# Panic attack or seizure or something else?



## Mondry (Sep 25, 2013)

The other day my 13 year old female tiel was in her cage eating in the other room and we heard some noise like she fluttered around and landed / crashed. She seemed pretty dazed and confused like she might have hit her head or something but eventually calmed down and sat with my girlfriend again and cuddled. About half an hour went by and everything seemed normal when she had one of these "attacks." 

She goes into full on "fight or flight" mode and doesn't seem to recognize us. She'll hiss and continue to try and hop / fly / move away from whatever she thinks is after her. Eventually she'll calm down and get back to normal.

It sounds kind of like a night fright but this is happening in the middle of the day when she's eating or just cuddling on one of us and she's never had them before. Nothing happens to trigger it, no loud noises, nothing spooks her, it seems completely out of the blue.

We took her to the vet and had a physical exam done and the vet said everything looked good as far as her color and what not. No broken bones or feathers or anything physical as far as she could tell. 

She mentioned since we didn't see her first incident she can't be sure if it was a physical thing like she hit her head that's causing the problem or if it's like a symptom of a bigger problem which caused her to fall in the first place so it's a bit of a catch 22 there. She sat in their incubator for a bit and they gave her some fluids and she kept improving so we took her home with a pain med.

3 days went by without incident but today she had 2 more attacks, one around 3 pm today and the other at about 8 pm. Again nothing out of the ordinary to report, she'll just be sitting with us or doing the most basic of things and suddenly she goes nuts. No heavy fumes, no strong scents, or anything that could be setting her off I don't think.

My gut feeling makes me think she might have some kind of internal pain that springs up and she can't figure out where it's coming from so her natural flight response kicks in telling her to get out of there but I really have no idea. We weren't able to give her her pain meds today (it's like one drop and we miss timed it and missed her beak!) 

We're thinking we'll bring her back to the vet tomorrow but in the mean time was wondering if anyone has dealt with this before or has any advice for what feels like "random onset panic attacks." 

Sorry it got pretty long but wanted to include all of the details.


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## Peaches&Me (Oct 30, 2013)

I am so sorry  I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at what's going on because I have never witnessed anything like this, but I couldn't read this & not comment. 
My only advice would be to make sure your vet is an avian vet, 'normal' vets are happy to take your money but aren't specialised with birds. I would keep her warm & quiet & get her back to see the vet ASAP, did they do blood works last time? I hope they can get to the bottom of it this time, it must be very frightening for both your bird & you, good luck


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## scootergirl762 (Aug 27, 2013)

I wouldn't venture anything more than what you've said -panic attack? How is her diet? Perhaps taking her back to the vet and getting some basic blood work might tell you if she is needing something nutritionally that might be causing it?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

Do you have other birds and if so, are they beating her up? This happened to our old tiel Pineapple. She was getting plucked, had lost a ton of weight, and would have a "panic attack" flight every time she was let out of the cage, flapping all over the room and crashing into things. We should have known it wasn't normal and paid more attention to her the fact that she was being abused by the other birds.


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## Mondry (Sep 25, 2013)

Thanks for the replies! 

Yep it's an avian vet for exotic species, they have a good rep with birds, snakes, and the more unusual stuff! Have taken all our birds there and pretty pleased with them.

We've kept a heating pad on in her cage under some towels and "cranked" the heat up in our apartment so it should be plenty warm for her hehe. We didn't do any testing last time and was hoping she just needed to recover from the physical "trauma" of her first incident but we'll likely be going back later today (her doctor gets in at 6 and I like to have the same person see her again) 

Her diet is 90% zupreem pellets, she'll eat some snacks like unsalted / unbuttered popcorn and millet as a treat every now and then. She can't handle cheese, she use to like a tiny bit but now even the smallest amount seriously clogs up her crop and she ends up regurgitating / vomiting though we haven't given her cheese in years so probably not relevant. 

Nope she's our only bird atm, her older sister (same parents) passed away about 2 years ago but now that I think about it they might have had the same problem. Her sister had two of these same types of panic flights at random but at the time her wings weren't clipped and before we knew what was going on her sister got spooked and flew straight into a wall. We lost her minutes after as we frantically tried to get to the vet. She was 13 too at the time and the more I think about it the more it's eerily similar. 

I wonder now if it's some kind of genetic thing? Will have to bring that up to the vet.


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## scootergirl762 (Aug 27, 2013)

Hope all goes well at the vet. And that is errie that her sibling had the same type of attacks. Does she get any type of seeds along with the Zupreem? I know pellets are recommended, but I try to give my birds both. I feel the need the variety along with fresh foods - but mine are stubborn about the fresh foods. STUB - BORN!


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## Mondry (Sep 25, 2013)

Yeah we have a bag of high quality seeds we give her once in a while.

As an update she got her pain meds today but later on still had an attack. I'm not an expert but I saw it "starting" this time and it fits the bill of a seizure in my opinion. She pretty much froze in her tracks and locked up, her eyes got all big and her right wing started "spazzing" like muscle spasms. Like she lost control for a little bit.

Since we noticed it right away we got her back to her cage and she seemed to settle down quickly, never going into the full on panic mode and the seizure passed. I'm thinking her pain meds did enough to stop the pain which is what really freaks her out during an episode. 

About an hour now until her vet gets in...


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## scootergirl762 (Aug 27, 2013)

Mondry said:


> Yeah we have a bag of high quality seeds we give her once in a while.
> 
> As an update she got her pain meds today but later on still had an attack. I'm not an expert but I saw it "starting" this time and it fits the bill of a seizure in my opinion. She pretty much froze in her tracks and locked up, her eyes got all big and her right wing started "spazzing" like muscle spasms. Like she lost control for a little bit.
> 
> ...


That makes sense. A seizure can be very frightening for both of you. Good lucknat the vets.


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## Lulu-Tiel (Jun 3, 2012)

This is very strange. Watching for an update! 

I'm glad that you and your girlfriend are such responsible bird owners and have been seeing a vet and are attempting to get to the bottom of this. I'll add your little one to my prayers.


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## scootergirl762 (Aug 27, 2013)

I think you are right about it being a possible seizure, but your vet can most likely determine that for sure. They symptoms you describe leading up to it sound just like what described here.

http://www.avianweb.com/seizures.html

The good news is, it can be treatable! Keep us posted on how it goes.


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## Squawkz (Oct 7, 2012)

I'm no expert, but the first thing that came to mind while reading about your girl was that she experienced a seizure.

Our Donald had a seizure, too, when he ingested copper wire earlier this year. What a harrowing and frightening experience that was for us.

He reacted just like your girl did. Do you think that she might have ingested a foreign substance by accident?


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