I am absolutely stumped with my bird and have asked about my bird's behavior before. Can birds become depressed? I cannot believe I am asking such a question. Here is my situation.
I took in a rehomed 27-y/o YN bird almost a year ago. He was flighted and uncaged with his previous owner of over 20 years. His toys were practically nothing to speak of and his owner was ill due to problems with her lungs. So I am assuming she did a lot of sitting the past year or so.
For the past year, he has had a variety of toys consisting of plastic chains, a bell, cardboard, pizza boxes, string, calculator tape, wooden ladders, different types of wood, a swing, and foraging wheel. He has only shown interest in shredding cardboard, mouthing a string toy and unrolling one roll of calculator tape. These were in his cage and some came from his previous home. He touches nothing on his play stand but food. The play stand came with him from the previous owner. He is out of his cage for hours and I have attempted to get him interested in the toys available. Nada.
I talk and sing to him, but no reaction. I do see eyes dilating when conversing. He has never gotten excited over anything. No fanning of the tail or eyes pinning together. He has picked up new vocabulary since being here. Not much.
There are times during the day when I want to bring him out, but he shies away. Other times, he cannot wait to jump on my hand to come out. I do not force it.
I have given him baths in the shower, no reaction. I have sprayed him a few times with a water bottle. Not much interest there either. He does like bathing in a food cup on his playstand.
Does he need a shrink or am I doing something wrong? I have been wanting another bird for months, and decided today to put it off because I am not sure if this would be positive. I was hoping from his watching another bird play, he would see what he was missing. I want him to remain sweet as he is, just more reactive to what's around him.
I am having a vet come out Wednesday afternoon to check him for some nare blockage and whistling noise. I am contributing this to not having enough humidity because he has been fine and nothing has changed except the heat coming on possibly stirring up dust in the air. I could not forgive myself if I was wrong so, just to be on the safe side, she is coming out. While the vet is here I am going to have her check his CBC because this inactivity is just worrying me.
He just doesn't act like the typical amazon. No change of personality during the breeding season either. He eats pellets and vegetables just fine so I am not worried about diet.
I know this is a long post. Sorry. Is it possible to be depressed?
I took in a rehomed 27-y/o YN bird almost a year ago. He was flighted and uncaged with his previous owner of over 20 years. His toys were practically nothing to speak of and his owner was ill due to problems with her lungs. So I am assuming she did a lot of sitting the past year or so.
For the past year, he has had a variety of toys consisting of plastic chains, a bell, cardboard, pizza boxes, string, calculator tape, wooden ladders, different types of wood, a swing, and foraging wheel. He has only shown interest in shredding cardboard, mouthing a string toy and unrolling one roll of calculator tape. These were in his cage and some came from his previous home. He touches nothing on his play stand but food. The play stand came with him from the previous owner. He is out of his cage for hours and I have attempted to get him interested in the toys available. Nada.
I talk and sing to him, but no reaction. I do see eyes dilating when conversing. He has never gotten excited over anything. No fanning of the tail or eyes pinning together. He has picked up new vocabulary since being here. Not much.
There are times during the day when I want to bring him out, but he shies away. Other times, he cannot wait to jump on my hand to come out. I do not force it.
I have given him baths in the shower, no reaction. I have sprayed him a few times with a water bottle. Not much interest there either. He does like bathing in a food cup on his playstand.
Does he need a shrink or am I doing something wrong? I have been wanting another bird for months, and decided today to put it off because I am not sure if this would be positive. I was hoping from his watching another bird play, he would see what he was missing. I want him to remain sweet as he is, just more reactive to what's around him.
I am having a vet come out Wednesday afternoon to check him for some nare blockage and whistling noise. I am contributing this to not having enough humidity because he has been fine and nothing has changed except the heat coming on possibly stirring up dust in the air. I could not forgive myself if I was wrong so, just to be on the safe side, she is coming out. While the vet is here I am going to have her check his CBC because this inactivity is just worrying me.
He just doesn't act like the typical amazon. No change of personality during the breeding season either. He eats pellets and vegetables just fine so I am not worried about diet.
I know this is a long post. Sorry. Is it possible to be depressed?
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