Caught in door

I have an IRN. He was standing on a door and the door was closed on him. He screamed.



Afterward, he flew to his cage and was just standing on the other leg. He kept his hurt leg tucked in. 5 mins later he flew to my shoulder and walked around a bit. Then went back on a perch and tucked his hurt leg up again.


He's currently sleeping with his leg tucked.



He didn't scream or show any signs of pain after the initial scream, so far. Is that good or bad? There's no blood. He isn't shaking. He isn't even making any noises.



He used his hurt leg to scratch himself once and went back to sleep again.


I don't have access to an avian vet. I only have access to normal/general vets in my area, but I don't really trust them. I know the vet visit will be a huge stress on him and I don't want to do that to him if it isn't really necessary.



How do I know if it's something serious? What signs should I look out for? This happened about an hour ago so I don't really have more information as of now. Any help is appreciated.




A somewhat similar situation happened a few months ago and everything was fine after a few hours.


Latest update: He's using his hurt leg to hold food, walk around and stuff

I'm so sorry!

Was it like closed on him with force or was it like a pneumatic door closer or just gravity.

Birds are pretty hardy....but their bodies are tiny.

I'd have to know how strong the slam was....if it was a pneumatic door closer or just inertia or gravity he might bruise or not, but be fine.. if it was closed on him it could be a lot more serious. I understand you can't find an AVN.

I'd spend time with the bird and study it closely. touch it's leg and see if he reacts...he might have just been frightened, or you may need to see a regular vet just in case.

This is him using his hurt foot: https://imgur.com/a/jdngZ1H


He now woke up and keeps using his hurt foot for walking around and everything else.

sounds to me like he was scared, (I would be!)....and is now fine. also I'd worry more about wings it he was compressed in a door a bit. I wouldn't worry to much if he's using it already.

Thanks for the help. One last thing, IF* the leg was hurt (regardless how much) would he stay silent because he is in pain or would he make any sound because, after the initial scream, he hasn't made any scream or make any weird noises.

Sick birds/ birds in pain are usually a lot more subdued than normal - sometimes silence from a normally rodwy bird is the oly symptom.


Compare the feet- if there is nothing crooked, swollen, bruised looking or scratched you (and bird) just got very, very lucky!

I had a similar situation with Yoda, he crawled under my desk and when I moved my foot to get down after him, he got squished between my foot and the desk leg... he was subdued and timid for a while, but no other obvious signs of injury. I took him to the vet anyway to be safe. My CAV examined him carefully and said there didn't seem to be any internal injuries or broken bones, but that Yoda was likely to be in pain for a few days. My CAV prescribed a painkiller for Yoda for a few days, or until Yoda seemed energetic and fine again.

I probably didn't NEED to take Yoda to the vet, in my case he would have been OK. However, my CAV said I had done the right thing. It's common for a bird to have serious injuries (especially internal) and you don't see any signs until he drops dead or it's too late to do anything.

In short, I suggest taking him to your CAV asap! My visit with Yoda only cost about $60 total including the medicine, and it was worth every single penny.

Oh yuck, turns my stomach. McCoy has always had a habit of flying to me when I walk out the door and twice he has landed on the door. I have intrusive thoughts of it happening and me not knowing and chopping his toes off when I shut the door.

Sounds like your guy is ok, you'd notice bruising or swelling if anything was damaged. My husband was shutting McCoy in his cage last week and one of his toes was still in the gap where the door shuts, I told my husband not to shut the door because his foot was still there and he just pushed the door until it was a few millimetres from McCoy 's toe and McCoy screamed like he was being murdered! Obviously I told my husband off for scaring him(!) but actually he didn't even touch his foot. Maybe your guy reacted really quickly too and s didn't actually get caught?

As already mentioned, birds usually DON'T SHOW PAIN/ILLNESS, and if they are outwardly showing they're in pain then it's typically so bad that they are usually close to death...I've seen parrots with horribly fractured femurs, a humerus once, their entire upper beaks literally ripped off of their faces, etc., and you'd never have known there was anything at all wrong if you couldn't have actually seen the deformity. So you cannot go by "He's not acting like he's any pain", or "He's not screaming", or "He's using his foot", because with birds that really doesn't mean much at all, and it certainly doesn't mean he's not in severe pain.

***The most common injury that happens from this exact accident of sitting on top of a door and having it closed on them is Broken/Fractured Toes. With a bird the size of an IRN I wouldn't expect the actual foot to be fractured or even injured, because IRN's and parrots similar in size have small feet with pretty long toes, which they wrap around whatever they are perched upon as much as they are able to wrap them...So that's why when this exact accident happens, it's typically a toe or toes that is injured, which is why they are still able to "use their feet", as their feet are not injured, and they have multiple toes...The fact that he was tucking his foot up against his body after the accident happened is proof enough that he was not "Just scared or frightened by the door shutting".

He most-likely has a broken/fractured toe...I'd bet that the end-result of this accident is one or more broken/fractured toes probably close to 80% of the time, just because of the way birds perch and wrap their toes down around the top of the door. So your bird is probably in a great amount of pain.

That all being said, As long as there is no open-wound or bleeding, and as long as his toe(s)/foot are not extremely swollen and/or red, then there isn't a lot that can be done about a broken toe to begin with, and the usual treatment is splinting.

****However, you haven't described what any of his toes or his foot actually look like, or posted a photo of the injured area. Have you actually taken a close look at his entire foot and all of his toes to determine which toe it is that is injured, and to make sure his actual foot isn't also involved? Usually what we see with this accident is one or more toes that are obviously swollen (this is easily seen if you compare them to the size of the rest of the bird's toes), along with some redness in the effected toe or toes. What you have to understand here is that bird bones are so extremely small and delicate that it takes little to no force at all to fracture them right in half. The only good thing about this is that the fractures in their toes are usually very clean, are not typically displaced,
and the ends usually callous very quickly and heal back together very quickly. So this is why most Avian Vets won't due much about a bird's broken toe or toes except provide the bird with an Anti-Inflammatory medication, such as Metacam, a pain reliever, such as Tramadol, and if there is even a tiny little bit of broken/open skin anywhere on the fractured toe, they will usually also put the bird on an oral antibiotic,
because once again, a bird's skin is extremely thin and delicate, as are the bones in their toes, and even a tiny little bit of a open skin anywhere on the broken toe can result in bacteria getting inside of the toe, and then inside of the fractured bones, and this quickly escalates into an infected toe. Their is just little to no protection from a bird's thin skin and extremely tiny bones to protect them from severe infection, it's like a fracture in a bird's toe is almost by-default exposed to the air if there is even the tiniest piece of open skin.

SO, if you lived in a country where you could get your bird to an Avian Vet within a few hours of a drive, I would be telling you to take him immediately for pain medication/Anti-Inflammatory medication and to make sure the foot isn't also involved (if the foot is also fractured then that's an entirely different thing than a fractured toe)...However, since you don't live somewhere where this is possible, then it makes your choice pretty much all about getting your bird pain-relief (although even a General Vet should be able to look at your bird's toe and make the assumption that it's fractured based on the swelling/redness and your bird's reaction to manipulating it, and they should know enough that there's nothing to do except watch it for infection, BUT they would be able to give you some Metacam to give your bird some pain relief, which is what I would be doing, but that's just me, I can't stand to know that my guys are in pain)...If you have access to liquid Tylenol for infants/babies (may be called "Paracetamol" in your country), you can give your bird 0.5cc/ml of this every 12 hours for pain relief, but only if you have access to the liquid Paracetamol/Tylenol meant for infants/babies.

****I'm going to assume that one or more of your bird's toes on that foot are both swollen and at least a bit red right now...What you need to do is take a very, very, very close look at your bird's entire effected foot (the one involved that he is "tucking") and positively identify what toe or toes are involved, which should be obvious by visible swelling and redness. As long as it's only a toe or toes that are swollen/red and not any part of his foot, and as long as there are not ANY areas of open skin, even the tiniest little bit of open skin/wounds, then you need to check his toe or toes twice a day, once in the morning when he wakes up for breakfast, and once right before bedtime. You need to look very, very closely at the entire foot first, looking for any redness or swelling in his foot, and then work your way down to the toes that are healthy and not injured, making sure that they are not starting to swell/become red, and then you look at the injured toe or toes last. You're looking to make sure that the swelling is not getting any worse or spreading into the other healthy toes or the foot, and the same with any redness, you need to make sure that the any redness you see now is not getting worse or spreading down the injured toe or toes into the healthy toes or the foot. You're also looking for any blackness starting in the injured toe or toes, as this is a sign of necrosis, which will spread. If you notice ANY redness or swelling spreading into the healthy toes or the foot, OR if you notice that the injured toe or toes suddenly look much more swollen or red, then you MUST get your bird to a vet ASAP....If you notice ANY tissue of the injured toe or toes suddenly turning black in color, or looking like they are shriveling, you MUST get your bird to a vet ASAP.

You can expect a fractured toe to stay swollen, red, and possibly bruised for up to a month or longer, that's normal. It's also normal for a fractured toe to be permanently deformed/crooked, as you're not getting the toe reduced/set, so it probably will not heal correctly...That's okay, what you're concerned with is that any fractures heal. If a fracture isn't healing correctly you'll know it because the swelling and redness will continue or usually get worse, which is why it's imperative that you check his foot and toes twice a day, every single day for about a month....Usually when a complication arises in a fractured toe, such as an infection developing in the tissue of the toe or the bone itself, it will acutely/suddenly appear much more swollen and red, which is also why you need to be checking his foot/toes twice a day, as it's not unusual to look at a fractured toe in the morning and have it look the same as it has, and then look at it again that evening and find it suddenly hugely swollen and/or really very red, which is why you need to check it twice daily, once in the morning and once at night...If you see anything questionable, any spreading of swelling or redness, or if your bird suddenly seems much more painful that he has been, you must get him to a vet immediately, as it's most-likely infected. He should be fine and the toe or toes should heal on their own, albeit most-likely crooked, but I've seen a fractured toe be fine for the first week, and then suddenly one morning I check on it and the bird's entire foot is suddenly very swollen, red, and extremely painful, all due to infection of the fractured bone...Any sudden lethargy, sleeping more than usual, being constantly puffed-up, staying on the bottom of his cage, lack of appetite or anorexia, or vomiting, he needs to get to a vet immediately as it's either terribly painful or it's become infected...

Again, it's fine to give him liquid Tylenol/Paracetamol for human infants/babies for pain, but it must only be the liquid formulation for infants/babies, which should also come with an oral syringe in the box. He can have 0.5cc/ml every 12 hours for pain, and I'd give it to him for as long as he's actually tucking his foot, or if at any time after he stops tucking his foot he suddenly shows signs of pain again. Don't give him any more than 0.5cc/ml per dose, and no more often than every 12 hours.

Hi , I have the same thing happen to my Green cheek conure , But he does show signs of pain if I try to touch gently he keeps it tucked he limps around on it tries to use it. It is bruised and swollen a bit , but I think that the ring kept it from being worse than it is . He does try to stable his self on my finger but he doesn’t close the foot on my finger. Hobbles around trying not to use it but I need to know if I should do something or try to splint it,? And I’m also afraid that the footing might swell up around the ring should I have it removed? Here is a pic of his foot and brushing .. thank you all in advance I sure appreciate all the help I can get

Welcome to the Forums Chillibirdy, but I'm sorry for the circumstances. If you have posted a picture it doesn't appear to be visible.

How long ago did this incident happen with your bird? If his foot or leg is bruised and swollen as you say, and very likely painful, then it's a good idea to have him checked out by your avian vet. The links below may help you find your closest if you don't already have one...

https://www.aav.org/default.aspx

https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/

As EllenD and others have mentioned above, it is much safer to have him checked out and treated by a professional if at all possible. They will be able to pinpoint whether there are any broken bones or if it's just tissue damage. A hands-on examination is your best bet for your bird to be able to receive the best treatment and outcome.

I hope you are able to find some professional help for your conure. Please keep us updated and I wish you all the best!