Sometime towards the end of March this year, Funkie had a convulsion soon after he was paired up. Convulsions in shamas can be due to various causes but this was a classic case of one that was due to thiamine deficiency and most probably an acute deficiency, arising from the diet being provided for the breeding pair. The live food diet that was provided consists of insects and baby carps. The inclusion of baby carps (known to be high in thiaminase, an enzyme that will destroy thiamine) in the diet was because guppies were not available to me then and it was meant only to be a temporary measure to supply the much needed calcium for the breeding hen.
It is quite possible that the farmed insects were unable to provide sufficiently for thiamine and this could be made worse by the thiaminase from the baby carps, resulting in the deficiency being manifested very quickly soon after the introduction to this breeding diet.
Opisthotonic posturing, sometimes described as star gazing is one of the typical signs of a shama convulsion caused by thiamine deficiency. Paralysis of the anterior neck muscles will cause the neck to arch backwards. There will be total lost of control over the anterior neck muscles during the convulsion and the bird will be unable to point its beak forward as in a normal situation but instead, the beak on the retracted head will be pointed skywards, hence the description of 'star gazing'.
The other classic sign of the shama convulsion caused by thiamine deficiency is the paralysis of the leg muscles, starting from the toes. The bird will lost its control of the leg muscles and will be unable to stand or sit upright. It will normally be found lying on its back or side. It could also sometimes be found sitting wobbly on its hocks. The bird will normally be quite still but when touched, will try to struggle, toppling all over the cage floor, only to confirm the paralysis of the leg muscles.
Convulsions in shama caused by thiamine deficiency can be revived most of the time with an oral dose of vitamin B-complex.
The above video was taken on 30 March at 6am when Funkie was found convulsing on the cage floor. An oral dose of liquid vitamin B-complex (made by dissolving a B-complex tablet in water) was given immediately via a syringe.
The following video was taken about 10 minutes later. This was the early stage towards recovery. The bird had managed to be upright but was only able to sit on its hocks. It made an attempt to fly too soon, before regaining full muscular control and coordination, resulting in its falling back onto the cage floor.
The following video was taken a while later, showing the bird regaining full muscular control of the neck and picking up the mealworms being offered.
the video below was taken at the point when the bird was approaching full recovery from both the neck and leg paralysis, displaying sufficient muscular coordinations to shake its feathers.
Soon afterwards, it was able to fly up to the highest perch of the aviary to join the female.
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