Question Details
Heart Disease With Weight Loss In A Bird
by j_decubellis - January 4, 2019    View Case Report
I'm writing about an approximately 20 year old DNA sexed male Galah Cockatoo that has recently been diagnosed with heart disease (enlarged heart with a high suspicion of atherosclerosis).
He was initially found outside with 3 necrotic pendulous lipomas and in horrible condition overall 18 years ago. I took him in and surgically removed the lipomas at that time. He had always been obese averaging in the upper five hundreds. He currently has a small lipoma. His bloods had always been good overall including those recently taken (CBC/Chem WNL).
He began to show less interest in his food a few weeks ago (which corresponded to construction in our home and therefore stress for him). I felt something was also wrong and that is when I took the radiographs that showed his heart condition. Rosie Man will also have an intermittent gallup rhythm that is exacerbated by stress.
He was placed on Enalapril, Pimobendon and Heart Tonic including 500gmg L-carnitine, 500 mg Taurine, 800 IU Vitamin E and 300mg of Co-Enzyme Q10.
I have been tube feeding him 15ml of Harrison's Recovery diet twice a day and he still picks at seed, but has no interest in his pelleted diet. I unfortunately cannot tube feed him more than this amount and frequency due to crop size, stress level and time away from home (and he doesn't transport well). I've also been giving him 15ml SC LRS every other day.
Rosie continues to be BAR, plays with his toys and seems interested in his environment, but despite his treatments, he continues to lose weight going from 480 to 440 over a two week period of time.
Is there anything that I can add to help his weight as well as his cardiac disease?
Thank you so much for your help! Julie
Replies
by j_decubellis
January 11, 2019
Rosie continues to loose weight despite being tube fed 2-3 times a day.
I've ordered Six Gentlemen Combination for generalized wasting and decreased appetite.
If there is anything else I can add, please let me know.
by naturevet
January 11, 2019
Hi there,

Sorry about the delayed reply. I've had a bit of a post-New Year's rush on consult requests.

I'm glad you ordered Six Gentlemen. That should help with tachycardia and reduce tendencies to stress. I would also suggest Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang, if there is cardiomegaly, lipomas and atherosclerosis tendencies.

There are other considerations (e.g. Xiao Chai Hu Tang), but for now I would use those two. Hopefully over the next ten to fourteen days he will stabilize

Please advise if you're still struggling at that time

Steve
by j_decubellis
January 27, 2019
Hi Steve,

Sorry for the late reply, but I wanted to include as much information as I could.
Rosie had just recently received a coelomic ultrasound.
Their conclusions were that there was diffuse hepatopathy, which could be due to a vacuolar hepatopathy, hepatitis, or infiltrative disease.
There were no abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract.
His subcutaneous mass is caveated with multiple smaller cavitations present they feel might represent an abscess or a necrotic/hemorrhagic tumor (ie. sarcoma or carcinoma) or unlikely granulomatous disease.

I continue to tube feed him, but after starting the Six Gentlemen, he has begun showing interest and eating some pellets on his own. He has gained 10g!! I just received the Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang and will begin that shortly and give you another update.

Overall, Rosie does appear more bright and alert. He plays with his toys and is getting more tricky to catch up for his treatments.

Thank you for your advice!!!
by naturevet
January 27, 2019
Excellent! So glad to hear of a bit of progress. Let us know if things stall out, and we can try to think of something else

S
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