Quiet crackle/pop noise when massaging crop

[DK newbie]

Good thing she seems to be improving Thanks for the update!

 

[TheWeeBee]

*sigh* Bee's gasping seems to be getting better, then worse, then better. I removed her aspen bedding yesterday and had her on just a puppy pee pad in case the dust from the wood shavings was causing her respiratory problems. Haven't really seen that it's made much of a difference. Today she seems fatigued from the gasping, and hasn't been eating or drinking as much. It's as though she has obstructive apnea. I just really do not know what is making her feel so crummy and it's making me sick to think of losing her if it turns out to be something treatable.

I'm still giving her lots of healthy goodies along with her regular food, and Soluvite-D in her water.

 

[TheWeeBee]

Update:

Okay, I finally got some more information to work with about Bee. Took her to the avian specialist vet, they did Xrays on her, and found that she's got a buildup of fluid in her peritoneal cavity that could either be ascites or peritonitis. The fluid is causing her to gain weight and is pushing her internal organs around, which is causing her to have to work harder to breathe when her heart rate is up. Without extracting a sample, (and extracting more $$ from my wallet), we can't know which one it is, but since she has laid two normal eggs in the past week, I'm guessing that it's ascites.

They prescribed her Metacam to take for 15 days. But in humans, this medication has been known to cause ascites as a side-effect, and I'm not sure if I want to give it to her.

Looks like a no-fat diet and some milk thistle is in Bee's immediate future, and I'll see if I can't have that fluid drained from her to ease her symptoms. If anyone has any other suggestions to help manage her symptoms, please chime in! I'm all ears.

The office is supposed to be sending me copies of the xrays they took, so I'll post them asap.

 

[DK newbie]

Just extracting from my memory here, but as far as I remember ascites is often caused by too low blood protein levels - the fluid leaves the blood because there isn't enough protein to keep it there. Thus African children suffering from malnutrition often have very big bellies. But Bee does get enough protein, right? Did she have blood work done and was the protein levels normal? Just read a few lines about ascites in people too, it said nasty things such as kidney, liver and heart diseases, tumors and thrombosis could cause it...

 

[TheWeeBee]

Hi there DK. Bee definitely gets enough protein: she's on the 30% growth and plumage gamebird feed, plus gets dried insects like mealworms and brine shrimp on a regular basis. She also loves boiled egg. Unfortunately the vet said that she's far too small to extract the amount of blood necessary for proper testing. I'm going to schedule her to have that fluid aspirated and tested. I'm wary of giving her any medication that may make things worse.

 

[TheWeeBee]

Bad news: The ultrasound revealed that she has a mass growing in her chest cavity, not fluid.

The only thing I can do is keep her comfortable until she's ready to go.

 

[DK newbie]

Oww Poor Bee. And poor you. Well, some things just can't be changed. I'm still interested in seeing the copies of the x-rays, if you've got them though. And I don't remember whether you wrote it already but how old is Bee?

 

[TheWeeBee]

I still haven't received the images of her radiography (kinda peeved about that--I'll have to call them on Monday). Bee is just over 4 years old.

I'm unsure if the anesthesia and ultrasound aggravated something, but the toes of her left foot no longer spread out and she walks on the top of the ankle now. The mass could be pressing on her sciatic nerve, and aside from hampering her movement somewhat, she gets around okay.

At least the Metacam seems to be helping manage her inflammation: she hasn't gasped for breath at all since I started giving it to her Friday morning. However I think it's suppressing her appetite, so I'm going to scale it back to giving it to her in the evening instead of 2x/day.

I'm getting as many snuggles in as I can. She's always loved cozying up in my hand or against my neck (her preferred spot)

 

[DK newbie]

She's so cute! Right now I'm kind of happy I'm not that close with my buttons. Knowing you're probably going to loose her soon must be horrible.