Little Green Chicken

We came so close to losing our little green chicken, Tupelo, this week.  She is our 12 year old quaker parrot who we have had since she was a newly-hatched chick.  Last week she somehow chopped off the end of her toe, or pulled the nail out (we're not sure which, or how) and very nearly bled to death.  When Andy went downstairs to open up the birds' cages after work, he found Tupe on the bottom with her head down and blood ALL OVER the cage.  All over the walls, pooled in her sleeping hut, everywhere.  You would not believe a small parrot even had that much blood.

We went into emergency mode in a flash.  Got her warmed up and started force-feeding her fluids to try and keep her hydrated.  I knew that there was no chance of getting her a blood transfusion (have you seen any blood drives for parrots lately?) so all we could do was support her with fluids, food, and heat.  The toe itself had scabbed over by the time we found her, but she was so wobbly she couldn't stand or do much of anything.  Over the next two days, she seemed to be getting better... slowly...and then on Saturday morning (of course, the weekend,when the vet is closed) she started shaking and jerking her head and body like she was having a seizure, and could not stand up again.

We rushed her to a 24-hr emergency vet in Concord, where they admitted they had little experience with avian medicine, but said they would see her.  The doctor there said he'd put her in an oxygen chamber for awhile and administer subcutaneous fluids, but cautioned us that the prognosis was not good.  We could tell that ourselves.  Birds don't just lie down unless they are literally on death's door.  Andy and I kissed her and whispered in her ear and left her there in the chamber while tears were starting to stream down both of our faces.  We truly thought we'd never see her alive again, and we cried pretty much all that day.  Aiden cried too, but I think more because he was so disturbed that his parents were both in tears for hours.  Haley provided a very small bit of comic relief by stating over and over that "People like to cry."  (Herself included, though not over Tupelo).  When we got a call from the vet that evening who said he thought she'd "improved considerably" we were totally stunned... "You can pick her up tomorrow" they said.  Oh, and don't forget the $830 you owe us!

Tupelo is nowhere near 100% recovered yet, but she's getting better every day.  She's still very very wobbly, due most probably to her extreme anemia.  At the e-vet they had drawn a small blood sample (a drop) to see what her red cell count was.  Normal is 40% red cells, and the vet said he'd never seen a (living) animal with lower than 20%.  Tupe's was 15%.  So she still has a long way to go.  She may also have had a small stroke because of her low blood pressure, and now has a head tilt to one side, which can't be helping her balance.  She is definitely improving every day now though.  She's clucking like a chicken, squawking at Zaitsev, and saying "Tupe-Tupe" again.  So far she's still being hand-fed and sleeping most of the day in her recovery cage in our room, which is handicapped-accesible with low perches and food dishes so she doesn't have to climb anywhere.  We are very happy to have our little green chicken back!