8. Ruptured air sac in a parrot - head and neck swelling again and again

Saturday April 3, 2016

An old client brought in an $8,000 Maine Coon cat that had loose stools for the past 4 days after attending a cat show 7 days ago. He wants to specialize in Maine Coons and to be known, he does go to cat shows.

"Once I had a prairie dog for sale," he showed me an image from the internet and said that it was not a real dog as it was more like a gigantic guinea pig and was herbivorous.

"AVA will catch you when you advertise," I told him.
"Yes, AVA officers scan the newspapers at night and pretended to be a buyer," he told me he was fined $1,000 as the officers went to his home and took the animal away.
"Where did it go?" I asked.
"It is at the River Safari in the Zoo," his wife told me. "It is shown one hour at night."
"If only we had microchipped the prairie dog," the wife lamented.

The couple has a genuine love for cats and exotic animals. The man showed me an image of the fanned pigeon and various lovely pictures of parrots.

"Would you as a vet have microchipped my prairie dog?" he asked me.
"If the AVA officers asked me who microchipped it, I would have to point them to you!"u

This man also had a parrot as a pet. It had a large skin swelling above the head and neck.

"Dr Kong put a needle in and got the air out," he drew an illustration for me. "But the swelling reappears again and again. The vet said it could be an infection from the mouth causing air to bubble and accumulate under the skin. He prescribed antibiotics but the swelling recurs again and again!

"Now, I just use alcohol to wipe the area of the skin for me to pierce a needle to deflate the air. Not just one needle. It will not work. I insert another needle at the other side of the swelling. And whoosh, the swelling goes down. The only problem is that I need to do it so many times. I note that the swelling is less substantial now.  Is there a solution to prevent recurrence?"

The cause is a large rupture of the anterior air sac.  The best practice will be for the vet to insert a drainage tube to let the air out daily and hence allowing the tear in the air sac to heal. The parrot must be rested. Alternatively 2-3x/day drainage for a few days by syringe.

Recurrence makes a client lose confidence in the vet. The same applies to ear abscess treatment in terrapins.