutest " you may not know what to say but I do, i dont believe im insulting the canine race and if you believe that i believe that im insulting the canine race than moochie(RIP)🙁 will be flipping in his grave right about now.....

Peace to The World....
Tut
Click to expand...


HUH? Ok Now I"m really confused.........:scared:

I was going to say earlier that I just can't imagine hearing anyone in the States say "yeah my dog died when some white guy shot him" I dunno maybe I'm weird like that.......
 
JerseyisCutest said:
HUH? Ok Now I"m really confused.........:scared:

I was going to say earlier that I just can't imagine hearing anyone in the States say "yeah my dog died when some white guy shot him" I dunno maybe I'm weird like that.......
Click to expand...
Real Session.........
WiTH TuT...
Let me clear up the confusion " jersey is cutest" unquote, when i said some white guy shot him i meant a man, of the caucasian race, raised a firearm to my dog, moochie(RIP)🙁, and shot him because he believed my dog(RIP) was going to attack his son, is that clear enough for you or shall i talk,or shall i say type, like a ******.....

No Offense to the Mentally Handicapped,:clap:
Peace to the World....😎
TuT
 
KingTut said:
Real Session.........
WiTH TuT...
Let me clear up the confusion " jersey is cutest" unquote, when i said some white guy shot him i meant a man, of the caucasian race, raised a firearm to my dog, moochie(RIP)🙁, and shot him because he believed my dog(RIP) was going to attack his son, is that clear enough for you or shall i talk,or shall i say type, like a ******.....

No Offense to the Mentally Handicapped,:clap:
Peace to the World....😎
TuT
Click to expand...

Jersey is cutest...I'm with you, not quite sure what to say, and all KingTut's posts are like that...

KingTut, 1st, yes we all knew what you meant by white guy. I think what Jerseyis Cutest was trying to say (and I thought said very well), is that in the United States, you would rarely hear someone say a white guy shot their dog...you might hear that their dog was shot, but never phrased the way you did. As for your second reply, HUH!? Did I miss something, no one said anything about insulting the dead. I agree, it's wrong to insult the dead, but how did you come up with that reply to Jersy's post?

Kara...so sorry to hear about Pearl. And about getting her from a mall pet store not being "the best decision", well, that could be debated. Maybe supporting a mall pet store isn't great, but take my cockateil (who has also passed on to better places) for instance. I got him from the local pet store after seeing him pacing and banging his head on his cage everytime I walked past the place... he had nothing else to do. I ended up "buying" him just to give him a better home. (At least in this case, since he had been "surrendered" to the pet store, I didn't have to worry that purchasing him was going to mean more birds would be brought in to replace him in the sale cages.) The fact that you gave Pearl a nice long life is all that really should matter.
 
wivet2011 said:
Jersey is cutest...I'm with you, not quite sure what to say, and all KingTut's posts are like that...

KingTut, 1st, yes we all knew what you meant by white guy. I think what Jerseyis Cutest was trying to say (and I thought said very well), is that in the United States, you would rarely hear someone say a white guy shot their dog...you might hear that their dog was shot, but never phrased the way you did. As for your second reply, HUH!? Did I miss something, no one said anything about insulting the dead. I agree, it's wrong to insult the dead, but how did you come up with that reply to Jersy's post?

Kara...so sorry to hear about Pearl. And about getting her from a mall pet store not being "the best decision", well, that could be debated. Maybe supporting a mall pet store isn't great, but take my cockateil (who has also passed on to better places) for instance. I got him from the local pet store after seeing him pacing and banging his head on his cage everytime I walked past the place... he had nothing else to do. I ended up "buying" him just to give him a better home. (At least in this case, since he had been "surrendered" to the pet store, I didn't have to worry that purchasing him was going to mean more birds would be brought in to replace him in the sale cages.) The fact that you gave Pearl a nice long life is all that really should matter.
Click to expand...


I have never agreed with someone so much in my life. 🙂 Thank you.


chris03333 you took the words out of my mouth.......or rather, out of my post that I would have typed 😉
 
Real Session....
with Tut....................
Really im not the troll, i post my threads and go on with my life. However certain members for some reason like to start arguments because of my posts and how they dont make sense. So really im not the troll, because i didnt start any conflicts, look around you im just the scape goat. And on a diff. note sorry about your parrot, may god be with her or him. Shes probably in parrot heaven on a pirate ship stealing booty with captain Jack Sparrow...

Keepin It Live, Keepin it Real,
Peace to the World.......except for those who start conflicts😎
Tut
 
Kara31191 said:
Bill, I don't have access to any books here. Would they be available at the library? Maybe... I'm just curious and nothing came up online. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Any veterinary school library would have similar texts. If you're not near a vet. school, you might ask your school library because they can often do an inter-library loan.

Also check out IVIS, which has a lot of veterinary texts on line:

http://www.ivis.org/home.asp
 
Thank you for the resources everybody, and yes, life will go on. I just meant that because we got her at a mall about 9 years ago, there may have been problems in her family because we know nothing about her past. The clueless know-it-all people who work there are just no help.

Well, I just want to look up symptoms and find out more about this. We chose not to have the necropsy done; however now I'm feeling like we should have because I'm kind of scared. She was in quarantine for 9 months previous to her death, since the plucking started. The best educated guess was cancer, so now I'm looking to see. My Mom, an RNC, was saying something about liver cancer causing itchiness in humans... I think...? Well, she said liver cancer would make sense and the vet agreed.

I'm in High school, not college, so I figured I wouldn't have access to such books. I won't have access to any of those.

Thank you for the links, Kara.
 
wivet2011 said:
Jersey is cutest...I'm with you, not quite sure what to say, and all KingTut's posts are like that...

KingTut, 1st, yes we all knew what you meant by white guy. I think what Jerseyis Cutest was trying to say (and I thought said very well), is that in the United States, you would rarely hear someone say a white guy shot their dog...you might hear that their dog was shot, but never phrased the way you did. As for your second reply, HUH!? Did I miss something, no one said anything about insulting the dead. I agree, it's wrong to insult the dead, but how did you come up with that reply to Jersy's post?

Kara...so sorry to hear about Pearl. And about getting her from a mall pet store not being "the best decision", well, that could be debated. Maybe supporting a mall pet store isn't great, but take my cockateil (who has also passed on to better places) for instance. I got him from the local pet store after seeing him pacing and banging his head on his cage everytime I walked past the place... he had nothing else to do. I ended up "buying" him just to give him a better home. (At least in this case, since he had been "surrendered" to the pet store, I didn't have to worry that purchasing him was going to mean more birds would be brought in to replace him in the sale cages.) The fact that you gave Pearl a nice long life is all that really should matter.
Click to expand...

Strange posts Kingtut, but thank you for the kind thoughts.

I'm glad you gave that little tiel a better life. That's happened to us with our animals on more than one occasion. It's really sad. I wish the standards for pet stores are more strict. Some of the conditions are just disgusting. We bought Pearl for my ninth birthday. I know the conditions were bad that she lived in and I hate to see birds in these conditions. We also fed her seeds half her life, and nothing else. God knows what problems we've caused, but she educated us, and I will always remember her. There will always be a place for her memory here in our family! 🙁
 

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KingTut said:
Real Session.........
WiTH TuT...
Let me clear up the confusion " jersey is cutest" unquote, when i said some white guy shot him i meant a man, of the caucasian race, raised a firearm to my dog, moochie(RIP)🙁, and shot him because he believed my dog(RIP) was going to attack his son, is that clear enough for you or shall i talk,or shall i say type, like a ******.....

No Offense to the Mentally Handicapped,:clap:
Peace to the World....😎
TuT
Click to expand...
Reply session....
With common sense...

Apparently somebody has gotten their script book early and began experimenting.

The majority (I say majority to give you the benefit of doubt) of your posts have been basically, ******ed. Why change now?

I would be very surprised to find that you are actually a vet student and not a 14 yr old kid who has become bored googling 'boobie' and has decided to troll a professional board to be cute.

For sake of keeping you busy, google a new word. Try 'cretinous', you'll likely find a self-portrait. Exciting stuff!
 
[quote=Red Dobie;

red dobie, who the hell are you???? First time i see you and your insulting me, get a life loser.

Dont talk with strangers,
Peace to the world............😎
TUT
 
JerseyisCutest said:
In case you've forgotten, you just joined at the end of November and have a total of 24 posts--most of which have been done over the past 2-3 days, so saying "don't talk to stangers" is quite hypocritical on your part because we are all strangers to you, and if you want to take it further, I've never met any of these people in person and probably never will so they are all kind of strangers.


Oh and I almost forgot, just because you spend most of your day on here, considering every time I sign on, you're signed on, doesn't make anyone here any less of a stranger to you.
Click to expand...

Don't feed the trolls. This is what they desire.
 
Red Dobie said:
Reply session....
With common sense...

Apparently somebody has gotten their script book early and began experimenting.

The majority (I say majority to give you the benefit of doubt) of your posts have been basically, ******ed. Why change now?

I would be very surprised to find that you are actually a vet student and not a 14 yr old kid who has become bored googling 'boobie' and has decided to troll a professional board to be cute.

For sake of keeping you busy, google a new word. Try 'cretinous', you'll likely find a self-portrait. Exciting stuff!
Click to expand...

hello red dobie! nice to see you back. thanks for the smile! well needed in a time like this... (finals...)
 
sofficat said:
hello red dobie! nice to see you back. thanks for the smile! well needed in a time like this... (finals...)
Click to expand...

Happy to be here. I've been lurking, but not much posting.

This board is an invaluable tool for pre-vet/vet students and it's concerning a troll can come on here and be a cancer. Maybe whomever the mod is on here can dust off their ban button and give it a tap 🙂.
 
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