Hello. My wife and I adopted a Congo Grey in July 2019, who seemed very happy and well adjusted upon bringing him home. He displayed a bit of nervous behavior at times, mostly alternating feet nail chewing, but otherwise extremely interactive, vocal and confident. Lots of whistles, emulating household noises and trying to talk. He bonded quickly to my wife and loved to engage and get scratches, as well as looking out the window and joining us around the house. We are experienced parrot owners, and have familiarity with "normal" behavior........other than the slight nervousness (at least as compared to our other grey), completely normal and happy.
Within two months of bringing him home he began showing signs of illness, long story short resulting in ~15 visits to the vet over the course of 6 months. Lots of nasal flushing, two extended hospitalizations, and probing/prodding to eventually find that he was born with genetic defects compromising both his feet and nasal passage. Over the course of the vet visits he has become extremely phobic of hands and anything that looks like a towel/blanket, and no longer engages with my wife and I. He sits quietly and fearfully in his cage hidden behind his toys, screaming and thrashing violently if either of us walk anywhere near his cage. It is an extremely delicate process just to give him fresh water and food each day. He previously stepped-up willingly any chance he got to leave his cage, including climbing to the top and calling to join my wife and I, but now any time we ask him to "step up" he immediately takes a defensive position and begins screaming. He used to love going to his tree in the living room or basement to play, and now when we manage to get him there he nervously chews his nails and quivers his wings until he is returned to his cage, screaming fearfully both directions.
The major problem is trying to clean his cage, which of course requires his removal. Any time we remove him from the cage he will jump and has lost multiple feathers thrashing around once he hits the floor. If we try to gently hold his feet to prevent jumping it makes the situation even worse. Even moving at a snails pace doesn't work. Simply put there is NO way to remove him from his cage without serious drama; we have tried everything.
We are now at a crossroads where we don't know what to do. One option is to leave him in his cage all day, gently trying to talk to him from a distance and hoping that eventually he shows a sign that he wants to join us............but with this we take the risk that he becomes even more distant and phobic, possibly leading to other behavioral problems. Another option is try to continue getting him out of his cage so that we can engage him and ensure he doesn't get bored, but with the risk that he is being over-stress and/or will hurt himself jumping and thrashing. It's a nightmare situation. We welcome any advice, and thank you in advance.
Within two months of bringing him home he began showing signs of illness, long story short resulting in ~15 visits to the vet over the course of 6 months. Lots of nasal flushing, two extended hospitalizations, and probing/prodding to eventually find that he was born with genetic defects compromising both his feet and nasal passage. Over the course of the vet visits he has become extremely phobic of hands and anything that looks like a towel/blanket, and no longer engages with my wife and I. He sits quietly and fearfully in his cage hidden behind his toys, screaming and thrashing violently if either of us walk anywhere near his cage. It is an extremely delicate process just to give him fresh water and food each day. He previously stepped-up willingly any chance he got to leave his cage, including climbing to the top and calling to join my wife and I, but now any time we ask him to "step up" he immediately takes a defensive position and begins screaming. He used to love going to his tree in the living room or basement to play, and now when we manage to get him there he nervously chews his nails and quivers his wings until he is returned to his cage, screaming fearfully both directions.
The major problem is trying to clean his cage, which of course requires his removal. Any time we remove him from the cage he will jump and has lost multiple feathers thrashing around once he hits the floor. If we try to gently hold his feet to prevent jumping it makes the situation even worse. Even moving at a snails pace doesn't work. Simply put there is NO way to remove him from his cage without serious drama; we have tried everything.
We are now at a crossroads where we don't know what to do. One option is to leave him in his cage all day, gently trying to talk to him from a distance and hoping that eventually he shows a sign that he wants to join us............but with this we take the risk that he becomes even more distant and phobic, possibly leading to other behavioral problems. Another option is try to continue getting him out of his cage so that we can engage him and ensure he doesn't get bored, but with the risk that he is being over-stress and/or will hurt himself jumping and thrashing. It's a nightmare situation. We welcome any advice, and thank you in advance.
