Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Report on Rocky's vet visit

This was a picture I tried to take last July (hence the shorts on Thomas) of Rocky's enlarged preen gland. It's about the size of a large marble, and his feathers cover it completely -- you'd never know it was there unless you're looking for it.

We knew about this when we took him in. However, an avian vet has recently started working at our local animal emergency center (open 24 hours!) and so we thought it prudent to get Rocky checked out there so that his records would be readily accessible in case his gland ever exploded, or any other incident befell our 20 year old bird.
Here he is, waiting in the exam room on Thomas's lap.That got boring, so they played a little bit (that's a feather on Thomas's jeans and not some sort of strange stain).Here he is, at home on the examining table. He is not the one who chewed off part of the table, but he kept going over to investigate.. I am proud to say he didn't enlarge it, either!And here is a video. He loves to walk around with his beak dragging on the floor. I've mentioned before that he also likes to play with towels. Here, he was able to do both at the same time!

Our vet told us that Rocky most likely does not have cancer. The cases he's seen personally or in the literature that have been cancer were all greys. Additionally, there has not been any sustained increase in size for at least 18 months.

He said we could do surgery to remove it, but it's kind of a tricky surgery for vascular reasons. I am also terrified of anesthesia for birds and would prefer that Rocky not be put under. His gram stain and physical examination were normal, and we should receive the results of his blood tests (CBC and chem panel) later this week; perhaps as early as this afternoon.

Rocky mostly behaved, although he hates being in his carrier, so he cried like a baby and yelled a few times (thankfully, no swear words). The receptionists were taken with his singing and dancing.

All in all, it went about as well as I could have hoped, assuming the blood tests don't turn up something unexpected!

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