Good News, Bad News

First the good, Magics vet called and the initial report is back from the pathology.  The tumors are not malignant.  The lab is doing further testing to see if they can tell if these are immune mediated. There is a strong possibility that these could be related to some auto immune issues.  So maybe more info to follow, but for now the definate decision is to leave the tumor(s) alone unless they cause him issue.  So far so good.

The bad, Jade my little parrotlet with the large tumor in her abdomen took a turn for the worse. Tuesday night I noticed she was a little slow and breathing even harder.  Last night she was not able to perch and sleep. She could still climb around and was active, but we knew she was near the end. Then today she was not looking cheery anymore so it was time.  I was able to hold her as she passed at the vet and I hope she felt the love at the end.  We buried her and planted a flower over her tonight.

Now I am really hoping that the bad is over for a while.

Weight pull practice

Today the 3 girls went to weight pull practice.  I wasnt allowed to train Siren, she is Davids and he had to work, but she went along to practice good dog behavior. She needs to work on waiting patiently in the crate.
Grace gave me 3 pulls today, and is starting to understand what we are trying to do. I was really happy with her work today.  Peace is a bit concerned about the cart and all the people, but she tried and I am sure she will get better.  This was her first time actually pulling anything, so with time will come comfort.  We have some things to work on, but it was still fun.

After the weight pull practice, we stopped at a local tennis court that noone was using.  Its one of the few fully fenced places to go and practice some off leash work. We did some recalls with all 3 girls and some heeling practice with Siren and Grace.  With Peace we are just starting with the choose to heel training and right now she hasnt quite figured out that mom and treats are more intersting than leaves, people, running etc, at least during the heeling portion.  But her recalls were super.  A youg gal was riding her bike around the course when Peace was working recalls, and she was totally able to ignore that. Grace also did a couple of  minimal distraction stays.  We are working on stays. But tonight she was able to stay with me jumping up and down and running in circles around her.  She only broke the stay once, and that was when I was returning to her. So next time we will practice lots more of me leaving and coming back.

Jade is still the same, Not real happy with me when I have to give her the meds, but otherwise doing well enough.

Jade

Jade came home last night.  There doesn't seem to be any improvement with the antibiotics, so we are pretty sure that this is liver issues. Its very hard to do testing of any kind on such a tiny critter. We talked about going to a specialist for a liver biopsy, but honestly, she may not live through it. So we decided to bring her home, and help her through her remaining time as well as we can.  Her only distress really is that her bottom gets a bit messy as she cant poop as easily, and her breathing is a bit labored. She climbed all over her cage last night and seemed fairly happy to be home.  We do have some liver support meds which include milk thistle and some oral antibiotics.  As the vet said, the antibiotics won't hurt her, and hopefully will make sure she didn't pick up anything that can make this time more uncomfortable. Going to the vet is way more stressful for the birds than it is for the dogs.

Sadly, its not an egg :o(

Poor Jade. Its not an egg. The best we could tell with xray was that her liver is seriously enlarged. Where it is displacing her other organs causing what looked like an egg in her abdomen.  Even the vet thougt it was an egg until she started feeling it, but couldnt find a shell.  Didnt feel like a soft egg either, so xrays were required.  So little Jade took a brief nap, had a couple of xrays and a little blood taken. Very little, these guys only weigh about an ounce and have less that a tablespoon of blood.  Her white count was a little high, but not hugely, so they do not think its an infection. More likely the beginnings of liver failure which is sadly fairly common in these little guys. She is going to spend a couple of days at the hospital getting some antibiotics to see if maybe there is any kind of changes.  If not, she will come home until her quality of life is no longer good. 

Jade is my sweetest little girl parrotlet.  She is the one who prefers to spend hours just snuggling, will ride in my shirt pocket happily and had in the past even gone shopping with me when I forgot she was in there. I am sad tonight.

Eggbound Jade

One of my little rescue parrotlets is having some girlie issues.  She definately has an egg inside her needing to come out.  This gal has never laid since I have had her and its been 3 years.   Her little bottom is extremely swollen with that egg, yet she hasnt laid it, nor does she seem to intend to lay.  She hasn't been nesting, I gave her materials in the bottom of her cage so she could if she wanted.  She doesn't yet seem to be in peril or straining, but having never had a girl hold an egg for so long, I am concerned.  So we are on birdie watch today.   I really hope she can pass this herself and vet intervention is not needed.

Please think good egg laying thought for my little gal.

Lost Bird

(not Jade, but you can see the size)

The normal evening routine in my house is that once the dogs get kennelled for dinner, the birds get some out time.  Because the parrotlets are so small, we try not to have them out when the dogs are around too much.  Magic loves his birds, but even he might snap at something wizzing past his head.  Last night, I had Jade out riding my shoulder while I cleaned up her cage, freshened water, the normal stuff.  Well for some reason last night the little bugger took off on me and darted into the dogs room.  I raced after her, not sure where she would land, mind you I was only 4 feet from the door when she left. By the time I got to the room, she was gone. I could not find her. She was not on the curtain rods or on the window ledges. She was not visiting the other birds in that room. I quickly checked each of the dog crates thinking if she had landed in a one I would find at least a feather if she had been swallowed! (most are metal so a parrotlet could easily get inside)  NO Jade. I shuffled out (never pick up your feet cuz if you step on a 28 gram bird its not going to make it) to get the flashlight and shuffle back in the room. With the flashlight I start searching behind and under everything. Behind the breeder birds cages, cobwebs dust and feathers, but no bird. Behind the dresser, nope just more dust and hair. Under the dresser, its only and a small space under there, but cant see any of the hair moving. Whoa, do I need to vacuum in here!  No Jade. I am afraid to move too much, again, tiny bird, easy to squash. 

About this time one of the cats shows up. No you gotta go. Cat gets locked in the bathroom.  It's been about 25 minutes by now, and I am really starting to panic.  Where could she be? This is not a big room.  Could she have gone up the back stairs? The light was off, usually they don't fly into darkness, but is it possible?  I look behind Kazins crate, its a plastic one, I slide it a little bit away from the wall, nope.  Shine the flashlight everywhere I can think of. Finally I am sitting on the floor, after crawling around.  Magic is looking at me whining, Peace and Siren just look confused.  I hear, peep!  Now, the 3 other birds in the room, also parrotlets have been talking to me the whole time, but this peep sounded different.  Jade, Jade where are you?  Peep! I turn and look and here is the little bugger sitting on top of the dresser looking over at me!  I have no idea where she was hiding the little stinker.  I scooped her up and gave her a little talking to complete with lots of kisses and cuddles.

My 6th Photo

Here's the deal: You have to check your Photo Archives (or wherever you store your images) then select the 6th file folder, open it & post the 6th picture contained there, with the story behind it.

My 6th photo's story:

This is Indy. He is one of Pete and Tillies babies. You can see his newhatch picture at our website. This picture is from 2 years ago when his mom and I were trying to get a christmas card photo. Kind of funny it came up a christmas photo. This is our 6th shot. I liked the next one so much because it is such Indy's personality. If I remember right he later pooped on Santa. He is a typical parrotlet-speaks his mind and let's his preferences be known. They are such fun little birds.

We were tagged by ManyMuddyPaws. Check out hers too!

Now I have to tag six friends to do the same: Qwaynt Cardigans, Maiwae Collies, Simple Things, Ramsey Farms, Living Life in Shades of Grey and anyone else who wants too.

Make sure to comment so I know you've played!

Wordless Wednesday