🦜 Tink-
 
Tink is our especially-sweet GCC (Green-cheek conure) who has seizures 😢 – what do you do for a parrot with seizures?
Once upon a time, although she hatched this winter, Tink seemed to have had nerve damage. A friend owns a bird store and gave her to us (my daughter and I) because the damage makes it so that she can’t fly or walk well, making her ‘un-sellable.’ He guessed she flew into a wall when learning how to fly, but who knows? So she was entrusted to us ☺️
With nerve damage, it was no surprise when she started having seizures. The real surprise were the seizures themselves, because I’d never had a parrot who had seizures before. The second surprise was learning online that it isn’t uncommon for parrots to have seizures. It happens 😧
We started treating Tink with CBD oil and, because of Tink, started making CBD oil available for parrots, which I’m calling ‘Tink’s Oil.’
CBD oil has no psychotropics and may even help if she is in pain at all – poor thing. She’s a sweet girl and we want her to have a comfortable, happy life. This is why she is hanging out with me today.
 
Tink’s adorable! She likes to be with us and does have a roommate who she cuddles with and preens/get preened by. When she’s with me, I rub her neck and she closes her eyes and looks blissful! Then she tries to return the favor by gently nibbling back, preening me! The CBD oil has been a great relief because it freaks me out to see her having seizures. Breaks my heart 💔 to see her body twisting and shaking. Yikes!
It’s not as though I expect her to live forever, but… maybe for a long time? If she’s comfortable, of course. It’s not easy having a special needs GCC, not that it’s a big deal, but it’s one more thing to do. The good news is that she’s super easy to treat: we drop a drop of oil into her beak – she knows she’s ‘special’ and she doesn’t bite at all. I don’t know if others who have parrots who have seizures have a harder time treating them, because I have had several people ask about seizures and ask what we do. In Tink’s case, she learned early on that she was limited; initially she was scared to have us hold her when we first adopted her, but she couldn’t fight us, so she gave in and found that she was loved and treated with care instead. Her’s has been a challenging life, but one filled with love too. Everyone at home thinks she’s one of the sweetest birds, ever!