Off to the vet, bleeding profusely

[lquan]

Maria, my Lily broke a tail feather once. Luckily there was no blood. But she did scream when she broke it in her cage. The feather has fully grown back now.

I had to totally rearrange all of the perches and ropes to avoid future feather breakage. Lily has 2 cages; for sleeping and playing. The sleeping cage has no doors; only a white sheet over the cage. The white sheet allows some light to shine through so she can manuever safely at night. I removed the doors so she escape if she needs to; we live in earthquake country. She comes out of the cage on her own every morning and flies to the nearby bathroom to wait for us to wake up. That's her morning routine. Inside her sleeping cage there are 2 perches. One on top and one on bottom. The top one is offset to the rear. The bottom one is offset to the front near the door. There is a small rope connecting the top and bottom perch. Lily use it to climb up and slide down. She doesn't climb down, instead, she grabs the rope with 2 feet and slide down like a fireman sliding down a pole. She knows how much pressure to apply to the rope so she won't drop too fast. (she slides down my window pullcords this way all day long) This way, she doesn't have to climb on the cage bars to get around. Tail feathers brushing on cage bars will not only fray but can break them. I also have a thicker rope going from the bottom perch to the door. I haven't seeing her climbing the bars anymore with this arrangement. By the way, she sleeps on the top perch. Arrange the perches far enough from the cage bars so her tail can clear the bars.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

I am so relieved for you that he is back home....poor muffin!
was the word "prolapse?"...if it was that can be very serious.

on occasion I give my birds organic iron drops, mostly my canaries and finches.
they seem to be more prone to it, due to being just seed eaters...along with veggies etc..

it just goes to show you how a lack of nutrients can affect a bird(I'm in the same boat with calcium for Tundra, and have switched to a liquid calcium supplement.

No, the word wasn't "prolapse" - it was an anatomical part. Thanks Crimson.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Maria, my Lily broke a tail feather once. Luckily there was no blood. But she did scream when she broke it in her cage. The feather has fully grown back now.

I had to totally rearrange all of the perches and ropes to avoid future feather breakage. Lily has 2 cages; for sleeping and playing. The sleeping cage has no doors; only a white sheet over the cage. The white sheet allows some light to shine through so she can manuever safely at night. I removed the doors so she escape if she needs to; we live in earthquake country. She comes out of the cage on her own every morning and flies to the nearby bathroom to wait for us to wake up. That's her morning routine. Inside her sleeping cage there are 2 perches. One on top and one on bottom. The top one is offset to the rear. The bottom one is offset to the front near the door. There is a small rope connecting the top and bottom perch. Lily use it to climb up and slide down. She doesn't climb down, instead, she grabs the rope with 2 feet and slide down like a fireman sliding down a pole. She knows how much pressure to apply to the rope so she won't drop too fast. (she slides down my window pullcords this way all day long) This way, she doesn't have to climb on the cage bars to get around. Tail feathers brushing on cage bars will not only fray but can break them. I also have a thicker rope going from the bottom perch to the door. I haven't seeing her climbing the bars anymore with this arrangement. By the way, she sleeps on the top perch. Arrange the perches far enough from the cage bars so her tail can clear the bars.

I could get a sleeping cage, but we feel the accident happened when we weren't home, and he was in his regular cage. We lowered all the perches, and put a soft towel at the bottom per vet orders. I hope he doesn't hurt himself again. :-( The problem seems to be more when he lands on a hard surface.

Your bird sounds highly intelligent, and very self sufficient.

 

[MikeyTN]

Poor muffins!!!! Are you talking about "Pygostyyli"???

 

[Mike17]

Glad to hear Muffin's OK. The sight of (much) blood can be really scary, as happened with our whiteface 'tiel Ariel recently when our corella bit through his wing. I'm curious about the anaemia thing, as one would think the anaemia would be a result of the bleeding, not a cause. My wife's anaemic and bleeds the same as anyone else (and I'm not anaemic and bleed like a stuck pig from the slightest injury- and age thing, skin gets thin etc etc).

The anatomic feature starting with "P" is a mystery. Wasn't "posterior" was it ?

 

[Kalidasa]

Wow I just thought initially it was just a couple of broken blood feathers, it's a good thing you took him in because it was more serious than that. Good news you caught all this now, as all of it can be corrected he's very lucky to have you.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Poor muffins!!!! Are you talking about "Pygostyyli"???

Yes!!! That was it.

 

[MikeyTN]

Baby tiels get hurt easily. They get themselves into trouble all the time. Just keep an eye on him for the time being and he should recover just fine. My babies get themselves into trouble often. Last night one of my fledglings flew out of the bird room but landed on the floor and not make a peep while I was looking for him with a syringe in my hand filled with formula. The hall way lights was off and good thing I'm careful or I could of kick or stump on him. He's walking around the floor like nothing is going on..

 

[crimson]

Poor muffins!!!! Are you talking about "Pygostyyli"???

Yes!!! That was it.

what is Pygostyyli??, gosh I can't even pronounce it, ha ha

 

[Kalidasa]

Lol it looks like pig-Latin for pig-sty

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Well tonight, he is super quiet. He was playing with his toys, and eating/drinking a bit. He even pecked at some curly kale I put on the side of his cage. However, he's not screaming and moaning in a low pitched voice he was doing for many nights before. I wonder if that had something to do with the pain he was in.

He's preening like crazy tonight too. He's been out of his cage for around four/five hours today, cuddling, sleeping and preening on us. I won't let the kids handle him quite yet because the wound can reopen if they're not careful.

My poor little birdie.


FYI: Here's more on the part he injured badly.

Pygostyle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GaryBV]

Poor baby, but he's on the mend - I had to look up what the Pygostyyli was as I had never heard of it. Still I bet he's a little sore still so good your babying him.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Well, he's still a baby, so I've been babying him no matter what. It's hard not to, he's so darn cute, much like any baby animal. I think tiels tend to keep their baby look as adults too. I saw a beautiful adult tiel at the vet's office today, and she was simply adorable.

 

[faeryphoebe1]

It's great to hear that he's going to be okay. He's such a cutey!

 

[Mike17]

Pie-go-style I'd imagine. Interesting reading on the wiki page. I wasn't too far out with "posterior" though

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

He dislikes having all low perches though. He climbed on top of one of his larger toys in his cage. You can see how his tail feathers are crooked, and there's a big gap in the middle. This is due to the injury. The doctor said after they molt and they grow back in, they should be okay. He also has a really long tail for a baby I noticed. I've seen adults with shorter tails. I wonder if that is part of the problem too.

 

[GaryBV]

Oh I"m pretty sure I mentoined before that I though the had an especially long tail. It's such an attractive feature of his. Well he's just a pretty bird anyways.

 

[Calace]

Poor little boy! Glad he's feeling a bit better though!!! He's a very cute little fella!

 

[crimson]

poor muffin, that must really be uncomfortable!!
did the vet not give him any metacam for pain?

lets hope he heals quickly, and gets back to normal

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

Crimson,
The vet gave him some iron supplement to build up his red blood cells due to the loss of blood from the injury, probiotics, antibiotics, and high energy feed, but I don't think he gave him pain medication. I should ask about that. Thanks.

Here's a happy picture of him with some scrambled eggs on his beak, before the injury. I just love this pic, so I had to share. A bit of mommy pride here.

In this pic, you can see how much I lowered his perches and toys, and covered the bottom with a blanket and paper towels.

Thanks again to everyone for their kind words, and concern.