Cockatiel not able to stand

[wasimafser]

I left my cockatiel out of the cage to clean it. When I returned back after cleaning it , he got scared and jumped / tried to fly but came down at that vey spot. When I saw him he had his right wing open fully, I lifted him to check what happened, but I saw nothing physical , I placed him in the sofa and saw that he was not able to stand up, but he somehow moved dragging himself to a corner, after that I placed him in his cage with a cloth below his place. I saw him shivering his right wing.
He also tried to climb up the cage , he tried to lift his legs ( both ) to catch the cage's bars, he does catch it but doens't go up as if he is not able to pull himself up.
As of now , he is sleeping in his cage near food bow for like an hour. I called a nearby vet ( not avain specialist ) and asked if she treats birds, she said yes, I explained her this and she said she will give a syrup for the bird which will cure him. Is that enough ?

While typing this message he got up and is trying to climb the cage again, he still spreads out his wings a bit. He also got hold of the first height bar and successfully lifted himself a bit up, but I guess he is not able to use his right leg.

What can I for him ? There's no other vet nearby whom are avian specialized.
Is there any home treatments that can be done ?

 

[wasimafser]

Went to the vet , she prescribed a vitamin c drops and a tablet for nerves. She put down the bird in the desk to nitce how he was doing, he used his left leg and right wings to move forward, with that she said that the leg would be sprained.
He ate some seeds before leaving to vet and i'm trying to give him water through a syringe.
After reaching home I took him up in one of my hand to feed him the tablet ( mixed with water ) and I noticed that his leg is kinda stuck bakcwards. i tried pushing it in like a normal leg fold ( didn't put any pressure, just touched the leg gently and saw if it bent like it should), but NO, it was stiff.

He is sleeping again from when I came back. ( He also shouted a couple of times when I was taking him to the vet ).

I'm just confused and afraid about him. Is it really a sprained leg ?

 

[Laurasea]

You are right to be concerned, I think is more than a sprain, its possible hip dislocation...
Your picture looks like he has a raw red wound in front of his tail and almost under tge wing. Can you look at that area and take another picture?
I am not familiar with the use of Vitamin C in birds or what a nerve tablet is?

Does he have access to any galvanized metal or any metal other than stainless steel? Beca sometimes metal poisoning can present kind if like this. Not that that's my guess , but it's something to think about.

You coukd try offering a recovery formula, or baby bird formula to try and help through this.

But I fear the need for an avain vet specialist is your only hope.

I'm so sorry you have a sick baby

 

[wasimafser]

You are right to be concerned, I think is more than a sprain, its possible hip dislocation...
Your picture looks like he has a raw red wound in front of his tail and almost under tge wing. Can you look at that area and take another picture?

Extremely thank you for the reply,
It's not a wound, i guess it's because of molting. He and his partner lost a lot of feathers recently and that's his bare skin which looks red.
I'll put up a pic of that too.

Anyway i can know for sure whether it's a hip dislocation by visuals ? becuase I have no avian vets nearby, if the condition is serious, I would take him to a farther location than here to where ever a avian vet is available. But with risking the bird and myself, I want to make sure it's not just a sprain.

Also, it is not a baby ( if you mean it ), they have a lot of eggs inside their nest box

 

[Scott]

What you describe appears to be an injury from impact. Best case is a sprain that will naturally heal, but what you describe may be, as Laura suggested, dislocation. A skilled certified avian vet or equivalent can diagnose either by sight/touch or X-Ray.

Are you able to upload close-up images of both legs? None of us are vets or techs but can offer the advice of collective experience.

I highly recommend finding a specialized vet* capable of managing this situation. Totally unrelated, if you are not planning to breed, excess laying of eggs can result in calcium depletion.

*If no certified avian vet available, might find docs who treat "exotics." That means birds, reptiles, rodents, etc. They lack the specialized education and equipment needed for birds, but many are indeed highly experienced.

Good luck, please keep us updated!

 

[Laurasea]

I just mentioned baby as in your love, not age.
Even when molting shouldn't have red skin like that, I would like to see a better picture of it.

The leg could be dislocation, broken, or paralyzed, or neurological from metal poisoning, or disease. There really isn't a way for me to be able to tell, except it is more than a " sprain"
What is your birds weight? Do weugh tgem routinely? How do poops look?

What is normal diet,? I worry about low vitamin A if dint eT keafy greens and veggies and or some pellets

And yes I think is worth the drive to a good avain vet specialist....sorry I fear for his life
Where do you live?

 

[wasimafser]

Thank you scott and laura,

Will send the images as soon as i get hands on my phone.
They're not that close to us, so, i didn't weight them anytime before.
His poops look normal ( green and white ),
their daily meal is millet along with almonds, coriander and tulsi served at some time throughout the day.

I live in Avadi, Tamil Nadu, India.

I'm also afraid to pick him up now for the legs picture you asked for. I can clearly say that one leg works fine while the other is still as a stick.

 

[Laurasea]

India does make it harder.....

You can feed hot chili peppers, even dried ones are a good source of Vitamin A, leafy green lettuces are packed with nutrients, carrots try shaved or strawed, broccoli is a goid source of calcium, some boiled egg or scrambled has B Vitamin abd E vitamin, abd maybe D vitamin, its so very important to get tgem eating a wide variety if veggies. Cooked sweet potatoes or pumpkin has vitamin A as well...
Sprouting seeds to offer also changes and realses nutrition ( becareful of mold),
A good diet has a huge impact on health!!! It increases immunity and more..

 

[wasimafser]

Thank you for the information Laura,

I really needed a diet list for them and here you provided me with it. Also true that India does make it harder, for everything.
I will plan for a weekly brought food items with these included as must for them.
Thank you again for the support.

I'm still in shock of how it happened to him, he didn't even fly that high, it's more like he slipped while landing I guess. He is also not able to scratch himself in case he needs to do it, and I'm worried about that increasing the stress.

 

[Laurasea]

Your welcome. The diet you describes is not nutritionally complete. Tho your buird may very well have injured himself in a freak accident , there could be more going on. So now I hav to add nutritional deficiency as a possibility.

Yiu can feed him baby bird formula if he will eat it. That has nutrition he might be missing. I would not limit whst you have already been feeding, but i would start adding a wide variety of leafy greens like romaine, spinach, bok chocolate, water cress, spring greens, dandelion greens, fresh peas, green beans, cucumber, peppers bell pepper, ill link a list.
Offer tgem spread out in a shallow dishes, offer while, chopoed shredded or cooked, offer kits of different wsys. It can take a while fir tgem to start trying them, do nit give up!! Tgey will learn to love tgem!! Offer safflower seeds, pumpkin abd squash seeds
Some healthy berries are black beries, cranberry, blue berries, raspberries, yiu can iffer plums with out the pit, and fresh cherry without the pits

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html

 

[wasimafser]

I gave him some cucumber and coriander along with millets the first thing today along with the Vitamin drops.

And now he tried to jump out of the box I kept him in ( he wants to go to his cage ), so i put him near his cage surrounded by cloth, but he is trying to climb the cage and fails cause he is not able to lift his leg.

I was worried whether he would harm himself trying to pull himself up in the box, so I Kept him near the cage , did I do it correctly ?
if not, what should I do incase he tries to get out of the box again ?

most probably he just wants to get back to his perch in that cage, I also have a ladder inside the cage which he is trying to climb. also, does any of this cause more harm to him ? or is it a sign of improvement ?

 

[Laurasea]

I would set him up in his cage with low perches, and everything you have in the box on the floor of the cage still.

Can he move that leg?
Hiw dies his preen gland look? How does that raw patch look?

 

[wasimafser]

Can he move that leg?
Hiw dies his preen gland look? How does that raw patch look?

Yesterday the leg was in back position, and now it's forward like normal position. But he still is not able to stand up using it I guess.
As I said, we aren't that close to each other, yesterday he let me touch him, and today he is biting me again like he usually does, and so it's hard for me to pick him up like I did yesterday.
I tried now , his poop area looks a bit dirty than it's partner's.
And he was able to move his leg, I held him up with his legs free and he was pushing off my fingers using his legs

 

[wasimafser]

I kept him in his cage, but his partner sometimes climbs upon him for example to eat her food, as he corners himself to the food tray area. FYI, I kept his food in a flat plate on the other side of the cage.

 

[Scott]

Can he move that leg?
Hiw dies his preen gland look? How does that raw patch look?

Yesterday the leg was in back position, and now it's forward like normal position. But he still is not able to stand up using it I guess.
As I said, we aren't that close to each other, yesterday he let me touch him, and today he is biting me again like he usually does, and so it's hard for me to pick him up like I did yesterday.
I tried now , his poop area looks a bit dirty than it's partner's.
And he was able to move his leg, I held him up with his legs free and he was pushing off my fingers using his legs

How amazing if his injured leg returned to normal position! Considering the many ligaments, tendons, and muscles involved, a period of recuperation will be necessary to fully heal and permit normal use. I would imagine some sort of "bird" physical therapy would be helpful, but you would need an avian vet for guidance.

Good diagram of cockatoo skeleton - cockatiel ought be very similar.

 

[wasimafser]

Thank you for the Information Scott,
I can't get to know what's the exact problem.
He can move his legs when lifted up, and his leg - fingers too. But he still is not able stand up. I assume, with an injured leg, moving that leg would be painful and hence he may not do it. But he moves all over the cage, even climbed half the cage today using his beak and legs.

I'm also doing that every evening ( lifting him up , so that he can move / stretch those legs a bit ). Also , while I lift him up, the left leg comes down straight , totally fine, but the right leg is still in the sitting position.

When I searched for avian vets, some were shown in Google and Maps, but none of them are specialized in avian / exotics, Their photos and description show cats and dogs and labelled vet as normal.

 

[noodles123]

If you provide a rough location, people might be able to help you find one. Sometimes it can be difficult (depending on your method of search). How far are you willing to drive? I drive an hour to mine, but may drive 2 or 3.

 

[Laurasea]

it sounds like his pelvis could be broken .
You are saying if you hold him up the leg will move to hang beneath him in a more normal position and he can wiggle his toes on the bad leg?
But he can't stand? And the leg just lays behind him when he is laying down?

He us going to need help to diagnose and heal that legg .. i don't think its some tine will fix on its own .

Is their a school of veterinarian medicine you could take him too? Can yiu call a zoo and see who they use for medical care fir their zoo burds?

I'm so sorry for you and your bird.

 

[Scott]

it sounds like his pelvis could be broken .
You are saying if you hold him up the leg will move to hang beneath him in a more normal position and he can wiggle his toes on the bad leg?
But he can't stand? And the leg just lays behind him when he is laying down?

He us going to need help to diagnose and heal that legg .. i don't think its some tine will fix on its own .

Is their a school of veterinarian medicine you could take him too? Can yiu call a zoo and see who they use for medical care fir their zoo burds?

I'm so sorry for you and your bird.

Excellent points and suggestions, he will need the benefit of specialized avian care.

 

[wasimafser]

If you provide a rough location, people might be able to help you find one. Sometimes it can be difficult (depending on your method of search). How far are you willing to drive? I drive an hour to mine, but may drive 2 or 3.

I recently contacted a Avian vet reachable with an hour of drive. Will get into contact soon. Thank you for encouraging.