Last week Tuesday I found a Ringneck Parrot sitting on top of my outdoor iguana jungle. She was sooo hungry that she immediately came towards me when I held out some fruit for her and without a lot of convincing she hopped onto my hand to get some more fruit. I slowly climbed down the chair and walked into the house while talking softly to her. My daughter crabbed the camera and snapped some photos:
Apart from being hungry, her wings were clipped terrible skew and wrong and she still flew with no problem. The next day we bought a big bird cage with toys and left her to settle in a bit before examining her properly. She definitely has serious behavior issues - constantly scratching and flying straight for every bodies heads and then starts to bite viciously.
I checked her for mites or any external reasons why she would keep on scratching but I found nothing so I suppose it is a vitamin A deficiency, stress etc. I also noticed that she only stands on one leg all the time and she has a limp when she walks. When ever I pick up an object she starts screaming and fly away or when she is inside her cage she will hide. From my experience with abused animals this is clear indication that the previous owners used to throw her with stuff and this obviously led to her attacking and biting habits.
Well, it is week later and I dedicated ALL my time to her, I showered her with love and patience and she has already made a lot of progress. She climes onto my hand and sit on my shoulder without biting and she is already giving me kisses. She is also constantly acting like a baby bird begging for food and this is the only time that I can scratch her head.;-D She only stops when I stop scratching. Is this normal? She sits by me in the kitchen in the mornings while I make my iguana's food and she 'steals' fruit out of his dish. She also climbed on top of my cup and drank my tea, I was shocked! I bought her fresh orange juice and she has that now every morning and loves it.
Now for the sad news that has got me crying for the past week, her leg is bad - VERY bad. She has got 4 different breaks, instead of her leg bending backwards it actually bends forward. It is an old break because there are no sharp points left. This poor - poor girl was left like that, the bastard who owned her never even bothered to take her to a vet. The pain must have been unbearable and it is still very painful when she stands for long or walks on it. God keeps on sending victims to me but oh it does not get easier, my heart completely breaks, I can feel their pain.
I have two options, one is to amputate the leg and all pain is gone, but how will she get along with only one leg? The second options is to break the leg and reset it with a needle inside, but we do not know if the bone will grow again because it is such an old injury. The chances are also 50/50 that it will still remain painful even after it has healed from the opp.
I have sleepless nights about this, which one must I choose, which one is best for her? I can let them reset the leg and if I see the pain does not go away or the bones does not grow they can always amputate the leg, knowing that we tried everything. The only problem is that anesthetic is very dangerous for birds - can I really try twice?
What would you do? She is such a precious, loving bird! I told the vet that I will bring her as soon as she is stress free and in top condition with the right diet, at least she will have a better chance of surviving the anesthetic then. But, oh, it hurts seeing her in pain all the time.
Apart from being hungry, her wings were clipped terrible skew and wrong and she still flew with no problem. The next day we bought a big bird cage with toys and left her to settle in a bit before examining her properly. She definitely has serious behavior issues - constantly scratching and flying straight for every bodies heads and then starts to bite viciously.
I checked her for mites or any external reasons why she would keep on scratching but I found nothing so I suppose it is a vitamin A deficiency, stress etc. I also noticed that she only stands on one leg all the time and she has a limp when she walks. When ever I pick up an object she starts screaming and fly away or when she is inside her cage she will hide. From my experience with abused animals this is clear indication that the previous owners used to throw her with stuff and this obviously led to her attacking and biting habits.
Well, it is week later and I dedicated ALL my time to her, I showered her with love and patience and she has already made a lot of progress. She climes onto my hand and sit on my shoulder without biting and she is already giving me kisses. She is also constantly acting like a baby bird begging for food and this is the only time that I can scratch her head.;-D She only stops when I stop scratching. Is this normal? She sits by me in the kitchen in the mornings while I make my iguana's food and she 'steals' fruit out of his dish. She also climbed on top of my cup and drank my tea, I was shocked! I bought her fresh orange juice and she has that now every morning and loves it.
Now for the sad news that has got me crying for the past week, her leg is bad - VERY bad. She has got 4 different breaks, instead of her leg bending backwards it actually bends forward. It is an old break because there are no sharp points left. This poor - poor girl was left like that, the bastard who owned her never even bothered to take her to a vet. The pain must have been unbearable and it is still very painful when she stands for long or walks on it. God keeps on sending victims to me but oh it does not get easier, my heart completely breaks, I can feel their pain.
I have two options, one is to amputate the leg and all pain is gone, but how will she get along with only one leg? The second options is to break the leg and reset it with a needle inside, but we do not know if the bone will grow again because it is such an old injury. The chances are also 50/50 that it will still remain painful even after it has healed from the opp.
I have sleepless nights about this, which one must I choose, which one is best for her? I can let them reset the leg and if I see the pain does not go away or the bones does not grow they can always amputate the leg, knowing that we tried everything. The only problem is that anesthetic is very dangerous for birds - can I really try twice?
What would you do? She is such a precious, loving bird! I told the vet that I will bring her as soon as she is stress free and in top condition with the right diet, at least she will have a better chance of surviving the anesthetic then. But, oh, it hurts seeing her in pain all the time.
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