Seizures in Birds: First Response and the Causes to Look For

Quick answer

A seizure in a bird looks like a sudden loss of control: the bird falls from the perch, its wings and legs paddle or go rigid, the head twists back, and it cannot respond to you. It usually lasts seconds to a couple of minutes, and afterwards the bird is dazed, weak, and often blind or unsteady for a while.

A seizure is not a disease in itself. It is a symptom, and in pet birds it points to a short list of causes that are mostly found in the cage, the diet, or the windows of the room the bird flies in.

Almost everything a vet needs to narrow down an avian seizure comes from the cage, the diet and the room, not from the bird itself.

• Do not hold, restrain, or pick up a bird that is actively seizing.
• Never put your finger, a spoon, or anything else in a bird's beak. Birds cannot swallow their tongues.
• Time the episode and film it if you can. The video changes the diagnosis more than any description.
• The three causes to think of first are heavy metal poisoning, low blood calcium, and head trauma.
• Any first seizure needs a same-day avian vet, even if the bird looks completely normal an hour later.

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Zinc and lead poisoning cause seizures in pet birds and the source is usually inside the cage.

Galvanised wire, cheap quick-links and clips, bell clappers, chain, some imported cage hardware, old painted wood, curtain weights, stained glass solder, fishing weights, and costume jewellery are all sources. Birds chew metal constantly and swallow the flakes. Heavy metal poisoning is treatable with chelation if it is caught, and fatal if it is not, so it is one of the first things a vet will test for.
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Decide in 60 seconds

What to do while it is happening

Do not pick the bird up. Handling a seizing bird prolongs the episode, and a bird that is restrained around the body cannot breathe.

Note the time. Seconds feel like minutes when you are watching, and the actual duration is one of the most useful facts you can give the vet.

Start recording. A phone video of thirty seconds is more diagnostic than a page of notes, because the pattern of movement tells an avian vet a great deal about where in the nervous system the problem is.

Reduce stimulation. Turn off bright lights, turn off the television, ask everyone to be quiet, and move other pets out of the room. Do not cover the cage while the bird is thrashing, because you cannot see it.

Make the landing safe if you can do it without reaching in over the bird. Lay a folded towel on the cage floor, and take out any deep water dish the bird could fall into and drown in.

Do not put anything in the beak. Do not offer water. Do not try to hold the head still.

After the seizure stops

Expect a dazed period. The bird may be unable to grip, may sit on the floor, may seem blind, and may not recognise you. This is normal and it can last from minutes to hours.

Move the bird only once the movements have stopped. Use a light towel, support the head, keep the chest completely free, and put the bird in a small carrier lined with paper towel with no perch to fall from.

Keep it warm. A heat source outside the carrier warming one end only, with the other end unheated so the bird can move away, is the safe arrangement.

Do not offer food or water until the bird is fully alert, standing, and behaving normally. A dazed bird aspirates.

Then go to the vet. Do not wait for a second episode to justify the trip. A single seizure is enough, and the point of going now is that most of the causes are treatable if they are found early.

The causes worth hunting for

Heavy metal poisoning.

Zinc and lead are the two that matter. Birds chew metal constantly, and flakes swallowed from galvanised wire, clips, chain, bell clappers, solder, old paint, weights, or jewellery accumulate in the gut and release metal steadily.

The picture is often more than seizures: weakness, regurgitation, dropped appetite, and in some birds abnormally coloured urates. Diagnosis is by blood test and imaging, and treatment is chelation plus removing what is still in the gut.

Low blood calcium.

African grey parrots have a well recognised tendency to seizure from hypocalcaemia. Calcium is needed for nerve and muscle signalling, and a grey on a seed diet, with no exposure to natural unfiltered daylight or an avian ultraviolet source, cannot absorb enough of it even when the diet contains some.

This one is invisible until the bird fits. There is no early sign to watch for, which is why diet and light matter so much for this species specifically.

Head trauma.

Birds fly into windows, mirrors, and glass doors, and the strike does not have to look dramatic. Newly flighted birds, freshly wing-clipped birds regaining feathers, and birds startled during out-of-cage time are the usual cases.

Seizures after a head impact can appear immediately or after some delay as swelling develops.

Low blood sugar.

A small bird has minimal reserves. A budgerigar or finch that has been unable to reach food, has stopped eating because of another illness, or has been trapped away from the cage overnight can drop its blood sugar to the point of fitting.

Liver disease.

Fatty liver disease is common in seed-fed budgerigars, cockatiels and Amazon parrots. A liver that cannot clear waste products lets them reach the brain, and seizures follow along with lethargy, overgrown beak and nails, and green urates.

Toxins other than metal.

Fumes from overheated non-stick cookware, pesticides and insect sprays, some houseplants, avocado, chocolate and caffeine all have neurological effects in birds.

Overheating.

A bird in direct sun in a cage with no shade, or in a hot car, can convulse. This is a heat emergency, and cooling has to be gradual rather than by immersion.

Infection and stroke.

Several avian viruses affect the nervous system, and older parrots develop arterial disease and can have strokes. These are vet diagnoses, not home ones.

The cage audit that prevents the commonest cause

Heavy metal poisoning is the seizure cause you can actually design out of your home, and it takes one careful afternoon.

Cage hardware, toy clips and the diet on the shelf are where most avian seizure causes are found.

What never to do

Do not hold or restrain a seizing bird.

Do not put anything into the beak. Birds cannot swallow their tongues, and forcing the beak open damages the jaw and risks a bite for you.

Do not give water, food, sugar water, or any home remedy during or immediately after an episode. The aspiration risk is real and it is worse than the problem you are trying to solve.

Do not give medication prescribed for another animal, and never give a human anticonvulsant.

Do not assume a single seizure was a one-off. The underlying cause is still there.

Do not put a heat pad inside the carrier with a dazed bird that cannot move away from it.

Do not delay because the bird looks fine again. Heavy metal poisoning and liver disease both produce birds that seem normal between episodes right up until they do not.

After a seizure, watch for a bird that grips normally, tracks movement with its eyes, and holds its feathers flat again.

When to get help

Go immediately for a seizure lasting more than a couple of minutes, two or more seizures in a day, a seizure following a head impact, a seizure in a bird that has not been eating, or a bird that does not regain awareness.

Go the same day for any first seizure, any brief tremor in a bird that has been unwell, and any seizure with regurgitation, weakness, or a change in droppings.

Where the cause is found and removed, many birds go back to a completely normal life.

Bring the video, the timed duration, the species and age, the weekly weight record, the real diet including what the bird refuses, a photograph or sample of every metal item in the cage, a list of anything used in the room such as aerosols or non-stick pans, and a note of any recent flying accident. An avian vet will usually want blood work and radiographs, and the history tells them which of the possible causes to look for first.