Health and Healing

Neurological / Central Nervous System

Stroke

I recently acquired an older ringneck hen who has apparently had a stroke. She has been a great mother, and a great foster mother as well, until this spring. She produced one baby, then laid a "finch sized" egg with no yolk, and then shortly after that, she appeared to have had a stroke. The avian vet said that this is somewhat common in laying hens, but it the cause is unknown.

She eats a little bit of everything that I give her, and she mostly sits on the hole of the cockatiel box I gave her. She seems fine most of the time, but has "stroke moments" where she will kind of lose balance of her entire body. This only seems to happen if she is disturbed. Most of the time she appears normal, with a bit of a 'waver'. She does not sit perfectly still. She can no longer fly (she was used to being kept in the enormous colony flight in the off season), and she will flutter, and land on her back, and just has an all around tough time with the wings. She gets around just fine and eats, and seems well adjusted, but is there anything I can do to improve her condition through diet? I think she has had a good life, and that this should be a retirement for her... Thanks Tammy

I know in humans they are put on blood thinners when they have a history of TIAs (transient ischemic attack-mini strokes). Vitamin E comes to mind as it can thin blood. Perhaps adding some Vitamin E to her diet, along with some immune builders can help her.

Cathy

Good suggestion! I would also include selenium with the E. I have had outstanding results and recovery with vit.E/Selenium with star gazer cockatiel chicks.

Another cause of stroke type symptoms or seizures can be calcium deficiencies. I have found that sometimes male cockatiels...especially the cinnamon, lutino and fallows are subject to seizures when stressed and the supplementing of Calcium with Phosphorus will quickly bring them out of a seizure and many times prevent future occurrences.
Susanne

Hi Tammy,
yes I have had that with some birds. I gave them Cayenne pepper. First a larger amount and the sprinkled on their food. That helped.

Good luck Gudrun

Seizures

If the bird has been tested with no confirmed diagnosis, try these suggestions.
Treat the bird for metal toxicity, even though the tests were negative. It
can't hurt. There are other metals besides lead and zinc, that are not
tested for.

Of course, one of the most important things is diet. Pellets can, and often
do contain metal. Have the bird x-rayed.
Give the bird Mini-quick, a liquid mineral supplement from Twinlab.
Magnesium is very important to prevent seizures.
Hyssop, an herb is also good.

Linda