The preliminary bloodtest for my cocketiel shows evidence of liver problems...?

Question

her f***s is green and her urate yellow... so it was what i feared.

gosh she's only 7 years old. they want to do a more precise test to find out if its really a liver problem or what it is but...

please someone tell me what if it IS a liver problem? i'm on a short lease with the money, and i don't believe my parents would go through with anything drastic. i wouldn't want my cockatiel to go through that either...

does anyone know or have any experience? is it possible that the problems could be treated without anything drastic? and most importanly what are her chances?

Answer 1

I've had twelve cockatiels and one died of liver failure. Your tiels chances are 50/50 or less, because by the time the diagnosis is done the damage has already started. Sorry to be the grim reaper :( They can start her on antibiotics and you can see if she improves. Make sure you shake that bottle and give her all the antis even if she improves, because if you stop treatment she's a goner for sure. Do your best. I lost my Lucy. But you need to know the truth.

Answer 2

An avian vet should be able to diagnose the underlying reason for the green and yellow urates and treat it.  He may start off with a broad spectrum antibiotic pending results of a "culture and sensitivity" which will culture out the name of the organism and tell what antibiotics the organism is susceptible and resistant too.  Hopefully this will solve the problem.

If there is no infection, please consider having more testing done.  This may include a CBC which will give your vet a count of the red and white blood cells and/or a complete blood chemistry panel which will tell more.  If that's already been done, your vet may want to do an x-ray or two or even an ultrasound.  More invasive procedures would be endoscopic examination where he could actually go in with a scope and take a peek at the liver and finally biopsy (though I would suspect biopsy would be a last resort and discussed more at length with you).

The good news is that the liver is the one organ that is able to repair itself if the damage isn't too great.  If the cause of the liver problem is diagnosed and treated there is every hope that your cockatiel will recover.

Good luck!

Colette

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Parro...