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Question:

March 17, 2023

My cockatiel died.. I cant believe she wont come back..


My female cockatiel around 2 years old, a very active one playing everytime.. At around till 8 PM she was playing very happily and suddenly my other female cockatiel flew near her and scared the little one.. she almost fell down. I dont know if there was a threat that time.. she was okay only.. Then she fastly ate a lot of seeds and was silently sitting.. She is never like that so i took her in my hand and within 2 minutes she vomited all the seeds she ate and was trying to get somethng out of her throat.. and suddenly her body became stiff and erect and she couldnt move.. I ran taking her to the hospital and doctor gave ORS drops to her but still she dint move.. Doctor gave calcium tonic as she had laid egg [ unfertilized one] she dint have a pair.. while returning to home in cab she died.. Im devastated, i cant stop crying.. My family is grieving her still.. What went wrong I couldn’t find.. She got scared and had seizure or literally nothing i could find..


Answer:

Hi Vaishali,

I’m very sorry for your loss. It is traumatic to lose one so suddenly. It’s possible that the other cockatiel sensed something was wrong with her and that’s why she flew at her. Birds can choke, but it is very rare. If she had only laid the one egg, it probably was not the reason, unless she had another egg stuck inside of her. They rarely lay one egg – they usually lay 4-6 with a day between each egg. But there can be complications from egg laying, and sometimes that can be fatal. We actually had a webinar today where Dr. Lamb discussed these complications. I don’t know if it would help you to watch it, but she might describe what happened with your bird. Sometimes we never know. You did everything you could, and I hope that helps you have some comfort.

Take care,

Brenda

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