Cockatiel blood loss

Kiryon

Member
May 19, 2013
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Cockatiels - Oz & Kaila
Hello,

I tripped over something while going over to the bird's cage and the noise sent my girl into a frenzy. She's been in the process of regrowing all of her flight feathers and lost almost all of them one one side, except the biggest one which broke instead. I've been staying at my parent's place for a few days so when I saw the blood, I ran to get pliers, towels and my mom. We pulled the feather out and found a second one while checking her over so we pulled that one too. Unfortunately, the process took a little while as my mom was panicked and unable to handle a thrashing bird and even when I told her to take care of pulling the feather instead, she kept backing out for fear of hurting her. Not the best partner for that intervention but my options were limited.

She seems okay now and I gave her some food from my hand which she accepted, but she's lost a fair amount of blood and seems lethargic and shaky now.

Is there anything else I could be doing to help her in this situation? The vet isn't an option. The only one that accepts birds around here is in no way qualified to treat them. The one time I went there, my bird left in a worse state than he arrived and I literally had to tell her what to do when she broke my boy's blood feather. She literally looked me in the eye and went "I don't know what to do with this".

Any help would be greatly appreciated
 

Littleredbeak

Well-known member
May 27, 2020
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Hmm the only thing I can think of is give her food that is naturally high in folic acid and apple as it has water and natural sugars. I had issues with blood feathers before and the one I couldn't pluck I just towled the bird and held pressure on the feather that was bleeding. This stopped the bleeding. I had white paper towels in her cage so I could monitor if more blood.

You really should find a vet so you can have one in an emergency. Try looking for an exotic vet who has again experience, look for recommendations to those in your com.unity who has birds and call local rescues to see who they take their birds to. Wishing your bird a speedy recovery
 
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Kiryon

Kiryon

Member
May 19, 2013
225
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Cockatiels - Oz & Kaila
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Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a try. I did have a vet, but he's over two hours drive away (I just moved back to my hometown and am staying with my parents while I look for a place.)

I've been looking online for a closer one, but so far none of the ones I found seem specialised in birds.
 
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Right now: May syringe feed pedialyte or coconut water (both have the correct electrolyte content when replacing fluid volume after blood loss). It’s ideal to warm the fluids before feeding.

Also keep birby warm. You can even put a heating pad in the tray under the cage and try to warm the room or house as well if possible.

Hope this helps and many prayers for a quick recovery!
 
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Emeral

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Sep 16, 2021
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Hanhs Macaw
Are you familiar with hand feeding? When my Emerald is sick or understress from trips, I hand feed her with baby formula(Kaytee).

Always use new syringe, feed slowly to allow rhythmic swallowing and enter from the side. Aspiration can be fatal.
(Hence, I think she should drink coconut water instead of syringe feeding)

I would give soft easy to digest food such as banana, boiled pumpkin, soft scrambled egg, cooked fish.....

And I suggest herbal Pain killers as mentioned in this thread. Or Ask any vet to prescribe common pain killer for birds. (The drugs most commonly used for birds are: Meloxicam)

Post in thread 'Is there anything topical that can help with leg pain' https://www.parrotforums.com/thread...that-can-help-with-leg-pain.91292/post-939909

Hope this helps
 

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