lovebird died

unfortunately parker the lovebird passed away today. he was fine last night before i went to bed. this morning when i woke he was at the bottom of the cage breathing hard and nasal discharge present. by the time i got off the phone with the vet, he went into convulsions and passed on. any ideas as to what could have happened? i know it's like asking into a crystal ball but some ideas would help. he was pretty young and on a pelleted diet with seeds given once a week along with treats. i was careful to not use any teflon pans or scented candles at all since i had him. thanks for any ideas. i just want to avoid this before i go getting another bird when i'm ready

Jessica,

The only way to know for certain is with a necropsy.

i know that if i wanted to know for certain a necropsy would be the way to go. unfortunately finances do not allow. vet wants biopsies and cultures. i cannot afford that. just asking for a help in what possibilities may have occurred.

Heavy breathing and nasal discharge that occur that suddenly are probably the result of something irritating his respiratory system. If he appeared completely fine the night before, my guess is that something bothered him during the night. Did you use any air fresheners (i.e. Febreeze) colognes or perfumes, cleaning chemicals, carpet powders, insecticides or any other possibly air-borne chemicals recently?

Also, how old was the lovebird, and how long ago did you get him? Some more details might help, but as Jim said, the only way to know for sure is to take the bird to an avian vet for a necropsy. A necropsy isn't always 100% but if you've ruled out all other possible causes, it's really your last resort.

he was probably close to 8-9 months old. i have had him for one month. i do not use air fresheners or anything of the sort. he does have an air purifier in the room with him because i am allergic to him. as for cleaning cleansers, i do use the scrubbing bubbles for the kitchen and bathroom once a week but i do that when the windows are open and i have a fan going as well to pull any fumes to the outside just in case. the babysitter did spray febreeze on a futon in the adjacent room(which is the baby's room) about a week and a half ago. she did the same thing with the open windows and the fan. i don't use insecticides because i also have dogs,cat,fish and a snake. i try to be as careful as possible with anything in the house.

Do you still have his body? Can you check to see if he is thin, breastbone protruding, etc. I ask this because an almost all pellet diet is not a good diet, especially if the bird isn't getting enough to eat.

i did feel him. he was not thin. his diet consisted of pellets and some seed mixed in(i forgot i had done that). i varied it by offering veggies,rice, pasta, millet,more seeds,fresh fruit on different days of the week. he was eating well and fecal exams were free of parasites. i was told that mutations were not a healthy stock to begin with, but i never anticipated this. was i overlooking something? was there more i could have done?

I breed peachfaced lovebirds and I have tons of mutations. I only have 5 normal green birds and all 5 are split to different mutations. None of mine are dropping dead. I've only had one bird die in the last 5 years. I've had some of these birds for 10+ years and I no longer breed the old ones.

With that being said I don't believe that mutations are any weaker than the normal green birds. However if someone were inbreeding continually, that could make the bird weaker. That is something you will not know unless you're the breeder and have been breeding over several generations.

Really, as someone already said, the only way to 100% know what happened to your bird is to have a necropsy done. But, as someone else said, nasal discharge is indicative of something irritating his respiratory system.

I'm sorry for your loss. I have a few pet lovies that I would hate to lose. But we are never going to be able to help you here.

i want to thank you for the condolences. i did wind up taking parker to the vet for a necropsy because i was concerned if it was something that can be avoided in the future. on the gross anatomy it appeared that parker had some defects of his respiratory sytem. the vet thinks that parker was actually older then what i was told(more like 6 yrs instead of 8-9 months). of course i contacted the petsmart store where i purchased him from and complained aobut this. i was simply told that they are limited in the info they get on the people that sell them the birds and that there was not much they could do for my since he passed away after their 14 day guarantee. i am still awaiting some results on a biopsy and cultures that the vet took.

Jessica, I am glad to hear you decided to have the necropsy done. You should be too, since if it was indeed the bird's age you can assume that Parker's death is not attributed to something you did. I do find it odd that Petsmart would say that about not getting much information from the breeder. YEARS ago we had approached a local Petsmart about supplying them with birds, and we were told that all of their birds came from a Kaytee bird farm. We were under the assumption that Petsmart did not purchase from private breeders, yet I suppose they may have made a few changes. Regardless, I am sorry to hear you lost your bird, but I'm glad you decided to have the necropsy done afterall. It's a learning experience that will contribute to your success with keeping birds. In the future, I would highly recommend purchasing pet birds from a private breeder, who will be able to provide you with more detailed background information on a specific animal.
Best Wishes.