I called animal control again and they are sending someone out there in an hour.

I have all evidence ready.

 

Glad he is doing better Infections can spread and I think that could be why the vet says it is more serious .

 

There's still hope! 81 to 77 isn't too bad, and hopefully the blood test results will be good. Hang in there!

 

I'm glad animal control is on hue their way! Ugh! The worry about how someone is caring for your baby is one reason why I include a picture, sent by email or text, every day of the pet. If they are staying in their own home, is send it WHILE I am at the house, so the owner can have some peace of mind. I had someone watch my birds when I was gone when I was a kid, and they didn't clean the cages at all because when they tried, one bird got out, and the poor kids (we were all around 10 years old) was so terrified that he is still afraid of birds to this day now I only allow bird owners to help me out, and only when I know how they care for their own birds.

 

The animal control officer just left. She took my evidence and then also took several pictures of it herself. The officer agreed there is noway the caretaker did not notice the bird's injury. There was simply too much blood everywhere. Not only that but the cage was lined with white paper ABOVE the bars, so blood would have been all over it. Blood was also on the bird! As mentioned earlier, she would have had to have been BLIND to not nitice such a severe injury.

Officer now going over to that woman's house. officer agreed with me how terrible this is and the woman SHOULD have notified me and taken bird to the vet!!!

Officer gave me paper to fill out which I must take to the bank to get it notarized. I will do that tomorrow. I am too worried about my tiel surving still and bad anxiety about bloodwork results.

The officer also reviewed all my text corrspondence with that woman where the woman clearly LIED. I am printing out those text messages as more evidence..

 

So cool, I just called the vet for update. Bloodwork not in yet... but they said he's been walking around more and even ate some grapes and watermelon (or at least I think that's what she said he was eating) Awesome!!

Sorry for posting so much, I'm just on edge here. Had to report he's actually doing better!

 

Like RexiesMum said, an infection is worse than rhabdomyolysis. Infections can affect all their systems really fast based on how their anatomy is. Rhabdomyolysis is kind of just in the affected muscle area, I don't think unless it wasn't noticed for weeks that it would affect the kidneys or go outside the muscle area.

I'm glad he's doing better today! He's already on antibiotics so that already started taking care of the infection. I'm hoping the swelling goes down soon. He's doing great!

 

Like RexiesMum said, an infection is worse than rhabdomyolysis. Infections can affect all their systems really fast based on how their anatomy is. Rhabdomyolysis is kind of just in the affected muscle area, I don't think unless it wasn't noticed for weeks that it would affect the kidneys or go outside the muscle area.

I've learned a LOT more from the dog/cat vet today and your post than I have from that mean bird vet lady!

So now the infection is the main problem. I HOPE the anibiotics are able to help wipe it out in time.

 

I hope she can take time and explain more things to you about what's happening with him. At least he seems to be doing better in her care.

I think the antibiotics will be able to, other people notice infections way later when their animals are in critical condition and those animals still survive.

 

I'm so happy that this horror story is beginning to turn around

 

Fingers crossed. It's a great sign that he's eating on his own.

 

Juliet My heart is with you and little Rascal . Believe me,I know how important these birds are for us, They are a very important part of our lives . Sending my best vibes for Rascal and you.Dont give up sueing this horrible woman,make her pay for all your bills and ,if possible,make sure that she ll never be able to sit for any animal,let alone delicate creatures like birds . Feel free to PM me if you want to contact somebody or to talk . . Please keep us updated . Be strong !He will pull through ! Hugs and kisses for you and Rascal from Brazil Teresa X x

 

I've pasted below what I'm writing onto the animal abuse case report. I was told to write in detail. The next step is filing a case with a state attorney who we are speaking with today to get this horrid woman to pay for all the medical bills.

Below is what I'm writing on the report.......

I paid caretaker to take care of my pet bird while I was out of town for 7 days (Oct 19 - Oct 26). Pet was to be watched at caretaker’s house during those 7 days. My pet sustained a serious injury while under her care, yet the caretaker did not bother to call/text me or notify me whatsoever, nor did she rush my pet to the emergency clinic for medical attention. Thus, I was completely unware my pet sustained a serious injury while under her care and in need of urgent medical attention. I even texted caretaker on Oct 24 to ask how my pet was doing. Caretaker responded 30 minutes later saying my pet is fine and doing well. She did not bother to mention my pet had sustained serious injury.

I then returned home from my business trip and picked up my pet from her house (Sunday) Oct 26. I then rushed my pet to the emergency clinic as I noticed there was blood all over the cage, half his wings were “missing” as the feathers were yanked out of his wings by the roots (leaving 3 big bloody open wounds) and he was also acting sick (too sleepy, also went from being able to fully fly to dropping like a rock – both wings were completely unfunctional).

I questioned caretaker that same day as to what happened to my pet, she denied anything was wrong with my pet and claimed “nothing happened”. Upon further pressuring her for the truth, caretaker finally admits my pet sustained injury on either Oct 22 or Oct 23 at around 4 or 5 am (I have attached text correspondence as proof). Yet, caretaker did NOTHING. Further text correspondence shows her saying she basically moved my pet into another room in her house after he was injured. So, rather than notifying me and rushing my pet to the emergency clinic, she "moved him to another room" and left him be in pain, bleeding and in need of urgent medical attention! There was so much blood caretaker would have had to have been blind, literally, to not notice such a SEVERE injury. Not to mention my pet had dried blood on his wings when I picked him up from her house.

The caretaker's irresponsibility and negligence with my pet, which caused a 5 DAY DELAY in me getting him to the emergency clinic has caused life threatening complications to form. It is not the injury, but rather the 5 day DELAY in getting my pet medical attention that has now caused him to develop a bad infection, severe inflammation and Rhabdomyolysis. My pet is not eating on his own and being tube fed, given steroids and fluids and antibiotics. My pet is now fighting for his life due to the life threatening complications resulting in the 5 DAY DELAY in getting him to the vet because of the caretaker’s negligence.

This is totally unacceptable. The caretaker should have immediately notified me my beloved pet was injured. Any individual who shows this level of irresponsibility and disregard to an animal has NO business taking care of any living creature.

 

Preach it!

 

Very well written Juliet . Stay strong ! Hope your little Rascal recovers soon . Fingers crossed ! All the best X x

 

I'm glad Rascal is doing better. It's unbelievable that this woman could just sit back and do nothing while your bird was hurt. I'm so, so sorry you and Rascal had to go through this and hope that Rascal recovers soon.

 

I am going back to the vet now to check on Rascal and hopefully they have the bloodwork. It's almost 5pm. Where is it!? hopefully they have it by now this is driving me crazy. I'll take picture of Rascal for you guys - hoping he will still be improving.

I did keep thinking maybe she didn't notice Rascal was injured. But then how do you explain the fact that I immediately noticed all the blood on the cage, blood on his wing, fact that half his wings were suddenly missing (ALL his flights feathers on both wings!)... and that he wasn't acting normal (was way too sleepy and weird). Yet, she had him for 5 DAYS and she's home all the time pretty much. It doesn't add up. Noway. She had to have KNOWN.

 

She will play dumb until the end. She had to have known. If she cleaned up the blood, there's no way she didn't know where it came from. And if somehow she didn't know, that is a whole other can of worms called NEGLECT, not even checking on him for 5 days.... considering you even specifically asked her to let him out of his cage daily.

 

Exactly Jaguar . The evil woman was completely careless about Rascal . I cant put in words how much I feel for Rascal and you Juliet.I wish from deep in my heart a good and speedy recovery for both of you and hope to see little Rascal happy on your shoulder again pretty soon . X x Teresa

 

Juliet, if you haven't sent off that letter yet, I would definitely add what you and she discussed in specifics with regards to your expectations of his care. I would be very, very specific here, as in, "She agreed to let my pet out of his travel cage for at least 1 hour every day. She agreed to clean the cage daily, which includes (but is not limited to) replacing the paper at the bottom of the cage, cleaning the water bowl and refilling with fresh water, cleaning food dish and filling with fresh food." and so on. I think it just needs to be made very clear that she knew exactly what she was supposed to do and that she obviously did not do that if she is claiming she didn't know your bird was injured, so she's nailed either way for neglect. I absolutely believe she will attempt to say there was no agreement that she was to let him out every day, etc because that's really the only way her excuse works.

 

Thanks so much, good point! I will definitely add that.

Right now I am VERY upset. His bloodwork results came in today at 1pm... she was notified it came in a long time ago. It is now 9 pm almost and this vet never bothered to call me at all regarding the results when she promised she would. She knows how incredibly stressed out I am about the results because that will show just how bad of a shape he's in and how bad his infection is (I was at the clinic today but nobody there knew how to read the lab report! and this vet wasn't at the clinic at all today she was working at the other clinic far away from here, not good!). I'm positive she had at least 2 minutes she could have spared to at least call me and quickly update me today on Rascal's rather very serious condition!!

She is super rude and super unfriendly and very cold on the phone and will even snap at you! I need to find another vet FAST!

Now I have no idea what is happening... I contacted her, no response yet.

 

Yay! Rascal is eating!

 

OMG! Juliet, I have just logged on for the first time in a week or so and this is the first post I see.
WTF!!!!!

Who was this woman that looked after Rascal?? Thats not a carer!!! Sorry, she's made me so angry and now the VET!!!
Are you easily accessible to avian vets (sorry if this has been talked about, I just haven't had a chance to read all of the thread).

Skiddles and Louey are sending lots of birdy love to Rascal. 'Be strong little man'. xxx

 

It's soo hard when the vets aren't nice, on top of the already tragic situation. You'd expect vets to be kind-hearted and empathetic animal-lovers, but clearly that's not the case. So disappointing, I hope after all this you are able to find a friendlier vet.

I'm thinking about Rascal often, and you are in my thoughts too Juliet. Sending scritches from me and my flock. *Hugs*

 

Really appreciate every single one of your responses. This forum has been a HUGE help. Thanks.

A tech from the clinic just called me. He said that only part of the results came in and I will have to wait until tomorrow until the rest comes in. I asked him if the bird vet has any inclination whether the portion that did come through, is bad or ok. He said she won't say until she gets the entire results in because they are checking his kidney's, liver etc for damage. Ok, I am again very nervous

I do recall the tech glancing at the report he said some things were high and some low (things appeared out of range or something) I should have gotten a copy of the labwork... but he doesn't know how to read labs... and neither do I. So i just have to wait.

 

Joey and I are still sending hugs, prayers and scritches. Fortunately, I can have my phone with me at work. so I keep checking the thread for updates.

 

That's not right to not update you when he's in such serious condition.

EDIT: Got rid of the report, it wasn't very helpful as it turns out. :wacko: