Blue (male) was plucking and very hormonal. Vet gave him a hormone injection. Blue’s behavior instantly changed. Unbalanced, not chirping, no whistle, seems heavy in weight, heart rate faster, said a few words, no more, eats and drinks more, wants to hide, sleeps alot, not as friendly all these symptoms since this injection. Vet can’t find anything wrong!!
Hi Connie,
I checked with one of the Board Certified Veterinarians we work with, Dr. Stephanie Lamb, because hormone therapy isn’t usually helpful for male birds for behavioral issues. Based on her response, I would recommend checking back with the Vet as to which hormone was used, because there is one that is no longer used, that can cause the side effects you mentioned. If the Vet you went to is not a Board Certified Avian Vet, I would find one for a second opinion if possible.
Dr. Lamb replied:” I would be interested to know what kind of hormone injection was given. There are various hormones that can be used but lupron and deslorelin are the most common ones. Although you can use both of these hormones for male birds, when it comes to behavioral problems, it doesn’t seem to really help much for parrots. There is a paper on the use of deslorelin in male turkeys and it helped reduce some aggressive behaviors in them but that is the only species I am aware of that hormone therapy has been used successfully in. I have tried it in male umbrella cockatoos with hormone related behavior problems and I have heard of other people trying this as well. However, I know in the case I tried it in and the cases I have heard other people trying it for, it’s not successful in the males. I have used hormone therapy in male birds of testicular cancers and have had it help in some of those situations but that is a different issue. Now, it is important to know what hormone was used though because there are other hormones that people have tried, with Depo-Provera (Medroxyprogesterone acetate) being one that used to be used. It fell out of favor a long time ago though because it had side effects and better hormone treatments were found. Depo-Provera (Medroxyprogesterone acetate) has been associated with obesity, hepatic lipidosis, increase thirst and urine production, and a suppressed immune system. It’s possible this hormone was used and that may be why the bird suddenly is no longer acting like its regular self. My suggestion would be to find out what hormone was used, then consider a second opinion to see if they can find out what is going on and what needs to be done for this little bird.”
Thank you for Asking Lafeber,
Brenda
