Broken Femur - Snowy and Her Long Journey With Her Bad Leg

It was a long drive to my avian vet. My avian vet put squirted some alcohol on her feathers around her ankle and saw bruising. Snowy has white feathers, so it wasn't difficult for us to see the bruising. Right off the bat, he told me it's broken. We talked about our options before she got an x-ray. Two of the options were different types of surgery. The last option was to leave it alone. We chatted a bit, and then he took her in for an x-ray to see how badly she was injured. Snowy's upper left thigh is broken. My vet said it's not possible to operate on her because of the way the bone broke. The bone is not a clean-cut one. He told me that on the x-ray, there were bone fragments, which he said was a good sign. Our only option was to leave it be. If in a month it doesn't heal, she might require amputation. We also opted out of painkillers. My vet told me that once a bird gets painkillers, they're likely to start feeling a lot better and be active. He said having them lay low would be in their best interest. Obviously, if she's in a lot of pain, I was told to give my vets a call, and he will arrange something suitable for snowy. I never did as she was eating and drinking.

For four days, I kept Snowy in a "hospital bin" with smooth sides. He told me to keep her in there for two weeks to be discouraged from trying to climb the bars of a small hospital cage that isn't advisable during her healing process. Snowy is stubborn and very squeamish and would squeeze out every time I changed her food and water. After consulting my Vet, I decided to have her placed in one of my old cages, which wasn't large. Luckily, Snowy didn't move for two weeks when she was inside her old cage. She just moved side to side when she wanted food, water, or a different perch to rest on.

Our next appointment was March 5th, one month after the first appointment. The hope in our second appointment was to see healing in her femur. It's not the greatest news nor the worst. They did a second x-ray, and we talked about few things. One thing I mentioned to my vet, which I didn't say earlier, is that Snowy had her "cere" turn yellow right after her first appointment when she was given anesthesia. It was on her cere for few days and went away. Even though it went away, I still let them know if it might be her body reacting differently. She said that's most likely the reason behind it. While my vet was preparing for the x-ray, she noticed that her legs weren't "wobbly." Not sure if everyone is familiar with a broken leg or femur, but Snowy's leg would move all the way to the sides. It was very loose and wiggly. This time they didn't notice any of that. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the second x-ray also showed very little to no calcification. I do want to mention that I already supplement them with calcium, naturally. I give them eggshells, and she has a cuttlebone too. Their seeds also supplement them with oyster shells. The only thing I didn't do is adding anything to her drinking water. I was worried that she might not like the taste of her water.

Anyways, my vet told me few reasons behind why it might've not shown any calcification. She said the cells at the end of her bone might be "dead," so it's not healing properly, or it might be an infection that's preventing her some healing properly. They gave me calcium powder, and I'll be adding that to her water for two weeks. It has no flavour. It's just white powder. For two weeks, she will be in her separate cage, and the third week, she will be with the flock, but she still won't be able to fly than either. My vet is worried that she might land rough, and we end up having a delay in healing. She told me after the third week; I can take her out to fly and observe her behaviour. If she shows signs of lifting her feet or, in general, pain in landing and such, we have to go in again to see the vet. This will mean she will need surgery. If I don't notice anything alarming, she's all good and won't need surgery. I know some people might be confused because I keep using "he" and "she." I saw two different vets. My first appointment was with Dr.Evan and my second appointment was with Dr. Nur. Dr. Evan initially, like mention before, didn't think surgery would benefit her because of the high risk of her bones shattering. I asked Dr. Nur the same questions, and she pretty much said the same stuff and agreed with him. I have to plan ahead of time just in case things don't go the way I want. I know a lot of people are now wondering, "What now?" If it doesn't heal, I plan on going with amputation. Hear me out for a minute, as the last thing I want is looking like a bad owner. Like I mentioned before, I post pictures daily on Instagram, and I posted my very first picture of Snowy's leg on Dec 2nd but brushed it oddly as nothing serious. From that on, she never had any serious or alarming signs of pain or anything. I didn't think she broke her leg. That's likely when she broke her femur. If we do basic math, we know that if that's the case, then it's been months, and she should've healed by now. This breaks my heart. It honestly does. I just assumed it to be a sore leg, and if I was more aware of the signs, she might have healed better... Regardless of which option we got with, the surgery will be expensive.

I don't want her to go to surgery to fix something, knowing that it might (most likely) won't heal properly, and we go in again to amputate it. I know birds heal well, but I also know they're fragile. It doesn't seem realistic to have Snowy go in with surgery to "fix" the problem at this point. Snowy is the "runt" in my flock. She the tiniest, and she always had problems with her health. Going in the pins or splints seems very concerning to me. She also has sensations on her toes, so another side of me tells me maybe she will make a full recovery. I know my vets can't guarantee me anything, no vet can, but I know that this surgery isn't simple either... This surgery type seems more successful on larger birds such as amazon's, grey's or macaws.

Our final update on Snowy's femur is that she uses her leg, but she sometimes will still oddly lean on her broken leg. This Tuesday, she will be going in our flight cage. She won't be flying outside, but she will have more than enough space in her cage with her flock mates as well. After spending one more week inside the cage with her flock mates, she will be free to fly. I will be monitoring her. Let's hope for the best...