Lovie had surgery

Lovie, the lovebird, went into surgery today. He's back home and resting up after his stressful ordeal. He's been struggling with a fungal infection in his beak since he came to Animal Wonders. In the beginning it was small and the vet diagnosed it as a bruise inside his beak. When the "bruise" did not grow out as his beak grew, it was apparent that it was not what we thought. The dark spot slowly grew bigger and he was prescribed anti-fungal medication. We had to wait to see if the dark in his beak would grow out, when it did not, we had to take more invasive measures. The vet, Dr. Card, dremmeled the infected part of his beak down and then cauterized the area. He went on anti-fungal medication again and we were hopeful that it was taken care of. As we waited for his beak to grow out we watched carefully for a re-occurrence. His beak grew in different than before and it was difficult to tell if the dark area was infected or just the beak trying to recover. Lovie started dropping weight and we knew that he was not well.

He went on an anti-fungal medication again as well as an second anti-fungal applied topically. His surgery was scheduled and we kept him as comfortable as we could. He was still active and quite chipper, though his discomfort was obvious as he continually rubbed his beak and readjusted his lower mandible.

Today he was anesthetized and his beak was dremmeled back until there was no infection left, then cauterized again. This time the removal was a bit more aggressive in hopes that we could kill the infection for good. His beak is very short and he will have to learn how to eat with his new beak, but tonight he did munch on some banana. We're hoping the double anti-fungal and the removal of the entire infected area will beat this and he will be able to move on with his life.

He is such a love and we only want the best for him. His sweet personality should continue to be shared with many more and we're doing our best to make that happen. Hang in there little buddy, we all love you so very much!

Lovie when the infection was barely noticeable. We can't wait for him to grow back a beautiful healthy beak.