Today I had an accident with my IRN and I just need to ask if someone knows should I be worried or not since we don't have any avian vet here and no parrot experts either. Thing is, our bird is really aggressive towards feet. So I try to always have slippers on due to this to avoid biting and make a wide circle if passing around her. But today she grabbed my toe really hard and wouldn't let go, as I shook her off it, she happened to smash against table really hard and took off to fly away only to smash against the wall then. When I managed to catch her, took her in a blanket she was breathing with open mouth and heart racing. I noticed her blinking is strange, like she blinks too much but her eyelids are moving slower, if that makes any sense. I found it odd she's not trying to escape so I opened blanket for her to get out but she took flight with her scared scream and smashed against window now too. As you can see, that's a lot of smashing, I'm worried now if she'll be ok at all. She was out of focus for few minutes when we put her back to cage at first but she got out soon again and behaved normal since then - ate, drank water, screamed, talked, fights with everything on the floor which is her usual activity...but eye worries me still. She seems to be blinking on 1 eye more than the other, eyelids on that eye seem to be moving slower. To me it appears like it has a bit more of the white part showing than it should but I might also be imagining things at this point since I can't really point out at such anomaly. So I wonder if she's going to be ok with thia and what could be with her eye? It's been already 8h from that accident and she's sleeping now(middle of the night), is it safe to assume she's fine? I'm scared because I read few times about birds dying after hitting wall and because they hide symptoms if they don't feel well. In general her behavior since then is perfectly normal, just that part about eye that seems off but can't really tell what exactly is different
Is my bird ok?
- Thread starter Alexei
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im not experienced with these kind of birds but.. thats really alot of smashing that went on even if she is OK that doesnt means she cannot be traumatized after all this what happend.. i hope some of our fellow more experienced members can help you out
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That I'm aware of, when she screamed and took off as I wrote she was traumatized for sure. I believe that's something that will get in place with time, I'm more concerned about physical health side of it...here eyelids are blue now on the eye that I suspected something being wrong with so I assume she hit with that side. Is that going to be ok? I have never had such experience, even when parrots would hit something they usually hit with their front (beak). I used to have budgies and cockateils before and they were common in trying out window but this one never hits windows. She did a few times hit something and fell down but never like this before
Flboy
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How is she doing now?
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She seems to behave as usual, she's out of cage most of the day today, runs around and screams as usual, eats and everything in order but the bruising around eye worries me. It's not swollen, but it's easy to notice skin is purpleish(bruised) and it pains her clearly, when we tried to touch she snapped and tried to bite. Everything else seems normal. Don't know if there's anything we can do to help bruising heal faster
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I have question again regarding this issue in case anyone knows what could this be. So after this incident bird is behaving normal but I noticed that her feathers can't "puff" when she's angry on this side of her head. What could be reason for this? Seems like she lost feeling of that part of her head. But her eye is fine, I've been checking that carefully to make sure she sees on her eye and I'm sure she does so what could be reason why her feathers can't move? She's usually mad at me always when I approach her, so her head puffs but that side remains flat, feathers don't rise like on the rest of her head
noodles123
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1. i am not expert and I am not a vet.
I would normally say get to a vet etc etc, but you said that is clearly not an option (even an exotics vet would be likely better than nothing though)-- She could have a serious, life threatening injury (just to be clear). There is also the possibility of bruising around nerves or bruising/inflammation in her spine etc that could cause temporary issues...Then again, it could be more than that.
There is an episode of Bondi vet that dealt with a cockatiel who slammed into the floor and bruised his spine or something like that---no break, but the bruising caused short-term issues. Now, Bondi vet makes some questionable calls about birds on the show- for sure...but in that case, they did imaging etc and so I think it was a decent diagnosis. I am not a vet, so it is possible that you are dealing with many things here...but best case scenario, there could be some inflammation leading to temporary issues...Worst case, you could be looking at fractures and internal bleeding or have inflammation in her brain...so take it for what it's worth I suppose...I don't know specifically about feathers not fluffing on one side...that kind of concerns me because it makes me think of people who have strokes, but how are his legs and wings on that side? What about his eye etc? I am kind of grasping at straws here, but I assume you are aware of the risks to some extent and know that this is no substitute for proper medical consultation.
I would normally say get to a vet etc etc, but you said that is clearly not an option (even an exotics vet would be likely better than nothing though)-- She could have a serious, life threatening injury (just to be clear). There is also the possibility of bruising around nerves or bruising/inflammation in her spine etc that could cause temporary issues...Then again, it could be more than that.
There is an episode of Bondi vet that dealt with a cockatiel who slammed into the floor and bruised his spine or something like that---no break, but the bruising caused short-term issues. Now, Bondi vet makes some questionable calls about birds on the show- for sure...but in that case, they did imaging etc and so I think it was a decent diagnosis. I am not a vet, so it is possible that you are dealing with many things here...but best case scenario, there could be some inflammation leading to temporary issues...Worst case, you could be looking at fractures and internal bleeding or have inflammation in her brain...so take it for what it's worth I suppose...I don't know specifically about feathers not fluffing on one side...that kind of concerns me because it makes me think of people who have strokes, but how are his legs and wings on that side? What about his eye etc? I am kind of grasping at straws here, but I assume you are aware of the risks to some extent and know that this is no substitute for proper medical consultation.
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Thank you for this response, yes her wings and legs are fine. The moment it happened her leg seemed off shortly too, like she can't stand on it but she was stsnding fine few moments later. Yes, stroke is kinda what I was having in mind too :/ this happened month and 15 days ago so she seems fine in every way except this about feathers on that part. I tested her eye as well to see if she can see on that eye and looks like she does. She can fly and walk normally as usual. She had bruising around eye for 3 -4 days after that but it was gone after that time. It's not that I don't want to take her to vet, I would gladly, but we literally have no avian vets in entire country. Those others basically can't help with anything, they just say that they don't know how to handle parrots...so I'm forced to look for opinions on the internet to see how can we help her. She eats as usual, everything is just as usual so there are no signs that she's not feeling well. I just noticed that part about feathers that had me worried cause like you said, it reminds me of stroke in humans too...but then again, her limbs are fine so I feel that might not be it. Maybe some nerve damage on that part of the head? Don't know what to think anymore...
noodles123
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If she is eating and drinking okay and this happened many days ago, I would say that it is odd, but maybe you dodged a bullet? Again-- not certain, but if everything else is progressing nicely, it seems like there is less to worry about than if it weren't. Just going on guess-work though, like I said.
I think she would be worse off it were more serious- although I could be wrong... A month and 15 days is a long time if there were internal bleeding etc...In my (non-professional) opinion.
I think she would be worse off it were more serious- although I could be wrong... A month and 15 days is a long time if there were internal bleeding etc...In my (non-professional) opinion.
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Yes I think so too. Really thought she will not make it after that event cause she hit really hard at the table and then again, since she flew away in direction she never even goes to also hit window so I thought she might not even make it. But given the time that passed and she showed no signs of any other injury except bruising in first few days I think she should be ok. Only later as time passed I noticed this about feathers which I found very strage and have no idea what could be the reason since she shows no signs of feeling unwell...eating and drinking is all normal, doesn't fly much but when she does it's good enough and same as before. She's been spending most of the out time on the floor for months now which is how this incident happened too.
noodles123
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Her spending time on the floor of your house could mean illness or, in many birds, it could be a strong indicator of hormones (in many species anyway...I am not an expert on yours, but if she is healthy and perching in the cage but then running around on your house's floor (or even the cage floor- so long as perching at night to sleep etc), that can be an indicator of hormones.....Now, a bird spending time on the floor of a cage for no reason is often very sick, unless they are doing something down there-- like nesting around or playing or eating (just sitting or sleeping= VERY bad sign). SO-- when you say floor, it depends on what you mean...A healthy bird will still sleep on a perch and they will generally have a purpose for visiting the ground (e.g., play, attention, food, a toy etc). A sick bird will sometimes visit the ground because they do not have the strength or coordination to safely perch or because their perceptual skills are disoriented...The difference is what they do when they are on the "ground" and whether they sleep that way.
If your bird isn't sleeping on the ground and seems generally healthy in terms of other issues:
1. REMOVE any access to shadowy or dark places- period (huts, tents, boxes, drawers, hammocks, pots, clothing, bedding etc..)
even the slightest shadow can send them into overdrive and cause behavioral issues, as they are programmed to find a nesting spot--and likely, your bird THINKS it has a mate (be it you, or someone else-- doesn't matter that he bit you-- you could still be that "someone") <-- you do not want to be that "someone" and you do not want your bird in overdrive, so be very careful in terms of shadowy spaces and in terms of your interaction---you still have to interact (and yeah, some confusion is par for the course) but make sure you never encourage sexual behavior and if you pet your bird, stick to the head and neck only (along with seriously preventing access to shadowy areas in and around the cage).
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Oh yes I know sleeping on the floor means illness and bird not feeling well but she doesn't do that and is highly hormonal too (she's 5 years old). She sleeps on her usual perch in cage at night. Sometimes might take a nap in the afternoon on the floor but that's also very rare. If she sees us napping mostly. When she's out on the floor she just looks for things to mess with. Basically she shows aggression towards anything on the floor and just wants to fight with something. So she screams at or fights with water bottle or something. She finds mate in my bf, hence the aggression towards. I can't touch her for quite some time cause she bites me but my bf can, so he makes sure to cuddle only her head when he does pet her. I do pay attention that she doesn't have such places that she can see as potential nest but my bf did let her sometimes hide under things like pillows etc before(doesn't do this anymore) but she was also flying at that time. Not sure what caused her change but she seems to be only interested in walking around and fighting with things she finds on the floor. She can fly when she wants, she just seems to prefer walking. Could be the change of cage maybe (we got her a larger one) now that I think of it, seems like she doesn't fly as much since then. She really didn't like new cage at first but has accepted it now more or less.
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