# Cockatiel stroke



## koki (Jul 3, 2018)

Hi


hope everyone is doing well. 
I just feel like I need to talk to someone who loves tiels as much as I do. 
My tiel, female, had a stroke last Sunday. She had to wait until Monday for a specialist vet. I took her to one of the best. At first the vet advised for lead poisoning or something but the second results came out and she had a stroke. Lead poisoning somehow in tiny amounts. I don't know, the cage is stainless steel, maybe a screw or toy... everything is changed/removed now. 
But from the stroke she cannot stop shaking/twisting/trembling her head constantly, so she is not able to eat. But she is very strong and proud, always sitting on the perch. She is being force fed at the moment. The vet said to wait for a week and see how it goes. He didn't say much but gave information on the treatment. But I was browsing on line and saw that they usually have more strokes, following the first. I am willing to give up my job should she needs someone to force feed her as long as the vet teaches me but I am devastated. I don't want to put her down.The vet didn't say anything on that, though. I am scared. She is 9-10 years old and a rescue. ied: Does anyone know anything?


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## Allison (Jun 12, 2018)

Im so sorry that happened to your baby. I wish I knew more information, but I am currently researching and will add links once I find out more. I really wanted to let you know that you are being an amazing bird owner and that I hope everything goes okay!


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## koki (Jul 3, 2018)

Obviously I am not and I was trying so hard to get everything right. % of pellets. % of seeds and veg but she had fat in her blood and this caused the stroke. The vet sounded surprised she is so strong and moving around. On Sunday, she would stay on the floor but I spoke to her asking her to go up on the perch and she did.
She is at the vet, she will stay there as long as he can keep her.

I saw her when she had the stroke, suddenly she just started twisting the head and that's it. Stayed like than twisting and trembling. She cannot keep her head straight, hence cannot eat.

Sorry for all the drama, it's the first time I joined and brought drama with me. 
;( Thanks for your help.ied:


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## Allison (Jun 12, 2018)

Its okay and even though she had a stroke that isn't your fault. Like you said you tried to get her diet right. You did everything you could. Im not qualified to diagnose your bird or anything like that and I am not saying your vet is wrong. Just the only thing I could find that seemed close to her symptoms is stargazing. There are some options of treatments that are doable if that is what she has. It is good that she can still get on her perch and that are legs are working. I hope the best for you and your bird. Please keep me updated 


https://www.beautyofbirds.com/stargazing.html


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## koki (Jul 3, 2018)

Thank you so much Allison for your support and kindness. Her hormone levels were too high, I don't know if this contributed but the vet has been trying to stabilize it. She wanted to breed, have a nest... I offered everything, even a separate cage but then she started playing around. She is 13 years old not 9-10 and 97 grams which is in the appropriate range but how can I know what is going on inside the blood... Other than that, she is just stable, strong but cannot eat due to the shaking. She is being force fed with recovery formulas. The vet is 3 hours away so I cannot just pop in but she is there with her mate. if she manages to hold on I will go to see her in a couple of days, take some toys maybe... remind her I am waiting for her to come back, maybe take a video of the flock so she knows that she is coming back...Thank you for the article. So many years of owning parrots, 20+ and now it's the first time I see a stroke. whatever we do isn't enough sometimes.


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## Khulood (Feb 23, 2018)

Hey there- 

My lutino boy is 4 months old and flew into a wall a couple of weeks ago so hard he shed his head feathers. They've since grown back but it's also left him with a tremor/brain damage. He's now prone to seizures when he gets overstressed. The vet said it's something he's going to have to live with his entire life, and the best we can do is adapt to his situation. She also gave anti-inflammatories to see if that would help at all- and we've seen that it's doing a little something- but the tremor is far from gone.

My bird also prefers to sleep on the floor at night, but during the day and otherwise he's always perching and playing. We give him Harrison's high potency super fine pellets/seeds/vita-sol in his water to keep him well. 

The tremor doesn't affect his eating (thankfully), but sometimes he has difficulty grasping onto moving toys because his head shakes so much.

I can understand your struggle with the tremor, it's heart breaking. My boy knows there's something wrong with him too because he often grasps the cage's bars to stabilize his head when his tremors get too much. We can only love <3


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*stroke*

Koki I am so sorry to hear of your poor bird's stroke. I sure can understand your being devastated. I would be! I wish I could do more than send you and your bird hugs and "scritches." Sending good thoughts. Please let us know how she does.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I am so sorry to hear this happened to your baby! 

Please, please don't blame yourself, sometimes bad things just happen and it's no one's fault. You've helped her so much, thank you for rescuing her and taking good care of her.

Please keep us updated and I'm sending hugs to you and your girl from me and my flock.


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## koki (Jul 3, 2018)

Hello, 

Hope you are doing well guys!

Thank you so much for your positive vibes!
So, I visited my tiel today at the vet's and had a chance to speak to him. 
He actually explained to me that a big part of the problem was about her hormones because she wanted to lay eggs even though she hasn't laid any yet. 

On Friday, when I spoke to the practice I was told that there is not much improvement and everything remains the same, she was being fed 4 times a day (force feeding). 
BUT.... On Saturday/Sunday, there was a miracle! Her head tremors/shaking greatly decreased, she doesn't tilt her head back any more except when she is really stressed. She has constant tremors (head) but small ones that allow her to eat. In two days, she went down to 1 force feeding a day and her weight is the same so she is no longer in intensive care!
The vet was surprised by the sudden improvement but he said to me that stroke can suddenly improve. He even told me to take her home today, but I left her for some while more. 

The only problem now is the small constant head tremors that resemble Parkinson's disease and of course the fear of another stroke. 
The vet explained to me about the treatment she will have to undergo, maybe have an implant or injections every 3 months to regulate everything that is going on but he seemed very confident about everything and has done this procedure lots of times in the past even to budgies. 

So... my faith has been restored. Maybe it is just a coincidence but on Saturday I prayed for her (I never do), made a donation on her name from my heart and believed so strongly that she is coming back so yeah... the miracle happened!

I know it's a long hard way and we don't know how this is going to evolve as the danger is always around the corner but it's so wonderful to see the light once in a while when you have parrots and going through so much with them. 
The vet is going to try not to feed her at all (monitored) to see if she can manage completely on her own this week and her diet will need to be modified. From 20-25% pellets , 10% veg etc she will need to have 20-25% seeds and 60% pellets plus veg daily. He also said that even if I have to use exact pellets & nutri berries instead of seeds, any pellets are still better than seeds and both exact and nutri berries are good quality. Of course Harrison's are the best and I will keep on adding them to their diet but my tiels love colours so the cheeky ones managed to get away again and get what they want. I will never stop offer graded Harrison's though and sneak them in their food!!! 

Thank you so much everyone, thank you Khulood for sharing your story. 
it's so empowering to see that we are all in this together and we all love these little creatures so much cause they do deserve it. 
I wish and hope for her Good luck to last as she is amazing and has recovered again in the past. 

PS. I left her partner, Ian, with her and he is supporting her so much that everyone noticed! Ian is one of the most positive thinking parrots I have met in my life, he manages to see the best in every situation so I am sure he is doing everything for her. Also got them some toys until the next time I see them!!! 
ied:ied:


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

That is really wonderful news! Tiels are so tough it seems like they can bounce back from anything.

I know most folks say that cats have 9 lives but a cockatiel has 100! I'm so happy for you and your girl!

Please keep us updated


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## Buckbuck (May 17, 2018)

I am so glad that your baby improved. It is indeed a miracle. Don't beat yourself up over what happened. Everything can be perfect and things can still happen. I have a tiel pearl hen, Shiloh. I pray that never happens to her. It's my first time posting here, too. I was never able to set up a log-in but it finally worked.

Cathy and Shiloh


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## koki (Jul 3, 2018)

Hello guys!

Thank you so much for your positive vibes and support. 
I got my tiel back last Monday, when she is calm there is no shaking at all. She is just sitting like a normal tiel. When she sees me she starts shaking at times as she gets stressed about everything she wants to have and bosses me around.  
She has to stay in a different cage but close to the flock and she doesn't really like it. Also the vet said that her diet needs to be on pellets & vegetables ONLY. I bought all the pellets that are available in the market so she can decide, but she still wants her seeds in addition to pellets. Fortunately, she is allowed to have nutri-berries as it has only a small percentage of seeds. 
The shaking depends on her mood; stress-excitement etc. Also, if she hears her name she goes mad, running to see who is calling her and what they are going to give to her but after she gets whatever it is she calms down again. 
All the flock was super excited to see her, the whole neighborhood heard them. Bless em. 
She is eating independently now, even though she needs to be monitored. But she will need weekly/monthly treatments and the vet is 3 hours away & the vet bills are huge as you know. Of course she is going to have everything she needs to get better but people should consider the costs that an exotic pet can have before purchasing even if you buy a parrot for 5.00 usd the vet bills can be thousands but they deserve it. 
So, I am happy that Periktioni is a proof that even the small cockatiels can recover from a stroke in a week.  Miracles happen and we need to stand by our little feathered friends while they are fighting coz indeed they have 100 lives!

ied::wf cinnamon::grey tiel::wf pied::wf grey:


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