How To Spot Cockatiel Lead Poisoning

7/6/2019

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When our bird starting acting strange, we were lucky enough to know very quickly that we could be dealing with lead toxicity. This knowledge helped us realize that we needed to get him to the vet right away. That said, I kept trying to find out more after the diagnosis, and I had a hard time finding an owner who had shared their story. So, I'm going to share our story, and I really hope it helps you if this is something you're dealing with as well. (read more)

The Video

As always, I have made a video talking about what's in this blog post. If you'd like to watch it, here you go:

Cockatiel Lead Poisoning - Our Story

Tuko is our one year old, male cockatiel. We have had him since August or September of 2018. He came to us from a local breeder who hand fed all of his birds, making Tuko an extremely sweet, affectionate, and personable bird.

Basically, Tuko has a routine each day. He gets up, we feed him, we bring his cage out into the living room, open the cage door, and he flies around the house doing whatever he wants.

Mostly he wants to be with a human, on our shoulder, getting neck scritches, occasionally singing to a mirror or pecking at us until we whistle his favorite songs, etc.

What he doesn't do is sleep. Pretty much he's up for the day from about 8 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.. He might slow down and stare out a window or perch quietly on your leg or computer, but he always has energy and is always looking around, making sure you're not doing something without him.

Here's Tuko singing some of his favorite songs. This is normal behavior.

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Thursday, June 27, 2019

Around noon on Thursday I was packing up my purse and getting ready to go to the grocery store. My oldest was playing on his computer, my youngest was watching TV, and Tuko was sitting on a perch at the open door of his cage.

He was fluffy and in a squat position, one that I have only seen him do when he's about to go to sleep at night.

His eyes were half open, and basically he looked exhausted.

This was not normal behavior.

I asked my son if he'd noticed Tuko doing anything odd, or if he'd eaten anything out of the ordinary. It was at this time that my son told me he'd noticed Tuko chewing on one of his pellet gun pellets a few days ago, but that he'd taken it away and thrown it in the trash.

All of my alarm bells started ringing.

Tuko is our first bird, but I did a lot of research before getting him. I knew that metal was bad for birds. I didn't know what the pellets were made of, but I had a sinking suspicion they were made of lead, which is extremely poisonous.

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We'd purchased the pellets on Amazon a couple of years ago when we got him a pellet gun for Christmas. He and my husband like to go outside and "plink". We live on a lot of acreage, so it's a fun thing to do while knowing you're not going to inadvertently hit someone with a pellet.

Lead shot is illegal, but apparently lead pellets, even those intended for hunting small game, is still freely sold.

I didn't know for sure the pellets were lead until I was standing in the vet's office trying to show her what Tuko had been chewing on. Now that I know they're lead, we've tossed them out. The last thing I want to do is bear the responsibility of having a bird come pick a pellet off the ground of our back acreage.

Once we realized what he'd been chewing on, we packed him up in his travel carrier and drove to our nearest Avian Vet.

If you are looking for a good cage for vet visits, I recommend this one. It's small enough to pack up quickly, and gives you a clear view of your bird. If your bird is frightened, you can easily place a small towel over the top to make him less anxious in new surroundings.

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We live in a very small town outside Houston, TX. We had to go to another county for treatment, and the Avian Vet we saw was the only one in the entire county.

Still, she could not treat Tuko.

She was able to examine him and tell us what would have to happen for diagnosis, but since we felt so strongly that this was indeed lead toxicity, she recommended we make the drive to Houston to see a vet who could perform the tests and begin treatment right away.

We agreed, and so we got back in the car and headed to Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists in Houston where we met with Dr. Chen. Dr. Chen was wonderful, very knowledgeable, and was able to get Tuko into Chelation treatment right away.

If you don't know what Chelation is, it's basically a method where Chelate is either injected into the bird, or given orally (if the bird isn't too weak to eat). The Chelate binds the heavy metal, keeping it from absorbing into the organs and allowing it to be excreted.

What the Chelate does not do is destroy the heavy metal already present in the bird.

An X-Ray showed us that Tuko had a gizzard full of metal. If you'll look for the bright white on the X-Ray in the lower right, you'll see the metal.

Our hope was that maybe, just maybe, Tuko had eaten some other metal, something that wasn't so bad for him, or maybe he'd picked up some rocks or dirt the kids had tracked into the house.

We wouldn't know for sure until we got his blood panel back.

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Thursday Night Thru Monday Afternoon
Tuko Remained In The Hospital

The Vet decided it would be best to keep Tuko in the hospital for treatment. This would consist of Chelation every 12 hours. They would also give him grit in his food in the hopes of breaking down the lead in his gizzard so it would be easier for him to pass.

They called me each morning with an update, and even called me late at night (after their rounds) if I asked them to. Also they were available to me via email and telephone and were always more than happy to help with any questions I had.

I was allowed to pick Tuko up Monday afternoon. He was quiet, but definitely seemed better than Thursday. The doctor reported that he had not been regurgitating, there were no seizures, and he was not displaying much of the neurological things that could come along with lead or heavy metal toxicity.

These would include things like drooping wings, drooping head, head cocked at an odd angle, etc.

He was having some slight twitching of his wings, something I hadn't noticed him doing before, but it was minor.

The doctor did say that any neurological symptoms he was displaying might go away, or they might be permanent.

There's no way to know.

She sent me home with a bottle of Chelate, a small syringe, and instructions to administer the Chelate every 12 hours.

A member of her staff came in and showed me how to medicate Tuko. It hasn't been fun for anyone, but we're doing it. My son wanted to make sure he knew what to do, so he has been the one medicating Tuko twice a day.

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Wednesday, July 3, 2019 - Regurgitation

Tuesday was uneventful. Tuko was much quieter than normal, no tweeting, a lot of sleeping with periods of wakefulness, but mostly he's very quiet. It was hard to wrap my head around since he is normally such an active and chirpy bird.

We wanted to make sure he was eating, so we put all of his favorite treats in his cage; millet spray, Avi-cakes, etc.

Tuko ate these with gusto, and then on Wednesday he vomited, twice.

I was really worried since this was one of the symptoms we'd been cautioned to watch for.

I called Dr. Chen, and Dr. Scott and told them what was happening, what we'd been feeding him, etc. They agreed that Tuko had just eaten too much of his favorite foods, and needed to slow down.

Remember that his gizzard is full of metal. He doesn't have a lot of space for other things, so eating and drinking is going to be small meals for a while yet.

We took the millet and seed cakes out of his cage and allowed only his normal dietary items, the Zupreem pellet mix, and a once daily teaspoon of his favorite seed mix.

He did not regurgitate again.

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Saturday, July 6, 2019

As of today I would say Tuko has been making progress each day. He is still not singing or chirping much, but the wing twitching seems to have remedied itself.

We finished our first round of Chelation yesterday evening and are now under instruction to leave him off the treatment for three days. This is necessary because his kidneys need a chance to cleanse themselves of the Chelate, and his body needs to replenish the minerals he does need, but that the Chelate is also binding and excreting.

The downside is that the lead will not be bound while he is off the treatment, but this is the best we can do for now. We are hopeful that three days will not be long enough to get him really sick again, and we can pick up on Tuesday with another seven day round of treatment.

We will see our vet on Monday as well. She will take another blood panel from Tuko and compare it to the results of last Thursday.

We did get the results from the first blood panel.

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Blood Panel One (Thursday, June 27)
Results

Normal lead levels in a bird would ideally be 0.0 ppm.

Anything over 0.2 ppm would be considered heavy metal toxicity. Symptoms typically start to show at 0.3 ppm.

Tuko's blood panel from Thursday was 2.5 ppm, more than ten times that of the value for lead toxicity.

The bad news is that he has a lot of lead in his blood. The good news is that we caught it early.

I want you to catch it early, too. Here's what you need to look for:

* LETHARGY - If your bird seems tired, eyes half open, not acting normal.
* FLUFFY - If your bird is sitting in his cage all fluffed up, and it's not bed time.
* NEON GREEN POOP - If your bird's poop is a bright, vibrant green, this is not normal and is an indicator of heavy metal toxicity.
* RED/BLACK POOP - Red poop or urine is the breakdown of blood by the lead. Black poop is old blood. Both are bad, very bad. If you see these things, an immediate trip to the vet is necessary.

As the poisoning progresses, there will be other symptoms. We did not see these, thank goodness, but they can include things like drooping wings, drooping head, twitching, seizing, inability to balance, drunken flying, etc.

Basically, if you think something is wrong with your bird, follow your gut and take him or her to the vet. You know how your bird should be, so please don't wait and convince yourself that the bird just isn't feeling well that day or whatever.

Birds aren't people, don't try to compare them to us. Any odd behavior like this warrants a checkup at the vet ASAP.

TESTING FOR LEAD AT HOME

After reading the extensive list of all the items that could potentially hurt Tuko, I decided to get proactive and figure out a way to test things he comes into contact with on a regular basis. One of these tests will work, the other...I'm not sure.

First, the lead test. Just swab the swab in white vinegar, swab it across the item you want to test, and get a result as to whether or not the item contains lead, and if so, how much.

TESTING FOR ZINC AT HOME

This Zinc test is the one I am less sure of. I did test the water at my house just to make sure it wasn't our drinking water (which comes from a well) that might be also making Tuko sick.

We have no Zinc, according to the test.

I think the best way to test this would be to dip the strip in water, rub it on the item you want to test, then read the result. I'll need to try it out and see how it goes.

Vet Followup #1 - Monday, July 8, 2019
Day Three Without Chelate

Today was our first followup with our local Avian Vet, Dr. Scott over at Dickinson Animal Hospital. This was also our third day off of the Chelation treatment.

I was very worried about taking Tuko off of the Chelate, but I knew it was necessary. Each day I'd study him, looking for signs of lethargy coming back, but thankfully it didn't happen. If anything he seemed to be more alert each day.

Dr. Scott was pleased with his progress. He had gained two grams, so she asked us to put him entirely on seed (his favorite food) so he could gain even more weight. Just in case he decides to feel bad again, he'll have a little reserve to keep him going.

Tuko is happy with this decision. :)

Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Morning Tweets

One of the first things that stopped happening when Tuko got sick was that he stopped singing.

He used to spend hours each day whistling and tweeting to his heart's content. He'd chirp in your ear, sing to his reflection in the toaster, and always wake us up with a sharp "Ca-Caw!" which was his way of saying, "Take off this cage cover and let me out of here!"

He hadn't made that noise in two weeks, but today he did!

Each day he whistles and sings a bit more, and while I won't say he's back to normal, I will say he's "almost" back to normal. This is all very good news because we were extremely concerned about any permanent neurological damage the lead might have caused.

Monday, July 22
A Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

It's been almost a month since Tuko first got sick. We're now into our third round of Chelate, and everything seems like it's going well.

We haven't seen our vet in two weeks and we were really hoping today we'd get some news that might indicate this really long journey might be nearing its end.

We're not done yet, but things are looking good! Tuko flies without trouble, has no problem stepping up, and has good grip with both feet. He also gave the vet a run for her money while she was trying to examine him, much to everyone's delight.

I know that sounds odd, but we're just all so happy to see him being energetic.

Today she told us that she'd like to re-run the x-rays on the 19th of August. IF (and only if) the x-rays show NO metal in his GI Tract, she'll do the blood level panel as well.

If there is still metal in his GI Tract, then we'll continue with the Chelate for the foreseeable future.

So, we have no end date, but at least we have something, a date where we'll know more.

I'll update this post in a month, hopefully with the news that we're all done with treatment!

For those of you who have been emailing asking when the next book comes out, I'm sorry to say that I don't know. My mind isn't in the right place for children's mysteries right now, and I don't want to give your kids anything less than my best. Hopefully, in a few weeks, things will be back to normal and the saga of The World Keepers and The Guild Crafters can continue.

Monday, August 19, 2019

The plan today was to drop Tuko off at our local Avian Vet so she could take another x-ray. If the x-ray showed no metal in his gizzard, we were going to stop the Chelation therapy.

Unfortunately, the x-ray still did show quite a bit of metal. However, since we'd done five Chelation treatments already, the vet thought it might be worth it to do a blood draw and test his lead levels again, just in case the metal in his gizzard was inert.

For example: it might be binding material from the bb he ate initially, inert material that was in the grit we gave him for weeks after we realized he'd eaten lead, etc.

I'll tell you the results of that in a moment, but for now, here's the latest x-ray. It is head on instead of profile, but you can see there is still a significant amount of metal.

She did the blood draw, and that took about a week to come in.

As a reminder for you here, lead toxicity in cockatiels tends to start to show signs (become clinical) at around 0.3 ppm.

Tuko's first blood draw was 2.5 ppm, almost 10 times the clinical amount.

His second blood draw showed only .11 ppm! That's fantastic news!

Had he not eaten so much lead, we likely would have discontinued the Chelation therapy, but since the lead definitely leached into his bones during the initial stages of toxicity, the vet is sure it will leach out again. We need to keep treating to make sure we've gone long enough to allow the lead to leach out of his bones, get bound up by the Chelate, and then passed.

So, we've got another four treatments of seven days on, three days off, and then we'll do another blood draw.

I'll update once we've passed that next hurdle, but for now, we're thinking happy thoughts!

I'm also happy to report that the fourth book in The Guild Crafters series is almost finished! We're also updating the covers for The World Keepers series and The Guild Crafters series, so we're excited to have all of those up and ready on Amazon in a few weeks time!

MONDAY - OCTOBER 14, 2019

Last week, Monday the 7th of October, we took Tuko back in to the vet for another blood draw. We'd completed four more rounds of Chelate, and the vet and I decided not to do another x-ray since so much material was still showing in Tuko's gizzard and we could not be sure that it wasn't the grit we give him with his food.

She called this morning to give us the blood test results, and we could not be happier!

Tuko's lead level is down to .06 ppm!

To recap, anything over .3 ppm is when they start to see toxicity levels. The previous blood draw was .11 ppm, and his highest draw was 2.5 ppm.

The Doctor left us with instructions to keep an eye on him, just to make sure nothing in his gizzard starts to dissolve and present issues. She said that in female birds, the lead leeching from the bones is an issue as they start to metabolize bone to lay eggs, but hopefully we won't have to worry about any of this with Tuko, unless something happens where he needs to metabolize bone for calcium.

We've got the Chelate still, and we're going to start using it immediately if we start to notice anything like sluggishness, not eating, regurgitation, etc.

Hopefully, we never have to use it again!!

If I have anymore updates, I'll post them here, but I REALLY hope to have no more updates!

A LEAD POISONING STORY FROM A READER
MOMO'S STORY

On April 10th of this year (2020), I received a message from a bird mom named Courtney. She'd found this post and wanted more information about Tuko's symptoms, since she was experiencing what she and her vet thought was lead poisoning in her Cockatiel, Momo.

Here is her initial message, which she was kind enough to tell me I could share in this post:

"Hello. While googling lead poisoning in cockatiels I came across your website. I just wanted to say thank you for your post as it has given me a lot of hope. My cockatiel, Momo, is currently at the vet for suspected lead poisoning. He has been acting his normal self, singing, screaming (always screaming, haha) eating and drinking, etc. Yesterday I noticed that he had some regurgitated food on his face. I called our vet and they said not to worry too much but we set an appointment for today if things got worse. I ended up canceling that appointment because he seemed better, but a couple hours later I found regurgitated food all over the floor of his cage. The vet had no appointments available but said to bring him in and they'd see him when they had a chance. 2 hours after I dropped him off I got a call and was told he had been having almost non stop seizures since he got there, and that the medication they gave him to stop the seizing was finally taking effect. This was such a surprise because he was still his happy, normal self when I dropped him off. After an x-ray they believe he has lead poisoning but haven't officially tested for it yet since getting the seizures stopped was the most important thing. The calcium EDTA chelation is not widely available anywhere here but thankfully they were able to find some at a local raptor rescue and started him on it right away. I haven't heard how he is doing since they started treatment but until reading your website I was thinking his chances of survival were next to nothing. It gives me a lot of hope to read that they CAN recover from this so I just wanted to thank you for writing and updating that along your bird's journey. I hope my Momo is as lucky as your Tuko!"

Here's a picture of her Momo.

MOMO'S STORY
TREATMENT AND RECOVERY

Luckily, Courtney followed her gut and got Momo to the vet right away. Also luckily, they had a nearby raptor rescue that could provide Chelate, because it's not something most vets have, not even my local avian vet had it on hand.

Momo did injure himself a bit when he had the seizures, breaking some blood feathers that the vet had to pull out to staunch the bleeding. Courtney was able to visit him at the vet the day after he was admitted, and as you can see, even after just one treatment of Chelate, Momo was feeling better, if a bit sleepy.

Here is Courtney's message from that day:

"Hi! Just wanted to let you know that Momo made it through the night and is doing a lot better. He's not sedated at all anymore and has not had any more seizures. They said he's also eating and drinking on his own. They are going to keep him over the weekend so that they can monitor him and continue with the chelate treatment. Unfortunately the vet can't do any bloodwork until Monday because they have to send it off to a lab and they are all closed for the weekend. I was honestly very worried that he wasn't going to make it through the night but now I'm letting myself be optimistic that he's going to pull through this!

We are going to go visit him again today, hopefully he will be happy to see me and not mad that I've put him in his current situation (he can be very sassy, lol)"

MOMO'S STORY
AT HOME - CAGE BOUND

Momo was able to go home once the weekend had passed. Courtney was able to pick him up on Monday.

Since the vet did have to pull some blood feathers, Momo's skin was very tender and could not be bumped in any way. Since Momo wanted to fly when he was out of his cage, the vet asked that he be cage bound for a couple of weeks.

As you can see, a bird trying to fly after having some feathers pulled leads to a big, scary mess.

Here is Courtney's message:

"We just had a bit of a scare, Momo attempted to fly and busted open his wing. He lost quite a few blood feathers when he was having seizures, the vet had to pluck them and stop the bleeding. Well he reopened that wound and there was blood EVERYWHERE. I think he's a little traumatized by that so he's just sleeping on his bedtime perch right now under his heat lamp. I feel so bad, he has so many things going on right now."

MOMO'S X-RAY

Courtney's vet took an x-ray to determine lead poisoning. As you can see by the x-ray, there is a cluster of white spots which indicate some type of heavy metal.

Courtney's vet did not do a blood draw, but did see Momo a week later for another round of chelate.

The last time Courtney and I exchanged messages, Momo was on the mend and doing very well. She sent me a video of him singing his little heart out, which was just amazing to hear. I appreciate so much her allowing me to share this story.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I sincerely hope this article has helped you, and I hope that if you are reading this and wondering if your bird might have heavy metal toxicity that you finish up, pack up your bird, and get them seen right away.

The faster you get them in, the better chance you have of a good outcome.

I am going to try to promise to update this as we know more. If Tuko does not survive, I cannot guarantee I will update the post. You are welcome to comment below if you have a question and I will do my best to get back to you.

If you'd like to see our list of everything we think you need when you bring your new Cockatiel home, just click that button below.

Ty

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