Cardiac disease in an african grey parrot

A 23-year-old Congo African Grey parrot presented with feather picking of the left chest and inside of the wing web. Finances were limited, so the feather picking was treated conservatively w/ silver sulfadiazine ointment and systemic antibiotics (15mg/kg enrofloxacin PO). A soft tube collar was placed and behavior and diet modification was implemented. The parrot responded well to treatment, but presented 4 months later with self mutilation of the left inner wing web. The mutilation involved full-skin thickness and muscle. At this time the owner was feeding an excellent diet (Harrison's w/ occasional green veggies) and following all behavioral modification recommendations. Again, due to financial limitations, we attempted to repeat the previous treatment modalities. This time he did not respond to the treatment, the feather picking continued, and the owner released ownership of the bird to the clinic.

Chemistries revealed a mild hypocalcemia (7.3 mg/dl – normal 8-13 mg/dl) and hyper-CK (547 U/L– normal 100-300 U/L). Radiographs were fairly unremarkable. The following day the bird was taken adopted and taken home by one of our technicians. He was active, vocalizing and eating well. Later that day he was found in his cage dead.
A necropsy was performed. Grossly, the heart muscle had small pale patches and the mural vessels had yellow, thick plaques which appeared to nearly occlude the great vessels. Histopathology was performed which confirmed our clinical diagnosis of marked arteriosclerosis with myocardial necrosis leading to acute cardiac failure.
In the future, cardiac disease will be part of our differential list in older parrots with feather picking of the left wing.