Darn my little red-head's fiery temper!

Hi Stephen,

I'm so sorry you are both dealing with such a conundrum.

I have a couple of questions. How well or not is she taking her prescribed medication? And if you are able to get the meds into her is it working?

When you get a minute can you please give us an update?

Thanks so much and best of luck to you both. :smile015:

Good glory, how did I miss this thread? I have nothing to contribute, but still... I do have sympathy. Is the p-word even more unholy when we're talking about a plumage like a lady Eclectus? Arguably. Geez, sorry to hear.

Good questions, Tami.

Thanks for the thoughts and well wishes!

The battle continues, though I think that there might have been some progress. I can't be too sure yet, since she still doesn't pluck fully formed feathers and focuses only on pin feathers that have just broken through, but there are less plucked pins against the wall and on the floor. And some areas seem to have filled back in a little. But I am still seeing a bit of gray here and there.

Tami, Maya is terrible about taking medication. She used to be wonderful, but has come to loathe the taste of it. Even peanut butter stopped working, but she came to accept the medication if applied to a corner of toast with peanut butter spread on top. Such a diva she is!

The problem with gauging the effect of the medication, though, is that by the time I'd begun giving it to her she'd already ripped out hundreds of pins and was left only with mature feathers. And by the time new ones began growing in, she'd already finished her course of anti-inflammatories. So I really don't know how much, if at all, it actually helped.

At this point, I'm regularly giving her chamomile and milk thistle. (Not in the same meal. Both have calming properties, so I don't put them together. Might not actually be a problem, but I'm certainly not going to find out the hard way. Put my poor red-head into a sleepy stupor.) I do think that they are helping, but again, it's hard to say how much.

Oh, and I've also increased bath frequency. Jolly is quite happy about that change. Maya? Not so much.