Tina&Jeremy
07-14-2010, 08:58 AM
We had a traumatic morning this morning...
My husband noticed yesterday that another wing feather was sticking out at an odd angle, but she kept tucking it away and there was no blood, so it seemed fine. This morning, as we were kissing her goodbye to leave for work, it stuck out again, and it was clearly broken. We dropped everything, took her into the washroom, and tried a repeat of last time. Unfortunately, this time wasn't so easy as the feather broke off, so as it was bleeding my husband had to try to find the sheath so we could pull it. It was significantly smaller than the sheath of the last feather, so even when we got it out we weren't sure we'd gotten everything, and the amount of blood was larger than last time. I was holding her thinking, "If she keeps bleeding she'll die...it has to stop bleeding". After applying and reapplying corn starch both under and over the spot it stopped, and we stayed with her for quite awhile to make sure she was ok. She was preening the spot like crazy, but the bleeding didn't start up again and she was fine when we left for the day.
I don't know if we just have terrible luck with this or if she possibly has weak feathers...she's due for her 6 month check up soon, so we'll ask the vet. Her diet is great and we've even upped her protein, but this is crazy.
We discourage her from flying because we have an open concept condo, so it is too dangerous for her to fly, and both instances of the broken feather have been preceded by a crash into something when she gets impatient and tries to fly to us if we're doing something and she's on top of her cage. She is clipped, but she obviously needs a trim as she tends to fly straight, with neither a lift nor a drop.
We both feel absolutely sick about it...our sweet little birdie HAS to stop breaking feathers!!! I'll be counting down the hours until I can be home again to make sure she's been ok during the day...
My husband noticed yesterday that another wing feather was sticking out at an odd angle, but she kept tucking it away and there was no blood, so it seemed fine. This morning, as we were kissing her goodbye to leave for work, it stuck out again, and it was clearly broken. We dropped everything, took her into the washroom, and tried a repeat of last time. Unfortunately, this time wasn't so easy as the feather broke off, so as it was bleeding my husband had to try to find the sheath so we could pull it. It was significantly smaller than the sheath of the last feather, so even when we got it out we weren't sure we'd gotten everything, and the amount of blood was larger than last time. I was holding her thinking, "If she keeps bleeding she'll die...it has to stop bleeding". After applying and reapplying corn starch both under and over the spot it stopped, and we stayed with her for quite awhile to make sure she was ok. She was preening the spot like crazy, but the bleeding didn't start up again and she was fine when we left for the day.
I don't know if we just have terrible luck with this or if she possibly has weak feathers...she's due for her 6 month check up soon, so we'll ask the vet. Her diet is great and we've even upped her protein, but this is crazy.
We discourage her from flying because we have an open concept condo, so it is too dangerous for her to fly, and both instances of the broken feather have been preceded by a crash into something when she gets impatient and tries to fly to us if we're doing something and she's on top of her cage. She is clipped, but she obviously needs a trim as she tends to fly straight, with neither a lift nor a drop.
We both feel absolutely sick about it...our sweet little birdie HAS to stop breaking feathers!!! I'll be counting down the hours until I can be home again to make sure she's been ok during the day...