Sick Bird Update

I wanted to provide a brief update tonight on how the bird is doing. No, she didn't pass away, I just didn't want to bore everyone with a daily update on a bird recovering from a massive stroke. The good news is that she is getting stronger each day. The bad news is that she still cannot use either of her feet.

The bird has been getting a steady dose of StemEnhance and ST-5 with Migrastem every day. Even though these items are intended for human consumption, I have reduced the dose down to a bird-sized amount. What I have been doing is putting approximately a quarter teaspoon of ST-5 in a quarter cup of water. I have punched a hole in one of the StemEnhance pills and sprinkle a light amount of StemEnhance on top of the water and ST-5 mixture. Both of these products are quite soluble, so it is very easy to mix the whole thing up into a very drinkable mixture. As the day progresses, I do add water (the evaporation rate here in AZ is pretty high) and change the mixture out every day. The stem cell nutrition works well for Zardoz as it has been working well for me too. (Click here if you are interested in any of the StemTech products. I would love to discuss them with you further)

The bird (Zardoz) drinks deeply from this mixture several times a day. I also make sure that she has a good supply of fresh clean water. She is now also back to eating some bird seeds along with cooked pasta, rice, pizza crust, and anything else she even remotely desires. I realize this is not necessarily the healthiest mixture, but right now, she is still so thin that anything she is willing to eat, she gets. She is definitely getting strong every day, she is preening now, even though she cannot clean her underside since she cannot stand on either leg.

Her tail feathers are getting pretty mangled right now because she still backs up more than pulls herself forward, but her legs (not feet...yet) are getting a little better. She is not using her wings quite as much to move around and is balancing better on her legs. She still gets her feet tangled underneath her, but I am hoping with time, she will regain full use of both of her feet. One foot is showing some small signs of movement, the other foot (the one that is curled) has opened up for a little while today, and is now curled up again.

Her attitude is much better, she is getting feisty and loves to flap her wings (her version of flying) upon being lifted from her cage. Because she appears to really like to stretch out her wings and flap, each time we take her out of her cage, we run around the house with her in our hands and let her believe that she is flying around. Each day she flaps her wings for a longer period of time, so I know she is slowly improving. The attached pictures are showing what she looks like in her personal "flight simulator".

I guess there is more good news, we are getting more exercise because we are literally running around the house with the bird in our hands. Granted I have not weighted the bird (more afraid than anything else) but she is feeling slightly heavier than when she first had her stroke. I can see that her chest is slowly starting to fill out, so she is beginning to put some weight back on. As she is gaining weight, I am losing weight. Perhaps I am providing her the weight. That is a thought, but I really don't want the bird to gain more than a pound or two, and I really want to lose more than a pound or two.

That is the sick bird update for this week. Hopefully the next time you all see Zardoz, you will see a healthy bird that is able to perch and climb around her cage. I am doing a lot of Physical Therapy with her when I am not running all around town.

Until tomorrow...