Tina&Jeremy
06-25-2010, 08:48 AM
We had quite an evening last night...
Thankfully our avian vet was right on the money a few weeks ago when Agave was a little under the weather. She was taking her antibiotics but was still quiet, and the vet suggested upping her protein with egg whites since she was mid-molt and her body would need it for feather production. We temporarily removed all seed from her mash, so for awhile she was just on pellets, egg white, and fresh stuff (which, sans seeds, is NOT very exciting, thank you very much). She wolfed down the eggs for a few days (didn't really throw any, just gobbled it up), and then, as she got perkier and perkier, just lost interest, so I guess the deficiency has sorted itself out, as she is now covered in pinnies, and I am ECSTATIC to report that she has gained THREE GRAMS!!! (she had lost weight while feeling down, but now we have a beautifully solid 28 gram birdie!) I alarmed my husband when I put her on the digital scale - when I saw the number, I cried, GOOD BIRD!!!!!!!!! :o
We've still been keeping an eye on her, though, and last night my husband noticed blood on the tip of her beak, which is certainly alarming. We examined the beak and couldn't figure out how her beak was bleeding. She also had a flight feather sticking out perpendicular to her body, which was really strange, but sometimes when she flaps her wings her feathers get messy and it takes a few seconds for her to tuck them all away, so the connection wasn't immediately evident. I walked her to the scale and, while looking down, realized that the base of the feather was bloody - broken blood feather!
We both knew that leaving it was not an option since they can bleed out, and my husband also made the connection to the mysterious teeny drops of blood he had seen in the bathtub the previous day (she has a shower perch, but he hadn't thought the blood was hers). So we knew it wasn't bleeding heavily, but the fact that it might have already been happening for a day or so and the fact that it was bleeding meant it needed immediate attention. I remembered being told by a breeder that a bleeding feather needed to be pulled, as that was the only way to stop the bleeding, so we quickly consulted various vet sites and bird sites for instructions. I held her, and my husband, who is very experienced with birds, (thankfully!) took on the role of feather-remover. (he told me afterward that my whole body was shaking...I was so worried for our little fid!) Because the feather was still attached he got a solid grip, and with one steady tug while holding her little wing, out it came, and he immediately applied cornstarch. The bleeding stopped almost immediately (we checked on it twice more afterward), we fed our birdie some millet, watched her for awhile, and put her to bed.
As of this morning she is bright, if not a little grumpy (but she was up very late (this happened right before her bed time), and doing just fine.
These little ones certainly keep you on your toes...
Thankfully our avian vet was right on the money a few weeks ago when Agave was a little under the weather. She was taking her antibiotics but was still quiet, and the vet suggested upping her protein with egg whites since she was mid-molt and her body would need it for feather production. We temporarily removed all seed from her mash, so for awhile she was just on pellets, egg white, and fresh stuff (which, sans seeds, is NOT very exciting, thank you very much). She wolfed down the eggs for a few days (didn't really throw any, just gobbled it up), and then, as she got perkier and perkier, just lost interest, so I guess the deficiency has sorted itself out, as she is now covered in pinnies, and I am ECSTATIC to report that she has gained THREE GRAMS!!! (she had lost weight while feeling down, but now we have a beautifully solid 28 gram birdie!) I alarmed my husband when I put her on the digital scale - when I saw the number, I cried, GOOD BIRD!!!!!!!!! :o
We've still been keeping an eye on her, though, and last night my husband noticed blood on the tip of her beak, which is certainly alarming. We examined the beak and couldn't figure out how her beak was bleeding. She also had a flight feather sticking out perpendicular to her body, which was really strange, but sometimes when she flaps her wings her feathers get messy and it takes a few seconds for her to tuck them all away, so the connection wasn't immediately evident. I walked her to the scale and, while looking down, realized that the base of the feather was bloody - broken blood feather!
We both knew that leaving it was not an option since they can bleed out, and my husband also made the connection to the mysterious teeny drops of blood he had seen in the bathtub the previous day (she has a shower perch, but he hadn't thought the blood was hers). So we knew it wasn't bleeding heavily, but the fact that it might have already been happening for a day or so and the fact that it was bleeding meant it needed immediate attention. I remembered being told by a breeder that a bleeding feather needed to be pulled, as that was the only way to stop the bleeding, so we quickly consulted various vet sites and bird sites for instructions. I held her, and my husband, who is very experienced with birds, (thankfully!) took on the role of feather-remover. (he told me afterward that my whole body was shaking...I was so worried for our little fid!) Because the feather was still attached he got a solid grip, and with one steady tug while holding her little wing, out it came, and he immediately applied cornstarch. The bleeding stopped almost immediately (we checked on it twice more afterward), we fed our birdie some millet, watched her for awhile, and put her to bed.
As of this morning she is bright, if not a little grumpy (but she was up very late (this happened right before her bed time), and doing just fine.
These little ones certainly keep you on your toes...