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The PDD Memorial Quilt
In loving memory of all victims of Proventicular Dilatation Disease.
Finnigan By Kit Kolenda
Finnigan was 3 years old when PDD reared its ugly head. This picture is of Finnigan when she was still being hand fed, playing on the kitchen floor and attacking her Kong toy.
Sometime in May - I saw Finnigan having some difficulty on the top perch of her cage. She bopped her tail on her dish and regained her balance. I thought nothing of it. A few minutes later saw her in distress, holding onto the corner of her cage while trying to get hold of her perch with her beak. She couldn't get hold of the perch with her left foot. I reached in and put my hand under her chest and took her out of the cage. We sat on the floor and I noticed her left foot curled shut. I opened her toes and gently pressed her foot to the floor, but she just curled her toes up again with a slight left bend to her 'ankle'. Like it was useless. I put her on the back of the couch, but she couldn't walk.
She kept acting startled, raising her crown feathers and jerking her head in a startled manner. I kept her quiet and she slowly returned to normal, but stayed quiet. She returned to normal by the next day.
July 1st - Came home from work mid afternoon to find Finnigan climbing down the side of her cage. She didn't seem normal and acted startled. I took her out of the cage and she jumped around and flopped to the floor. I sat on the floor and held her under her wings. She kept acting startled and it seemed like she couldn't see out of her left eye. I cuddled her in the crook of my right arm and she faced to the right but turned her head completely backwards and watched me. She was very quiet when she came out of it.
About 3 or 4 hours later I had her out of her cage with me at the dinner table. She was going onto my son's arm. I noticed her demeanor changing and remarked that she was going into another episode. I took her immediately into the next room and sat on the floor with her. Both her feet were curled and she just sat on my lap without using her feet. I held her and began to move my left forefinger in front of her left eye. I made like I was going to touch the eye ball and wiggled my finger back and forth towards her eye. She didn't blink and seemed like she couldn't see it. I then proceeded to move the finger from left to right around her face. As soon as she could see my finger with her right eye she would get startled, jerk and raise her crown. When she got startled she, would try to jump away. I had my husband walk around her and she did the same thing. I timed this episode from start to finish - 10 minutes. She was quiet afterwards.
July 2nd - Had blood tests and gram stain. Normal. The vet feels Finnigan may be epileptic and doesn't feel she needs to be medicated at this point. About 2 weeks before, Finnigan had been checked by the vet, having lost a lot of blood from a broken blood feather. She said Finnigan was fine. I mentioned Finnegan's balancing problem episode to her. All she offered was that the bird may have had a cramp. Also mentioned to this vet (who is very young and inexperienced) that Finnigan had regurgitated a lot of brown stuff. I thought it was some cooked black beans that may have fermented and disagreed with her.) Finnigan returns to acting normal and eating well. Feces are normal all the time.
July 9th - Small seizure in mid-afternoon. Finnigan was on her hanging perch on the porch. I took her off. She had problems with her left foot. She couldn't hold onto my shoulder. I sat with her and she played with my watch band and seemed fine, only very quiet. I gave her to my son and after awhile she became playful. Everything returns to normal until...
July 13th - Small seizure in mid morning, left side only. Her left eye doesn't blink when threatened. Very calm, except when she catches something going from left eye to right eye sight area. As she comes out of the episode she nibbles on fingers, etc. When out of it she just wanted to be cuddled and hide under clothing. Back to normal when we're around. Don't know how she is when we're at work.
July 15th - Apparently found Finnigan at the end of a seizure. She was setting on her porch swing, her left foot dangling, in a useless position, holding on with the right foot and beak. I had a hard time getting her off. She reached down to sit on my arm. She seemed to be slowly coming out of the same type of seizure. I took her outside and she wanted to be playful. Later she got noisy.
July 23 - I went for a second opinion. The vet was unsure about epilepsy since seizures are localized. He feels we should watch for another month. A CT scan would probably show a tumor if there was one, but nothing could really be done about it. A liver bile test could be done also. When I asked him if these could be just a fluke - he said it could be. Not enough is known about bird seizures.
Sept 27th - before 7am - Finnigan regurgitated a large amount of brown fluid. It was tossed all over - on her, her toys, inside the cage, floor of the cage, walls and floor. She didn't feel good and wanted to be cuddled. I gave her a small amount of food that I felt she could possibly keep down. Some of it was rice, but she regurgitated that too. That evening she seemed a little better, but couldn't hold anything down - even water. After while I gave her some Malto meal with yogurt and she was able to keep small amounts down every time I gave it to her. She seemed to be getting better. She ate and played normally.
Sept 29th - In the afternoon I let her eat a peanut. She normally didn't like peanuts, but thought it would be okay for her to eat one. She regurgitated it later. She cried. She was not one for crying. I gave her Malto meal again, with honey and yogurt and she ate some.
Around 6 I took her from her cage and gave her to my husband to play with while I was busy doing something else. He brought her into the family room and put her on the playpen. Rover (one of two red loreds) wanted his attention too. She got on the table and was feeling the plastic cloth with her feet. She wanted to climb on my husband again but he had Rover. He gave her to me and I noticed her crop peaking out through an area that had molted and new feathers hadn't grown in yet. I touched her crop. Thinking back I suspect it was impacted. A couple of seconds later she got weak and wanted to climb onto my shoulder. She had trouble getting on my shoulder, so I pushed her up. I sat down and got her off my shoulder because she was in such distress and held her in my hands. She acted like she was fainting. She seemed to have problems breathing. We didn't know what to do. We were helpless. She acted like she was choking and struggled for breath. I put her beak in my mouth and gave a good breath. But it wouldn't work. It couldn't have taken more than half a minute and she was dead.
We brought her to the vet's office. They checked for a heartbeat... none. We left her there for a necropsy.
The vet did the necropsy 3 days later and came to the conclusion that she had PROVENTRICULAR DILATATION. This is something that cockatoos get, he said. It can be genetic. He said her stomach was unusually large without any muscle control. He said she aspirated but her lungs were clear. He said that there was nothing anyone could have done. He said it wasn't contagious. I requested a report in layman's terms so I could present it to GLAS (bird club). He said he would.
Oct. 3 - Searched the web and came up with 3 reports on Proventricular Dilatation Disease. "This is a contagious disease..."
Oct. 4 - I dropped off 3 reports gleaned from the Web to the vet with a cover letter asking him to contact me. I needed to ask him if he did a histopathology. If he didn't, then how would he know it wasn't contagious.
Oct. 14 - I stopped in person at the vets' office and had an almost hour long talk with him. He said Finnigan did have PDD and hemorrhaged. He has spoken with the virologist at MSU and was preparing a report for me.
Nov. 14 - Received letter, necropsy report and two photocopied reports on PDD from the vet.
I've emailed Dr. Christopher Gregory and received information and good advice. Throw out anything you can't bleach. Bleach cages. Disinfect. He said I should wait an additional six months (it's been 4) and disinfect the house again.
My memorial to Finnigan is to support PDD research and to help educate.
She was a sweet little bird. She was playful, cuddly, naughty, noisy... everything you'd want in an umbrella cockatoo. She was my velcro bird. She was my Finnigan.
Kit Kolenda - DKolenda@bigfoot.com
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