Hello,
My ringneck dove is somewhat unusual in that he is 23 years old! (my mom gave me him when he was 6 months). Pretty good for a dove that usually lives till 12.
However, unfortunately he ate some pumice rock last year that tested fairly high in arsenic and mercury which made him very anemic at 1st. Unfortunately, my Bay Area vet, Dr. Spear (wrote dummies for birds), made the wrong diagnosis and thought he had vision issues vs. a potential stroke when he started to look up with the right eye. A week later he had what appears to be a stroke (not uncommon with heavy metals).
Nevertheless, this rare avian son of mine was told he should be put down and then I noticed him cleaning himself more (as if he heard the vet). A yr. later he now coos daily and is much better, though he continues to stargaze around 75% of the time vs. 100% after the heavy metals-induced stroke.
Questions:
What are exercises or suggestions to help recovery since his vestibular system seems to be off? Is physical therapy helpful? Acupuncture?
I am walking him almost daily with my hands as support and this has helped. He is now able to be alone in his cage and he can walk to his water by himself. However, he still has to fight to bring his head down to eat food from the ground and doesn't realize clearly that his head should be down/straight. He struggles by turning his head in different directions to eventually get the head correct.
I know at 23 years old that I should be grateful which I am. However, this bird ain't going to listen to folks that say, "well at that age there isn't much you can do". He will probably live another 2-3 years from my take on him which is almost a 23 yr. history.
Thank you for reading and for any suggestions.
My ringneck dove is somewhat unusual in that he is 23 years old! (my mom gave me him when he was 6 months). Pretty good for a dove that usually lives till 12.
However, unfortunately he ate some pumice rock last year that tested fairly high in arsenic and mercury which made him very anemic at 1st. Unfortunately, my Bay Area vet, Dr. Spear (wrote dummies for birds), made the wrong diagnosis and thought he had vision issues vs. a potential stroke when he started to look up with the right eye. A week later he had what appears to be a stroke (not uncommon with heavy metals).
Nevertheless, this rare avian son of mine was told he should be put down and then I noticed him cleaning himself more (as if he heard the vet). A yr. later he now coos daily and is much better, though he continues to stargaze around 75% of the time vs. 100% after the heavy metals-induced stroke.
Questions:
What are exercises or suggestions to help recovery since his vestibular system seems to be off? Is physical therapy helpful? Acupuncture?
I am walking him almost daily with my hands as support and this has helped. He is now able to be alone in his cage and he can walk to his water by himself. However, he still has to fight to bring his head down to eat food from the ground and doesn't realize clearly that his head should be down/straight. He struggles by turning his head in different directions to eventually get the head correct.
I know at 23 years old that I should be grateful which I am. However, this bird ain't going to listen to folks that say, "well at that age there isn't much you can do". He will probably live another 2-3 years from my take on him which is almost a 23 yr. history.
Thank you for reading and for any suggestions.
However, you can see some stargazing going on in the video; this accounts for about 75% of his waking hours even though it doesn't seem like it. Also, this is in Miami where he does better with warmer weather vs. San Francisco where I live.
