Chipped beak, off to vet

[Kentuckienne]

Yesterday Gus chipped his lower beak - mandible? You know how the lower beak is flat across the front, and the macaws grind that part up against a flat place inside the wicked upper beak? Well, his has a big u-shaped chip out of the end, so there are two sharpish points with the U in the middle. I didn't know if it hurts, or if it's a danger, but I could see the two points being fragile and breaking, maybe causing more damage. And after reading of Salty's exploits in the land of Beakville, I called the vet who says bring him in. So we're off in a few minutes. I'll see if I can get some photos and post them along with the vet results.

I'm so grateful to this forum...if I weren't coming here regularly I wouldn't have known enough to think to take him in.

 

[Oli]

Good luck! We're grateful for you too. At least I am.
I hope Gus isn't in any pain.


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[SailBoat]

Good luck! We're grateful for you too. At least I am.
I hope Gus isn't in any pain.

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Me Too! Safe Drive! The main highways are filled with Spring Break people!

 

[LeaKP]

Oh no! Waiting to make sure all is well.

 

[EllenD]

Oh how I know the about the beak chips, my Quaker parrot has chopped his twice, once on the top by his cere and once on the bottom near his face. And I too came here when he did the first one with photos to post because I had never dealt with that issue before. This forum really does a lot of good for a lot of people and birds!

I hope Gus is alright, my main concern was always that Lita was in pain. He is just so wreckless! Hopefully Gus will have the same end result that Lita did both times, his beak healed and it grew out just fine.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[Kentuckienne]

Thank you everybody.

Gus did NOT want to go in the travel cage or in the car. In the back seat, he wouldn't stop squawking in fear and crawling all around the inside of the cage. He would not calm down. He was terrified and I felt awful. I stopped the car a couple times, talked to him, nothing was calming him down so I started singing every song I could think of, starting with Rock a bye Birdie, Twinkle Little Star, working my way through Beatles and Phish, anything that was slow paced and in my tonal range, and he did stop climbing around and squawking. I guess he was trying to figure out what he had done wrong in his life to deserve such auditory punishment.

We made it to the vet on time because the gasoline tanker wreck was on the other side of the interstate. It's good to be lucky. And Gus is fine, the vet knocked him out with gas and trimmed the points off the lower beak to restore the flat profile, though it's shorter, and also trimmed the upper beak and the talons. He gave him a quick look over, and I got to talk to his assistant who was Gus's foster and who now rescues parrots on her own. She wouldn't take any money from me. They sell the Harrison's there, of course, and I got him a bag of the pepper kind because she said that's what he used to eat when she had him.

When the vet brought Gus back, still wrapped in a towel, he was still unconscious. He held him until his eyes began to blink, then put him in the cage towel and all. Told me to let him get out of the towel by himself, not to put my hand in the cage or I'd get bitten and he might hurt himself. Sure enough, Gus began to shift, move his head around, look at things, then all of a sudden he just exploded. He was out of the towel in an instant, running up the side of the cage, wings and tail out, totally ON. FREAKED.

On the way home, Gus was quiet. Just sat on his perch in his travel cage and every now and then gronked when I looked at him. Now he's up on top of his cage ignoring me as usual, but he did eat some pellets and have water and he's going to be fine.

 

[wrench13]

WHat a good mommie! Did his upper really need trimming? S'funny, Max -I used to have his beak trimmed 2x a year, Salty seems to keep his in pecking order ( pun intended). And he is so good at the vet , they call him amazon light, and don't even need a towel. I'm sure Gus will forgive you soon

 

[BeatriceC]

Charlotte fell and chipped her beak when we first got her. I was petrified. And it ended exactly how it ended with Gus; a relatively trauma free vet visit, a trimmed beak, and all was good.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Gus's beak had gotten pretty overgrown so the doc has been gradually getting it back to normal.

I am so grateful for so much support for such a minor thing as a chipped beak. It tells me that if - when - a truly awful thing comes, I won't have to face it alone.

 

[Scott]

So glad this turned out well, Karen! Of course you did the right thing, and Gus will heal better with the sharp edges trimmed.

You're never alone, there is almost always somebody here with expertise, or at least friendly back-up and encouragement!