Gilbert going to the vet today

Say a prayer for little Gilbert. I am not sure what is going on, but I got home from work yesterday and saw about 50 feathers on the bottom of his cage! I took him out and inspected him and he had pulled them all out of his left leg and on his lower back on the right side! Like plucked bald and raw looking! He has always had perfect feathers and not done this.


So I called as soon as they opened today and he is going to the vet later. On the phone the vet said it sound like something suddenly upset him but I still want the full exam and labs done to rule out any possible disease/infection.


I'm going to make a list of everything to go over with the vet but the only thing I thought of is that on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday he seemed moody (he is never anything but 100% happy go lucky and cheerful, I know I'm super lucky). He was refusing to get back in his cage and lunged at me when I tried to bring him to his cage. And he hasn't seemed to enjoy his cage like he used to (rarely plays with the toys now, just wants to be with me).


I have no experience with this, as I have never had a bird who pulled feathers. And Gilbert probably gets MORE attention and love and training than any of them did. But, I do work full time and he only gets me at night. (but that's all he has ever known and it's been fine....)

Wish us luck at the vet. I hardly slept last night, crying over him possibly being stressed or sick. He is such a sensitive bird, very sweet and emotional and eager to please. I hate the thought of anything making him less than happy.

Good luck Patti (& Gilbert)!!! Please keep us posted. Will be thinking of the both of you!! :smile015:

I can't imagine a well adjusted bird like that suddenly plucking for no reason...

I would suspect some sort of toxic exposure event might trigger something like this... heavy metals?

I'm no vet...

Birdman666 said:

I can imagine a well adjusted bird like that suddenly plucking for no reason...

I would suspect some sort of toxic exposure event might trigger something like this... heavy metals?

I'm no vet...

Click to expand...

This was exactly my worry. The fact that it came on suddenly like that with no real indication that he was upset or something. I want full exam/labs to get to the bottom of this. If it is emotional, we will deal with it after ruling out illness of any kind! Too weird...

Birdman beat me to it- my first thought was heavy metals too. I remember a while ago we had a member with the exact same situation happening to her previously happy/well adjusted zon but it took a long time for the vet to finally run a heavy metals test. I'd make sure to adamantly demand heavy metals test, whether or not the vet thinks it's "worthwhile". I hope Gilbert is ok, and that if he has ingested something bad, that you caught it and can get him on treatment!

Whatever it is I hope it's solved quickly and happily for you both. I'll hope for best scenario which to me is a sudden scare that he will be over in no time.

Tonight hopefully you can get better sleep. I know I don't sleep if there is something unresolved in any of my pets. My mind will make things huge till I can understand whats going on, and have an actual plan of action.

ruffledfeathers said:

This was exactly my worry. The fact that it came on suddenly like that with no real indication that he was upset or something. I want full exam/labs to get to the bottom of this. If it is emotional, we will deal with it after ruling out illness of any kind! Too weird...

Click to expand...

Why would he suddenly emotionally pluck if he's never done it before? Was there any sort of HUGE emotional trigger that could have caused it? Has he ever plucked before, or shown adjustment issues? ISN'T THIS AN OUT AND ABOUT BIRD THAT ADJUSTS TO EVERYTHING FAIRLY READILY WITHOUT STRESSING?! If so, emotional plucking just doesn't fit!

Vets are given generalizations about plucking disorders being caused by emotionally upset birds. So they start there. But it's not necessarily valid. Plucking problems are complex, and difficult to diagnose.

Which means there is most likely an underlying physiological cause. Heavy metals can do it.

Exposure to certain pesticides can do it. (I know someone who has a conure that did this after she sprayed the bird room for roaches. Next morning the bird had ZERO chest feathers.) A few other toxic exposures can do it. So, that would be a direction I'd want explored.

Think about any possible thing he might have been exposed to in the past 48 hours, and check the toys in his cage for metal that may have been chewed, or areas where the paint has been chewed off and he's gotten to the underlying metal of his cage. That, to me, is the starting point on this one...

I AGREE WITH YOU ON YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THIS ONE. IT'S OUT OF CHARACTER FOR A HAPPY GO LUCKY, OUT AN ABOUT BIRD, TO PLUCK... in fact, one of the ways we got birds to STOP plucking was by starting to take them out... so, I don't buy it.

Toxins

Zinc Toxicity: Zinc is a known toxin that will cause feather plucking in birds. Most affected birds were feather picking or showed signs of depression and gastrointestinal stasis. Your vet will be able to measure the your bird's zinc levels. Sources of zinc include: i.e., galvanized or powder-coated cages, quick-links or hardware, galvanized dishes, metallic toys - indeed any metallic, shiny object could be suspect

Environmental toxins: such as pesticides on produce, exposure to cleaning products, air deodorizers, etc.

X-rays are often recommended when pain is associated with feather picking and when the distribution of feather picking is over the back, neck or chest. The X-ray may reveal problems such as blocked gizzard, a gas extended proventriculus or cloaca, heavy metal poisoning, foreign bodies, enlarged spleen and airsac disease. One parrot who plucked his neck feathers just over the crop had ingested pieces of string that were stuck inside the crop causing discomfort.
Parasites

GARDIA!!! Didn't think of that one, but it fits!

(i.e., Gardia) - The common giardia picking pattern usually involves the chest, underside of the wings, insides of the thighs, shoulders and sometimes the lower back region.

INSIDE OF BACK AND LEGS... EXACTLY WHERE GILBERT IS PLUCKING!!!

I will say a prayer for you and Gilbert today. I hope you are able to get to the bottom of this quickly. Please keep us posted!

I would look the vet in the eye and say "I know my bird." There has to be some sort of underlying physiological cause to this...

Test for: Zinc, pesticides, guardia, Aspergillosis as those are the most likely physiological culprits.

X-rays may be necessary. Get the blood work first.

Zinc, and Guardia would be my best guesses.

Oh no, I hope you get to the bottom of this and quickly... I am so sorry.

Oh Patti, I am sending you and Gilbert many prayers, good vibes and well wishes. I so hope the vet is able to get to the bottom of what's going on, and that it is nothing serious

Got any news yet, Patti????

Good news is, when I got home to pick up Gilbert for the appointment, he had not pulled / chewed any more feathers.

When I got to the appointment I explained how so far, he has only done this yesterday, never before and not today. His first thinking was of course that it is psychological stress, that he is so used to being out with me that going back in his cage is awful for him and stresses him.

But then during the exam, he seemed concerned about how Gilbert pulled them. He said the pattern is not typical for psychological pluckers but more indicative of a medical issue causing it. He saw how he had chewed his skin and gave me an aloe wash to put on it as it heals to make it more comfortable.

Anyhow the long and the short of it is that it may be a multi step process. Today we did the gram stain and we are sending the blood to a lab. After those results come back he said we may be doing X rays.

The vet even commented 'he is really a very laid back bird. it's hard to imagine that he could be stressed enough to be pulling feathers like this.'

So I hope we get some answers soon. The good news is that he has not even looked like he wants to pluck at them today. So for the short term I am just keeping him misted with that aloe and keeping him from chewing the irritated skin and then we wait for lab results and proceed!

He scored a bunch of new toys too because that's just what he gets when he goes to the vet. LOL.

Here he is as soon as we got home (freshly trimmed beak!)

Hang in there Patti. I'm so sorry to hear this is happening to Gilbert! I wish the vet would have done x-rays first. That is my vet's #1 diagnostic tool, and has saved waiting and wondering. Crossing fingers that the reason is discovered and fixed fast!

Thanks so much for the update, Patti!

Is there a remote possibility a bug crawled up him, and he panicked enough that he yanked those feathers until the bug was gone? I know...a long shot, but maybe???

I certainly hope he'll have a clean bill of health!

There is a remote chance that something temporarily did bother him and then after he yanked feathers, it itched/hurt so he kept at it yesterday until he did that much plucking. At least I am taking him with me to my friend's house tomorrow and maybe to the beach for a few hours. He is always happy there.

Very sorry to hear about this. My hopes that it was just a temporary thing and he will get back to fine and dandy shortly.

He sure has that, "Why did you do this to me?" look in the photo.

Patti, I am so sorry to hear about Gilbert's plucking incident.

I'm just now seeing this thread, but my first thought upon reading your initial post jived with all that Mark, April and a number of others have been saying. I would be highly surprised if this had a psychological cause. It really doesn't fit with Gilbert's laid back persona.

Aside from the possible causes given, hormones also occurred to me. But either way, I suppose we'll have answers soon enough.

Like Julie, I also wish the vet had gone with the x-rays for the initial testing phase. I used to view them as a diagnostic tool you go to only after exhausting most other avenues, but I see now how effective they are at picking certain things up right away.

Anyhow, I'm glad that Gilbert hasn't done any plucking, since. That could very well mean that this was the result of a temporary irritant that has since ceased being an issue. I'll keep you and Gilbert both in my prayers, Patti.

I haven't read the whole thread or updates but I just wanted to say that I am sending you and Gilbert warm thoughts. I'll drop by again later as soon as I can get to my desktop.