- Dec 18, 2013
- 22,301
- 4,211
- Parrots
- Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
I don't know if it was just something bad in this batch of veggies and such, or if I've stumbled onto another combination of foods that doesn't sit well with him (some of you might remember that the combination of blueberries and blackberries triggers toe-tap in him), but Jolly had a horrible reaction. It was an extreme version of toe-tap that I've never seen before, where his left foot is literally kicking outward instead of just tapping, and his right foot has a moderate tap as well.
Poor Jolly. It hurts to watch him in that level of discomfort without being able to do anything for him. Well, other than dump the chop mix and give them an emergency oatmeal mix. Last night was so rough for him. Normally he's very disciplined about going into his cage for the night, but this time, though he went dutifully to his perch as asked, he immediately climbed back out and begged his way back onto my shoulder. It was like his little foot was punching the side of my neck. You could tell he drew comfort from staying leaned up against my face. Heartbreaking. I stayed there with him an extra 30 or 40 minutes before putting him back to "bed".
This morning it calmed down to heavy toe tap, but the kicking was thankfully gone. I'm on the bus now, headed home from work, and I'm praying that everything is out of his system and the tapping is gone. (And the kicking is STILL gone!) I doubt he even slept a wink last night.
Maya showed no ill-effect whatsoever, which has me leaning more toward a combination that didn't work for him rather than a bad batch of chop. I'll have to examine everything closely when I get home, though.
Poor Jolly. It hurts to watch him in that level of discomfort without being able to do anything for him. Well, other than dump the chop mix and give them an emergency oatmeal mix. Last night was so rough for him. Normally he's very disciplined about going into his cage for the night, but this time, though he went dutifully to his perch as asked, he immediately climbed back out and begged his way back onto my shoulder. It was like his little foot was punching the side of my neck. You could tell he drew comfort from staying leaned up against my face. Heartbreaking. I stayed there with him an extra 30 or 40 minutes before putting him back to "bed".
This morning it calmed down to heavy toe tap, but the kicking was thankfully gone. I'm on the bus now, headed home from work, and I'm praying that everything is out of his system and the tapping is gone. (And the kicking is STILL gone!) I doubt he even slept a wink last night.
Maya showed no ill-effect whatsoever, which has me leaning more toward a combination that didn't work for him rather than a bad batch of chop. I'll have to examine everything closely when I get home, though.