Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Button's dilemma part 2


I took Button back to the vet after her second visit this year 2 weeks ago.
 Her condition had deteriorated significantly. Her preening gland is huge. Just the slightest touch causes it to bleed. The same situation goes for the spot on her head. The skin pulled away from the "tumor" leaving a gaping hole.
Her weight on April 27 was 117grams. Her weight two weeks later on May 11 was 97 grams. That is a 20 gram weight loss in a short period of time. The vet was concerned and not very hopeful in her prognosis. If she had an infection the baytril would have made her gland smaller- not bigger.
It appears that she has cancer.
To operate on her, if indeed you could remove the offending tumors, she would most likely bleed out, even with the best of care. Her skin is like paper. The fact that she lost so much weight and she isn't flying indicates possible internal shit.
She is mostly alert and has a good appetite. I now feed her away from the other birds with rice, veggies and her pellets, with a sprig of millet for dessert. She is on metacam for pain management. I took her outside in the morning for vitamen D sunshine.
 I am doing the best for her comfort. I couldn't bear having her pass away alone on a operating table. At least this way she is having managed care surrounded by her friends.

1 comment:

  1. It's good to know there is pain management available for avian cancer patients. That makes her remaining days bearable, I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete