Good bye sweet Owlie :(

[chirpy]

I just read this and it breaks my heart.
I love the relationship you had with Owlie.. this is a relationship us finchers want with our finches and it barely seems to happen. She is such a sweet little bird.. definitely has a bigger character than the compact size she is.
You did the best that you could to keep her comfortable and she definitely was loved by fellows birds and of course by you. May be rest in peace with all the beautiful birds

[henrietta]

Thanks again everyone for all your wonderful comments. This community is so sweet and supportive. The vet hasn't called yet. I just hope she didn't have anything horrible, like pox. She did have a growth on her toe that is making me very nervous. I was going to go to the Orlando bird show and get a few birds, but I don't think I will have the news in time. This waiting is really killing me. I want to start medicating all my birds for absolutely everything, but I don't know if that would even help because we don't know what she had!! It's a frustrating feeling.

[chirpy]

henrietta I hope that it is nothing serious the waiting must be hard I am so sorry .

Keep us posted on things, prayers to you and your little flock.
She's so pretty.. along with your other owls, its made me want some!

[henrietta]

The vet literally just called me. He said he found a lot of little lumps in her stomach and liver. He said they were probably a lot of abscesses from chronic infection, but they could be tumors. He said she had food in her, but probably wasn't absorbing nutrients because of the infection. They sent samples off to see what she had and the results will be back next week. I just wish I had taken her sooner. She looked scruffy from the day I got her, but I thought that was just from her ordeal at the pet store and that it would get better in time. My poor baby.

[chirpy]

henrietta Aw.. I am so sorry.. this is sad
it isn't your fault so please don't think that it is.. You tried your very best from the knowledge you had. I think it would of been hard as the vet didn't know until today.. really isn't your fault it is still sad, she is in a better place now and flocking around with other birds..

[beachbird]

I am so sorry Liz. Your post made me cry with awe and sadness. I feel such a loss in your words. She was truly special and greatly loved. So hard to loose loved ones.

[lpappy]

So sorry for your loss It's very hard to loose a pet that you've grown to love.

[henrietta]

Okay the vet called me a few days ago. I've just been so busy (I'm a teacher and this is the first week of school in my district!!) that I forgot to post about it.

Those lumps in her stomach and liver were abscesses from infection. She had no trace of the protozoa (either giardia or cochlosoma) left in her system, but she had a terrible fungal infection throughout her entire body. At least it wasn't avian pox. He said it was probably the combination of the 3 things: being picked on, protozoa, and the fungal infection which was why she just couldn't get better. It was a downward spiral. Once her immune system was down from being stressed, she was unable to fight off the protozoa, and once that took hold, she couldn't fight off the fungal infection, and then the other birds picked on her because she seemed weak, which stressed her out and lowered her immune system response further, and so on.

OH! Also, Owlie was apparently a BOY! I was shocked, because he never sang, the other owls would sing to him, built a nest for him, fought over him, and even mated with him lol The vet said he was just acting very submissive because he wasn't feeling well so the other birds treated him like a girl. Also, the breeder put a pink leg band on him. Come on. What was I supposed to think?

Well, anyway, hope that info helps someone in the future. Thanks again for all the support and kind words. I am probably not going to be very active in the next few days, or even weeks, the beginning of the school year is always so crazy!!!

[Zebrafincher]

Hi there,

I was sorry to hear about Owlie Passing. I had been following your texts at the time you bought "her". Unfortunately often when we get hens/cocks - finches or canaries, they can have been raised in very poor circumstances. I had one of my star finches had terrible feathers when I got him from a pet store , which took a good year to moult out. The Vet said he had "stress lines" in his feathers. He was also bald, as he'd been stuck in a cage with about 20 other birds. He's very happy now at home.