Newbie from PA!

Hi there!

I've often visited, and haven't joined until now! We're (Eric, and myself-Erika) are broke (hah) college kids, but are blessed enough to have an adorable nine month old Ekkie, Ezio (Et-zeee-oh). d:

We just visited the vet today, (yes, avian certified) and even though she was very knowledgeable, she said something which made me fairly uneasy. After going over the basics, she told us that Ezio was depressed. Now, this is after she flipped him over to examine his leg (which he didn't like!), and his leg was why we were there in the first place. A day ago, he was playing around and fell from his cage, and crashed on the coffee table. Since then, he has been favoring his left leg. But she assured us it wasn't broken, and prescribed light pain relievers. His appetite hasn't changed one bit, he's still a lil' piggy, and gets an all organic diet with Zupreem natural pellets, and whatever seed blend I feel like getting him whenever he runs out. He drinks spring water, nothing from the tap since we're on city water.

I know we're "kids" but we honestly looked into him months before we got him. We even got him from a reputable breeder/bird place, and visited him while they were still hand feeding him-we even got to try it! But what the doc said earlier has me a little upset. Has anyone else dealt with depressed birds, and how do you tell?? She did say, however, that his bedtime is too late. He lives in the living room, and we'll normally go to bed around 9:30-10, so he's up until then. We're working on getting a sleeping cage in the bedroom if it's necessary.

Any feedback at all would be very helpful!!!

Welcome. There is a group on here for PA Parrot Owners. I just joined it. I've never heard of a vet diagnosing depression in a bird before. Most animals are unhappy at the vet's office. I was a vet tech for 5 1/2 years. There were plenty of animals that were sweet as can be at home but would try to tear our throats out or cower under a chair in the office.

There's people on this forum with way more experience & knowledge than me, but it sounds like he's eating great & playing & acting like a well cared for bird. I know when I get depressed I don't eat or play. IMHO you are being good Parronts & aside from the injury have a happy, well adjusted bird.

Depressed birds are ones on poor diets, locked in a cage all the time, in a back room or the basement with no interaction from it's owners. This doesn't sound like a depressed bird. My birds also go to bed at that time, but they don't get up first thing in the morning either. I let them tell me when they want to go to bed, and they do! More sleep may not hurt though. After my birds go to bed, I go upstairs and read or watch TV so I don't bother them. Maybe you could also go into your bedroom once the bird is asleep or roll his cage in there (or get a sleeping cage). In fact mine are asking to be covered now.

I can't tell you much about depressed birds as I don't know, but your bird doesn't sound depressed!

And as for the late bed time, my bird goes to bed around this time as well, and she will wake up around 9am, I have checked in on her, and she does sleep right through to this time most days. So I think its fine as long as they get the right amount of hours at night

welcome aboard from lancaster pa. i cann't give any advice i too am pretty new to birding.

Tammy-thanks! I'll certainly be looking for the PA group!

Ezio normally relaxes on the back of our sofa at night, and quietly mumbles to us, until he actually dozes off. That's when we'll actually go to bed as well. He generally wakes up around 8-8:30, when we get up to get ready for classes. We're normally out of the house anywhere between 5-8 hours at a time, but whenever we're home, he's ALWAYS out of his cage climbing around playing.

Before the vet's actual examiniation, he was pretty content sitting on the table munching on my keys (we forgot a toy x. And even while she was talking to us, he was minding his own business. It was only until after she picked him up and flipped him over (which he did NOT like) that he wasn't himself. I think it bothered him so much, and just drained so much of his little energy that wasn't trying to fix his leg, that he was almost napping on the table.

Thank you guys for your input! It sure does help.

Hi and welcome. Could you tell us more details of why the vet told you your bird was depressed? I.e., what was her evidence? I'm not buying it about the bedtime, either. It's possible she was biased about you being young and assumed you weren't good enough caregivers.

Edit: I missed your reply, above. I wouldn't sweat it, birdie seems ok to me based on your info. You know him best!

Osnyder- I'm not 100% sure why she said he was depressed. I believe the biggest thing was that he was napping on the table, which she said he shouldn't be doing with her standing there.
I work at a local pet store, and on my days off, and when I know the store won't be packed with dogs, he'll sometimes come along and visit. Since we don't get too many parrots in the store, he's one of my co-workers favorites, to the point where he'll sit at the cash register and help Carla bag up orders. He loves it (or I believe he does). He happily makes a mess with whatever he can find, and under the counter, we have a stash of cat balls with lil' jingles inside. Carla and him sit there for ten minutes or so (if she can) and play ball, which consists of him pushing the ball off the counter and her picking it up so he can do it all over again. He's very social, we take him places, he's even been to a park with lil' kids, to my cousins to see their 1 & 3 y.o. children, and to various pet stores.

The vet appointment was at 6:30pm, and the office is a good 45 minute drive from our apartment. Ezio travels well (we're constantly running from Allentown-Harrisburg, roughly an hour & 1/2 trip). If it's daylight out, he'll chatter and sing along with us, but when it begins to get dark, he'll quiet up. It's dark here by 4:30-5:00pm lately, so on the way to the clinic he was snoozing.
I would much rather have her dislike myself than misdiagnose my bird. I'm not paying her to like me, just to make him feel better, which so far I believe he is. She gave us Metacam (pain reliever) and we're s'posed to give 0.05cc twice daily. He just had his dose this morning with his breakfast, and already he seems to be more relaxed with the injured leg.

Yet again, thank you guys!!

It has been the norm for my Nanday conure to take little naps throughout the day. She is quite the ball of energy though. She will wake up, do a zillion things, take a little nap, get up and do a zillion more things, take a nap, etc. My amazon seems to be the same way. It was not normal though for my other conure unless she had a big stress that day like going to the vet.

I would be careful though about taking him to pet stores. There are a lot of diseases he could catch just being in the same building with another bird. And it is hard to say where some pet stores get their birds from.