7 hours in emergency- Not a fun day

Well this turned out to be a bad day......

First it was one of our dogs, was bleeding from the mouth and running around frantic. I grabbed the dog, my wife opened it's mouth and there was a thorn stick logged sideways in it's throat....I had to use needle nose pliers to get it out....dog is fine now after being checked out by vet.

Then after dinner time, our normal routine, my wife reads her book, I turn on TV and have all parrots in living room either on their own perches or on couch ( one at a time). Poppie always prefers to cuddle up next to my wife on her shoulder...poppie prefers my wife when it cuddle time.
But tonite Poppie went bonkers and attacked my wife viciously, bit into her neck and hit the main vein... Blood everywhere and continued to attack her.

I jumped up and grabbed poppie getting a nasty bite as well...and put her into her cage...and shut the door. Came back out to wife and seen she gotten bitten quite good and hit the juggler vein. We are just a few miles from Hospital and they actually had to take her into surgery to stich up vein.

We're back home now and wife is resting under heavy meds and quite a bit of wrap on her neck...but insist birds have to go....Sigh.

I just don't know why poppie snapped like that, like she turned into and ape or something....Never ever bitten like that ever so gentle, not tonight.
Nothing has changed around here out of the ordinary, no unusual way my wife dressed...we can't figure that one out, and I been around birds for 43 years, never seen a bird go crazy like that, I mean evil crazy.

Any Ideas???

I have no clue. I hope you're wife feels better soon . I also hope you can figure out the why.

Aw, I hope your wife feels better soon and I'm sure once the situation has "simmered down" some she will change her mind about the birds having to go. My mom has 'insisted' Alfie go more than once, but once everything calms down she remembers he's just a dumb bird at the end of the day that knows no better (no matter how much intelligence we may like to assign to them). At 7 years old, Poppie is (or is turning into) a big ball of hormones. I've seen Kiwi and my mom's normally sweet DYH Lucy "snap" like that. It's why Kiwi isn't allowed on my shoulder. Never had the misfortune of one hitting the jugular, but amazon moods can switch on a dime. Definitely some broken trust and I foresee Poppie loosing all shoulder and kiss privileges for some time after this incident.

gracebowen said:

I have no clue. I hope you're wife feels better soon . I also hope you can figure out the why.

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I'm not sure... Poppie ( Blue Fronted Amazon) is 8 years old. never once ever bitten like that. In fact we used to tell people she's is the most gentle, laid back and trust worthy bird you can own.

Tonite it was like the bird completely lost it and became possessed... She was quiet and sitting on my wife's shoulder as she dose every night and cuddles and watches TV as my wife reads. Suddenly she stood up and just attacked her non stop. Screaming at my wife....was really bazaar. Scary freaky I should say.

I'm still trying to work it out.

Kiwibird said:

Aw, I hope your wife feels better soon and I'm sure once the situation has "simmered down" some she will change her mind about the birds having to go. My mom has 'insisted' Alfie go more than once, but once everything calms down she remembers he's just a dumb bird at the end of the day that knows no better (no matter how much intelligence we may like to assign to them). At 7 years old, Poppie is (or is turning into) a big ball of hormones. I've seen Kiwi and my mom's normally sweet DYH Lucy "snap" like that. It's why Kiwi isn't allowed on my shoulder. Never had the misfortune of one hitting the jugular, but amazon moods can switch on a dime. Definitely some broken trust and I foresee Poppie loosing all shoulder and kiss privileges for some time after this incident.

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Yeah, Poppie will turn 8 in May. I never seen her do this in all this time, I've seen hormones and temperament, at times, and it's usually read in them quite well. But tonite was quiet and poppie was on her shoulder just relaxing and cuddling when poppie just stood up and started screaming at her and sunk ( not bite, sunk) her beak hard into her neck, then continued to attack her. My wife is poppies favorite buddy. made no sense.

Almost like she suddenly just became possessed...Even sunk her beak into my arm a good one.

I'm taking her into vet to be checked out just in case. The only time I ever seen a bird (Not mine) act like that is when it somehow gotten meningitis of the brain. I hope not for poppie. But I can't explain the issue that happened tonite, and I been around birds for some 43 years.

I hope Poppie is ok medically, but it sounds like a one off incident to me and an absolute freak accident that she hit your wives jugular instead of happening to bite anywhere else. How is she behaving now? Does she seem to know she did wrong?

My moms female DYH will generally have a "incident" where she'll take a chunk of flesh every couple years or so, typically during the spring when she's all "bothered" and not sure if she wants to be affectionate or vicious. Kiwi is ever unpredictable with his "moods", and I doubt I'll ever fully let my guard down with him (though he is super sweet 99% of the time) There was one morning I woke up Kiwi, and he came waddling down, a bright ray of happy amazon sunshine for his morning kisses (which is a daily routine). He reached out, looking perfectly calm and happy for his kiss and proceeded to take a chunk out of my nose instead and went instant evil-zon on me. I was stunned. Nothing (I knew of) prompted it, and he savagely attacked my face out of the blue. I'm sure he would have done worse had he not been in his cage at the time. When things calmed down, I showed him what he'd done to his mommy and he KNEW he had done wrong. We have had no further incidents since then (several years now), though I no longer give him kisses first thing in the morning.

*note to self: never let my guard down with Chiqui even years from now*

That is really scary. I hope your wife is ok.
I had a horse that attacked me one day while my dad was there and he swore he would take a gun to the colt. I just found a trainer known to take problem horses and signed him over.
Sometimes you never find out what triggers them,, they are animals. But I'm very sorry your wife got so hurt.

I second the question does poppie know what she did?
I am very careful around Chiqui as she is so new to me.. And I can't read her like I could Sydney. In the 6 years I had him he never bit me, but he also was NOT a cuddly CAG. I can't imagine Chiqui and I ever being cuddly like your wife and poppie.

Keep us updated on what the vet says. So sorry for your day. I've found with my animals when it rains it pours bad shtuff

Kiwibird said:

I hope Poppie is ok medically, but it sounds like a one off incident to me and an absolute freak accident that she hit your wives jugular instead of happening to bite anywhere else. How is she behaving now? Does she seem to know she did wrong?

My moms female DYH will generally have a "incident" where she'll take a chunk of flesh every couple years or so, typically during the spring when she's all "bothered" and not sure if she wants to be affectionate or vicious. Kiwi is ever unpredictable with his "moods", and I doubt I'll ever fully let my guard down with him (though he is super sweet 99% of the time) There was one morning I woke up Kiwi, and he came waddling down, a bright ray of happy amazon sunshine for his morning kisses (which is a daily routine). He reached out, looking perfectly calm and happy for his kiss and proceeded to take a chunk out of my nose instead and went instant evil-zon on me. I was stunned. Nothing (I knew of) prompted it, and he savagely attacked my face out of the blue. I'm sure he would have done worse had he not been in his cage at the time. When things calmed down, I showed him what he'd done to his mommy and he KNEW he had done wrong. We have had no further incidents since then (several years now), though I no longer give him kisses first thing in the morning.

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Checked on her a bit ago, she's sleeping as usual this time of night. She didn't just bite, she sunk her beak in with full force. then continued for maybe a minute to a couple minutes attacking us both.

I'll see how she dose over the next few days. She had a vet check up in February, her usual check up, and she was healthy as can be, passed everything flying colors ...I don't suspect anything would have changed her that drastically health wise. But always best to be safe than sorry.

Guess my wife is going to be a bit leery of being around the birds. She was quite mad and insisted the birds, except for one, go. But that's medication and from surgery talking....give a few days to see how she and poppie react....

I am so sorry this happened to your wife tonight . That was a freak accident that she went straight for the jugular! Wow, and needing emergency surgery, how scary. I'm glad ad she's fine now. Of course she's mad now, she'll most likely be okay with the birds after it all settles down.

I wasn't sure how aggressively the female Amazons acted during hormonal times, but apparently some can be like the males! Maybe especially the hot 3?

I'm so sorry to hear your wife was badly hurt and needed stitches. That must have been horribly painful and traumatic for all three of you.

I hope your wife recovers quickly and you figure out what caused Poppie's abrupt, aggressive behavior.

:11: Holy smokes, Michael! I am so sorry to read this.

How is your wife this morning? And how is Poppie?

I'm glad you're having her checked by a vet again, even though she just had a checkup, especially because this came SO out of the blue.

Hawk I am so sorry. Tell your wife I hope she recovers quick. I can't imagine going thru that

Holy smokes! Not good! I can say that I have seen that turn on a dime behavior in zon's many times. We always say that crazy year is around 6-8 year mark but I have seen it happen as late as 12 and as early as 5 where one Spring day they just go bonkers.

This is the reason I NEVER allow a bird on my shoulder. I was raised in Northern Michigan so I know that Spring is just now starting for you and it could and probably is a major factor.

I hope you wife makes a quick recovery I know the mental fear can take longer than the physical injury to subside, when it does hopefully she will have a change of heart.

Karma male YNA was estimated to be between 25 and 30 when he came to me (could have and probably was older) he would attack like that, anyone and everyone but me. I got one really good bite from him but only because he was trapped in a toy but knowing what he was capable of I never allowed him on my shoulder and kissing and really any cuddle time could only happen when I was alone with him.

There are just too many danger by our faces, eyes, veins, lips I have no desire to look like a Picasso painting!

Wow Hawk - I am so sorry for all of this.
I pray that God will heal your wife and that He will heal her emotional pain as well.

It may have been something on TV that made Poppie flip out.

My heart also goes out to you. I'm sure that you are going through a lot of emotions right now and don't know which one to deal with first.

labell said:

Holy smokes! Not good! I can say that I have seen that turn on a dime behavior in zon's many times. We always say that crazy year is around 6-8 year mark but I have seen it happen as late as 12 and as early as 5 where one Spring day they just go bonkers.

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Yep. I'm guessing it was a hormonal trigger too. This bird is just now really coming into season, and may not know how to react. The 7-12 years are the hardest with a zon or a big mac.

I have seen it happen. We fostered a BFA that couldn't be handled 4-6 months out of the year, and couldn't have been sweeter the other 4-6 months of the year.

I've seen large toos turn on people like that as well. Mostly U2's.

holy crap!

wow, I am so sorry this happened.

I wonder if something spooked her and she felt she didn't have an out? I see Maverick sometimes gets spooked, but since he can fly, he will choose that before biting. Is Poppie flighted? I have read that a non-flighted bird will tend to bite because they feel they cannot get away from the perceived threat. Which kinda makes sense... and I see it with my two guys. Of course, this is a huge debate, and I am just now trying out this whole allowing flight thing. But, I have seen a difference in how they act out.

I feel so bad for all involved. A serious injury like that does tend to tarnish a relationship and shatters trust. I hope you can get to the bottom of what caused her to act out. I also hope for a speedy recovery for your wife.

RavensGryf said:

I am so sorry this happened to your wife tonight . That was a freak accident that she went straight for the jugular! Wow, and needing emergency surgery, how scary. I'm glad ad she's fine now. Of course she's mad now, she'll most likely be okay with the birds after it all settles down.

I wasn't sure how aggressively the female Amazons acted during hormonal times, but apparently some can be like the males! Maybe especially the hot 3?

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Thanks.....was a freak accident. Surgery was minor, but required as poppie punctured the main artery...have to sew it or whatever they do...

Anyway, poppie is fine today...took her to vet anyway...and vet said she's 100% fine....however he's had a case where a bird did similar and come to find out, the parrots claw got caught in that persons sweater on their shoulder and the parrot freaked out. Parrots hate being trapped. The vet pointed out that poppies claws are a bit long. I kept them a little longer because she's a clumsy fart without her claws. So they are trimmed and also trimmed her beak down.

It just may have been possible Poppie got her claw caught...my wife had a sweater on as well.....though I'm not 100% sure that was what triggered her. She did climb down off her cage and walked over to my wife and said " mama....mama up up...My wife just looked down at her and had a tear coming down her face. Then left the room.

Hawk said:

RavensGryf said:

I am so sorry this happened to your wife tonight . That was a freak accident that she went straight for the jugular! Wow, and needing emergency surgery, how scary. I'm glad ad she's fine now. Of course she's mad now, she'll most likely be okay with the birds after it all settles down.

I wasn't sure how aggressively the female Amazons acted during hormonal times, but apparently some can be like the males! Maybe especially the hot 3?

Click to expand...

Thanks.....was a freak accident. Surgery was minor, but required as poppie punctured the main artery...have to sew it or whatever they do...

Anyway, poppie is fine today...took her to vet anyway...and vet said she's 100% fine....however he's had a case where a bird did similar and come to find out, the parrots claw got caught in that persons sweater on their shoulder and the parrot freaked out. Parrots hate being trapped. The vet pointed out that poppies claws are a bit long. I kept them a little longer because she's a clumsy fart without her claws. So they are trimmed and also trimmed her beak down.

It just may have been possible Poppie got her claw caught...my wife had a sweater on as well.....though I'm not 100% sure that was what triggered her. She did climb down off her cage and walked over to my wife and said " mama....mama up up...My wife just looked down at her and had a tear coming down her face. Then left the room.

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I could see that at a possible scenario. They feel trapped, and instinctavly go into "fight" mode, since "flight" is out due to being caught.

The last sentence made me tear up. That is so incredibly heartbreaking.

Hawk said:

RavensGryf said:

I am so sorry this happened to your wife tonight . That was a freak accident that she went straight for the jugular! Wow, and needing emergency surgery, how scary. I'm glad ad she's fine now. Of course she's mad now, she'll most likely be okay with the birds after it all settles down.

I wasn't sure how aggressively the female Amazons acted during hormonal times, but apparently some can be like the males! Maybe especially the hot 3?

Click to expand...

Thanks.....was a freak accident. Surgery was minor, but required as poppie punctured the main artery...have to sew it or whatever they do...

Anyway, poppie is fine today...took her to vet anyway...and vet said she's 100% fine....however he's had a case where a bird did similar and come to find out, the parrots claw got caught in that persons sweater on their shoulder and the parrot freaked out. Parrots hate being trapped. The vet pointed out that poppies claws are a bit long. I kept them a little longer because she's a clumsy fart without her claws. So they are trimmed and also trimmed her beak down.

It just may have been possible Poppie got her claw caught...my wife had a sweater on as well.....though I'm not 100% sure that was what triggered her. She did climb down off her cage and walked over to my wife and said " mama....mama up up...My wife just looked down at her and had a tear coming down her face. Then left the room.

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Broke my heart. Poor baby does not know what he did wrong . She will come around. I pray

Yeah, well that triggers the full on panic... and makes total sense, and is just a freak accident.

The bird is still pet quality.