Sunny used to use the ankle-part a lot when she had no tail (and crappy balance!)... now she has almost half a tail (keeping fingers crossed she'll keep it this time) she sits a lot more like a regular bird.
(If she relaxes she will still latch on the bars of the cage for comfort? balance?)


She has perches of different sizes and atm preferes the one that is really, really thin!
(she gnawed it that way herself)
Though she will sleep on the thickest perch (normal birdystyle, with the head tucked in the feathers)


so I totally agree: get your bird as many different sized perches as possible

I've had the bird for 6 years. We think shes about 7 years old so not that old to have problems like these. We have changed all of out perches. It's been a long road trying g to heal her bumblefoot. It was so bad that it took 4 weeks to see a slight difference. It's been 2 months since her diagnosis and it's gotten better. We give her antibiotic, vetryicyn, and anti bacterial ointment twice a day religiously. We got ride of the gritty and dowel perches and replaced them with natural wood perches that come in different sizes. I will try to post a picture tomorrow. But her right foot looks alot like this bird( the ankle part). She likes foraging so alot of times she walking on the bottom of the cage with her ankles rested on the ground. Only one side of her foot is larger. It doesnt look like gout at all. The ankle itself looks very muscular.

Cockatiel mamma,
That bumble foot is difficult to treat, as I said before. So fantastic job that you are seeing improvement! I'm afraid 6 years on those dowels , and with sandpaper perches, is what caused all your problems. They shouldn't sell those dowel perches with the cages, how are people supposed to Know how wrong that is! And those sandpaper perches should be oulawed!!! You can try some of those rope perches for her, and I would put one of those corner shelf perches in too. I'm sorry to say the sandpaper perches caused your bumble foot, and the dowels caused the other problem. So you already have better perches, and you are treating the bumble foot with vet, do you are doing great now. They make those soft chewable perches that are made out of mineral block stuff, with bee pollan , you could get one of those very soft on the feet , and get a really wide one, to help take pressure off the feet. I got mine at pet supermarket, they are soft chalk like and come in fruit flavor, mine like the watermelon one. Or order them online. It will be good to see pictures. And if you are making progress with the bumble foot , then you are doing a great job!!

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I think the whole bumblefoot thing took a toll her legs. I noticed that when she's eating one side of the toes are not straight, they're kind of curved. And that's foot that touches the ankle when she's walking. I suspected arthritis but I'm not sure if a 7 year old bird suffer from it. The other foot's ankle is upright and doesn have swelling. She's still a very strong bird. She can eat and sleep with one leg.. Lately, she's been sleeping on a really thin perch. There's a rope perch inside. And I'm gonna put new food bowls so she can use her ankles more to reach the food. The bumblefoot so bad, I dont think I've seen that bad on a bird before. Poor girl had to go through so much pain.

I'm having some trouble with uploading pictures on this forum so I have added a link.
https://imgur.com/a/wJGjKcV

Did you ever see any swelling in her feet from walking ankles alot?

Not that much.
She had issues with her legband digging into her leg/foot and causing issues there, the pad just looked swollen and slightly pinkish. It went down a lot the week after I got the thing removed. The indentation is almost gone now.
She spends a lot more time sitting upright instead of hanging from the ceiling, so I assume it helped her a bit.
(She now hangs from the ceiling/top of the cage to get closer to the action-- but no longer "spacing out" for hours on end during the day...she still does it a bit when I keep her awake after her bedtime ( when watching a flim etc.), like kids sucking their thumb when they get tired.)


Good question- I need to update her journey again

Did it look like this? I think her bumblefoot is causing the inflammation
https://imgur.com/a/wJGjKcV