I'm new to the Quaker community and have to say I'm so impressed by the amount of caring Quaker bird owners out there! Like many others, my Quaker too is named Kiwi. I have owned him for almost 10 years now, since he was baby. I recently noticed he was not talking as much, being very quiet and also that the feathers on the right side of his face were constantly sticking out. I inspected under his feathers with a q-tip and noticed that something was not quite right. Immediately I made an appointment with a really good board-certified avian vet. She let me know my Kiwi was really healthy but then upon inspection of his head she said he has what looks like a skin tumor and that it would need to be removed. She said most likely that it is not malignant...she said it looks like it's benign (let's hope! ) because it appears to be growing on a "stalk." She also said that the reason it is essentially growing out of his ear is because this is the only place that birds have glands other than their bottoms, and tumors need glands to grow. She said that this is why humans can get tumors all over, becasue we are covered in glands. I have an appointment tomorrow morning to take Kiwi back in for surgery to remove the tumor. They have to put him out and everything and even fit him with a catheter ! All in all, the surgery is going to end up costing me somewhere between $400 and $600- but I just can't see not doing this for my feathered friend, especially since he is still relatively young. Please please please let me know if you read this and you have had anything like this happen to you! I have browsed a lot of the posts and saw nothing else like this so far. I'm just at a loss as to how this happended to my birdie. I will be sure to post updates on how everything goes!

Welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear that a baby has to go through any medical procedures like that, but we will keep you and Kiwi in our prayers for a quick and complete recovery.

I have never had anything like that, so I don't know anything about it, but I'm sure some of the members will come by shortly and have some kind of info for you.
Yes, please update us when you can

Best wishes to you and Kiwi.
PS:, I know you said your Kiwi is 10 years old, but they all look like sweet babies to me so I call the ALL babies!

I don't know anything about tumors but have heard that those that grow without a stalk are more likely to be cancer. This of course doesn't mean that if it doesn't have a stalk it'a cancer. So sounds like your vet is right. I will keep Kiwi in my prayers. Please keep us informed how it all goes. I have a plumhead parakeet that's had 3 minor surgeries and all went perfectly well!
tikileahsmom

i don't have any experience or advice to offer either, but do want to commend you for finding this so quickly. it's one of my big fears that i won't notice something quickly enough and... my only experience with pet surgery is my cat who ate something that was not food lol. it took us 2 days for a diagnosis and once we were thru the ordeal, it hit me that it was actually pretty serious. hopefully kiwi's surgery will be a simple snip snip type deal and he will heal up nicely and get back to normal for mama.

good healing vibes coming your and kiwi's way. oh and welcome!

kris

welcome to the forum... although i wish it were for happier reasons! kiwi is such a lucky boy to have you in his life! please keep us updated and i know we'll all be praying for you and kiwi!!

Sending lots of good thoughts your way that the surgery goes smoothly!!!

hoping all goes well!

Awww, poor Kiwi! Don't you wish we could explain to them what's going on and not have to just leave them with a vet, when they don't understand? I'll keep Kiwi in my prayers, too, that all goes well and he'll be home and much better very, very soon!

Hi Welcome to the Forum! Hope all goes well with the little fella! Praryers and hugs going your way........

First of all Welcome to the group..

No I haven`t had any experience with this sort of thing , I do wish Kiwi and you all the best and send hugs to the little guy from across the miles , what a scary thing for you to have to go through.Will be keeping your baby in my thoughts and prayers and hoping for a successful out come ..
Hugs

Welcome . Im sorry to read about your sweetie. Im sorry i cant give advice on this subject but there will be others along on here to help ya out. I wish you best of luck and shes a cutie on th epic. Prayers for you to.

I guess today is Kiwi`s surgery day ..Keeping him in my prayers and thoughts as I close off for the night , please let us know how things go..Best of Luck and Hugs from downunder..

Ya today is the day and I'm really nervous because they just called saying they had a lot of emergency surgeries to do today and they wanted to know if I wanted to reschedule. We decided to still do it today anyways since I have off work. I'm sure they will still take their time on little Kiwi, but nonetheless it makes me worry even more! Wish us luck! Thanks for all of the well wishes. Updates asap.

"HUGS and PRAYERS" to You and Kiwi!!!!

I'll be thinking of you both today. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly.

Sending some positive vibes your way, hopefully everything goes okay!

Welcome to the forum! *Hugs*

Welcome to the flock and kudos to you for being such an attentive parront that you noticed your Kiwi was ill! Sending healing thoughts over the miles ... please do keep us posted on the outcome.

Hugs,
Joni

Bless you...and for a good outcome Welcome to this wonderful flock!!

Well we are finally home and things seem to have gone pretty well. They removed the mass that was blocking his ear and thankfully did not have to take out the ear canal while removing the mass. He looks kind of like he's been through a battle and I can definitely tell he's not feeling all to great but he definitely perked up when I let him back in his cage. We will hear from the vet either tomorrow or Wednesday and find out if it was malignant or not. She said she thought it was most likely benign, so let's pray for that! As far as recovery goes, I'm a little worried about his two sutures becase he keeps itching at them and that's exactly what Dr. Oglesbee said not to do! I just gave him more pain medication and then also have a topical medication to apply as well as an antibiotic, so hopefully all of that will keep him from picking at the sutures. We have to head back in ten days to have the sutures removed, if Kiwi doesn't remove them first. I feel like I always have to be looking at him now because you never know when that sneaky little foot will make its way up to his wound to poke around at it. Anyways, thank you to everyone for being so warm and inviting and also for all of the well wishes!

-Sarah

Sarah,
So happy to hear Kiwi's procedure is over and it went well. Thank you so much for sharing his story with the forum. This is how we learn the things we need to know to be responsible parronts. I have been fortunate enough to never have gone through anything like this with my Kiwi but thanks to this forum I feel much better prepared should anything happen.
I recall there are several threads pertaining to making "collars" for our little guys. Maybe you could do a "search" on them and that would help with the scratching around the stitches.
Good luck and please keep us updated on Kiwi's progress!

I am so glad the procedure went well , you must be so relieved...Can you take your baby to work with you to keep him from pulling at his stitches..?? I would be a little afraid to leave him on his own, I think my vet would have kept him in hospital for a couple of days I was suprised that you were able to bring the little guy home so soon , BUT hey I bet being home was the best medicine for him ..
Good Luck and hugs to Kiwi...

My mom will be there to keep an eye on him while I'm at work, so that's good. I talked to my vet a while ago and she told me the sutures would actually be really hard for him to pull out. He is basically just putting his foot around his neck because I think it's pretty uncomfortable for him. As for the collar, she said it would do more harm than good unless he was really pulling at the stitches with his nails. She said sometimes birds won't even eat with the collars on. I'm so happy he's back home with us...he has been eating and sitting in his cage and not looking miserable anymore! He still has not talked again yet but I'd imagine he's pretty tired. I also learned something new today that I thought I'd share. I told my vet on the phone today that he kept putting his foot around his neck and opening his mouth really wide and closing his eyes. She explained that whenever a bird touches their ear it prompts a "yawn" reflex, which is something he had been doing pretty often before I brought him in to the vet. She also said that a lot of times birds with these masses at their ears come in initially because the owner claims they are yawning a lot. It just seems like whenever something is near their ear (or in their ear in this case) they "yawn," which looks a little odd. I'm definitely anticipating the lab results; we should find out either tomorrow or Wednesday whether or not the tumor was malignant and also they are checking his cholesterol levels and also DNA sexing him, since we still don't know if Kiwi is officially a "he" or not! So happy to have my little bird back!



edit::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::
he just said "hey kiwi!!!!!" I'm so happy lol

thanks for the update on Kiwi. Hugs and prayers. Im sure that Kiwi is happy to be with mama.

i'm so glad the surgery went good... such a relief. i'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the tests come back as benign!

I'm glad he's feeling better. I've been worried about him! I'm sure everybody is. Clyde does that yawn thing, too, and sometimes he does it when I yawn. I'm glad your vet explained it and that you told us what he said.

Here's a pic of my cutie after surgery. Looking pretty good despite all that he went through today!!!

It was so funny, as soon as I got the camera out he kept turning his head to the side as if to show off his boo boo! It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but the feathers are actually covering where the stitches are a little bit.

Awwwwww what a sweetie .he sure looks fine , I bet he is feeling better too without that nasty lump...all the best fingers crossed for a good result..

hes such a cutie. Thanks for sharin the pics. So glad to see hes doing better now.

Hello, and welcome! I am just now reading your post and am so glad that Kiwi is doing well after surgery. He is adorable by the way! You sound like such a good parent to this bird and I'm sure he is in perfect hands! Good luck with the news today or tomorrow and please let us know. Thoughts and prayers xoxo

So glad that Kiwi's surgery is over. Praying for good news for you both.

~Sending healing thoughts and hugs~

I hope everything will be ok so sorry he had to go thru something like this but your a good mommy you caught it very early.... good for you

No news today on whether the tumor was malignant or not, but I'm really feeling (and hoping ) that it was not! The vet should definitely be calling tomorrow to let us know all of the details. Kiwi seems to be feeling a little better today, but he really does not like all of the medication! I will be very relieved when this is all behind us. Thanks again to everyone for all of their concern and kind words! I will be sure to post what I find out tomorrow.

It's great to hear that Kiwi is doing so well! He is such a cutie!

Good luck with the results, crossing my fingers that everything is okay! *Hugs*

Good luck. I'm sure you'll get great news tomorrow.

Best wishes

I'm glad to hear that every thing has gone so well!!! Keeping my fingers crossed tomorrow comes with more good news

I must say your little Kiwi is a REAL Trooper going thru all of this. The pictures look great! Hoping and praying that it isn't cancerous. Please keep us updated.

I am sure you will be relieved to have it all behind you , how is the little man today ..?? sending hugs and Goodnight from Oz...will check in again tomorrow nighty night from me and my boys...

So I finally called my vet's office after waiting around all day and still hearing no response. They informed me that the results were faxed over right after my vet left the office and she told me that she had to wait for my vet to come back in tomorrow to go over everything with me . I really wanted to hear today but I guess I'll be hearing first thing tomorrow morning finally!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr doesn`t that receptionist know we are all waiting... fingers crossed...

Well the vet called first thing this morning with good news. But it was not all of the news that I wanted, since the biopsy result still has not come back . She said it might take until the end of the week. I'd really just love to know now, so I can quit worrying! She let me know (after nearly 10 years of uncertainty!) that my Kiwi is indeed a boy and she also let me know that all of his levels are really good, including his cholesterol which can often be a cause for concern in Quakers because of fatty liver disease and all that. So I'm happy about that, but disappointed that I still don't have the test results on what I'm concerned about. Let's hope she calls soon, I can take this much longer.

Kiwi seems to be getting better day by day, although I think he's dreading the medicine and antibiotic drops more and more as time goes on. I really thought that his recovery was going to be a lot more difficult than it has been though. The very first day within hours of his surgery he was back on his perch and happily grinding his beak. So I'm very happy to see that he is not in constant pain. Well hopefully I'll be able to post on here soon that Kiwi is as healthy as can be. Thanks again for all of the support.

I'm so happy to hear that Kiwi's surgery is over and is doing fine....He looks real great in the picture....
I'm sure with all his levels being good that the biopsy is going to be negative....thanks for keeping us up-to-date...
And by the way----congratulations on your little boy or at 14, I'd say a little man....

Thanks for the up date ..I am glad Kiwi is doing well how long has he got to take the meds ..its usually about 10 days ..good luck I know when Buddy was taking meds morning and night he wasn`t impressed ..lol.. I was glad when it was all over too as I felt like a big ogre..

We've been at a stalemate the last few days since it was the weekend but I'm fairly confident I'll hear the news tomorrow about Kiwi's tumor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's benign and am hoping to post good news soon!

*fingerscrossed* for you too!

Just checking in on Kiwi and I see you have to play the waiting game. Oh that's so hard isn't it?
Praying for great news for you tomorrow. Kiwi, oh what a cutie "he" is.

Fingers still crossed here ..maybe that old saying is working ..No News is Good news.. I hope so ..

Any update yet.....i have been watching this post and praying for your sweet little guy..

Checking up on Kiwi---will be looking forward to hearing from you soon...Have a nice day....

Bed time for me will check in when I awake ..have a Good Monday ..fingers still crossed here..