Bald spot - do I need to go to a vet right now? Online reccomendations?

flannel

New member
May 24, 2020
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Hello there! New here.

Background info: I have a female quaker parrot around 13 years old. She hasn't really had an issue with plucking feathers over the years, but before the bird was completely in my care I didn't really research a quaker parrot's diet and how seeds should not be the main source of food. Over the past couple of months I've been trying to incorporate pellets and fruit, but she isn't interested a lot of the time. I can get her to eat a blueberry or two occasionally, but after that she's not interested. She has primarly been eating the Hartz medium bird food for most of her life.

I noticed about a month or so ago that she started to develop a bald spot under her wings on her back. It has gotten bigger and I'm not really sure what's causing it..Could frustration/stress of trying to transition her diet be the cause? I've also been home 24/7 pretty much because of quarantine...I also think that her skin may be flaking a bit from seeing it drop on my clothing...I think that she may be molting as well, but I know it's not normal to have a bald spot like that.



This is her from a few weeks ago: https://ibb.co/jhfDt8C

I just gave her a bath and noticed just how much the bald spot has grown so I have these pictures of her wet:
https://ibb.co/qNmFSwK
https://ibb.co/YNg8LcH

Definitely is not as noticeable dry....

Should I take her to an avian vet asap? Is there an online vet that any of you can reccomend that also does prescriptions?

Online would be preferable during this time with everything going on, but if I need to go out I will....
 
Last edited:

MonicaMc

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
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Parrots
Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
Cockatiel - Casey 2001;
Wild Caught ARN - Sylphie 2013
It could be any number of things, and without doing the necessary tests (bloodwork, x-rays, skin biopsies, feather biopsies, etc), it's difficult to say why one way or the other.

I'm taking care of a female cockatiel that picks just a tad higher than that (if I can see right from the photos). It's been a struggle to get any testing done with the lockdown.... made worse by the fact that the vet office I've been using to try and get any answers is out of state... like your quaker, when she is completely dry, you wouldn't even know she's picking at herself.
 

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