Ask Lafeber

What happened

He is an 11 year old Caique and earlier in the day he was happy playing and chirping and dancing I can’t process his death after dinner | noticed he was at the bottom of his cage kind of bent over I picked him up and he looked drowsy
I gave him a little water he didn’t want to drink just one swallow of water. I put him on the table he couldn’t stand up he leaned down onto his beak. That terrified me I immediately called a vet they told me to go to the animal er. He seemed incoherent. Completely quiet. He let out two squeaks on the drive there and passed. My heart is so completely broken what happened. I saw someone else post a video of their bird dying and it was identical but they didn’t know what it was.

Thank you for contacting Ask Lafeber. We’re very sorry about the passing of your beloved Caique. You have our sincere condolences. Your Caique was obviously well loved, as you were very attentive to him and on the way to the vet when he passed away. To know what happened, an avian vet would need to perform a necropsy. Sadly, sometimes the cause can’t be determined even then. It sounds like you did everything you could. Birds are prey animals and excellent at hiding signs of illness, so it’s possible there might have been an undetected health issue. If you need some help processing the grief, you might wish to check out this webinar about pet parents and grief. Our thoughts are with you.