Darby & Heavy Metal

A warning about heavy metal poisoning

It started out as a normal Tuesday.  Aaron and I got up.  I grabbed my much needed coffee and went outside for few minutes.  As usual, I went to the bird room to let our two feathered kids out for breakfast and morning play.

I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart pounding, when I lifted the cover from Darby, our two-year-old Derbyan parakeet's cage.  He sat slumped and puffed up, like any parrot keeper's nightmare.  There was something wrong.

I picked him up and put him on his play perch in the living room, hoping he was just still sleepy, and that he would perk up once there.  It didn't happen.  He sat low on feet, his head lolling to one side like he couldn't hold it up.  And so the nightmare began.

We immediately called to find out that the vet opened at 8:30.  So we waited a while and then put both Darby, and Harley, our macaw, into their travel cages.  Harley didn't seem sick, but since we had no idea what was wrong with Darby we didn't want to take any chances.  We made the half hour drive from our home in the mountains down into town in dread.

We arrived at 8:30 almost on the dot.  But, when we went in, we found out that Dr. Hill, our vet and a wonderful bird vet at that, was running late and wouldn't be in until 9:30.  At first, the receptionist tried to talk us into leaving Darby and waiting for Dr. Hill to see him, and then letting her call us back.  But, we were too nervous about all this and decided to go to a nearby McDonald's, have a little breakfast and return with him and wait to see the doctor.

We did this to return and find out that Dr. Hill was taking care of a personally emergency and wouldn't be in until somewhere between 12 and 1 p.m.  We were again urged to let them hospitalize Darby and call us back.  We hesitated.  I think we knew in our hearts that this was the right thing to do, but it hurt so much to acknowledge that we needed to part with him.  After much tears and kisses, though, we did.

The day was a long one while we waited for Dr. Hill to see Darby and call us back.  Aaron went to work but came home early in the afternoon, unable to concentrate.  We waited for what seemed like forever for the phone to ring.  We kept calling ourselves only to be told by the office manager, Audrey, that Dr. Hill was still working with him and other patients and didn't know anything yet.  Finally, toward the end of the day, Audrey called again to say that they didn't know what was wrong with him, but that he was getting some tests done and was on medication and that we would know more tomorrow.

This sent me into a panic.  Finally, I couldn't bear it and called and asked if we could come get Darby and bring him home.  If he was that bad off, I feared, I wanted to be there for him until the end (see the Articles section for "The 10 Commandments of Parrot Ownership").  Dr. Hill immediately called us back herself once she heard this.  She assured me that Darby was "100% better" from the morning.  That he seemed to have some gastrointestinal inflammation going on, but that she had him on antibiotics, and that he seemed to be responding well.  She would be getting the test results back the next morning, but more than likely we would be able to bring our baby boy home the next afternoon.

We hardly slept that night.  We waited impatiently for the promised morning phone call, interjected with a few of our own, where we were told the doctor was still waiting on results.  Finally, about 1 p.m. the dreaded call came.  Audrey told us that we had a "very ill little bird", that he had had a seizure that morning and that he needed to be kept for more tests and medicines and hand-feeding and the doctor would call us tomorrow.  

So I made another freaked out phone call back to the office after talking to Aaron at work.  I wanted to go see our baby, and even though I knew this was the vet's surgery day, I called and asked Audrey if we could come.  She said she would ask Dr. Hill and call us back.  After stewing over this a little while, Aaron came and picked me up at the house anyway and we drove down to the office.  (Incidentally, we got a call from Audrey while we were on our way saying that it was okay to come.)  I picked up a couple of pictures of Darby with us at Thanksgiving and also prepared a Tibetan prayer scroll, since Darby's species is native to Nepal and the Himalayas, and inserted more pictures, some of his beloved pine nuts, and a few of his feathers, and brought this with me.

We walked into the office and told the receptionist that we would like to see Darby.  Our hearts soared, though, and tears came to our eyes when we heard his little growl coming from the back hospital room.  We had expected to find a nearly lifeless ball of feathers, but not with that ruckus.  The receptionist returned and said it would be a few minutes, that the doctor was working with him right now.  We smiled and told her that we knew and waited.

Dr. Hill came out a few moments later.  In her hands, well wrapped in a large towel, was our bird, Darby.  He was so cute with his little face peeking out.  His eyes immediately flashed when he saw us.  She took us back to an exam room and explained that not only did he have the GI irritation going on, but that his calcium was horribly depleted and probably the cause of his seizure that morning.  He had been maintained on the antibiotics and was also being given IV calcium and being hand-fed as well.  Additionally, she was giving him a little Valium because he is such a fighter with her.  She would need to run some more tests, as she still wasn't sure what was the origin of all this.  She then handed Darby to me, still in his towel where he needed to stay, and allowed us time to "love on him" as she said.

After a while, she came with the travel cage we had left him in and asked if we thought there was any way he had been exposed to a great deal of lead or zinc.  She pointed out a toy of painted blue metal rings that hung in his travel cage and remarked upon a small spot where the paint had come off.  She asked if this was one of his favorite toys.  I told her no, not really, it just hung in the travel cage and he really never touched it.  The paint had come off where some sisal rope used to rub it, but that he went more for wood.  She asked about his cage, dishes, the walls, anywhere where he might have chewed metal or paint, but we were stumped.  She said that she would like to run some x-rays and look for heavy metals as soon as he had some strength back, especially if all the blood test came back negative, and we agreed.  Before we left, we placed pictures of us on the incubator where he was being kept, and left the prayer scroll on top.

The next day I spent over two hours looking at every bar and joint in Darby's cage, but could find absolutely no sign of chewing.  I looked at the walls and found none either.  And then I looked again.  His food and water dishes in his cage and on his play perch were both metal.  But, I thought, these were made by manufacturers who knew that birds or other animals would be using these.  Surely, they were safe?

Thursday brought no positive results for any of the usual things.  But, speaking to the doctor who performed the lab work and he did tell Dr. Hill that additionally Darby was very anemic and that the shape of his blood cells bore classic signs of metal poisoning.  Dr. Hill performed the x-rays and could find no metals in his system.  This didn't mean that he didn't have metal toxicity, though, merely that he been exposed to it in small amounts over a long period.  Also, an additional symptom he had was that he his feet had become clenched, signifying temporary nerve damage, also associated with heavy metal poisoning.  She decided to give calcium EDTA a try, the medicine used to reverse metal toxicity.  Darby began to respond immediately.  She called and asked if we wanted to continue on this course without the expensive and difficult blood test (which requires .5-1 cc of blood),  I agreed.  After all, if all the symptoms pointed to heavy metal poisoning and he was responded to the metal detox treatment, why put him through anymore.  She agreed and told us we could pick up Darby on Friday afternoon.

We came on Friday afternoon and picked up Darby.  What a sight he was.  His feet were bound in order to keep the tendons stretched while he recovered from the metal poisoning.  He would be able to have them taken off by as early as Sunday, and no later than Tuesday.  Additionally, we would have to give him twice daily shots of the antibiotics and EDTA as well as keep him in a small aquarium with a heating pad in order to keep warm and give him someplace safe to rest since he couldn't perch.  We again talked about the possibility of exposure and when I told her about the metal bowls, she thought almost conclusively that those had caused this problem.

We spent a while talking to our vet about the metals in bird toys and especially food bowls.  She even showed us a stainless steel (always safe for pets) bowl for her bird, but showed us how the brackets and screws in it were not safe themselves and could possible leak through the drill holes.  (Bowls that are hung to rest in rings or sockets are safe).  Numerous pets, not just birds, get bowls like these all the time, and while they are usually safe, if they are exposed to anything acidic (birds dropping fruit in their water bowl, for example) or hot days, that this can cause the metal to deteriorate and leak zinc, the usual culprit, or lead.

Darby responded well to his medications, thankfully.  When his wrappings came off on Tuesday, he was weak at first, but was perching almost normally by himself by the end of the evening.  Within a couple of days he was back in his cage and acting like his old self.

We barely dodged a bullet that day we brought our Darby into the vet.  We don't consider ourselves perfect "parronts", but we thought we were well informed and careful.  We were proven wrong and hope others can learn from this and DO NOT USE THESE BOWLS FOR ANY OF YOUR PETS.  Please, read the information provided by the links below and understand this danger and its other sources that you may not even be aware of.  You really could be poisoning your bird and not know it.  Thanks for reading this.  We hope we have helped you avoid the terror and possible loss which we have faced.

Some links to information about Heavy Metal Poisoning

The Parrot Who Liked Heavy Metal (or How to Get the Lead Out) - Pet Education

Five Common Avicultural Problems - Parrot Society of Australia

Heavy Metal Toxicity - Veterinary Associates, Stonefield

An Ounce of Prevention - Real Macaw

Zinc and Your Parrot - Pet Bird Report

Zinc and Parrots - Funny Farm Exotics

Zinc and Parrots - Exotic Pet Vet.Net

Zinc Toxicity in a Hyacinth Macaw - Those Majestic Macaws

Heavy Metal Poisoning - National Cockatiel Society

The A to Zinc of Zinc Poisoning - Winged Wisdom Magazine

Galvanized Wire and Zinc - Winged Wisdom Magazine

Zinc Toxicity - Bird Breeder On-Line

Ask the Vet (Zinc Toxicity) - The Aviary

Heavy Metal Poisoning in Birds - Hotspot for Birds

Common Household Poisons of Pet Birds - Parrot Island

Testing for Zinc in Parrot Toys, Play Gyms, and Cages - Ed Harris