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Goober woke up yesterday morning in very bad shape. Just the day before she was flying from the ground to a nest box 3 1/2 feet up in a single bound! But yesterday she fell out of the nest, and could barely walk. I caught her (very easily), cleaned up her poopy butt, wiped a seed hull from her eye, poked and prodded a bit, and gave her a drop of liquid calcium. There was a new symptom: a lump in her abdomen. So I crossed my fingers and took her to the vet's office, in the hope that this new symptom might suggest a new cure.
Not really, as is usually the case with tiny birds. But the vet tube-fed her some breakfast, since I was pretty sure she hadn't been able to eat anything, and sent me off with a course of steroids. That lump wasn't identifiable, but something was definitely swollen, and it was making Goober uncomfortable — despite being unsteady, she kept standing, as if the lump was too tender to rest on. The vet hoped the steroids would get the swelling to go down, and make her more comfortable.
Not the first dose, though. Relegated to the aquarium (placed on top of a heating pad, it's a nice spot for a very ill bird) poor Goober spent most of the day standing, awkwardly leaning against the glass, trying to sleep, not eating or drinking. I gave her the second dose right before I left for class, and after watching her pant while leaning against the glass for a few minutes, I was pretty sure she'd be dead by the time I got back.
Imagine my happy surprise when Bruce called me up about 20 minutes later to say she was eating tasty seeds! And when I got home, she was so eager to go to bed with Earl Grey that we scooped her up and popped her into the nest box!
(While the new Finsters have been very good about staying in the Finsterium when I reach in to grab Goober during the day, nighttime takes two people since they're more easily flutterpated. Bruce did the popping, while I watched Wasabi (Peas) fly right out of the cage and into Bob. Once Goober was settled, he got his wild and wacky long toenails clipped, and then sent back home to tell his friends about the adventure.)
Goober is still not right, but at least she doesn't look like she's dying. She's eating, pooping, able to rest on her tummy, and has made it up to nest boxes a couple of times — albeit not very gracefully. She'll be on the steroids for a while (it's a slow process to wean a patient off the drug), and there's no guarantee that The Magic will last once she's off the steroids. But for now, it's worth the try.
The Finster Log
The Magic Of Steroids
Posted on: 06/03/05, 16:32:52
Not really, as is usually the case with tiny birds. But the vet tube-fed her some breakfast, since I was pretty sure she hadn't been able to eat anything, and sent me off with a course of steroids. That lump wasn't identifiable, but something was definitely swollen, and it was making Goober uncomfortable — despite being unsteady, she kept standing, as if the lump was too tender to rest on. The vet hoped the steroids would get the swelling to go down, and make her more comfortable.
Not the first dose, though. Relegated to the aquarium (placed on top of a heating pad, it's a nice spot for a very ill bird) poor Goober spent most of the day standing, awkwardly leaning against the glass, trying to sleep, not eating or drinking. I gave her the second dose right before I left for class, and after watching her pant while leaning against the glass for a few minutes, I was pretty sure she'd be dead by the time I got back.
Imagine my happy surprise when Bruce called me up about 20 minutes later to say she was eating tasty seeds! And when I got home, she was so eager to go to bed with Earl Grey that we scooped her up and popped her into the nest box!
(While the new Finsters have been very good about staying in the Finsterium when I reach in to grab Goober during the day, nighttime takes two people since they're more easily flutterpated. Bruce did the popping, while I watched Wasabi (Peas) fly right out of the cage and into Bob. Once Goober was settled, he got his wild and wacky long toenails clipped, and then sent back home to tell his friends about the adventure.)
Goober is still not right, but at least she doesn't look like she's dying. She's eating, pooping, able to rest on her tummy, and has made it up to nest boxes a couple of times — albeit not very gracefully. She'll be on the steroids for a while (it's a slow process to wean a patient off the drug), and there's no guarantee that The Magic will last once she's off the steroids. But for now, it's worth the try.
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