My green-cheeked conure has a heart murmur, and the vet wants me to consider having him x-rayed to determine whether he has an enlarged heart. If so, he would start him on heart medicine. He can’t start him on the medicine without checking, because it can have negative effects on a healthy bird.
The problem is that an x-ray would require him to be sedated, and I’m worried about using anesthesia on his little system. The vet is confident in his office’s ability to do it successfully, but he acknowledges that there are always risks when putting a bird under. On the other hand, I don’t want to forgo proper treatment. I previously had a dog with congestive heart failure who responded very well to medication and got an additional year of good quality of life.
My bird is 22, which is old but not ancient in conure years. He is otherwise healthy. His heart murmur measures a 3 on the scale from 1 to 6.
I’m going to talk further with the vet, but I value the Dope’s advice as well. If any bird owners have experience with sedation or other thoughts for me, I’d appreciate hearing it.
I had a lovebird that required sedation in order to x-ray and set her broken leg. We were cautioned there were risks but she was struggling so hard and so panicked there wasn’t much choice.
The vet kept her overnight and she recovered just fine.
I’ll point out that lovebirds are smaller than green-cheek conures, so even more tricky to sedate.
(I have a green cheek myself right now, they’re so full of personality!)
If the vet has experienced in sedating small birds it might be worth the risk. The decision is ultimately yours. Certainly, being hysterical and terrified while getting an x-ray isn’t good for a bird, either.
Thanks. I was hoping I’d hear from you. My green-cheek broke his leg once too, many years ago, and now that you’ve got me thinking about it, I cannot recall if he was sedated for treatment then. It seems like he probably would have been, which relieves my worry a bit.
I lived with a green conure for about a year. Its screech could shatter glass at fifty feet, and it crapped on everything when allowed to fly around. Sedation wasn’t enough to make me accept living with it.
Oh, you mean for the bird. Never mind.
The ex took it with her, and a few weeks later the dog ate it. I was unheartbroken.
I don’t have any experience with having my birds (budgies) sedated but I’ll be following this thread to see how it all goes. I think I’d be a bit of a nervous wreck while the procedure was going on. Good luck with your feathered buddy!
Not too different with older dogs, when you have to make the choice between them living with a problem or risking general anesthesia. I have yet to lose an animal to surgery/anesthesia but I know it’s far too common.
I had a bird that had a grown on it head and he required sedation , the vet told one of 20 will die from surgery . My bird was the 20th bird ! I found out later on that people had complained about the vet being no good . Made sure your vet has a good reputation , someone told the vet I used did and damn they were dead wrong ! I hope your bird will be OK .
I had an Amazon with a mega infection sedated for some procedure (years ago, can’t remember what they did now). At any rate, he was pretty sick when they sedated him, but he cam through it just fine. He was maybe 5 -10 yrs yrs old at that point though, so I don’t know how much of a difference it makes.
