Not sure what's wrong

Our 2 year old CAG is a creature of habit. In the morning, when I open his cage, he comes running. He hops up on my hand, says "Scratch my head?", bows his head so I can scratch his head and back and then we go to the kitchen to make his breakfast.

This morning, he never left his "sleeping perch". I encouraged him to step up and while he did it, he nipped at me when I tried to scratch his head. I placed him back on his sleeping perch and he's still there....5 hours later. He's been constantly picking at his feet. Sometimes though, he'll make a move like he's going for a foot, but he'll 'bite' at air and then chew like he's got something. He's been doing this non stop for several hours and does NOT want to interact with me...which is not like him.

He's never done this before and I'm not sure if I should involve our avian vet or wait this out. This is the first time he's shown any odd behavior since we got him at 3 months of age from a reputable breeder.

Any ideas what might be going on? Thanks in advance for any ideas...

Hi Laura and welcome to the forum, an abrupt change in behavior could indicate an I'llness or other health related malady that should be looked into immediatly by your Avian Vet, often times birds will not show outward signs of illness until they are very sick, better to be safe than sorry, I wouldn't try waiting it out, please see your AV.

I fully agree with you Bobby. Your CAG is talking to you and telling you to stay away because he does not feel good. I would have him to the vet today.

Thank you both so much. Off to call our Avian Vet...

Your welcome Laura, thats what the forum's here for , I sincerely hope that things turn out well for you both, and if turns out he's fine, the worst case scenario would be that you got your yearly wellness check, please let us know how you make out....

I agree with the above members, a visit to avian vet.
Very difficult to diagnose exactly what the problem may be.
Praying it all goes well
Please keep us posted.

Ok...got him in to see our Vet this afternoon. And, in typical 'child' fashion, while he was still not talking, he started eating about a half hour before we left for his appointment.

Our Vet wrapped him in a towel while he asked questions and then examined him. He said he was encouraged by the fact that after Oliver was wrapped in the towel, he was alert and looking around. He said that birds that are stressed and possibly very ill, tend to bow their heads and their eyes tend to close when they're wrapped. We were talking about Olivers 'obsession' with his feet and the vet said that when a bird is sick, then tend to focus on a singular body part...with Oliver, it was his feet. And the air biting/gagging looking behavior was exactly that...he was nauseous. So, here's our boy, all wrapped up and being examined and out of nowhere he said "I want to go home". (that's what he says when he doesn't want to play anymore) LOLOL We got such a laugh out of that. Oliver has always had perfect use of his vocabulary. LOL

Since he had begun to eat and was now talking, our Vets advice was to bring him home and monitor him overnight. If, by tomorrow all of his 'symptoms' aren't gone, then I need to bring him back for a blood panel.

Thanks again for being here for me today and thank you for the kind welcome. It meant so much to me today !

Well Laura we thank you for being such a good custodian to Oliver

Welcome to the forum and I agree with Oom Bobby, THANKS for being such a good owner.

Not to scare you, but, my girl was sick for a month and went to the vet 3 times before they discovered what was wrong. She was on and off all the time, she looked healthy and acted normal for days and then there was times that she looked sick followed again with looking healthy. She also showed me that she wanted to go to her sleeping cage in the middle of the day. She even climbed off her cage in the lounge and walked all the way to her room - 3 rooms down the passage - and climbed in her sleeping cage at 13:00 in the day.

On all 3 trips to the vet she was up straight, not shivering, no fluffed feathers and screamed her heart out when the vets picked her up and tilted her - she LOOKED as healthy as could be. But she was deadly sick.

If your boy show ANY sign of being sick again then go immediately to the vet. Insist on blood work AND a x-ray. I had to lie about her symptoms to the vet before they did any tests because my girl looked and acted 100% healthy.

I pray that Oliver was just in a bit of a bad mood - maybe he just had a nightmare!

Thank you !! I so appreciate your advice. xo

He was pretty much himself yesterday. His talking picked back up and he was eating again, but I had to encourage him to drink out of a glass as he wouldn't drink from his water bottle. But, he's coming out of his cage, is off his sleeping perch and seems 'normal'.

All last night he sat with me and was incredibly affectionate. He refused to go to anyone else, but I'm his girl, so I understood that. Nuzzling my neck, allowing me to lay him on his back and rub his tummy, etc. He was wonderful.

Still, I'm watching him like...well...a hawk. LOL I set my alarm every 2 hours so that I can creep into the living room to check on him. I won't feel comfortable for some time to come. I don't want to leave him alone, so my husband went for groceries last night. He's my baby and if I suspect even for a SECOND that something isn't right, I'm going to absolutely follow your advice Wildheart and run him back in. No doubt.

Glad he is doing better... just keep an eye on him and don't hesitate if you even suspect he is not feeling good.. get him back to the vet and request blood work...

You are being a fantastic guardian, just follow your gut instincts.
Wildheart stuck to her guns and got results, thank goodness, otherwise the ending could have ended tragically for Sterretjie.
They are our "children" and we will do whatever it takes to get results.
Please keep us posted.