Picking Ringneck Dove

I've owned my dove Hope for 10 years. Last year I discovered a serious wound on her from picking it was infected at the time. I took her to a very good avian vet and he gave me antibotics for the infection. The cause of the picking was a fat tumor the name is to hard to pronounce. Basically he said the tumor is very uncomfortable like itching so they pick at it. The tumor was surgically removed last year. He put her on a only pellet diet because he said the seeds are to fatty for her body to metabolize and thats how he feels the tumor happened. She is also on thyroid tablets for the rest of her life so the tumor doesen't come back.

The problem is she has developed a bad habit of picking in the spot her tumor was so I have to keep a e collor on her all the time. Sometimes after a few months the collor must be removed because she gets it to far up her head and gets frustrated and can't move very well so it has to come off to at least give her a break from it, but after a few days or week the picking starts right up again and the collar goes back on before it gets to bad. The vet feels at this point she will never stop picking and I agree with him.

She is alot happier with the collar off she loves flying around the house sitting on my head and shoulder things like that.


I was reading this article: Parrots - Feather plucking in parrots - Learn causes and remedies for feather plucking and feather chewing.

On the bottom of the page their is a vest an owner made for a McCaw that plucked. I was thinking of trying this with my dove.

Does anyone know if this might work so she could continue flying or would the e-collar be best for a dove.

I would greatly appreciate any help

I cant answer your question for I really dont know but I imagine that perhaps if you asked your Avian vet he maybe able to answer this question for you . I hope you find a solution that enables your dove to continnue flying. So sorry she got this tumour but its wonderful that you have such a good Avian Vet and that the tumour was successfully removed. Ilove her name Hope and I hope that Hope has a long and happy life and that she can get back to flying soon. I was just curious ( not knowing about these collars) if while supervised the collar could be removed for a little while everyday to let Hope fly and then put back on Hope again.