The Bird Nerds Rescue and Sanctuary is dedicated to the Rescue, Rehabilitation and Adoption of domestic parrots. Positive reinforcement, as well as enrichment items are used to curve and correct behavioral problems and turn unsocialized parrots into adoptable companion parrots. We will find birds loving homes, and find them any medical attention they need. If you are having a baby, moving, or just can’t take the screaming, The Bird Nerds Rescue is available to you. We also provide a bird sanctuary for birds not eligible for adoption. The happiness and welfare of the birds are our number ONE priority.

Dave’s Garden donated some wonderful bird safe plants for the rescue! When they get big enough they will be able to go in the aviary! They are a wonderful addition to our facility, and they smell fantastic!

http://davesgarden.com/#b

This is a great avenue to visit if you have a bird or pet that has some behavioral problems that owners are having trouble dealing with. Surrendering your bird is always a last resort so we wanted to share Dr. Feltes information and perhaps help some of these clients through their behavioral problems instead of resorting right away to parting with their pet. We are always happy to help a bird in need and like to give any help and information so that surrendering is the last option.

Meet Jazz. She is a 4 year old Umbrella Cockatoo that we took in as a critical care surrender. Jazz has been mutilating for a year, she came from an abusive and neglectful home and into a knowledgeable bird family’s home who realized they unfortunately could not provide the necessary medical and behavioral care that she needs.

She was severely underweight when the family got her, and she is still very malnourished. She will need time to regain the muscle mass she has lost. I have her on a critical care diet formula with the calories, carbohydrates, and fatty acids needs in addition to her healthy diet. She currently has 4 open wounds on her body, one on her neck, the leg (bone exposed), small wound on chest and back of wing.

We are currently working with her to manage the wounds first and foremost. I started her on Metacam, antibiotics, her wounds are being flushed, medicated and wrapped daily. She has been such a trooper, she hasn’t fought or attempted to bite during any of this obviously painful ordeal. We will be opening a donation and sponsor page for her as she will need continued and long term medical care.

Jazz’s update/diagnosis after seeing Dr. Susan Orosz 4/18/2012:

Jazz is a female. The large issue that we were concerned about (aside from the obvious mutilation) was the labored breathing that Jazz has been having for the past year. After the week her with us with the Critical Care formula, Baytril, metacam, Vetericyn and EMT ointment treatment. We fought off the secondary infection she had. After the vet listened to her lungs she passed the stethoscope over to me so I could hear what we thought was some kind of blockage. We decided to go ahead and do chest X-Rays.

We found that Jazz has Aspergillosis, a fungus infection in the lungs. This is the number one reason oil spill victims die. Had Jazz been able to see the vet a year ago or more she would have had a VERY good chance. At this point her lungs are moderately blocked with this infection. Her heart is elongated due to her body trying to fight to pass air through her lungs. A vitamin A deficiency has caused her kidneys and liver to glow in the X-Rays pointing towards failure in the future.

We have a very aggressive treatment in place for her in the upcoming week. She is in an incubator with round the clock care. She is being fed Critical Care formula 3 times a day provided by Dr. Orosz as well as Clavamox, Lamisil, Tramadol and Metacam given orally 3 times a day. She is also being given a Nebulizer treatment once daily. At this point we are going to FIGHT!! We are going to try EVERYTHING possible and then she will be going up to Dr. Orosz again in approx. 10 days to re-evaluate. We will then need to determine if Jazz’s quality of life is being compromised or if we can move forward with some other treatment. At the severe stage that she is at with the Aspergillosis there is a little chance of a full recovery. At this point Dr. Orosz said we are buying her time for an inevitable lung failure.

We are not going down without a fight she is very comfortable right now however for future decisions we need to keep her quality of life top priority. I very much trust Dr. Orosz experience and professional opinion having personally dealt with this disease with her personal bird. Dr. Orosz is very empathetic and she is fighting for the bird, we are going to do everything we can to make Jazz’s life as long as possible, euthanasia is not an option right now until we see how she responds to this treatment.

Jazz’s Vet Visit April 27th Update:

When Dr. Orosz came into the exam room to look at Jazz the first words out of her mouth were, “Wow!”. She said right off the bat she looks way better. Dr. Orosz sat down to ask questions about her daily weight gain, food intake, breathing habits and so on. Jazz jumped off me and on to the exam table, marched her way across Dr. Orosz notes and right up her arm.

Dr. O observed her repertory pattern for a few minutes and went on to say it looks a LOT better. She also listened to her lungs with the stethoscope and said she sounds great! She flushed her nasal passages and looked at the contents under the microscope and all was clear which means she is off the antibiotics! She has gained weight since her last visit and her wounds look awesome! Her leg looks great and her neck will take more time as well since the wound was so abstract.

Dr. O decided to continue with the nebulizer treatments twice a day and also continue the Tramadol and Lamisil. Jazz will still need Critical Care formula 2-3 times a day and will have to remain in the incubator for at least the next month. Dr. O wants to see Jazz back again in approximately 2 weeks and from there if everything checks out ok then she won’t need to be seen again for a month. When she comes in for her 1 month visit we will need to do all of her labs and X-rays again and repeat monthly.

Dr. O said if her progress continues and we can fight off the fungus in her lungs then the granulomas will begin to shrink and go away. With air passing more freely through her lungs her elongated heart will also begin to return to normal size as like any muscle, if you don’t use it as much it will get smaller. Dr. O also put Jazz on the Lafeber diet with high calories and carbohydrates for birds that are underweight so we can get her Vitamin deficiencies under control.

We will need to call in and order a new medication for her called Voriconazole and because it is a drug used for humans it is very expensive. Dr. O said it would run between $200-$220 to order it. She said she was doing, “back flips and pretzel twists” to find this medication for Jazz. I am so happy for Jazz I can’t express my gratitude for everyone’s support and prayers. We couldn’t have done this without you!

Update on Jazz:

After being evaluated by Dr. Orosz, Jazz was re-examined and given a clean bill of health meaning its all down hill for Jazz from here. She seen Dr. Robert Nathan for a final exam and was given medical release for adoption. Jazz has been adopted to wonderful home and friends of ours. Her mom has a Moluccan Cockatoo as well. Jazz sleeps in her room at night, does the dishes with her, and cuddles all the time. She is now not wearing a collar when mom is home and is only on the soft collar when she is not home. She has no wounds and all of her feathers have grown back. She is absolutely the poster child of a full recovery. Jazz was by far the bird that captured all of our staff’s hearts. When she first came and went to the vet and her furture was questionable. Myself and my volunteer we so emotionally attached to this bird we literally shed blood sweat and tears for her and are over joyed that she is living her life the way a bird should. She is in a normal parrot cage, with toys and living life they way she should have been the last 4 years of her life. Thank you so much for all the love and support we got from our Facebook friends, anonymous donors and financially with the Veterinary Bills she incurred this could not have been possible without “The Crazy Bird Ladies”.  The CBL’s are a Facebook group created to help birds like Jazz raising money buy auctioning off donated items. This is the most wonderful Happy Ending we have encountered yet!

We are now open to the public. We have our rescue birds available for people to meet and fill out adoption applications. We offer rescue, rehabilitation, adoption and sanctuary services! We have food, toys, cages and more available to buy to support the rescue. Come on down and visit!

The Bird Nerds Rescue
4518 Lincoln St. East
Canton, Ohio 44703

We are currently adjusting our hours so more people can come visit. Please call for an appointment.

Jocko went to the vet Christmas Eve to have her tumors looked at. We did receive enough donations to cover all of the vet cost! Thank you to all who donated!

The vet said that she thinks they are tumors, however she is unsure because they look like cysts but nothing is in them. She said that Jocko is more than likely WAY older than she was thought to be. She said that the way the mass’s are positioned they would not be good for surgical removal. She said she wouldn’t feel comfortable removing them as there is so much tissue that must be removed that there would not be enough to cover the area for healing. She also told me that most likely she would need bi-lateral amputation of both wings (from the elbow down) and this is a very risky and painful surgery with a long recovery process.

Due to Jocko’s age she thinks that this will do more harm than good. So Jocko is now on antibiotics for 14 days just because she wanted to make sure she didn’t have any bugs as she was not feeling up to par and she will be on pain medication for the remainder of her life to make certain that this tumor is not causing her pain and also to treat the arthritis that Jocko has on top of all of this. Phew!

So the good news is the Dr. did not think that euthanasia was necessary and I was very worried about that. She thinks that I should keep her as comfortable as possible for the remainder of her life. I have a heated perch for her as well and she is just going to be spoiled rotten…Doctors orders LOL

Much happier update than expected, this is as close to a Christmas miracle as I am going to get I think and I will take it!!!
Thank You everyone!

Another happy update, the supposed tumors starting at the corners of Jocko’s eyes are actually just the way she is aging. The Doctor said that Jocko has a uniquely shaped face and those (thank goodness) are just the way she is made Yay!

The extra donations will be going to buy Jocko’s pain medication that Jocko will be taking daily.