Shaftail had a siezure tonight

[cindy]

I was feeding my finches and had just put the food in a cage above the shaftail flight when I noticed one of my sweet shaftail females fall off the perch, she was twitching, when she uprighted herself she leaned to the left and her head went slightly to the left then the back of her head actually touched her back...one thing I noticed is her eyes had a rapid movement to it.

I tried to upright her but touching her made it worse. I watched her as all 5 of her siblings and her mom and another unrelated female gathered around her, the chirps were soft and they all touched her with their beaks at different times. They all looked so worried, gathered in around her.

Slowly she uprighted her head and she sat on the bottom, I went over and she chirpped at me. It took a total of 10 minutes and she was back on the branches above where she sat prior. She just finished eating and took a bath in her water bowl.

Slightly scary but interesting to she the comfort the other shaftail gave her. She seems ok but I will keep an eye on her for the next couple of days.

[flrancho]

I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a problem cropping up in the species. I have a female Shaftail that I believe has seizures, and I saw one a few months ago for sale in a local flea market that seemed to be going through the same twitches and heavy breathing my female does when she has a seizure. Mine will get bad enough where she will be like that for a day or two, then the next thing you know she's right as rain and flying around the cage like nothing ever happened, though you'd swear she was going to die by the way she looked 24 hours before.

[cindy]

There was no heavy breathing at all in my female, I think mine might have slightly collided with a branch or something in the cage as her and her brother were flying around the flight very swiftly prior to me feeding them.

I would not say it is species related. I have had these for a couple of years now, kept the last clutch which are about a yr old now. I have not seen this in all the shaftail I had. Like in people either injury or internal issues like a brain injury, a blood vessel popping...

[L in Ontario]

Amazing to hear how the other Shafts gathered around her - you were fortunate to see that.

Best wishes for her.

[cindy]

Thank you Liz. She seems ok now, I am hoping she was just stunned or it was a one time thing, the siblings and mom are very close and are sweet together. She is grooming and just finished eating, I am hoping for the best.

[lovemyfinch]

Glad she is back to her old self Cindy.
Hopefull as you suggested she just knocked the wind out of herself.

[flrancho]

Nor would I think that every Shaftail would have seizures, I was meaning more along the lines of how domestic dog breeds have certain health issues; such as Doberman Pinschers tend to have issues with Wobbler's Syndrome. It doesn't mean every Doberman gets it, or that other dogs can't, but that the rate of that disease is higher in that breed than it is in others. Hopefully it was just a freak issue from running into the branch though and not a genetic problem.

[cindy]

Thanks Janine...I am keeping an eye on her for the next few days. If she did collide with something it may take a while for it to show the true results. The way the shaftails fly and dart around, up and over branches is a bit scary but they love the roomy flight and seem to be having fun!

[cindy]

This morning when I got up and turned the cage lights on she was fine, an hour and a half later I noticed she passed away. She was one of two female offspring in the group of 6 young, they were almost a yr old. I was thinking back as to what happened right before the time I saw her seizing, there was a loud noise in the house and it startled the birds, my broom which was propped up against the wall slipped and fell on the tile, it was shortly after that that I noticed her on the bottom of the cage. It may have startled her enough to have a fright and perhaps she flew into a branch or fellow cage mate. I am usually good about the noise level in the house so not to startle them but I could not get to the broom fast enough to keep it from hitting the tile.

I checked her body, there were no outward signs of injury and she was very well fed.

Sad for such a beautiful bird. Hopefully she did not suffer much.

I will be putting one of her bigger brothers together with a unrelated female soon so we will have more shaftails hopefully by mid summer.

[lovemyfinch]

So sorry for your loss Cindy Rest in Peace little one

[cindy]

Thank you Janine.

[L in Ontario]

I'm so sorry to hear that Cindy. Such a shame for her. RIP little one.

[cindy]

Thank you Liz.

[B CAMP]

Sorry for your loss

[cindy]

Thank you Bill.