Prolapse~
I have been researching, studying and writing about feather destruction in regards to our beloved exotic birds so much that I have not really delved in to the topic of prolapse much…yet. However the subject has always been right there in the forefront of my mind along with PDD and one that I have researched right along with feather destruction; I just have not discussed it a lot in the public arena.
Recently we were given the opportunity to receive an adorable 12-year old female Umbrella Cockatoo into our sanctuary. The previous caregiver simply didn’t want “to deal with her yelling, screaming, aggressive behavior anymore.” Besides, in the words of the previous caregiver: “She has developed some kind of growth on her anal parts and I don’t want to spend the money to have it cared for.” Folks, if we don’t want to spend the efforts, time and money to care for the very animals we bring into our lives then we shouldn’t bring them into our homes to begin with. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
“Maggie” is now a permanent resident in our “Providence Right-to-Flight Sanctuary” for birds that cannot be placed in private homes. She will live her days out with us, unless we die before she does and in that case we have in place a trust where our birds will go to others with experience to care for these beloved fragile creatures.
Regarding Maggie’s health; she has been thoroughly vetted and her tests returned with great, flying results except of course the prolapse. Our vet diagnosed her with “Complex Prolapse” which basically means that she has multiple prolapse of her organs; urethal, rectal and oviductal. We don’t hear much about the different types of prolapse do we? –So when our vet told us that Maggie had Complex Prolapse, turned her upside down and showed us exactly what it is, our hearts broke and melted right there in the examining room. Our vet did the best that could be done at the time of her visit. As normal procedure at the time it was attempted to gently, but firmly push all of her organs back up inside of her.
We were told that a “temporary fix” could be done by stitching her vent to hold everything up inside of, improving her diet and hoping that her surrounding muscles would gain enough strength to eventually hold everything in place on their own. We were warned than anything we do would only be temporary and that she would most likely have a short life and never fully heal from prolapse. (Yes, we realize we can and should get a second opinion regarding a permanent fix. That will come later down the road when we financially recover from this first visit. Remember, we are a privately held sanctuary, we receive no public donations. All funds come directly from the sale of our BirD-elicious! Origins Wild Diet® foods.)