I picked up Charlie (20 year old cockatiel) from the avian vet this afternoon. She looked much, much better than when she went in... the conjunctivitis has improved greatly and the swelling is way down. Her attitude seems happier as well. I think it made a positive difference for her to have hospital care for a week longer than originally planned. The kinds of treatment they could give her there, such as the nebulizing cage and the injectable antibiotics, would have been difficult or impossible to give her here at home.
She still needs some special at-home care: a heating pad or other warmth source; 10 days of twice-daily antibiotic ointment applied around her eyes, and 10 days of twice-daily oral antibiotics administered with a syringe. Although I have had her since she was young, this has been her first real illness. Administering the medications is going to be an experience for both of us. She was pretty cooperative for this evening's medications, but she is still pretty tired. Things will get more interesting towards the end of the week, I think!
I just peeked in on her (it's late, she is supposed to be sleeping and getting good rest) and all seems well. I'll add some of the specifics from her hospital notes to the extended entry soon.
I used to breed peach face love birds. It all started when I got a little albino peachy baby, which ended up being named...Baby. :P She was a little sweetheart with an attitude. lol I only got to have her for 4 years. After I'd aquired 3 other regular peachies I went to separate them inot two cages. I wanted to put Baby with Teddy. Buddy with Sweetpea. But they all look the same. I thought I had the right ones together...but I didn't. Came home form work to find Baby on the floor of the cage. Sweetpea attacked her. I couldn't get a hold of my avian vet and had to taker her to the 24 hour clinic. They assured me they knew what they were doing. I'd never been apart from her before. I often wonder if I had insisted on staying if she would have made it. So that was the beginning of the end. I was rather disheartened after that. I had a Dutch Blue that died at one year from cancer. I traded Sweetpea for the Blue cause I didn't want a killer bird. And then the kids came along and I no longer had time to hand feed all the clutches that Buddy and Teddy were spitting out. So i gave them up. After the two Golden Mantle Rosellas died (2 years apart) we just haven';t had any more birds. ::sniff:: Long entry. Sowwy.