Picking at his feet / cone of shame?

Darcy started picking at his feet again yesterday.

The last time he did it, his blood work had elevated white blood cells which indicated bacterial infection, but the vet didn't think they were high enough to prescribe antibiotics (not quite outside of lab ranges), so I used a colloidal silver instead and his feet cleared right up. The vet also found that he is overweight, and thought that was what was causing the picking (I put him on a diet after that).

He started again yesterday, so I started the silver again immediately. So far he is still picking. I made an appointment with a holistic doctor for him this time, so we can see about boosting his immune system.

In the meantime, is there a way I can make the cone of shame at home? I hate seeing my baby hurt himself. He is acting normal, aside from acting like his feet are bothering him.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here is one link I have found by search https://www.birdsupplies.com/

Hope you can get things back to normal for Darcy? It is a Certified Avian Vet you are seeing? Be interested to hear about the Holistic Doctor, interesting. I haven't heard of colloidal silver before. The best way to reduce weight in an overweight parrot is flying. What is his typical diet like?

Those look beautiful, thank you! They look much more comfortable than the one I found on Amazon. Hopefully I won't need to order it.

I started to let his wings grow out after the last vet visit, and I got him a harness, but haven't started to do flight training or anything yet. He is a perch potato and doesn't really flap his wings on his own unless he gets spooked, or if there's a dog/cat around for him to try to murder. Do you have a good resource for flight training?

The last time I went to see a certified avian vet. This time I am taking him to a holistic doctor who treats animals (this practice has helped him in the past when his foot was swelling due to cat germs in the house I was living in). Of course I am concerned with his weight, but with how fast he reacted to the silver before, I do think it was the bacteria that his blood work indicated. If he gets worse, or doesn't get better, I will take him back to the avian vet.

Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic/antiseptic that doesn't have bad side effects and has been used for thousands of years. I also have him on Bene-Bac probiotic which I have been giving since the first picking incident.

I feed him Harrison's high potency pellets (vet says to switch to regular after I run out of this bag), and every day he gets a bowl with fruits/veggies/whole grains. He is not caged during the day, and is free to go wherever, but he mostly just sits on top of the cage and looks out the window/plays with toys/preens.

He seems less uncomfortable than he did earlier today, fortunately. He still acts like his feet are bothering him (and they are a little swollen), but I haven't seen him pick in a couple hours. I also have been applying the silvadene creme that the vet prescribed before, but he eats most of it off (vet said that was okay). Right now he is preening.

I can't relax unless my baby is feeling okay. Last time I had nightmares for days.

Update: Holistic doctor added a couple more immune boosters, and he's doing a lot better! His feet aren't hot anymore (still a little bit warm, but improved), and he isn't picking them. Sometimes he still licks them (he likes the taste of silvadene cream I guess?) but not a lot.

I weighed him yesterday, and he has lost 34g since I put him on a diet.

Thanks for the update. Keep the weight loss slow and steady, no crash diets LOL.

Hoping the improvements continue for Darcy.

All I did was stop giving him nuts (per vet orders) and stopped sharing my food with him if I eat anything processed (nothing with flour, oil, etc). His snack bowl has veggies, fruits, and/or whole cooked grains.

Vet wanted me to limit his pellet intake as well, but he ended up hardly eating anything at all, possibly because I was putting his pellets in the "wrong" place and he also wasn't feeling great at the time, so I chickened out of that. I might try it again later, but tbh I'm not crazy about the idea.

I'm not sure what he is actually supposed to weigh though. Vet never gave me a goal weight.

Some general species info for you

https://www.parrots.org/encyclopedia/yellow-collared-macaw

Thank you!

According to this, he is within healthy range now. He was 245g when I got him (vet said he was "chubby" though), when I took him to the vet this recent time he was 275g and vet said he was fat (I HAD been giving him a lot of nuts at that point), and now he is 241. Maybe he needs more muscle. I'll have to start putting more energy into figuring out the free flight thing. He has enough feathers to fly with now, but he never flaps his wings unless he is scared or angry.

The danger of feeding foods such as nuts in a bird that does little or no exercise is that the fat accumulates in the Liver which is not good. Correlate his high fat treats with how much exercise he does, if he really wants it he will fly to fetch it. Start off carefully but it is amazing how quickly they regain those flying skills are are so much better for it.

Your AV's opinion could have been based on a physical exam of Darcy and was able to feel fatty pads either side of the keel and/or under his wings.

With Plum I started with a distance I was sure he could cope with safely and this was from me to his cage for a safe landing. Once they start they love it, Plum now flies shrieking his head off LOL.