African Grey has dust in the eye. help!!

d4rkh4rt

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Is it common for a parrot to get some small dust in its eye? Should I take it to the vet? Im scared because Ive had the parrot for about 8 yrs now and I dont want anything bad to happen to him/her. Any suggestions? Thank You
 

Auggie's Dad

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Welcome to the forums, sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately I can't really advise well on this one. Does it seem to be bothering him?

Their eyes can get things in them just as easily as ours - and I'd suspect it could be viewed about the same: 'normal' dust and gunk will be cleared out naturally but anything sharp (from wood or metal shavings etc) could be a problem that needs medical attention. Just my two cents, I'm not the one to ask on this though.
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Well thank you, I managed to get the piece of dust out of the eye so Im going to let the irritation calm down over night and hopefully the irritation will be gone by morning. :D
 

TexDot33

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Seems to me that breeds that tend to be more dusty (greys, cockatoos) might be more prone to this happening than others might be. I would say that this is something you should let your grey work on himself if it were to happen again in the future ... I am sure that it would work just like it does with us, a little irratating, but in the end we would get rid of it ...

How's he/doing ... did the irratation subside over night?
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Well later on the next morning he had a bunch of mucus looking stuff at a corniner of his eye, he opened his eye right after I pulled out that mucus. So far every few days he will close that eye... and he has been sleeping alot lately and it kinda looks like saliva on the tip of his beak.. can he be getting sick? He also has a little bit of a red patch around that eye.... I think to be on the safe side I should take him to the vet.
 

Auggie's Dad

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Yup, sounds like he is sick and needs a trip to the vet. Sounds like an infection got in the irritated eye, which should be very easy to clear up - but only with the appropriate meds from a vet.
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Ya I thought so.... oh well I'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow cuz there aren't any that I know that are open on memorial day. Thank you two for your help! :D
 

TexDot33

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If someone were telling me this were happening to there kid I would say that the kid had "Pink Eye" (aka: Conjunctivitis) or a badly clogged tear duct ... Can parrots get this? Not knowing the anatomy of a parrot's eye, I am not sure about the clogged tear duct ... but Pink Eye is bacterial, right? So, I guess, in theory, it COULD happen ...

This one will be interesting, please keep us up to date on him/her as it unfolds.
 

Auggie's Dad

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Yup, anatomically their eyes are very similar to ours.

The path of the optic nerves and visual processing in the brain is rather different, but the eyes are essentially the same.

Birds can get conjunctivitis (pink eye) just like us - though there is not much risk of transmission as the specific infectious agents will be different. The treatment and prognosis though is probably quite similar.
 

TexDot33

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... The path of the optic nerves and visual processing in the brain is rather different, but the eyes are essentially the same...

Any idea on just how much they can see? I have always wondered that ... what is the field of view for a parrot and do they have any blind spots?
 

Auggie's Dad

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I don't know specifics off hand - even if I did they would vary by species - or at least by larger clades: songbirds v parrots v birds of prey etc.

But generally speaking birds don't have binocular vision with owls being one obvious exception. Their field of view is MUCH larger than ours but they still can't see strait behind their head. As for blind spots I'm not sure where it would fall but they have one just like we do due to the optic disk. Judging solely on a few observations of sparrows the optic nerve leaves their eye at roughly (very roughly speaking) the same angle as in humans; so I would suspect their blind spot is (again very roughly) in a similar position relative to the eye.

I held up one of those 'blind spot test cards' to Auggie, but he didn't tell me when the motorcycle disappeared, instead he tried to eat it :D
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Well I always rub the front of Floyd's beak and it seems he doesn't notice it until I actually touch it... unless he likes his beak rubbed haha. So I am for sure taking him tomorrow and I'll report what the vet says.... I hope its nothing big. Yea I heard somewhere that their vision is pretty good compared to humans. Who really knows how well it is unless you're a parrot haha
 

Jez

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How is he doing?

I would think that the blind spot of a parrot is similiar to us as well. Well, in between the eyes of a human isn't exactly a BLIND spot... cross eye... but you know what I mean... :)
I'd think they can see eveywhere except exactly between their 2 eyes, and exactly in the back of the head.
They do determine colors, correct?
I've also wondered, how is a birds sense of smell/ do they smell at all/well?
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Hey thanks for asking. I came back from the vet a few hours ago and she said he has pneumonia for parrots.... :( She said he was very sick but he will get better. I relocated his cage and perch to the living room where it is always warm and I have to start feeding him veggies and fruit <---- Never thought of giving them that as there main meal, I feel stupid and bad now for giving him nuts and berries. She gave me a lot of pamphlets on taking care of greys and how to raise them and feed them. So I got some reading to do. haha The vet told me that they usually determined their food by a combination between smell and color and that their vision is very accurate. I will update til he is back to full health again.
 

TexDot33

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That's a horrible story, but has a great ending ... Floyd is going to be OK (Thank Goodness) and you have learned some things that will allow you to keep Floyd from getting sick again!

Fruits and veggies are very important parts of our parrots diets, almost as important as they are to OUR diets.

Follow your vet's directions to the letter to allow Floyd a quicker recovery time, and we all are very thankful that you caught this in time ... see, this just goes to show that none of us on here are vets ... would have never guessed pneumonia from a leaky eye ...
 
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d4rkh4rt

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Yea I know very weird how it all started with some dust in his eye..... Yea Im actually in the middle of reading this parrot book which is so awesome to see how they would really live in the wild.
 

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