Mr Akala - Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

We have had an absolute roller coaster ride since getting our first Sulphur Crested Cockatoo at the beginning of this year.

The short version is that we now have a second cockatoo and are pretty certain that he has PBFD. We are yet to test him for it. He is happy and we are going to try and keep him as happy and comfortable as possible.

I have set out the details of our experience this year in a fair amount of detail below if people are interested.

It was nearly Christmas time and partner, Simon, and I were looking forward to getting two puppies in the new year when the bird shop rang to tell us that there was a sulphur crested cockatoo available. We had placed our names on a waiting list some months before and, although we hadn’t forgotten, had assumed that we probably weren’t going to get one this season. We talked about it – two puppies and a cockatoo would be a lot of work – but if we didn’t take him then it would be at least another year before we would have another opportunity. We decided to have a look and decide then. Of course, once you have seen any homeless animal you can’t just leave them – so we arranged to adopt “Lister”.

We had wanted a hand raised, aviary bred cockatoo but “Lister” was a wild caught one. However, we had missed out on the hand raised ones for the year.

We had Lister for 2 weeks. He was coming along well with his training and had learn to ‘step up’ onto Simon’s arm. He loved to have a scratch on the side of his head. Lister had started to spend some time outside in his cage when we were at work. One day we came home and moved his cage inside. Simon got him to step up onto his arm but Lister seemed weak as he took him to his perch. When he got on his perch he was breathless, around his eyes was red and he making strange noises. We knew something was wrong. We phoned the vet (who had never seen Lister) and even though it was closing time they told us to bring him down. We rushed him into the car – just held in Simon’s arms – and I drove as fast as I could to get to the vets. His condition was clearly deteriorating rapidly and about 300 metres from the vet he took his last breath and was gone. We continued on to the vet even though we knew that there was nothing that could be done. The vet was really lovely. He checked Lister out and said that he thought he probably had an infection prior to us getting him. Unfortunately, as you all will know birds only show any symptoms of sickness at the very end (so that they don’t alert predators to their illness/weakness).

That weekend we went to the bird shop and explained what had happened with Lister. He told us to clean the cage thoroughly and leave it in the sun for a week to kill any bacteria then come and see him next weekend. We thoroughly cleaned the cage and went back the shop the next week. He still had a sulphur crested cockatoo that had been there when we got Lister and was prepared to give us a good deal on him given what had happened. I wasn’t keen to open myself up to the heartbreak so soon; especially given that Lister and this bird had spent time together; so he could have the same bug. But baby sulphur crested cockatoos are only available once a year so it was really a choice between taking this one or waiting a year. Simon was keen to try again so we took him home.
This time though we wanted to be 100% certain that we were doing everything right. Simon even took a poo sample into the bird shop to check that it looked normal. We arranged for the bird to see the vet two days after we picked him up. He got a clean bill of health so we needed a name for him. Because we hadn’t planned to get him we hadn’t considered this and it took a while to come up with something we were both happy with. Ultimately, we decided on Mr Akala or AK for short.

He seemed to be settling in quite well. He spent time out of his cage and on the perch in the lounge room. The vet had told us that the best sign of whether a bird was unwell was to weigh them regularly. He suggested training him to go on the kitchen scales. After a week Simon succeeded in getting him onto the scales – he was 664 grams. The next day we came home from work and like a terrible repeat of Lister he was making some strange little sounds that Lister had made before he died. But he didn’t seem weak, his eyes seemed fine and his breathing was unlaboured. Irrespective, we weren’t taking any chances and rushed him to the vet; all be it feeling a bit stupid because unlike Lister there was no definitive evidence that he was sick – just this strange noise. However, given what we had gone through previously the vet thought it was prudent to start him on antibiotics. Then AK did a poo and the vet thought that there was evidence that he was unwell from the colour of the urates – which should be white but were more of a yellow colour. AK was weighed at the vets – he was .63kg. The vet’s scales didn’t go down to the third decimal place but it was clear that he had lost a significant amount of weight in 24 hours. The vet gave AK an injection of antibiotics and told us that we should see improvement in 24 – 48 hours. AK needed to come back for more injections.

Two days later we went back and thought that there had been improvement. This time AK was .66kg on the vet’s scale which was an excellent turn around.

That Saturday we went in for AK’s next injection. The vet thought that if we were willing it would be appropriate for us to give AK the injections. So at that appointmentthe vet filled a stack of injections and taught me to inject him. I was to give him the remainder of the injections at a rate of one every 3 days. On Sunday, AK seemed full of energy and we were feeling a lot happier that he was on the road to recovery. Unfortulately, he was feeling a little too good and decided to take a fly from his cage crash landing on our tiled floor and breaking his beak. We knew that birds couldn’t lose much blood. We tried desperately to stop the bleeding with cornflour and pressure (Simon held paper towel INSIDE AK’s beak - AK was a wild bird before we got him about 3 weeks before this so this was quite the exercise of trust on behalf of AK and Simon). AK was such a good bird while all of this was going on. Eventually, we decided that the bleeding was too much and we weren’t managing to get it under control so we would need to subject him to the 40 degree heatwave outside to get him to the emergency vet. We got to the emergency vet and waited what seemed like an eternity for the bird vet to be available (it was probably 10 minutes). The vet inspected the problem and attempted to stop the flow with a chemical cauterising agent. AK just licked the agent off and the bleeding continued. She said she didn’t know how she was going to stop the bleeding. AK’s condition was deteriorating before our eyes. We had told her about his illness which meant that an anaesthetic was not recommended as it would be dangerous. However, ultimately there was no other option other than watching him bleed to death or giving him an anaesthetic. So AK was taken through to the operating theatre and Simon and I had a few minutes to process what had been happening. Neither of us could believe what was happening - the last thing this little guy needed was a broken beak. Then the vet came back holding AK wrapped in a towel. He was sleepy but alright and, importantly, no longer bleeding. It took him a while to come out of the anaesthetic. We watched him to make sure the bleeding didn’t start again before moving out to the waiting room. We stayed there a bit longer to make sure that he was OK. The next few days were hard. AK’s beak hurt, he wasn’t meant to have seed but loves it and didn’t seem to be eating anything else we offered. Given his earlier illness he couldn’t afford to lose anymore weight so the seed went back into the cage and he cried when he ate it (but irrespective seemed to like eating it).

We continued with the injections each day and weighing him. His condition was improving and while he was getting tamer every day he was also getting stronger and more able to fight us off when it was time for an injection. Injecting him was extremely difficult for all of us and I was petrified that I would hurt him. The second to last injection was terrible – blood came out when I removed the needle, but thankfully stopped quickly. But the last injection I was so scared of hurting him and he was struggling so much that I didn’t even manage to get the injection into him properly and the antibiotics just stained his feathers. So another trip to the vet to have the last injection. We had noticed that the first day after the injection AK’s poo looked normal but just before the next injection it was again showing yellow in the urates. He was kept on antibiotics but thankfully (his condition now not being critical) given the antibiotics in his water. The water was a bit sticky and blue and stained the feathers under his chin.

The local pet store has a sulphur crested cockatoo and we noticed that ‘Sammy’ had a lot more feather dust than AK. We knew that lack of feather dust could be a sign of Beak and Feather Disease but didn’t know if the antibiotics may have an effect or if it was because ‘Sammy’ was older that she had more feather dust than AK.

We kept close track of AK’s weight and were delighted as he grew and grew. His maximum weight (to date) is 200g above his weight when he was sick.

Then he started to have his first moult about a month ago. We came home one day and half of his crest feathers were missing. We found them in the bottom of the cage. They looked like normal feathers. We were worried about how many he had lost all at once but could see new blood feathers growing after a day or so. The bird shop reassured us that it seemed like a normal moult. Then we noticed some feathers were also missing under his chin and one of his new crest feathers fell out one day when he scratched his head. We were hopeful that this was a normal moult but also researching PBFD so that we knew what we were looking for etc. As there isn’t really anything that can be done we didn’t take him to the vet at this stage. Then his weight chart started to take a down hill turn. His maximum weight was 829g and over a period of 18 days he lost 41 grams – just a few grams a day but the trend was unmistakable. We took him to the vet. The vet checked him over and agreed with our suspicion that there was something wrong with the new feathers that were growing but other than that and the weight loss AK seemed in good health and was certainly in good spirits. We agreed to have PBFD testing but as it was afterhours the vet wasn’t sure exactly what was required. He took some feather samples including plucking a deformed blood feather from his crest. The next day we were told he would also need a blood test. We asked what difference the test result would make to treatment and were told none. We thought it wasn’t fair to put AK through the trauma of another vet visit for ‘confirmation’ of our suspicion. We might do it at some point but not at the moment.

The next few days AK was quite apprehensive about coming out of his cage and a bit quieter than usual but we had visitors in the house so this wasn’t necessarily a sign that he was getting worse. He was given pretty much anything that he wanted – cuddles, food, toys. Then he lost 20g in one day. I was devastated. Even when we thought he had PBFD we had thought we would have his company for a while to come. Now it looked like something was going to happen in the near future. We talked about what to do if AK was distressed and agreed that we would make that decision at the appropriate time – for the time being AK was still happy/playing and loved having us around. We continued to spoil him with favourite foods and lots of attention. He got to sit on the couch with us and his sharp claws were allowed on our bare skin if it seemed to be making him happy (although our arms were certainly not enjoying it).

And then AK stopped losing weight. He put on 20g in one day and has been holding steady at about 780g. We’d like to see him putting on weight but holding steady is good enough for the time being.

We are fairly certain that he has PBFD.

In retrospect I think it is probably likely that both of the birds had the disease from the time they were in the bird shop - and probably before - but that we were lucky enough to be able to get AK through his first infection.

Another growing crest feather came out today. It didn’t look as deformed as the one the vet pulled out but still didn’t look good. Only time will tell. We will keep him as comfortable as we can and treasure the time we have with him.