sudden death in cockatiel

by Kim
(NY)

I had a beautiful lutino female cockatiel for five years....I got her from a rescue and they told me she was about a year old when I got her, so that would make her around 6 yrs. of age, but who really knows for sure coming from a rescue.

I've had concerns with her from the start. She was never able to fly normally and would crash into things and once got hurt, an injury to her keel/chest area, which healed up nicely. She also would get spots of blood on her nose/nares area when she bang into things, so finally I just got a very large flight cage and kept her in alot more to keep her safe. It just always seemed that she had bleeding going on, broken blood feathers as well. This all stopped when I kept her in more and she appeared to be healthy and strong. She gained quite a bit of weight after having her about a year or so.....she was huge! getting up to 140 grams at one point.

She also lived with her mate, a male about a year older than her and the two mated all the time but she never laid any eggs. I got worried about her weight. She had been to the vet a few times and they always commented on her size.

Finally...about 7 months ago, I noticed some crazy looking bright green, very watery poop on the bottom of the cage.....I brought her poop to the vet to be tested and tests came back normal....I then took her in for blood work, this too came back all normal and healthy, including liver function which was what I most concerned about because of her weight. Since that vet visit, her poops have been normal....she's been eating normal, acting normal, everything seemed fine, then suddenly one day I see her on the bottom of the cage in some kind of distress. She was running around frantically with her beak open and appeared to be breathing heavy.....I knew right when I saw her that she wasn't going to make it. She died quickly, within a couple of minutes of her distress, leaving me and her mate sad and in shock.


I just wonder what would cause a sudden death like this....one other thing.....I picked her up while she was in distress and it appeared that she was not able to use one foot....could this have been a stroke? one other thing that I've always worried about with her is that someone once told me that she could have a tumor that would cause her to be so big and weight gain.....seeing as the vet on her last visit told me that she looked in good shape, and not fat, could this be a possibility?

I am now in the process of getting my male another mate.....I just got a new female and this appears to be easing the male's sadness, even though they are not together yet, he can see her. I miss my beautiful girl so much though......you just want answers when something like this happens. I am not totally shocked because of the fact that she's never seemed normal compared to the other tiel, but still she seemed so strong and active.