So far it looks like we’re holding steady, at least! The vet has narrowed it down to the most likely issue being a virus that causes Macaw Wasting Disease, (he’s not a macaw, but it was first identified in macaw species) or more formally, proventricular dilatation disease.
Birds have two stomachs, and what happens with this is that the first one, which is supposed to soften up food so their digestive tract can extract nutrients, becomes painfully swollen and stops moving food along so that they stop eating.
It can be treated with NSAIDs, but it’s usually a slow progression, and since birds are very VERY good at hiding illness by doing things like fake-eating,
as in this case it often isn’t discovered till the bird has lost so much weight that they’ve become dangerously thin. So at this point, keeping him eating and hydrated is actually the biggest challenge.
Sometimes this also progresses to become a neurological disease, with muscle weakness, seizures, etc. I haven’t seen any sign of that in him, thankfully, but we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed on that.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1LJOrI5