Vet Visit

WellI was supposed to take my GCC to the vet Friday for its wellness exam and DNA test, however, it is turning into more and I now go tomorrow morning. Some slow progress in step up training and I let it out to play, well it wanted to on the floor so I put some toys down for it. It got too close to the dog cage and my one dog nipped its toe. It was a lot of blood and with my help of my dad, we were able to clean it up and see it better, and it wasn't as bad as we thought it was. So I called my avian vet and they asked to move the appointment. I feel so bad, I was watching it and was close but it happened so fast, and it never would get close to the cage before. I always put my dogs away before I let the bird out. Its foot is sore and is definitely not very active right now. He/she will be ok until tomorrow morning right? I'm still freaking out.

Also, I know it's my fault so please spare me any criticism. I was already lashed at by someone else in a different forum. Seriously don't need it right now.

Accidents do happen, so there is that
maybe it would be a better idea to keep the bird in one room, the dogs (crated or not) in another (if you have the space of course/ otherwise go for a carier that has ventilation but not big enough holes for bird/ dogparts to stick through).


If there is no more bloodloos from the toe that is good.
I do not know how much blood your bird lost (it always looks like a lot when it is all over the floor and bird etc.etc.) but the best you can do is keep him calm (and if it were cold I'd say 'warm', but for most people that is not really a problem yet) and keep an eye on him.


Bird have the annoying tendency to gnaw on painfull spots and to want to remove crusty-things like scabs - not helpfull!
(Thats why I say: watch him)
If he opens up the wound again ... he could probably use some help to stop the bleeding. (Bird have amazing fast clot-time, but sometimes even they need a bit extra.)


Do you have a birdy-first-aid-kit with some clotting agent in it (Quick-stop or something like it) ?
If not...put one on your X-mass list for next weekend


of course you freak out! It's only natural!
Get something warm to drink - hold it in your hands (it is proven to make people feel better), take deep breaths.


One thing is guaranteed: birds will forever find ways to get themselves into trouble (and give their owners a mild heart-attack)
In a week or two this will just be "a learning experience".
You guys did great: bird is still alive and going to the doctors in the morning



(its almost half to midnight here, so for me that is not far of )

I'm just worried cause he isn't really moving and he's so quiet and when he does make noise it sounds like he's in pain and it breaks my heart. I mean the not moving around doesn't really bother me cause I understand not wanting to move on it. The bleeding stops fairly quickly and it wasn't really really bad, but little footprint all over the place. He's preening now, so i guess that's a decent sign,

Your bird is probably in shock and terrified of everything at the moment. Just leave the little baby be until the vet appointment. Just imagine how you would feel if a dog bit off one of your toes...

Could his body have received a pressure bite too? So sorry this has happened. Put food and water right by him so he doesn't have to move. Lots if sweet talking in soft voice letting him know that you care, really . I take it he can still perch? That's good. He very well could have a broken bone... Poor baby!!! I hope to hear good news tomorrow.

Christa’s advice above is great - I would just add to make sure that you have food and water within easy reach for your little guy if he/she isn’t moving around much. Sending positive thoughts your way - I’m glad you are able to get in to the vet tomorrow. Just keep a close eye on the little one until then. Hugs!

perches just fine and is playing a bit now, it just can't climb it's cage well or won't put pressure on its foot. When it walks its a slight limp. The vet just said to keep it clean and to remove all perches but, I can't remove the one perch cause my husband put it on way too tight.

Jen5200 said:

Christa’s advice above is great - I would just add to make sure that you have food and water within easy reach for your little guy if he/she isn’t moving around much. Sending positive thoughts your way - I’m glad you are able to get in to the vet tomorrow. Just keep a close eye on the little one until then. Hugs!

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Thank you, I'm just feeling so guilty about it. I did just give it another bath to try and get all the dried blood off.

Hope you’ll post an update after the vet visit....

We get so attached to these friendly, animated little creatures and feel so bad when they are not feeling good!

When my Booboo had trouble standing on his perch, we temporarily put him in a fish tank with a lid (high up away from the dogs) so he could easily reach his food and water. Periodically switched him back and forth to his cage until he was finally able to perch again. Put a small grate at the bottom of the tank with newspaper so he didn't slip.

Hoping for good news from your vet.

I hope the vet visit today goes well.

When a bird gets injured like that, they will most definitely be subdue, sleep more, not play, not preen as much etc... because they are in pain and there is no relief as they sit on their feet 24/7. Once it heals though, they are highly adaptable to such disabilities and will often just go on as though nothing happened (I saw a no footed pigeon walking on stubs once with all the normal pigeons like noting was the matter with it). Don't be worried about a reduced quality of life from this. I would imagine the vet will get your bird on preventative antibiotics, treat the wound and in a week or 2, he'll be all healed up, back to normal (and likely never go near the dog kennel again).

Jen5200 said:

Hope you’ll post an update after the vet visit....

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I definitely will!

I was getting reemed at for letting my bird on the floor in the first place in the other forum. My response was "Why thank you sooooooo much for all your help!"The last thing I need to hear that it's my fault when I clearly already know.

Good luck.

By the way, in case you're dissatisfied with your vet, here are some links.

Certified Avian Vets
https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/
If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet.

Ptsssssjh, bird are always on the floor (look at the ostrich!)
because that is partly where their food is.
(My greys love to chickenscratch there - like they would in the wild.)
So why would people on a parrotforum think it is weird?
(in nature there are no birdbaths in the trees - they use puddles or roll around in wet grass <- alsno not found in trees)

Kicking when someone is already down is not nice; sometimes a person needs some common sense kicked into them, but I do not think this is your problem right now.

Good luck @ the vets later today!

Pretty bird is looking good! I was very pleased with the vet, she showed me the slight bruising and swelling on its foot and told me what to look out for even showed some pictures on what to look out for. They took some chest feathers out and will be sending it down to a lab in Florida for sexing. It will obviously take some time because if the hurricane. They did a fecal smear **** came back negative, and the physical shows perfect health. She said he/she's a little skinny, but it's most likely due to being young yet. She even gave me a paper on foraging activities, a list on foods high in vitamin A.

Well that is great news - sounds like you’ve found a good vet too!

Great news!!!!! Happy day

These things happen, and you're right, they almost always do happen in a "split-second", and before you know it it's already happened. Christa had a good suggestion of totally separating the dogs and the bird, as there is such a size difference between the two, and since you never know how they are going to react it's just the safest thing to do. I have medium size dogs that have never even shown interest in any of my birds, but I still refuse to even allow the birds to be anywhere near them, even when I'm in the room, because there's nothing that I'm going to be able to do because as you found out, it just happens in the blink of an eye....But don't beat yourself up, it was an accident, live and learn from it, that's what's important.

***As far as your Green Cheek goes, he's most-likely in a lot of pain combined with just the shock/trauma of the whole thing. Keep in-mind that he's most-likely going to be very afraid of that dog from now-on, so for his psychological health (in addition to his physical health) I'd make sure that he cannot see the dog at all for the time-being. Birds can become extremely stressed-out very quickly over things like this, and even though it happened a full day ago, seeing the dog could stress him out again quite a bit, and stress and birds don't go well together, they can actually have a lot of health issues result from stress like that...

***As for his foot, make sure that you are keeping the wound clean and disinfected with something like Betadine or Hibiclens, as the biggest thing right now is preventing an infection arising from the bacteria in the dog's mouth, or any other bacterial getting into the wound. As long as the wound isn't exposing any bone and is only superficial, then you just need to disinfect it several times a day and then pat it dry. You can also put a dab of either Bacitracin or Triple-Antibiotic Cream (Neosporin or generic) on it twice a day, each time after you disinfect it.

***Take not if he's still having trouble climbing, perching, etc., or if he's still favoring that foot when he walks or when he's standing as of tomorrow morning before you go to the Avian Vet, and let them know, because it's quite possible that he might have a fracture of the bone in his toe; they are such tiny bones that it doesn't take much to break one. This is another reason you absolutely want to disinfect the open wound a couple of times a day and put an antibiotic cream on it afterwards each time, because anytime that you have a fracture of a bone and then an open-wound near the fracture, even if the wound is superficial and not exposing the bone, because bone is so vascularized and has such great blood-supply, any bacteria, fungi, etc. that gets inside of even a superficial wound that is near/above/below a fractured bone, there's a very good chance of that bacteria spreading right into the open bone of the fracture through that very dense blood supply. Even though these kinds of fractures are not consider to be "compound" fractures since the bone is not exposed to the air, they are still considered "open" fractures because their is a superficial wound right above/below/next to an underlying fracture, and this greatly enhances the chance of a bone/systemic infection. So just be sure to keep disinfecting that wound several times a day.

Hopefully it's not fractured, but if he's still favoring it tomorrow and if it is still showing any redness, swelling, etc., the Avian Vet should do a quick plain-film x-ray just to see what the damage is, and to see if a splint or some type of immobilization is going to be necessary for it to heal properly. There isn't a whole lot you can do for a broken toe in such a small bird, but you do need to know what the risk of a deep infection is. They should also give him at least a prescription anti-inflammatory, like Metacam, and possibly also a prescription pain medication, like Tramadol, and also an oral or by-injection antibiotic... It just depends on whether it's fractured or not...he'll most-definitely get some Metacam and an antibiotic...

Keep him quiet, warm, and stress-free until the appointment tomorrow. He'll be fine, you just want to make sure that he's suffering the least amount of stress as possible. And again, don't beat yourself up, these things happen and it wasn't your fault. Just learn from this mistake and make sure that it can't happen again.