Mini macaw died suddenly this morning

I was just wondering what cause a mini macaw to die suddenly? We had a mini macaw who was 15 years old this morning he was fine, we all walked out of the room. My son told me that he was on the bottom of his cage flailing around, and the next thing they knew he was dead. He was in good health as far as we could tell. What would cause him to die so suddenly? Please help!

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Mini macaw died suddenly this morning

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Jul 09, 2012

Macaw died suddenly
by: Tracie

First of all, I am sorry for your loss.

There is really no way of knowing what happened without a necropsy being done by an avian vet. The possibilities are numerous.

It could have been a heart attack or seizure from another cause. If your bird was not eating a high quality pellet diet like Harrison's or Roudybush, then it could have been fatty liver disease or some other nutritional problem. ZuPreem and other cheap pellets have too many chemicals and sugars and an all seed diet is a sure way to shorten a bird's life. If you fed the wrong diet in ignorance, please do not put guilt on yourself, you did the best you knew how. ((hugs))

Another possibility is that it either chewed or breathed something toxic. If the bird is allowed to fly around your home, then it could have ingested something toxic. There are many unsafe metals and other items in our homes that kill birds.

If someone sprayed air freshener, ironed with a Teflon coated iron, used a toxic fragrance in the room with the bird etc., then that could cause the bird to go into convulsions too. Here is our Toxic / Non-toxic for birds list that you can look at for future reference.

You can use our Find an Avian Vet page to look for an avian vet if you wish to have a necropsy done.

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